Prologue.

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As the smallest, most insignificant snowflake in all of history slowly drifted towards the ground on a frigid morning, an entirely unrelated event was taking place universes away.

A series of unexpected events that would shake the foundations of a lost empire, creating a domino effect that would set the world on a historical path. The past would be rewritten with idle words, their future would blossom from beautiful misunderstandings, and life for the entire world would change forever.

And, due to its distance, since the Empire’s history would never interact with the snowflake, it was completely insignificant. Whether that Empire thrived or crumbled would mean little to anyone or anything else. However, to those who lived there, it meant everything. Their story was not a fantasy to be left on some dusty bookshelf, it was a historical moment that caused worlds to clash, alliances to be formed, and civilizations to fall.

Behind the concept of space and time, beyond the natural understanding of reality, past the veil that separated worlds, and within the pure paradoxical chaos that made up the endless void, was a small planet called Terra.

It was one of many mirrored worlds in the multiverse, a realm of mythical creatures that once lived only in the minds of artists and children.

Whether by some strange cosmic coincidence, or through divine intervention, these old fabled characters had become real, living in harmony with each other on the small planet.

Terra was a home to many magical souls, from buffalo nomads to zebra shamans, shapeshifting changelings to obnoxious yaks, flying dragons to sleeping thestrals, and many, many more.

Flocks of dragons flew through the skies, buffalos grazed in nomadic herds, and prides of griffons hunted in the untamed forests, killing the most dangerous of predators and mindless beasts that lived in the wild. The world was a menagerie of magical species, a collection of monsters and beasts that were blessed with sentience, each one motivated by their own religions, beliefs, and morals.

And yet, almost in spite of their cruel fictional counterparts, most of the inhabitants of Terra lived relatively peaceful lives, deciding to live in a state of equality rather than a kingdom of division and apprehension.

However, not everything in the land of sunshine and rainbows was bathed in the pure light of Harmony.

Under the bright sun and the tranquil moon of the two royals, beneath the silver lining of the ominous clouds that hung in the sky, and buried in the northern regions of the largest continent, was the Frozen North.

It was a barren wasteland that laid past the Crystal Mountains, where eternal twilight reigned, crops never dared to grow, and the howls of the dead sang an eternal song of suffering that accompanied the fierce blizzards and buried any creature that ventured into the untamed North.

The storm that blanketed the Frozen North with snow was a magical phenomenon that manifested the frigid touch of death itself. It was a remnant of an ancient disaster, the last breaths of a dying curse that washed over Equestria long ago. While the love and warmth of Equestria’s ponies had chased away the never-ending winter, the North had simply adapted and outlived the vengeful spirits that created Equestria’s horrible winter.

With the vengeful spirits gone, the storms ran rampant and became a chaotic flurry of eternal winter, and the once lush green fields of the Fertile North were buried under the white sheet of death that blanketed the land.

The only two places of refuge from the eternal storm that raged in the Frozen North were the makeshift Yak Kingdom of Yakyakistan, located on the outermost reaches of the storm, and the crumbling remains of the once magnificent Crystal Empire.

The Crystal Empire was a testament to the innovation of the first settlers of Equestria, a divine jewel that stood as a monument to the abundant magic the first settlers had discovered. The Empire was a glorious bastion that stood the test of time and fought the battle against the onslaught of nature. The Empire could have won that battle too if not for King Sombra, a name that inspired fear in even the softest of whispers.

King Sombra was a grey ruva stallion with a flowing black mane of ethereal fire and a blood-red horn that protruded from his head. He was once a normal pony like every other ruva in the Crystal Empire, using his magic to study the effects of crystals to create new enchantments and spells.

His thirst for knowledge soon devolved into a desperate hunger for power, leading him to the doorstep of the Demon Lord himself, Grogar the Goat. Following his deal with the father of monsters, King Sombra returned to the Crystal Empire and ruled it for three years after usurping Princess Amore’s throne. He was a greedy ruler who desired to expand his domain with force and strength, to crush those he thought of as beneath him. The king had successfully enslaved the crystal ponies, driven the thestrals into hiding, and committed total genocide on the ruva that had lived in the Crystal Empire, leaving him almost unopposed after causing his own race to go into near extinction.

Through the dark spells he learned from Grogar, Sombra was able to impose his will on the Empire, stripping the crystal ponies of their free will and using them as slaves to mine magical crystals to enhance his weapons and spells.

King Sombra’s wicked and sadistic acts would not go unnoticed by the other kingdoms and tribes, as he had rightfully earned the ire of most of the world. Sombra’s only allies were the few demons that escaped from Tartarus and his brainwashed subjects. With a legion of innocent ponies who served mighty warriors at his command, King Sombra created an army to invade Yakyakistan, deciding to take the entirety of the Frozen North before moving on to the rest of Equestria.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, however, immediately intervened. They lead their small armies to King Sombra’s capital, which saw all of his plans begin to crumble. As the celestial and lunar guards repelled King Sombra’s enslaved army, the two princesses of Dream Valley confronted him directly, finally bringing an end to his reign of terror.

The malicious demon had exhausted all of his weapons and spells, eventually falling to the hooves of two ascended goddesses. The sisters gathered their magic to banish him from Terra, locking him in an eternal realm of darkness that would never let his soul rest.

Sadly, in a last act of defiance and desperate spite, King Sombra latched himself onto the souls of his enslaved subjects, forcing them to share his torment for all of eternity as they were all dragged into the timeless void.

The two sisters could do nothing to stop his counterspell and cursed the mad king for damning his entire enslaved army to suffer his fate. Neither of the sisters could bring back his enslaved citizens from the realm of darkness without bringing the self-proclaimed king back as well, but they were able to modify the spell ever so slightly.

Instead of damning King Sombra and his slaves to an eternity in the realm of darkness, they would be kept there until a being that was able to permanently kill King Sombra stepped hoof into the Frozen North. On that day, the chosen hero would slay King Sombra and pass on the Empire to the descendants of Princess Amore.

And until the destined hero was found, the Empire would become lost to the memories of time, becoming an old mare’s tale that would be told to the young foals of Equestria until the story itself was forgotten as well.

Life would continue to move on without the Crystal Empire, uncaring to the plights of the ponies trapped in a pocket outside the concept of time and space. The truth of the matter was that nopony, creature, or being would be “destined” to save the Empire. The only thing that could save the Empire would be a cosmic coincidence. Or perhaps it would take manipulation from a higher power.

Either way, as the historians waited and died with their bated breaths, hoping for the eventual return of the Empire. Time continued to move without any consideration for those who experienced its effects.

The banishment of King Sombra and the crystal ponies was only the first of several great catastrophes that would occur on Terra. Heroes lived and died, misconceptions started wars, a Goddess of Chaos buried Dream Valley under a forest of entropy, and a princess of the night turned into an Empress of Nightmares.

Just like the frozen remains of the Crystal Empire, the rest of the world fell into a state of disrepair as hope became a rarer commodity with each passing day. The Equestrian Diarchy turned Monarchy took it upon themselves to bring peace and harmony back to the world in spite of the grim reality they all faced.

Princess Celestia’s attempts to fix her kingdom led to a scant few eras of peace in the world where creatures of every race lived in near harmony after far too many bloody wars and a terrible number of graves. Unfortunately, not all the sentient races of Terra would experience this peace.

During the Empire’s absence, many species had gone extinct or drastically changed. The Deer and Caribou Kingdoms fell victim to a plague that made them infertile, the sea serpents and sirens had waged a war that nearly eradicated both of their species, and the diamond dogs were reduced to nearly mindless beasts from centuries of inbreeding and cannibalism. But life continued to move on without these many races, as if they didn’t matter to the cold reality of time.

Terra had changed dramatically since the Empire disappeared thousands of years ago, and much more would change with its reappearance.

Chapter 1. Thrown into the Storm.

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The bellowing winds of the Frozen North sang an agonizing song of pain as the spirits of those who died in the terrible tundra followed the winds to their final destination. Snow fell from the heavy clouds above without any care for where they landed, disappearing into the large drifts of snow that covered the Frozen North.

As the snow continued to fall haphazardly from the dreary clouds, a sudden and surprising stillness fell over the Frozen North. For the first time in millennia, not a single snowflake fell from the skies and the voices of the damned stopped their wailing songs of pain.

A brief moment of stunning silence filled the usually chaotic winds of the Frozen North, pure and undisturbed. And like a minotaur firing off a glass cannon, the deafening silence was shattered with the screams of reality being torn apart.

An orchestra of fear, anger, and suffering filled the momentarily silent air as a massive earthquake shook the centuries of snow off of the abandoned ruins of the Crystal Empire. Flurries of snowflakes exploded as the violent winds of the Frozen North turned into a monsoon of snow that washed over the frozen tundra.

The clouds began to swirl as the fabric of reality was briefly ripped apart and the seams that held that specific portion of reality together let loose loud explosions of thunder as they snapped apart, an announcement to the world itself that something was coming.

As the fabric of reality tried to mend itself, it fought against the outside force that was causing it to unnaturally tear. The thing that had struggled to hold the tear in place finally relinquished its grasp on the hems of reality after something was hurdled through the tear and landed in a large pile of snow.

The aggressive snowstorm returned to its usual chaotic nature a short time afterward as reality was stitched back together. As the world continued on as if nothing happened, the thing that had been tossed through the portal began to wake up.

The figure groaned as it sat up slowly, a wave of pain shooting through his body suddenly as he did so. The being was a creature from another world, a human man turned demonic monster.

The man was completely underdressed for the freezing climate of the Frozen North. His only protection against the natural elements were two purple greaves on his shins, two similarly colored vambraces on his forearms, a dark purple cingulum militare that covered his crotch, and a navy-blue hooded cloak that covered his head and back. His spiked shoulder plates and ornate cross-bone harness offered little protection against the cold but were still able to cover up his almost naked body.

The man’s skin had turned into a deep and unnatural shade of blue and he gained the well-defined muscles of an Adonis, along with herculean strength that most would only dream of. But, in exchange for his new physique, his once-normal hands and feet had turned into draconic claws and feet similar to a tyrannosaurus-rex, a mockery of his old appendages. The last and most significant change the man had gone through was everything that rested above his broad shoulders. His neck, face, and hair had completely disappeared, only leaving a demonic humanoid skull with large fangs where his once dull canines were located.

The man groaned as his conscious mind entered his new body, his stiff muscles screamed in agony as he tried to stand up in his dazed state of mind. Most of his memories alluded him as his thoughts swam through a murky swamp of confused questions and jumbled memories. He was only lucid enough to know that he shouldn’t have been out in the snow, and he had a faint memory of a man in a leather hoodie who sold him a staff.

He placed a hand to his temple as he tried to force his memories to become clear and linear once again. As his mind fought to put the pieces of his history back together, he nearly failed to notice the odd texture of his head. His fingers lightly traced the ridges of his skull, feeling the rough texture of his new skull as they did so.

As the man’s senses returned to him, a terrifying pang of fear ran through his soul as he felt his fingers press against his bare skull. His other hand flew to his face to desperately attempt to feel something familiar, to find his nose, ears, hair, anything that wasn’t bare bone. One of his thumbs brushed against the inside of his jaw, causing him to recoil from the feeling of his thumb inside his jaw.

“Wh-What?! N-No no, no, no. Where’s my fucking face? What the fuck is going on?!” The man screamed before he began to hyperventilate.

Panicked thoughts raced through his mind at a rapid speed until everything was drowned out by his screams of fear filled the air, a desperate cry for some type of normalcy and sense of understanding. His wailing panicked screams were laced with a series of expletives and cries for help from anybody who could hear his pleas.

He continued on like that for nearly half an hour, until his lungs had effectively given out and he resided to curl himself up and quietly sob. No tears left his hollow eye sockets as he wept. The only telltale sign of his distressed state were the haggard breaths that tried to fill his lungs.

He placed a hand on his well-defined chest to feel his rapid heartbeat, a confirmation that he still had a pulse, which unfortunately did almost nothing to calm his nerves. If anything, it set him more on edge as he waited for his heartbeat to slow down until it completely stopped, waiting for an inevitable death that never came.

As the seconds turned into minutes, and those minutes stretched into an hour, the man finally uncurled himself and sat on his knees. His focus was directed on the snow that surrounded him in every direction.

“H-hello?” He called out with a hoarse voice, waiting patiently for something to respond. His teeth clattered against each other as he felt the cold embrace of the Frozen North.

“A-anyone out there? Helllllo?” He said a little louder. The wailing cries of the storm were the only response he received.

As his gaze traveled across the arctic grounds around him, his eyes caught a familiar scepter lying a yard away from him. It was a six-foot purple staff crowned with a golden horned ram’s skull that he had bought from a man dressed up in a long leather jacket.

He reached out for the familiar object, grasping the nearest part of the scepter to pull it towards himself. He held onto the Havoc Staff tightly one hand while he used the other to hold the edges of his navy-blue cloak closed.

As he stood up, using the staff to steady himself on his trembling legs, he mentally prepared himself for an arduous journey to find a way out of the eternal winter he was lost in. His worries and questions about his new body were pushed aside for his survival instincts to take hold.

He didn’t have the luxury to wallow in grief or panic more than he already had, he could only trudge forward and silently pray for a miracle.

Thousands of years of darkness passed in a matter of moments for King Sombra and his enslaved army, time becoming a relative fantasy to the ponies that were trapped inside the realm of darkness. Generations and lifetimes had become seconds for the displaced Empire, and it had finally returned.

The body of a grey ruva with ethereal mane of black fire laid motionlessly on the crystal floor of his throne room. The lord of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra, awoke from his long banishment with a sudden start after being brought back to the realm of the living. His body ached after his confrontation with the two Alicorn sisters, a battle that waged on for hours had left him worse off for wear physically but no less powerful in terms of magic.

The grey ruva stallion eyed his throne room wearily, keeping a lookout for a surprise attack from the immortal sisters.

As his green eyes traversed the throne room, he noticed the damage from his battle with the two sisters had grown larger with age, the architecture of the room failing to hold itself together after years of being left alone in the frozen climate.

King Sombra wasn’t sure how long it had been since the battle, nor did he know why he was freed from his banishment, but his lack of knowledge didn’t prevent a wicked smile of glee to etch its way across his muzzle. He looked to his right to see the frail green body of one of his most “loyal” of slaves, Emerald Secret.

She was still sound asleep after the sleeping spells the lunar princess placed on her, a spell that prevented King Sombra from forcing Emerald Secret to join the fray as a living shield for her king.

King Sombra quickly tried to feel his dark magic in her mind, confirming that she and all of the other subjects of the Crystal Empire were under his control. Even if most of his slaves were asleep he still had them, which meant he could still use them once they woke up.

As King Sombra felt the magic inside of his enslaved citizens, taking account of how many slaves still drew breath, he felt another magical signature a mile or so away from his Empire. A foreign type of dark magic born of pain and suffering was coming towards his domain.

King Sombra used his magic to summon a scrying orb made from pure refined crystal to look at the possible threat. Seconds ticked by slowly as his magic honed in on the individual until an image of an odd creature appeared in his scrying orb.

The revived king observed the creature with a bemused fascination. It was an odd creature, bipedal in nature like a dragon or minotaur, but without any of the scales or fur that either of the races had. It had no discernible snout pushing out from under its blue hood, and any other facial features it may had had were completely obscured by an unnatural shadow.

The most striking feature of all however was the large scepter in its hand, a long staff with a golden horned ram skull embedded to the top of the scepter. King Sombra could feel an overwhelming amount of power emanate from the ram skull, a testament to the power the being must have wielded within their own body.

A herald of the Demon Lord, Grogar, perhaps? The king wondered to himself. If any creature could have freed King Sombra from his bonds, then it would have had to have been Grogar or one of his disciples.

It would have explained how he and his slaves were rescued, but that explanation brought a great worry along with it. King Sombra had raked up a considerable debt to the Demon Lord, in exchange for his new dark powers. A debt that he had failed to pay because of his defeat at the hooves of the Alicorn siblings.

Unfortunately, that theory brought a horrifying sense of realization to the freed king. Grogar would have only freed him if he could be of use to the demon lord; Which meant that Grogar either sent a herald to tell him of Grogar’s commands, or Grogar had sent a debt collector to take his power back from King Sombra.

King Sombra’s eyes narrowed to slits as he watched the creature in his scrying orb. He would not be bullied by a low-rate demon into paying Grogar his dues. The demon lord would get his souls when Sombra had conquered all of Equestria, and not a second sooner.

Well, if one of his heralds has come then I should prepare. The king reasoned as he turned to trot over to his large crystal throne, a chair made of obsidian that was decorated in the purest and most ornate crystals the Empire could spare. After sitting himself down on his throne, he sent a mental command to two of his recently awakened slaves to escort the creature to him and waited for his orders to be carried out by his mindless drones.

The man turned demonic monster trudged through the winter hell-scape slowly, the snow crunching gently beneath his monstrous feet as he ignored the bitter cold that assaulted his nearly naked body.

He lost track of time while walking in one direction, minutes merging with hours as his body refused to stop moving. Moving forward meant feeling warm, and feeling warm meant staying alive for a few more precious minutes. He wasn’t sure what he’d accomplish with those scant few minutes of life, but he hoped that he’d at least reach civilization before he died. It was a cynical dream, but a dream nonetheless.

The idea of dying alone in a frozen wasteland was a grim thought that he tried to ignore. In a morbid way, it reminded him of the timeless question, “if a tree falls in the woods and no one’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Except instead of a stupid tree in a forest, it was his life being meaningless once his corpse was buried under a mountain of snow. He'd become a frozen and mummified corpse that would be lost to time, possibly only to be discovered by some wild and hungry animal.

Disturbing thoughts about his final moments on Earth were the only thing that took his focus away from the bitter coldness that nipped at his skin. The man wrapped himself more tightly in his navy cloak as he tried to protect himself from the elements as best as he could.

As his body continued to move forward, he eventually saw a silhouette of a tall spire off on the horizon. A spark of determination ignited inside of him as he stared at the spire, a beacon that signified civilization and salvation.

A desperate smile spread across his surprisingly malleable skeletal features and a nervous laugh escaped his throat. He moved at a much brisker pace as his resolve to keep moving was invigorated by the silent promise of salvation. He didn’t dare question the sight he saw before him, fearful that doing so would make this wonderful gift disappear without a trace.

He saw several smaller spires that surrounded the tallest one, all connecting to a triangular tower that reminded him of the Eiffel Tower in France. Parts of the tower shimmered and gleamed with a beautiful shine that grew more brilliant with each closer step as if it was made of beautiful diamonds. He stared longingly at the breathtaking view, convinced that he was staring at the gates of Heaven itself. The hope and joy he felt however diminished as several more details about the structures became more apparent.

Black jagged rocks jutted out of the spires at odd angles and several spires were struggling to hold up their own weight under the brute force of the winter climate. Years of abandonment took their toll on the structure, a bleak shadow of its former glory that created an ominous tension in the air as the man continued to look at the decaying spires.

He also saw many smaller structures surrounding the base of the spires, multicolored towers of crystal that littered the area around the base of the structure, blocking his view of whatever building the spires were attached to.

Large black spikes made of crystals stuck out of the smaller towers, as if they were reclaiming the area those buildings stood.

A sense of foreboding fear washed over the man as he stared apprehensively at the monolith of dread at the center of the cluster of buildings and towers. Despite the uneasy feeling the decrepit ruins brought him, he continued to move towards them.

His resolve never faltered as he approached his only hope for sanctuary, his body on the other hand did. Unknown hours of plowing through the snow had finally taken their toll on the demonic man, and his muscles gave into the deathly embrace of the cold.

His sockets stared at the strange city that laid less than a few miles away from him, so close. If he had only woken up a few miles closer to it, then he may have survived the arctic plain.

As he looked at his only hope sit perfectly still, far out of his reach, he felt his consciousness slip from his mind slowly before he was consumed by the darkness.

Chapter 2. A Monster's Arrival.

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The snow softly crunched under four sets of hooves as two enslaved guards went to find the strange creature their master ordered them to intercept.

The two enslaved guards trotted briskly towards the creature, their mental cries for rest going unheard by their bodies. Both of the slaves wore full black body armor, complete with helmets that covered their eyes and muzzles to make them less distinguishable; a cruel tactic to strip them even more of their individuality so that they could become just one of the many faceless drones that served King Sombra unwillingly.

Their will to fight their dark lord’s commands diminished greatly over time with each order. After being forced to do unspeakable acts to the Equestrian army and especially to their own citizens, they began to feel less motivated to take back their bodies. Even if they ceased actively fighting against the dark magic that used their bodies as puppets, they still felt the urge to beg for some semblance of mercy, to be allowed the ability to close their eyes so they wouldn’t have to witness their atrocities.

But their silent pleas were no use to the dark spells that enchanted their bodies.

Their hooves continued onwards to meet the strange creature their king saw, and they eventually found it lying face down in the snow not too far outside of the Crystal Empire. It was an odd bipedal creature in a long cloak that was decorated in a thin blanket of snow. One of its large claw-like appendages firmly grasped a long staff with a golden horned ram’s skull on it, while the other claw laid at his side flat against the snow.

Without much grace, the two enslaved guards lifted the creature by its large arms using their hooves and draped its arms over their withers to drag it to their king. As they did so, the creature’s limp hand dropped its large scepter into the snow next to the enslaved soldier on his right.

The guard quickly picked up the scepter with its hoof, unknowingly inviting the power inside into his own body. The power of the scepter flowed through him, bringing an uneasy sickness as it crawled into his mind. And for the first time in many years, Cannon Fodder blinked on his own.

A small sense of clarity washed over Cannon Fodder as his body moved forward. While his momentary glimpse at possible freedom wasn’t much, it was enough to spark some sense of curious hope inside of him as he glanced over at the other enslaved soldier.

Cannon Fodder had no idea who the pony under the armor was as it covered up their face and their flanks, preventing him from seeing the pony under the mask or the cutie mark on his sides. The stallion he had been walking with had a dull mustard coat of fur, complementary color to his own burgundy colored coat of fur.

Cannon Fodder’s eyes then glanced down at the unconscious creature they were dragging, taking in its form with an interested and concerned eye. It was larger than any of the minotaurs he had seen, standing somewhere between two to three ponies tall. He felt the cold and naked skin of the creature’s arms around his withers, its skin was colder than the white tundra they found it in, and Cannon Fodder cautiously wondered if the creature was already dead.

He prayed to the Great Weaver, Faust, that Sombra would be pleased if the creature was dead. While the idea of Sombra being happy created a pit of anger inside Cannon Fodder’s stomach, the thought of King Sombra being upset that the creature was dead filled his body with an overwhelming sense of dread.

As his doubts and worries continued to fuel his overactive imagination, he and the other enslaved soldier made it to the border of the Empire. Cannon Fodder used his newly freed eyes to look at what remained of the once glorious Crystal Empire. Buildings made of crystal and beautiful stain-glass windows mixed into piles of rubble that littered the once magnificent streets of the fallen Empire. Several houses that belonged to dear friends of Cannon Fodder were reduced to nothing and the ones that still stood were on the brink of collapsing.

Cannon Fodder tried to remember what had happened before he woke up a few minutes ago. He remembered being forced to fight against the Equestrian soldiers of Dream Valley and he remembered seeing many of the other enslaved soldiers fall over almost lifelessly when… When something blue flew overhead. If Cannon Fodder had to guess, he’d say it was probably Princess Luna using sleep magic on the battlefield.

The small blue alicorn with an ethereal mane of stars was the first of the two sisters to make it to the Empire. Many of the thestral ponies that flew away from the kingdom when King Sombra started to purge the Empire had come back armed in lunar guard armor so they could defend themselves against their mind-controlled friends and neighbors.

The memory of Cannon Fodder throwing a spear into the neck of one of the thestral ponies wormed its way to the forefront of his mind, deep regret and shame filled his soul as he remembered slaying somepony who came to help him and the other slaves.

Cannon Fodder knew it wasn’t his fault, he knew that no matter how hard he struggled that he would have still been forced to throw that spear. But a deeper part of him still blamed himself, calling him a traitor and a coward for not even trying to fight against the dark magic anymore. Deep down, he had hoped that the thestrals would have shown him the mercy of death so he could have been freed from his invisible bonds, and he hated himself for still being alive when better stallions and mares were dead.

He had failed his Empire by not killing King Sombra when he still had control of his own body when the tyrant had slain the princess. He never thought the frail ruva would have done anything to Princess Amore, it was supposed to be a relaxing day court like any other day. The princess would have listened to her subjects’ many problems and requests and she, along with her council, would give their opinion on the matter.

Cannon Fodder failed to read the devious smile on King Sombra’s face as he entered the throne room, and he failed in his mission as head of the guard when he didn’t immediately jump in front of the princess. Cannon Fodder blamed himself for everything that happened, for the rise of Sombra, for the enslavement of the empire, for the complete purge of the ruva, and for what happened to the foals. Especially for what happened to the foals.

Cannon Fodder glanced back at the creature he and the other slave carried, it was yet another body to add onto the pile that he had inadvertently created. The small part of him that hoped Sombra wouldn’t be upset by the creature’s death changed its attitude and desperately hoped that the tyrant king would kill Cannon Fodder in a blind rage. Maybe then Cannon Fodder would find peace, peace in the depths of tartarus where he could at least shed tears for his atrocities, peace in a flaming inferno where he would suffer for being a failure.

King Sombra waited patiently in his throne room for the two nameless slaves to bring Grogar’s possible disciple to him. His eyes wandered over to the now awake Emerald Secret standing next to his throne. Her raven-colored tail and mane were brushed back, allowing him to see her blank jade eyes looking at the throne room doors with a thousand-yard stare. A small smile crept onto King Sombra’s face as he looked at the crystal mare’s emerald-colored coat, it stood out like a crowned jewel against the blue and white interior of the throne room.

As his eyes danced over Emerald Secret’s body, the throne room doors opened to reveal the two slaves he sent out carrying the body of the creature he saw in the scrying orb. King Sombra rose from his throne to approach the unconscious creature, igniting his horn in the purple and green bubbling aura of his magic to lift the creature’s hood.

King Sombra was surprised by the odd yellow primate skull that was hidden under the navy-blue cloak. He remembered that the Demon Lord despised necromancy and wondered if the old goat had changed his opinion on the matter. Grogar had always made living creatures with his magic, using the souls of ponies and other sentient creatures to craft monsters like kirin, hippogriffs, and chimeras. The old goat had sworn off using his magic to only bring something partially to life, stating that a partial life was a complete waste of one.

King Sombra looked at the golden horned ram staff that the slave with a crimson coat held in his hoof. The dark magic that radiated from the scepter was almost overwhelming and King Sombra briefly wondered if that was actually Grogar’s skull on the scepter. He dispelled that thought as quickly as it arrived however and returned his eyes to the blue-skinned and furless creature.

King Sombra eyed the unconscious creature with a wearier and more intrigued expression. The creature in front of him had some semblance of power, but nothing compared to Grogar. Still, it could have been a great asset to King Sombra, all it would need was the proper motivation.

King Sombra decided to ignite his horn in a brilliant shade of red as he placed a spell on the creature in front of him. He planned to learn of the creature’s origins by stepping into its mind, allowing him to see if it was one of Grogar’s creations and, if it wasn’t, he would break the creature using its greatest fears. Having an intimidating monster by his side would be a great weapon to use against the sisters, after all, if he didn’t know what the creature was then the odds were that the sisters didn’t either, and they wouldn’t be properly prepared to fight it off thus giving him an edge in their next battle.

Entering the creature’s mind was easier than what King Sombra expected. He had assumed that the creature would have had spells to protect his mind against intruders such as what King Sombra used to prevent Princess Luna from entering his mind and the minds of his slaves, but there was nothing to prevent King Sombra from entering the creature’s mind. It was possibly the easiest time he ever had to get into another being's mind since their conscious usually put up some form of a struggle to protect the victim's mind, but Sombra faced no difficulties. There was no guardian to pass, no embodiment of the mind for him to dominate, there wasn't even the impactful push of thoughts that would usually run through a pony's mind. Then again, the creature clearly wasn't a pony, and King Sombra had only ever entered the minds of ponies.

To King Sombra’s complete surprise, he found himself inside an ominously pitch black void instead of the vibrantly colored and chaotic mess that the Mind-Scape usually provided. No memories mixed with thoughts, there was no music from the past that merged with idle chatter, he couldn't even feel the creature's magical signature inside its mind.

"What the hell is this?" A high-pitched and nasally voice asked. King Sombra turned his head to stare at the blue creature that was standing upright on its hind legs with its back to the king as the front legs held the scepter close to its barrel. King Sombraknew that there was a different name for the upper limbs on a bipedal creature, but he didn't care enough to recall that memory at the moment.

“Oh fuck… I’m dead… Nononononono!” The creature began to panic as it looked in a random direction of the void, still not noticing the ruva standing behind it.

King Sombra arched an eyebrow as he watched the panicking creature. He could feel the fear bleeding off of it but he couldn’t see it take shape. No lingering nightmares came to plague the demon, and no foul memories came to taunt it.

Fear usually manifested as waves of energy that would flood the Mind-Scape, causing a slew of memories and random thoughts to collide and smash into each other adding another layer of chaos to the hectic Mind-Scape. Any form they took was often a cruel bastard of their past, a twisted phantom of their nightmares that could torment their thoughts to Sombra's will.

“Hello? Anybody out there?” He asked the seemingly infinite black void. An echo of his voice was the only response he received until King Sombra stepped forward to confront him.

The creature turned to King Sombra as his hooves impacted the grounds of the Mind-Scape. Once the creature saw the dark king of the Crystal Empire, his eye sockets surprisingly seemed to widen in horror at the king’s visage. He trembled before the last ruva of the Crystal Empire, falling onto his backside as he slowly tried to back away from the intimidating king. He unconsciously tightened his grip around his scepter as he crawled away from King Sombra, his once towering form reducing to a quivering mess of a demon.

King Sombra took great joy out of seeing the creature so terrified, allowing him to brush off his concerns about not seeing any physical constructs of fear in the creature’s mind.

“Ho-holy shit…. Are… Are y-you one of the f-f-four horsemen?” The creature stuttered out in what King Sombra assumed was faux fear.

King Sombra immediately stopped in his tracks as those words passed through the creature’s teeth and his eyes widened in an unbridled rage as the creature’s words rang out inside his head. King Sombra physically shook as he tried to restrain the anger inside of himself, attempting to control the fury that burned inside of what remained of his blackened soul. “You dare… You DARE call me a Whorse!?” He shouted at the creature.

King Sombra had been called many things, a tyrant, a monster, a demon, the spawn of Grogar and Death, but nopony had ever been bold enough to ever even think of calling him a prostitute. He didn’t understand what the creature implied about him being one of four prostitutes, but he didn’t care what the creature was implying. The blue-skinned beast had gravely insulted the king by calling him a sex worker, and King Sombra would make him pay for that.

Without any hesitation, King Sombra launched a conclusive blast of magic at the creature before it scrambled to its feet and dodged his attack. King Sombra shot another beam of magic from his horn at the blue-skinned monster and managed to strike its arm. The creature let loose a cry of pain as black crystals began to form on his right bicep, his arm losing most of its feeling as the dark crystals began to spread across his muscles.

As King Sombra galloped towards the creature to blast it at a closer range, the creature reacted by swinging its scepter at King Sombra in a fit of panic. King Sombra felt the golden horns of the ram skull dislocate his jaw as the scepter was cracked against his muzzle and was about to release another burst of magic before the creature swung the scepter again.

The monster brought down the scepter onto the stallion’s head repeatedly, bashing his head in with the ram’s skull several times as he wildly swung his scepter like a baseball bat. King Sombra was too dazed to launch another attack, and was only broken out of his daze by the immense pain of the ram skull shattering his horn. The pain didn’t last long, as the next swing from the creature shattered the king’s skull, causing him to fall lifelessly to the floor of the black void. Even as the darkness melted around the creature, and the king of the Crystal Empire returned to the real world, alive and well after being ejected from the monster's mind, the strange monster didn't stop its assault on King Sombra for even a moment.

The grotesque scepter was wrapped in a green aura and quickly flew to the open hand of the enraged beast, allowing him to continue his attack in the real world and kill King Sombra with a single blow. Each hit was accompanied by the sound of bones being crushed as the golden horns of the ram skull pulverized the king’s own skull. The man continued to viciously beat the King's corpse with his scepter, closing his invisible eyelids as he swung so he wouldn't have to look at the bloody mess of brains and flesh that decorated the floor.

The blood of a tyrant painted the walls of the throne room that fateful day, signaling the end of a tyrant's reign, and the beginning of a new chapter in history.

Chapter 3. First Impressions.

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The veil that had been placed over the minds of the crystal ponies had been lifted, and the memories of what they had done under King Sombra’s rule flooded their minds. A terrifying fear that he would return to strip them of their free will again had forced many of the citizens to hide in the remains of their houses, barricading themselves in the disheveled buildings and run-down stores.

Only a few select ponies knew for certain that the old king wouldn’t return since they had all witnessed him get savagely beaten to death by the monster he had dragged in. Among those who witnessed the end of the old king were Emerald Secret, Cannon Fodder, and a yellow pony with a purple mane named Track Record.

After being freed from his bonds, Track Record went to spread the news that Sombra was dead while Cannon Fodder rushed off towards the armory to grab a weapon to possibly use against the monster. Which unfortunately left Emerald Secret alone with the creature, at least until two maids came in to… take care of the mess.

Emerald Secret silently watched the two maids clean up the blood that painted the walls of the throne room, her eyes never leaving the two mares who had the misfortune of being sent to the throne room by the yellow coated pony. Just like her, they were terrified by their ominous new dark master who, after killing King Sombra, had decided to silently look out the open window and let his gaze travel over the Empire.

He didn’t say a word, make a claim, or give any grandiose speech about his rise to power. He just stood motionless by the window, watching the clouds lazily drift by in the sky and the citizens dragging themselves on the streets. If it weren’t for the gentle rise and fall of the mysterious creature’s shoulders and the rapid tapping of his right foot then Emerald Secret would have been convinced that he had died standing up.

She couldn’t read the creature’s body language since she had never seen anything like him before, and she was silently grateful for that. Emerald Secret tried not to move, hoping that the creature’s sight was based on movement, leaving her completely invisible to the beast that had beaten the tyrant king to death.

Once the old king stood in front of the creature, he used a spell that seemed to make the creature more aggressive. King Sombra and the monster stood still for nearly a full minute before a crack suddenly appeared on King Sombra’s horn and blood leaked from his eyes.

An instant later, King Sombra's horn exploded into a hundred shards, freeing the blue bipedal behemoth of whatever spell King Sombra was casting on it. The beast then held out its hand to let the scepter fly into its grasp before it repeatedly hit the corpse of the old king with it. As he was distracted beating the king’s corpse, the two enslaved guards galloped out of the throne room, leaving Emerald Secret alone in the room with it before the two maids that were sent by Track Record when he bumped into them in the halls.

While Track Record seemed overjoyed by the creature’s actions, Cannon Fodder was absolutely horrified. His steely white mane grew a few hues lighter at the sight of the beast bashing in the old king's skull. As soon as Track Record galloped off to scream the monster's praises, Cannon Fodder ran out after him to do something.

Cannon Fodder would gather the rest of the liberated guard and come back to… to do something. Maybe build up a small battalion to attack it? No, no, if it could kill King Sombra then a small group of guards on the brink of starvation wouldn’t be a threat to it. Emerald Secret thought to herself.

The only alternative was that Cannon Fodder ran away and… and that he wasn’t going to be coming back.

Of course, he’s not coming back, he did the bucking smart thing and ran from it! Why the buck am I still in a room with it?! Emerald Secret internally questioned before her eyes momentarily flicked to the blue skinned behemoth. While a part of her was overjoyed that their old king had been slain, a much larger part of her was too terrified of the creature that did it to think about how elated she was.

It was a creature straight out of Tartarus, with a furless body and a disturbing primate skull for a head that held two prominent fangs in its jaws. Everything about the creature from its appearance to its demeanor painted a terrifying portrait of a dark mastermind that had easily overpowered King Sombra. It hadn’t even bothered to use its magic to kill the king, it had made a spectacle out of beating the tyrant to death with the skull of one of its victims.

Emerald Secret tried to avert her eyes from the dangerous monster that that had risen to power, worried that catching his glance would earn his ire. She didn’t know what it wanted, what it was, or what it would do. For all Emerald Secret knew, it could have been a tyrant far worse than King Sombra, if such a thing was even possible. All she could do was pray to Faust that she would be saved from her waking nightmare.

As Emerald Secret worried about what her new dark lord would do or say, the bipedal demon nervously stole a sideways glance at her from the corner of his eye socket, terrified to accidentally meet her irises with his invisible eyes.

The idea of not moving had worked surprisingly well and, if it weren’t for the quick glances he had caught from the green furred creature standing a few yards away, he might have actually believed that he was actually invisible. But they knew he was there, and they weren’t doing anything. Anything yet at least.

He had expected them to do something by that point. He waited nervously for one of the other creatures to attack him and planned to jump out the window since the door was most likely guarded on the other side. Maybe there was an entire army on the other side of the door waiting for him to run, waiting to skewer him with a plethora of sharp weapons as soon as he opened the door. There had to be some form of righteous retribution waiting for him.

He had just killed one of those… things by bashing its head in with his scepter, which was still painted in a fresh coat of blood and brain matter from his attack.

He forced back the bile that threatened to jump from his stomach and turned his eye sockets back to the crumbling empire that stood below the window. He watched the dazed and dull pastel colored ponies stumble in the streets with a terrified fascination. The odd creatures below him had an odd resemblance that reminded him of ponies from his uncle’s ranch, except the creatures below had colorful coats and appeared to be incredibly malnourished.

They dragged their bodies through the streets sluggishly, tears staining their cheeks as their eyes scanned what was left of the crystal houses. The few who had spotted him looking down from the window quickly trotted out of sight like their lives depended on it.

The few that didn’t run away immediately seemed too terrified to move, a sensation he was all too familiar with at the moment. Even as the snow began to pile onto their fur, the few paralyzed ponies still refused to move until one of the others forcibly pushed them away when they saw the reason for their fear filled gazes.

His eye sockets quickly moved from one pony to another, from destroyed buildings to crumbling towers, desperately searching for some sign of human life out in the snow. There was nothing familiar from his home, no people, cars, or even normal looking buildings.

His hand slowly lifted back up to his chest to feel his heartbeat to see if it was still there, not that it gave him much comfort when he confirmed it anyway. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind as he felt his rapid heartbeat pounding in his chest. Where was he? Was he dead? Was it a dream? How did he get there? Where was “there”? And most importantly of all, would those things kill him?

He had murdered one of their own right in front of them, it would only make sense that they’d try to get some sort of revenge or something. He knew it was only a matter of time.

He also knew that they were intelligent since he could hear a faint whisper from the two ponies in maid dresses behind him. Whenever he caught just a faint sound from them, he’d turn his head hoping to see a human or something standing there, only to see the same two ponies freeze under his curious gaze whenever he looked at them.

He could also faintly hear some chatter coming from the streets below, cries of joy, exclamations of fear, and a few cautious voices could just barely be heard over the sound of the wind. The man leaned a bit closer to the open window, trying to hear the subtle sounds of conversation on the ground below to make sure that they were talking. He knew they could talk, the grey one in the black void could talk, so of course they could all talk. But even so, he wanted more proof of it, as if one shred of evidence to the contrary could tell him that they couldn’t talk. That they weren’t alive…

That he hadn’t just become a murderer.

The pit in his stomach began to grow as he remembered how he savagely attacked that other creature. He didn’t feel bad about killing it, it was an act of self-defense after all. What ate away at his mind was how easy it was, and how he would probably need to do it again if one of those creatures attacked him. The only thing that had allowed him to kill the other creature was a sense of pure adrenaline and his natural fight or flight instincts taking over. It had all happened so quickly too.

One second, there was a demonic horse standing in front of him and then, in the blink of an eye, there was a corpse on the floor. He couldn’t remember attacking it clearly, he could only remember swinging his scepter like his life depended on it. He couldn’t even remember how long he was hitting it for, it was all just a blur to him.

Part of him was secretly grateful that he could only remember a few flashes of what he did. If he could have remembered it all clearly, he probably would have emptied his stomach on the floor of the large crystal room.

As his thoughts wandered to what he had done, each sliver of a memory slipping from his grasp before it could pain an accurate picture, the two large doors to the throne room opened again. Out of the corner of his eye socket, he could see a small platoon of the creatures in modified roman armor. They wore steel cruppers that went from their flanks to their withers, along with helmets that had purple crests that matched the purple accents in their armor. Many of the soldiers were brandishing spears, somehow holding them in one of their hooves as they stood on their other three legs.

A majority of the guards held stoic expressions as the entered the room, at least until their eyes spotted the corpse of the other creature laying in a wool sack. The man held his breath as the creatures stared at the sack and slowly turned their gazes to his back.

Ever so subtly, the man placed one hand on the window sill, waiting for when he would need to leap out of the window to make an escape.

The stunning silence that filled the room set his nerves on edge as he waited for one of them to do something.

Track Record arrived with a small group of sixteen guards by his side, along with Cannon Fodder who had taken up the rear of the group. While Track Record had been ecstatic when the creature killed King Sombra, Cannon Fodder had been severely worried. It was only because of Cannon Fodder’s insistence that some of the guards came armed with spears.

The creature had just slain the tyrant with ease and since the Empire wasn’t on fire and they still had their free will, Track Record chose not to worry. Some ponies may have called him overly optimistic at the idea of having a literal demon as their new king, but in his eyes, anything was better than King Sombra.

Some of the guards he brought shared his enthusiasm when he described the scene he witnessed while a majority of them remained skeptical about the tyrant’s supposed demise. However, when their eyes landed on the recognizable remains of King Sombra sticking out of a wool sack, they all became firm believers of Track Record’s fantastical story.

Unfortunately, Track Record couldn’t fight back the small grimace on his face as he stared at the bloody sack. While he was over ecstatic that the king had been killed, he couldn’t help but feel a bit queasy at seeing the lifeless corpse of another pony, even if that pony was a monster in a pony’s coat.

Their eyes collectively landed on the one who had killed King Sombra as it overlooked its new domain with an unreadable expression on its face. One of its hands rested on the window sill while the other firmly grasped his scepter, openly brandishing the proof that he was the one who had single hoofedly killed King Sombra.

With the arrival of the guards, the two maids quickly departed, leaving the corpse of King Sombra in the sack that sat in the throne room.

The guards threw each other cautious glances as they waited for their new leader to acknowledge their presence. Cannon Fodder made his way to the forefront of the group and looked at Emerald Secret, making sure that was alright before he turned his attention back to the bipedal beast.

“So… Can it talk?” One of the guards asked Cannon Fodder. Before he could answer, the tall creature turned its head towards the armored ponies that had entered the throne room.

Many of the soldiers flinched under his gaze as he stared at them. The lavender hood he wore had hidden his face from the guards when they initially arrived, only Track Record and Cannon Fodder had caught a glimpse of what it looked like when the old king died. Even though both of the guards had seen what laid under the hood, neither of them was completely comfortable looking at it.

“I… I can…” He quietly said as he turned his head to the armored ponies. “You can talk too?” It asked them.

Several guards nodded their heads to his question, too afraid to answer verbally as their words became stuck in their throats. An awkward silence fell over all of them as each one waited for someone else to speak next.

“Was it you… You killed King Sombra?” One of the guards asked. The creature appeared to tense up as the guard asked that question.

“… Is that the one I killed?” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper, almost as if he was asking that question silently to himself.

“Yes?” Track Record stated with some skepticism. He was originally under the impression that their new majesty knew who Sombra was, and had come here with the explicit purpose of killing the tyrant.

A sudden sense of worry and unease washed over the once optimistic Track Record. He had thought the creature was a being sent to answer their silent pleas of freedom, that it was a skilled mage that had practiced and prepared to slay their king. But was it all just a coincidence? Was the only reason why King Sombra was dead was because he was simply unlucky?

The other guards appeared to share the same thoughts as they looked at their new leader. The news that the creature didn’t even know who King Sombra was a startling revelation. If his goal wasn’t to kill King Sombra and free the Empire, then what was it? It couldn’t have been to take over the Empire, he would have needed to know who was in charge in order to do that.

“Um… What… What should we call you, my…? My Lord?” One of the guards fearfully asked.

“What?” The creature asked the guards, causing the guards to flinch under his scrutinizing gaze.

None of them wanted to acknowledge him by a title like prince, simply because they were worried that such an assumption would earn his ire like it had King Sombra. The old king had made it his mission to kill any creature that referred to him as a prince, enforcing the self-imposed title of king on everypony.

The guards in the throne room didn’t know if their new dictator wanted to be a prince, a king, a god, or heck, maybe he wanted the title of a princess. They didn’t know what would please him or what would anger him, and after seeing what he had done to King Sombra, none of them were eager to unintentionally upset their new leader.

“Well… You killed King Sombra, which makes you the new leader of the Crystal Empire. S-so what do you want us to call you?” The same guard asked.

A moment of silence filled the air as the guards waited for their new leader to do or say something.

The guards waited with bated breath as their ruler contemplated their seemingly innocent question, a war raging within his mind that none of the guards would completely understand.

The creature looked down at the hand that laid on the window sill, his thumb rubbing roughly against his index finger for a moment as if he was trying to wipe something off of it. His hand slowly lifted to one of the perturbing fangs, allowing him to run his thumb along the long tooth.

“Skeletor,” their majesty finally answered.

The guards gave their new leader time to follow his answer up with a title or perhaps even a last name. Many of them assumed he’d choose to be called “King Skeletor” or “Emperor Skeletor”. But, when no more words escaped his throat, the guards took his silence as a sign to thank Faust that they hadn’t somehow managed to upset Lord Skeletor unintentionally, and left their new ruler to his own devices as they left to inform the citizens of their new overlord.

Chapter 4. Ladder to Success and Stairs of Torment.

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Skeletor stared at the crystal throne that sat atop a tall dias with a sense of mild interest. A small flight of stairs carved from sparkling amethyst crystals led towards a single black obsidian chair that had velvet cushions that had fallen apart from years of cold weather. The carpet beneath his feet was in a similar state of disrepair, fraying at the seams with large patches of cloth missing from it.

The rest of the throne room didn’t fare any better, crumbling support pillars, massive holes in the ceiling that let snow fall into the room, and torn banisters lined the walls. The cleanest part of the throne room was where he had killed the old King, the spot being attacked vigorously with soap and water by the two maids that had been called in to take care of it.

The crystal floors and walls that the maids cleaned sparkled with a vibrant beauty the allowed the magical properties of the crystals to shine through them. A warm and inviting aura radiated off of the crystals that they had cleaned; breathing new life into the throne room that set Skeletor’s nerves at ease whenever he looked at the crystals.

Skeletor allowed a content sigh to escape him as he stared longingly into the crystals, letting his concerns and problems dissolve as he lost himself in the intricate patterns inside the crystals. The calming patterns in the crystals lulled him into a sense of security and comfort in the bizarre fever dream he found himself in, giving him a pleasant part of the nightmare to stare at.

He glanced over his shoulder to see where the green pony was standing earlier, wondering if she was real or another figment of his imagination.

Needless to say, Skeletor wasn’t completely convinced that what he was seeing was real. He expected to be woken up in a hospital bed at any minute. It made sense to him after all, he couldn’t believe that he had been sent to wherever he was, and then inexplicably turned into a king or something.

Skeletor didn’t believe that there was any chance that any of it could have been real, to him, it was all just an incredibly vivid and weird dream. He wondered if someone at comic con had drugged him, or if the hospital he was in gave him the wrong medicine. For a brief moment, he also entertained the idea he had actually lost his mind and was stuck in an insane asylum.

All of those answers made sense, and all of them held the silent promise of being able to go home at some point.

He threw another glance at the spot the green-furred pony stood earlier before he turned his attention back to the intricate patterns in the crystal walls. The pony had left the room around the same time as the guards, quickly bowing to him before she trotted out of sight with the bloody sack that held the other pony’s body. He had idly wondered what they were doing with it when they left but quickly shook that question out of his head.

It didn’t matter what an imaginary pony did with a fake corpse, what mattered was how long they were gone and how much time must have passed while he was unconscious in the real world. He’d wake up in a bed, freed from his rubber mask and scrubbed clean of his blue body paint. Then he’d be able to talk to his family, ask what happened, and hopefully, be sent home immediately after with a clean bill of health. Everything would make sense when he woke up. He’d remember his name and what happened before he passed out at comic con.

The absolute worst part of his nightmare was not being able to remember his name. He had remembered nearly everything else about himself and his family with the exception of his name and face, and it made him feel sick to not know what it was. But, that would be easily fixed when he asked them, or maybe he’d wake up and suddenly remember his own name.

He just needed to keep reassuring himself that everything was fine and it would all work out. He’d wake up from his weird fever dream and forget about it a few hours later, all of it turning into nothing but passing memories as he went on with his life. In the meantime, he’d simply lose himself in the shimmering beauty of the ornate crystal wall in front of him as he tried to bury the memory of when he attacked the other pony.

As he stared into the reflective surface of the crystal walls, he saw a faint image of his skeletal face staring back at him. The crystals weren’t reflective enough to show his face in detail, but Skeletor was still able to see the ghost of a reflection staring back at him if he stared hard enough. Skeletor felt the pit in his stomach grow as he looked at the animate skull staring back at him. His heartbeat steadily rose as the face of death stared into his soul, promising an unfortunate end to his life very soon.

Skeletor quickly tore his eye sockets away from the wall after he noticed his new reflection. He desperately tried to cling to a memory of what he should have looked like, or what he sounded like, of what his Damn name was. He tried to remember anything that could reassure him that he was a living human being.

Skeletor gritted his teeth in frustration as he tried to remember something from his life. He remembered his mother’s name was Saryn, he had a brother named Rand, and he had a girlfriend named Evelyn. He could remember them so clearly, so why couldn’t he remember his name or face?

What was my name, dammit!? He questioned within his mind. Anger and bitterness welled up within him, allowing his emotions to overflow as he struggled to latch onto a clear memory of his life.

Unbeknownst to Skeletor, as he continued to fight a battle against his own memories, his emotions triggered a spark of magic to run through the staff in his hand. The magic of the staff took the confusion and misery of its master’s mind and created a spell of guidance to reveal what laid hidden to him.

While the spell failed to show him any of his memories in full detail, the sudden burst of dark magic from his scepter did reveal something else.

As dark energy crackled through the ram skull of his scepter, causing the dried blood on it to flake away, a bolt of magic leapt from the ram horns and struck one of the crystals that stood behind the immaculate throne. Skeletor only noticed what was happening when a thunderous explosion of magic alerted him to the mystical scene happening right next to him.

He watched in an awed terror as the magic reflected off of the crystals behind the throne, hitting the center of the throne room and revealing a spiraling staircase that descended into a void of darkness.

Skeletor stood there momentarily in stunned silence as he stared into the black abyss below him. Another layer of his nightmare had opened up to a shadowy abyss that called out to him. A faint siren’s song whispered sweet reassuring promises of comfort and safety, compelling him to slowly make his way towards the edge of the descending staircase.

“What the fuck…” Skeletor muttered under his breath as he tried to peer into the darkness below him.

He hesitantly placed one of his feet on the first step, testing its durability before he put all of his weight on it. The stone stair beneath his foot stood firmly in place, not budging an inch underneath him.

Before he continued on, he looked back to the throne room doors as if waiting for someone to tell him not to go down. Skeletor stared at the closed doors for a full minute, counting the seconds in his mind, before he took the next step down.

“Down the rabbit hole we go,” Skeletor said to himself as he steeled his nerves and continued down the spiral staircase.

Emerald Secret and the guards, along with a hoofful of cleaning staff, stared at the sack that held the old king’s corpse. Several ponies covered their noses with their hooves as they attempted to block out the smell of his rotting carcass.

Their gazes never left the bloody sack as fear had compelled them to not look away. Each of them was worried that, at any given moment, his corpse would spring to life and slaughter them all. But, that wouldn’t happen. They knew that the old king was finally dead, but reasoning did nothing to dissuade their immense fear.

“So… What do we do with it?” Track Record finally asked.

Emerald Secret pondered that question and had thrown out a series of answers that wouldn’t work. They couldn’t give him a proper burial, and it wasn’t like they could just toss his body in a trash can. Emerald Secret had briefly thought of throwing his body in the pit but quickly tossed away that idea as well. First, they would need to get all of the other corpses out of it and give them a respectful send-off.

“It’s obvious,” Cannon Fodder stated firmly. “We burn it and then we burn the ashes.”

“But… Shouldn’t the citizens know that he’s dead first?” One of the maids asked.

“I tried that," Track Record told her. "They didn’t believe me when I told any of them.”

“But we have his body as proof," one of the guards spoke up. "That’ll work better than your word.”

“Alright then, raise your hoof if you want to touch his corpse, let alone parade it around the Empire on a stick,” Cannon Fodder stated to the collected ponies. To the shock of no one, not a single hoof was raised. “Thought so, none of us even want to touch it because we’re afraid it’ll burst to life at any moment. So, I say we burn it and get it over with.”

“So how do we convince the ponies outside that we’re finally free?” Emerald Secret asked.

“We’ve got a walking monster as proof in the throne room!” Cannon Fodder exclaimed.

“Hey now, you can’t talk badly about our new lord like that,” Track Record admonished. 

“That thing isn’t our lord, it’s our next tyrant. Do you think a monster like that helped us out of the goodness of its bucking heart? Tartarus no! We just traded one monster for another, and as soon as we burn this corpse we’ll have to burn that thing next!”

“We can’t do that! Lord Skeletor saved us!”

“It was a coincidence! He just killed the first pony he saw and that was it! His bloodlust may be sated now, but once he gets that itch again he’ll kill any random pony he can get his hands on. I say we kill it quickly and wait for Princess Celestia or Princess Luna to come from Dream Valley.”

“They did come and guess what, they’re gone. I don’t know about the rest of you, but Princess Luna knocked me out the moment she arrived. She and Princess Celestia must have fought King Sombra, and since I didn’t see either of them when I woke up, then that means they’re DEAD!” Track Record shouted at Cannon Fodder as tears began to well up in his eyes.

A stunning silence filled the room as everypony stared at Track Record with wide eyes. None of them had really considered the fact that the princesses were already there a few minutes before they fell asleep, and none of them had known that they were locked in a dimensional void for over a thousand years. The only ones who knew about their imprisonment were currently rotting inside of a sack or in another country.

Slowly, tears began to fall from Track Record’s eyes as his own words slowly caught up to him. The pain and misery he had felt from years of being a slave had burst forth like a broken dam, letting all of his emotions rush forward as he openly wept in front of everypony in the room.

“They’re… They’re dead…” Track Record silently spoke, as more tears rolled down his cheeks. “King… Sombra killed them… And now you want to kill the one creature that avenged them?! I don’t care if it was a coincidence, I don’t care what Skeletor wants! He killed Sombra, and that’s good enough for me! That bastard enslaved us, made us kill our friends, he… He made me kill my mom, dammit….” Track Record quietly admitted as he fell to his forehooves to cry.

Tears filled the eyes of all those present, memories of the atrocities they were forced to commit flooding to the forefront of their minds. Cannon Fodder placed a hoof on Track Record’s withers as he fought back his own tears.

“Who’s left?” Track Record quietly asked them. “Princess Amore is dead, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are probably dead too… All of the Alicorns are dead. Sombra killed our goddesses. All we have left is Skeletor… He killed Sombra, he avenged everypony who was ever killed by Sombra, he freed us from Sombra. Can’t we give him a chance?”

Silence was their only reply as everypony around him considered his words. Their princesses, the goddesses who brought peace to Terra for hundreds of years, were all most likely dead. There wasn’t anypony left who could even face off against their new lord, was there any reason to try fighting a battle they knew they’d lose?

“So… We just accept Skeletor as our new leader?” One of the maids asked.

“I mean, he did kill Sombra,” one of the guards added on.

“But why did he do it?" Another guard asked. "He didn’t know who Sombra was, so why'd he kill him?”

“Well, we could ask Lord Skeletor,” one of the maids suggested. "Maybe he could sense the evil in Sombra? Or, maybe he had a different reason for killing him."

“You’re suggesting we talk to it?” Cannon Fodder asked.

“Do you have a better idea?” The maid asked.

“Alright, one thing at a time everypony,” Emerald Secret firmly announced. “First, we burn Sombra’s remains to a crisp. Then, we’ll discuss what to do about… about Lord Skeletor.”

Several guards and maids nodded their heads in agreement as two guards went off in search of a matchbox to light the corpse on fire.

“Do you think he’s still where we left him?” Emerald Secret asked Cannon Fodder quietly.

“Yeah. I had two guards placed outside the doors just in case it tried to leave. It should still be in the throne room when we get back,” Cannon Fodder reassured her. "I mean, where could it possibly wander off to?"

“Fuck… You… Stairs!” Skeletor complained between large breaths as he physically climbed his way up a disturbingly long staircase.

After he had reached the bottom of the first staircase, he had found a strange door that led to a stone wall. After hitting the door with his scepter in a fit of anger, the stones behind it crumbled away to reveal an ascending spiral staircase in a white void.

After looking at the void of light that stretched in every direction, giving the room an appearance of something between a wall and the concept of infinity, he decided to go up the new staircase.

A decision that he was greatly regretting with each passing moment.

Twenty consecutive minutes of walking had stripped Skeletor of his strength, his legs wobbling loosely under him with each shaky step. And with each step forward, he considered the possibility of throwing himself back down the stairs, letting his body tumble down the seemingly endless staircase so his pain could end. But each time he thought of just turning around and falling down, he’d look up to see the top of the stairs just a few flights higher so he continued on with great effort.

He had no idea what was at the top of the tower and he didn’t really give a damn at that point. Unless it was a gallon of water or an elevator back down then nothing at the top of those stairs would be worth it.

“Fuck… Stairs… Fuck ‘em…” Skeletor mumbled to himself as he silently promised to find the architect who built that staircase and make them climb it.

Thoughts of his situation being a dream vanished as he felt his lungs burn. Since he had never felt pain in a dream, he went to the next plausible answer, it was all a delusional fantasy. He was most likely walking up a large staircase at the hotel he was staying at after assaulting a mailbox with the scepter he bought at comic con.

That was the only thing that made sense to him, it was the only thing that explained away all of the craziness. He just needed to let whatever drugs were in his system wear off or wait to be carted off to a hospital. They’d fix him up, and everything would make sense again.

Skeletor stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He looked down to see how much progress he made and was taken aback by how high up he was. He desperately cringed to the wall behind him as he shoved his body against it, trying to get away from the edge of the stairs as best he could.

Don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down. Skeletor thought to himself as he looked in the opposite direction. When he looked up, he could see the end of the stairs just a flight above him and decided to continue on his arduous trek. His muscles burned with an indescribable pain as he continued forward. As Skeletor neared his goal, he began skipping every other step, physically throwing his body forward to catch himself on the step above him so he could get to the top sooner.

After a few grueling minutes of tormenting his body by pushing it beyond its limits, Skeletor reached the peak of the staircase.

“I… I made… it…” Skeletor croaked out as he passed the final step. His body immediately gave out afterwards, demanding him to rest and recuperate for a bit before he killed himself.

His chest heaved up and down as his burning lungs demanded oxygen. His throat felt like it was made of solid concrete, making breathing a much more painful task for him. Skeletor couldn’t find the strength to move any of his limbs after he collapsed and resided himself to laying on the cold floor of the circular room.

As Skeletor laid on the floor, his head fell limply to the side allowing him to see something through his blurred vision.

A perfectly cut diamond in the shape of a heart hovered in the center of the room two yards away from him, emitting a strange thumping noise that sounded like the bewitching lullaby of a mother's heartbeat. The siren serenade of the heart called out to him, begging him to come towards it. As much as he wanted to answer the call of the heart, his exhausted body refused to move from its spot on the floor.

With a great deal of effort, Skeletor weakly raised a hand towards the shimmering heart, reaching towards it as if his arm could just stretch the rest of the distance and grab it. As his mind fell into a drifting haze, his arm fell to the ground with a loud thud and his consciousness was carried away into a calming sea of darkness.

Chapter 5. Stairway to Paradise.

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Emerald Secret swallowed nervously as she followed the others up the impossibly large stairwell. A million worries and fears raced through her mind as she thought about where Lord Skeletor had gone and what he planned to do.

After she saw that massive pit inside Sombra's, or technically in Lord Skeletor’s, throne room she had assumed that he created it using some dark spell to create a hole to Tartarus. But, those fears soon changed to confusion once she, Cannon Fodder, and Track Record reached the door at the bottom of the stairwell, which led to an enormous stairwell that went up into an infinite void of white light.

Needless to say, none of them were too eager to follow their new lord up there, but fear of the unknown and their insatiable curiosity had driven them up the impossibly tall staircase to seek answers. All three of them were silent as they climbed the staircase, worried that once the deafening silence had been shattered that the steps under their hooves would give out.

They didn’t know what their new lord was doing or why he was doing it, but several thoughts and ideas had made themselves known in Emerald Secret’s mind. Was his plan to invade the homeland of the final resting place, to usurp the throne of Faust herself, to wage war with heaven? She fearfully wondered as she and her two compatriots continued their ascent.

She had no idea where the staircase actually lead to, only that it was impossibly high and surrounded by a blinding white light on all sides, which left one possibility that she wasn’t too thrilled about.

Faust Faith had described a scene very similar to the one Emerald Secret found herself in, a description of an old pony walking up a large staircase to reach the luscious fields of heaven where they would be reunited with all of those who passed away.

After King Sombra had effectively crushed her entire faith in a year, Emerald Secret became convinced that there was no staircase to an eternal paradise. But, after finding the impressive staircase that seemed to stretch on forever, she began to believe that she would actually see heaven if she kept going forward; and she was horrified of the thought that it would possibly be on fire when she arrived, wiped out of existence by the terrifying monster that had become their lord.

The oppressive silence that hung over the weary trio of travelers soon became too much for Track Record, as he stomped his hoof down roughly on one of the steps.

“Faust all-loving, how high does this thing go?!”

“Looks like we’re about two thirds of the way up,” Cannon Fodder stated as he shot a glance over the edge of the stairs.

“We should probably take a break,” Emerald Secret suggested. “We’ll need to conserve our energy if we want to make it there.”

“Or, we could do what I said. We could go back, get all the guards we can, and then come back,” Cannon Fodder told the pair of ponies walking with him.

“I am not walking down these steps just to go back up them. Besides, what if Lord Skeletor needs us up there?” Track Record reasoned.

“Oh, Faust’s song, he doesn’t need any guards to help him. He killed Sombra by himself, he can probably handle whatever he’s gotten himself into.”

“And what has he ‘gotten himself into’?” Emerald Secret asked in turn. “For all we know, this staircase could lead to Faust’s doorstep.”

“Then all the more reason why to go back down. I don’t know about you two, but I’d rather not be around when Faust smites him with a flick of her ear.”

“Stop talking like that,” Track Record warned through his gritted teeth.

Cannon Fodder only huffed in response to Track before he sat on one of the steps.

“So… What do you two think this is?” Emerald Secret asked the pair.

“My bits are on an actual stairway to paradise,” Track Record stated as he looked at the top of the staircase. “What about you?”

“I think so too,” She replied before she turned her attention to Cannon Fodder. “What do you think?”

“Doesn’t look big enough to be a staircase to paradise, but at this point, I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was. First a demon killed Sombra and then we used the corpse as a bonfire to keep the citizens warm. So far, this is only the fourth weirdest thing I’ve seen all day.”

“Wait, what’s the third weirdest?” Track Record asked him.

“The Empire itself. It looks… Well, worse. I mean, it was already up the river Styx without a bit, but now it looks… I don’t even know. Deader I guess? I just don’t remember the Empire looking so beaten and broken.”

“Yeah, I get what you mean. I couldn’t even find my shop under all of the rubble and snow.”

“You own a shop?” Emerald Secret asked Track Record.

“Yeah, a little bakery a few blocks from here on Amethyst Avenue.”

“So, you’re a civilian then? Why are you still here?! This is guard duty, not citizen work,” Cannon Fodder chastised.

“Well I wanted to make sure Lord Skeletor was alright. Besides, she gets to come with you and she’s not a guard.”

“That’s because she outranks most of the guards.”

“Really?” Track Record asked as he turned his head towards Emerald Secret. “Soooo… Who are you?”

“Nopony important,” Emerald Secret replied quietly as she avoided Track Record’s eyes.

“Heh, ‘nopony important’ she says. She used to be the advisor to Princess Amore, she’s one of the most important ponies in this whole castle. ‘Nopony’ my right cutiemark.”

“I was the advisor. Back when Princess Amore was still alive…” Emerald Secret corrected. Another heavy silence fell over the trio as memories of their former princess resurfaced in their minds.

“… Did she ever get a proper send off?” Track Record asked the two, causing Emerald Secret to tense up at the memory of Sombra’s eventual rise to power and her princess’ prior murder.

“No. Sombra didn’t let her rest peacefully…” Emerald Secret stated. She decided not to elaborate on the atrocities committed to her princess’ corpse by the tyrant, King Sombra.

“That bucking bastard… I hope he gets whipped for eternity in Tartarus,” Cannon Fodder angrily muttered under his breath.

“Whipping’s too good. I hope he drowns in the river Styx,” Track Record added on.

Emerald Secret was about to contribute to the conversation and continue their fantasies of Sombra’s eternal torment, until the wailing moan of Lord Skeletor echoed down the staircase.

His words came out loud and slurred, as if he was suffering from delirium. “Hie-Maahn, Ah’ll get’chu ahned then bhyeast man’ll do wha diddy…”

“Is he talking to somepony up there?” Emerald Secret asked.

“It sounds more like something those zebra shamans chant when they do their weird faux magic,” Cannon Fodder added on before another strange slur of words drifted from the top of the staircase.

“What if he needs help?” Track Record questioned.

“Then that’s too bad for him. What the heck could we do anyway, be moral support?” Cannon Fodder asked in a condescending tone.

“Well it’s better than sitting on our tails and doing nothing,” Track Record argued.

As more unintelligible moans echoed from above, Track Record got to his hooves and trotted up the stairs with a new sense of direction, invigorated by the confirmation that his new lord was at the top. His pace increased by every few steps, his resolve to get to their new lord to thank him growing with each passing second.

“Damnit, civilian, slow down! You don’t know what’s up there!” Cannon Fodder shouted as he trotted after him.

“My name is Track and I do know what’s up there, Lord Skeletor is!”

“Bucking suicidal idiot,” Cannon Fodder muttered as he slowed down his pace. Emerald Secret soon trotted up next to him as they both climbed the steps, causing him to throw a thoughtful glance at her as they followed Track Record.

“Emerald, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you tagging along? I understand the fanatical idiot up ahead, and as a guard it’s my job to make sure the citizens aren’t hurt by that thing, but why are you here?”

Emerald Secret didn’t reply instantly, taking a few scant moments to organize her thoughts before she decided to answer. “I suppose I just wanted to follow you, to stay close to somepony I personally knew before the fall of the Empire. The other council members and nobles are gone, along with most of the ponies I befriended. You’re the only pony I know that’s still alive.”

Cannon Fodder stopped trotting for a moment as he absorbed her words. “The… The council is dead? I thought Sombra would at least keep them… All of them are gone, even Dice?”

“He was beheaded. Sombra didn’t allow a single ruva in the Empire aside from himself to live,” Emerald Secret delicately said, as if saying it any louder would have killed Dice a second time.

“Faust all-loving… I can’t… That bucking bastard!” Cannon Fodder exclaimed as he stomped his hoof against the stairs. “Dice didn’t even have a working horn, he wasn’t a threat, he was just a colt… You’re sure he didn’t get away?” Cannon Fodder practically pleaded, hoping beyond hope that the youngest member of the council had managed to escape.

“Sombra made me watch… He made me watch them all…” Emerald quietly admitted as tears squeezed past her eyes.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” Cannon Fodder said as he was about to put a reassuring hood on her shoulder. “I didn’t know you—”

“No!” Emerald Secret suddenly shouted as she batted his hoof away before it could touch her.

Pure fear flashed in her eyes as she looked at Cannon Fodder, her heart beat rapidly beating as she instinctively backed away from him. For a single, solitary, moment Emerald saw the worried face of her familiar friend turn into the sinister face of King Sombra grinning wickedly at her.

Cannon Fodder watched Emerald Secret panicking form with intense concern as she backed away from him. His own heart stopped beating for a second as he tried to make sense of what was happening to his friend. “Emerald, are you—"

“I’m fine! I-I just want to f-forget about it,” Emerald quickly interrupted as she trotted past Cannon Fodder.

Cannon Fodder stayed in place for a few more moments, wondering why Emerald Secret had panicked, before he began trotting up the stairs after her. Silence once again filled the air as they made their way up the stairs, both of them getting lost in their own thoughts as they stole quick and worried glances at one another.

Emerald Secret and Cannon Fodder caught up to Track, who was resting his body on the stairs for a moment as he tried to breath. However, the sound of Lord Skeletor screaming above them gave him a second wind that allowed him to gallop up the stairs.

“AAAHHHHH!”

“Lord Skeletor!” Track Record shouted as he galloped towards his lord.

Emerald Secret and Cannon Fodder swiftly followed, making quick work of the last flights of stairs before they reached the entrance to the room at the top. Track had gotten up only a half a minute earlier, using the time Emerald Secret and Cannon Fodder took to arrive to catch his breath.

“Lord… Skeletor… Are you okay? We…. We saw a staircase in…. in the throne room and… and….” The rest of Track Record’s sentence died off as he looked at what his new lord was holding.

In his hands laid a powerful artifact that had been designed to bring love and unity to all of the Empire in the days before King Sombra’s reign.

Lord Skeletor followed Track’s gaze and saw the Crystal Heart in his hands, apparently only just realizing that he was holding it. He stared at the Crystal Heart in awe as he admired its beauty, entranced by the elegance of the large magical diamond.

The heart released a rhythmic pulse that appeared to beat in sync with Emerald’s own heart, or perhaps her heart was beating in sun with the Crystal Heart. Either way, Emerald and the others were completely breathless at the sight of the majestic relic.

“You… You found it… W-what are you going to do now?” Emerald Secret asked fearfully as her new dark master cradled the Crystal Heart in his massive arms like a foal.

With the Crystal Heart, Lord Skeletor would be able to unleash an aggressive assault on Equestria, threaten his disloyal subjects to fall into place or risk having the heart shattered, or worst of all, absorb the ambient magic inside of it to add onto his own well of power. Her new dark master would become a truly unstoppable threat that could vaporize his enemies with only a single thought.

“What’s ahhh… What’s it for?” Lord Skeletor asked as he continued to stare into the Crystal Heart.

“It’s for protecting the Empire,” Cannon Fodder accidentally blurted out before he covered his muzzle with his hoof.

“Huh… Cool… How does it do that?” Lord Skeletor asked idly as his eye socket traveled the facets of the Heart.

“It uses the spirit of love and harmony to shield the Empire from the storm. King Sombra hid it from us so that we could only feel warm in the mines below the Empire, he said we’d never find it, but now… Now you have it…” Track Record told him as he took a step towards his new lord.

“If we can put in back where it belongs, we can help everypony in the Empire. Lord Skeletor, can we please place it back at the base of the castle?” Track Record begged, causing Lord Skeletor to shake himself out of whatever trance he was momentarily trapped in.

Lord Skeletor’s eye sockets locked onto Track Record’s desperate gaze. The worry and fear that Track Record held in his eyes chilled Skeletor to his core, causing his breath to nearly become hitched in his throat as he looked into Track Record’s soul through his eyes.

“Uh… Yeah, yeah, take it,” Lord Skeletor said as he held the Heart out to Track Record.

Track stared at the Heart with an apprehensive joy as he tried to convince himself to reach out and accept the Heart. He fell back to his haunches as his shaky forelegs lifted up to take the Crystal Heart, holding it in his hooves as if it was made of the most delicate glass. As he clutched the Crystal Hearth close to him as his own heart pounded violently inside his chest.

The calming pulse of the Crystal Heart allowed his racing heart to relax, a sense of serenity and comfort that enveloped his soul like a warm blanket. Track Record felt tears threatening to spill past his eyes as a disbelieving smile stretched across his muzzle.

“Th… Thank you!” He exclaimed as he held the Crystal Heart tightly. Before Lord Skeletor could even get a word in, Track Record threw a foreleg around Lord Skeleto’s torso before he galloped towards the stairs and raced out of the room.

“H-Hey, be careful damnit!” Cannon Fodder chastised as he trotted after him.

Emerald Secret was about to follow them before she stopped to look back at her new lord who laid on his back holding his stomach in pain.

“Are you alright… My lord?”

“Y-Yeah, fuck that hurt though. That guy’s got a vice’s grip. Just…. Go on without me… I’m just gonna lay here for a bit… Go do the thingy with the big thing…” Lord Skeletor commanded them with a disinterested wave of his hand as he laid on the floor.

Emerald Secret hesitated for a moment before she followed his orders and turned her back to Skeletor. She threw a last glance at the prone figure of Skeletor lying on the floor.

“Thank you… Lord Skeletor,” Emerald Secret quietly said before she trotted down the stairs.

It was a silent trip down the dozens of flights of stairs, the distant sound of Cannon Fodder yelling at Track becoming white noise as Emerald Secret became lost in her own thoughts. For the first time in a little over three years, the Crystal Heart was going to be returned to its pedestal at the base of the castle for all of the citizens to see. She should have been completely elated about the prospect of saving the Empire.

But despite the fortunate news, a nagging voice at the back of her mind demanded that she stay skeptical and refuse to believe that anything fortunate or remotely good could happen to her or the Empire. After years of misery and pain caused by her old king, Emerald Secret had lost the will to hope for a brighter tomorrow, to wish for good fortune, and to pray for salvation. But now, because of a monster that looked like it was torn from the pages of a horror story had given her just that, the ability to hope.

For the first time since the death of her princess, Emerald Secret had something to hope for, and she was terrified that believing in that faint hope would only make it hurt worse when it disappeared, snatched from her grasp by the deceiving demon that had become their new lord.

That’s his plan, isn’t it? To give us a false sense of hope, to tear it away from us and watch us wallow in grief? Why doesn’t he just kill us. Emerald Secret bitterly thought as she continued to head towards the distant voices of Cannon Fodder and Track.

It was odd in a way, each one of them held onto a certain belief about their new king that couldn’t be swayed or influenced by the others. Emerald Secret could only decide how she felt about her new lord after they returned the Heart to the central plaza at the base of the castle while Cannon Fodder and Track already had very clear opinions.

Track Record revered his new lord, displaying a type of fanaticism and faith that was only given to the Alicorn princesses. In contrast to Track’s optimism, Cannon Fodder had a clear sense of distrust towards Lord Skeletor, seemingly preparing to attack the demon at any moment should the need arise.

Part of Emerald Secret wanted to be optimistic like Track was, believing that the darkest age of the Empire had finally over, but she was held back her experience with Sombra. She couldn’t trust a demon disguised as a unicorn, how could she trust a demon that didn’t even hide what it was?

A part of her wanted to believe, she yearned for a piece of hope to cling to and never let go of again, to embrace that small piece of her that believed Lord Skeletor was doing good. But what proof did she have that he didn’t have some nefarious ulterior motive? Granted, he gave them the Heart, but who was to say it was the real Crystal Heart, and what if he was going to prevent them from activating it? He could have just been giving them that false sense of hope before ripping it away from them to watch their last bit of hope shrivel up and die.

These thoughts continued to move through her mind like a raging storm as she mechanically went down the staircase, not even noticing when she reached the darker staircase that led to the throne room.

Her memories of the things Sombra did to her flooded back into her mind as she looked at the ominous staircase to his throne room. Each and every disgusting deed brought on by the tyrant piled up inside her head, causing a vicious amount of bile to build up in her throat, begging for sweet release to rid herself of all the toxins inside her.

It took a great deal of effort on her part, but she managed to push down the bile and suppress the dark memories that haunted her.

Even though Sombra was dead, he still haunted her thoughts, he still held some amount of control over her. He was dead, and yet he still forced her to feel terrible and disgusted. He still made her feel small and weak, completely helpless to the power that he commanded through his dark magic.

Flurries of snow fell violently from the sky, pelting the crystal ponies’ coats with a barrage of snowflakes for minutes on end as they waited for answers. Were they freed, were they saved by the Alicorn sisters, what happened to the Empire, and where had all the Equestrian guards gone when the citizens blinked.

Over a thousand crystal ponies gathered at the base of the Crystal Castle, each one murmuring rumors that had spread through the Empire about the fate of King Sombra. Many had believed that the king had been killed by the Alicorn sisters while others argued that a strange monster had been the one to kill the tyrant.

Descriptions of the unknown creature varied widely between the citizens of the Crystal Empire. Some said that it was a two headed monster that had the head of an albino ram and a monkey. Others claimed that it was a teenage dragon with a yellow snout that stuck out of a purple hood. And a small percentage of ponies argued that it was a hairless minotaur in face paint.

Only a very select few citizens had received an accurate description of the creature from family members who served in the guard. The guards had gone into vivid detail when describing the bipedal giant to their families and often made great exaggerations when talking about how it killed the old king, making claims that ranged from the beast eating Sombra’s brains to it beating Sombra to death with his own skull.

The only factor that remained consistent in each story was King Sombras demise at the hands of a mysterious creature that had yet to make itself known publicly.

As the ponies waited outside for answers, getting caked in snow as the rumors spread more rapidly through the crowd. The chilling air nipped at their skin as they clamored together, using their fur coats and the breath from their hushed whispers to create a hint of desperate warmth to keep themselves alive. It wasn’t until a mustard colored pony with a purple mane trotted out of the castle with the Crystal Heart wrapped tightly in a foreleg.

A gasp of surprise rushed through the crowd as they stated at the Crystal Heart. Thousands of eyes locked onto the lost relic that laid in the mysterious stallion’s foreleg as he breathed heavily. Some ponies had recognized him as the baker who used to live on Amethyst Avenue, while others remembered him as the insane stallion that had spread the initial rumor that a monster killed the king.

“Lord… Lord Skeletor found the Crystal Heart!” He shouted with unbridled glee as he held the artifact above his head.

Soon after he shouted that, a red stallion with a silver colored mane wearing high ranking guard armor ran through the front doors of the castle.

“Bucking too old for this… Track… Stop before anypony… sees…” He trailed off as he noticed the sea of crystal ponies standing a few yards away from them. “Buck… Track! Get back here with that thing, right now!” He shouted at Track Record.

“Why?! We’ve got the Heart, we need to put it back!” Track shouted back as he trotted towards the pedestal that stood between him and the crowd.

“We don’t know if it’s real! What if it’s a trap?!” Cannon Fodder argued as he trotted in front of Track Record to stop him.

“It’s obviously the Heart! We need to put it back and save the Empire!”

“We’re not putting that thing on the pedestal until we know what it is! You think he’d just hoof the Heart over to us as he miraculously found it in a few minutes?! It’s Hogwash!” Cannon Fodder exclaimed.

As the two of them shouted at the top of their lungs desperately trying to convince the other how their plan was flawed, they both failed to notice Emerald Secret quietly trotting up behind them. She passively watched the two of them fight over who was right and who was being either too naive or too untrusting, her eyes moved to the crowd of ponies staring hungrily at the Heart.

Hope swelled inside their hearts as they stared at the pulsating Crystal Heart. While some of them held slight skepticism and worry thanks to Cannon Fodder’s arguments, the overwhelming sense of hope nearly suffocated the fear that lingered in the back of their minds.

They desperately clung to the hope that Emerald Secret was too afraid to openly embrace, igniting a sense of faith inside her that she instantly stomped out of her mind. She couldn’t have blind hope like them, she had seen the monster that had “discovered” the Crystal Heart. She had been tormented by Sombra with false promises of freedom for years, dangling it in front of her like a carrot on a stick that was just out of her reach.

And here she was again, the promise of freedom being dangled in front of her, tempting her to slam the Heart onto the pedestal only to realize that it was a fake. Or maybe it was real and, at any moment, Skeletor would arrive in a cloud of dark bellowing smoke and proclaim himself as the new ruler to the amassed ponies before he would snatch the Heart from Track Record’s hooves.

It was all a game to Skeletor, a way to hurt them even more than how Sombra did, and all she could do was play his sick game.

As Track and Cannon Fodder continued to argue loudly, she trotted up behind them and took the Heart from under Track’s foreleg and went around Cannon Fodder.

She trotted towards the center of the plaza, walking with the same apprehension as somepony marching towards the gallows to be hanged. Cannon Fodder tried to go after her to prevent her from doing something potentially dangerous, but Track pinned him to the ground before he could even take a step.

The muffled voice of Cannon Fodder screamed unintelligible words that tried to convince her to stop. His warnings and concerns fell on deaf ears as she approached the lone pedestal. It stood erected like a tombstone, a symbol of the Empire’s death when Princess Amore drew her last breath. King Sombra had left it as a reminder of what they lost, of what they could never have again.

Emerald Secret stood in front of the pedestal, the Crystal Heart beating with a furious thunder as it got closer. Emerald Secret could feel the Heart being pulled towards the pedestal by an unforeseen force.

She lifted the Crystal Heart to the pedestal and, for a split second, accepted the hope that burned inside of her.

An overwhelming sense of security and safety washed over her instantly once she let go, reminding her of the warm touch of Princess Amore’s magic.

A luminescent blue aura exploded from the Crystal Heart, passing through her and everypony in the Empire and bathing them in the love the princess felt for them and the Empire when she was still alive.

Emerald Secret was too stunned to hear the uproar of cheers that boomed behind her. All of her attention was solely dedicated to the spinning Crystal Heart in front of her, watching it with a stupefied gaze as her mouth fell open.

It had actually worked. Peace and love had been restored to the Crystal Empire.

A joyous smile graced Emerald Secret’s muzzle as she stared at the regal beauty of the Crystal Heart. Years of torment, pain, and misery had finally come to an end, the years of the King Sombra's rule were finally over. Relief and joy flooded the Empire as the crystal ponies cheered in glee. For only a moment, everything was right with the world until it was instantly shattered by the ear-piercing cry from the heavens.

“Fuck! IT HURTS! GAAAAAAAAAAH!” Lord Skeletor screamed in agony from the top of the tower.

Hundreds of crystal ponies flinched at the wailing cries of pain that echoed through the air, drowning their joy and laughter. Fear flashed across their faces as they stared up at the barrier that was erected to protect the Empire from the never ending winter. None of them knew where the screams had come from, except for the three ponies who had talked to the voice's owner.

“Lord Skeletor!” Track Record shouted as he galloped back to the Crystal Castle.

Emerald Secret stared at the top of the tower in horror for a few brief moments before she rushed off after Track Record.

Chapter 6. Breakfast and a History Lesson.

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The harsh light of morning leaked through the blinds of a nearby window, allowing the morning rays to land on the invisible eyelids of a weakened lord of darkness.

Consciousness returned to Skeletor at a snail’s pace as the beams of light stirred him from his deep slumber. The first thing Skeletor noticed was a damp rag resting on the frontal bone of his skull.

His stiff arm moved up so the palm of his hands could blindly dig into his temples before he took the rag off of his head.

“M-my lord, you’re awake?” A vaguely familiar feminine voice asked him.

The sudden noise in the relatively quiet room pushed Skeletor further into the realm of consciousness. He opened his invisible eyelids and was greeted to the sight of a tapestry of colors above him. He stared at the intricate patterns that were designed into the ceiling for a long time, taking in the mural of spring time flowers and that interwove into a river of greens, purples, and blues.

“Where… Where am I?” Skeletor weakly asked as he slowly rose from the confides of his blankets.

“You’re in the infirmary, my lord. How are you feeling?” The green mare asked him. Skeletor turned his head to the right of his bed to get a better look at the pony, blinking his invisible eyelids to clear his vision.

“Like crap... What happened?”

As his vision began to clear he noticed her green coat had a noticeable shine to it, as if each individual hair on her body was kissed by the frost of winter. Her raven black mane was combed back and braided into a beautiful half updo. Her eyes were also more lifelike, a stoic fire of pride and happiness burning behind her once dull green irises. Beneath those passionate eyes laid a genuine smile on her muzzle as she looked at her lord, something that Skeletor hadn’t seen at all since arriving at the Crystal Empire.

“You returned the Crystal Heart, my lord. Once we placed it at the center of the castle’s plaza we heard you screaming from the tower. When we galloped to the stairs, we found you lying unconscious a flight away from the top of the tower. You were unconscious for a day, my lord, and all of us were terrified that… Well, no use in worrying about that now that you’re awake,” she quickly explained.

Skeletor only nodded dumbly as his eyes drifted down to the two demonic feet that poked out from under the covers at the base of his bed, one of which was heavily wrapped in pink tinted bandages.

“It’s… It’s real…” Skeletor mumbled under his breath.

“Pardon, my lord?”

“I… I’m sorry, what?”

“I asked what you said, my lord.”

“Lord?… Right. Right. Right. I’m uh… I’m just thirsty… Could you get me a glass of water?” Skeletor asked before his stomach decided to voice its own desires with a loud growl. “And uh, something to eat too?”

“Of course, my lord. I’ll go to the kitchens and tell them to prepare a meal for you. I’m sure they’ll be ecstatic to hear about your recovery!” Emerald Secret beamed as she happily trotted out of the room with a prominent pep in her step.

Skeletor stared at the door that Emerald Secret had left through, praying that a real human doctor would walk through the doors at any given moment to tell him he was hallucinating. As the seconds ticked by and turned into minutes, Skeletor slowly brought a hand to up to his face to feel the rough edges of his skull.

“It’s real… oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” He panicked as he clutched the sides of his skull with both hands.

“This can’t be real, this can’t be real… I’m… I’m hallucinating! Wait, no I’m…. I’m not hallucinating, I’m-I’m dreaming, I’m… Oh fuck me! What the fuck is going on!?” Skeletor exclaimed as he attempted to bite his lower lip, a nervous tick from his past life that failed to work in his demonic body.

Skeletor winced in pain as one of his new large fangs chipped his lower jaw. “Ow! Fuck!” He shouted as he quickly held a hand to his jaw.

“Oh god, I-I’m not dreaming, am I? B-but this can’t be real right?” Skeletor rhetorically asked himself as he pulled himself out of bed.

As he stood up, he noticed that his skin was covered in a strawberry scented salve and wrapped in bandages that left little to the imagination. The only piece of clothing left on him was a black pair of underwear on his crotch and every other article of clothing was placed on a pile next to the bed. Skeletor quickly redressed himself once he saw his clothes, using the purple cloak and hood to cover as much of his exposed body as possible, as if not letting other see him would allow him to deny the existence of his monstrous feet or disproportionately sized muscles.

After properly covering himself, Skeletor ran a finger across the new imperfection on his jaw and noticed that it had seemingly vanished in the time he used to dress himself. His hand blindly searched his jaw bone for any hint of damage before his attention was taken by the sound of the door opening.

Skeletor turned to see the green pony from earlier trot into the room with the Havoc Staff in one of her fore-hooves. He stared at the hoof for a long moment as he tried to figure out how such a flat limb could grab anything, let alone a large scepter that towered over the pony.

“Here’s your scepter, my lord. The cleaning staff wanted to make sure that it didn’t have any… stains on it from Sombra.”

“Oh… Uh, Thanks…” Skeletor said as accepted the Havoc Staff.

“Not a problem. I went to the kitchens and told them that you’d like a meal and some water, my lord. If you’d please follow me, I can lead you to the dining hall for breakfast.”

“Alright then, thanks uh… I’m sorry, but, what is your name?”

“Emerald Secret, my lord, your royal advisor. Allow me to say that it is a wondrous honor to serve you, my lord.”

“Why do you keep calling me lord?” Skeletor asked as he followed Emerald Secret out of the door and down the corridor. As he stepped out of his room, he noticed that the hall had a plethora of guards lining the walls outside his room, standing at attention waiting for an order. Skeletor felt himself tense up as he looked at the surprisingly stoic looking colorful ponies in battle damaged armor, he never believed something so oddly cute could look so menacing.

“I-I’m sorry sire, I had just assumed you preferred the title of lord since you never corrected that guard who asked for your name. What would you like to be referred to as, you could be a king, a prince, or perhaps emperor would be better.”

“Wait, hold on, why would I be any of those?” Skeletor asked as he stole a glance at one of the many stoic guards. They wore the same iron armor he had seen in the throne room, but instead of spears each of these ponies were armed with a gladius that was sheathed at their right hip. Skeletor could feel the eyes of the guards he passed by stare at the back of his hood, borrowing a hole into the back of his skull with their intense stares as he felt them silently size him up.

“Because you’re the new… Well, we can discuss titles with the rest of the council. After you killed King Sombra, you could call yourself a demigod.”

“Demi—Hold up, I killed your king, right?”

“That was the title he made us use, yes.”

“So… That just makes me the king?”

“If you want. Personally, my lord, I don’t think the title of king holds as much weight as a lord. Not to mention, that even though a majority of the citizens adore you, I’m not too sure how they’d react to having another king,” Emerald Secret advised.

The full weight of his position fell upon him like a bolder at that moment. He shuddered at the sudden power he had accidentally amassed, a great responsibility passed down onto him that he had never rightfully earned, and no idea how to properly wield it. And that was a lot of power to just thrust on someone who wasn't prepared for it. One wrong word or action and it'd be a revolution of tiny colorful equines demanding for his head to be put on a spike.

“And… Everyone is alright with me being king? They’re okay with what I did to the old one?” He asked as he threw a quick glance at one of the many sheathed gladiī, waiting for one of them to pull out their swords and run it through him.

“ ‘Okay?' My lord, forgive my bluntness, but that is a complete understatement. To say they were 'okay' would be like saying the Crystal Heart looks ‘nice’,” Emerald Secret commented jokingly, as if calling the Crystal Heart nice was a grave insult to its angelic beauty.

“... So, you’re perfectly fine with me killing him? There won’t be any repercussions?”

“Of course not. Anypony who wanted to do something stupid like avenge that bastard would have to get through all of the guards first. Nopony here is about to let our new leader come to harm.”

“W-well surely there must be someone else who could take up the mantle of king right?” Skeletor asked, secretly hoping that the immense responsibility of leadership would go to someone else. He'd rather be an alive nobody for a few years than a dead somebody in a few weeks.

“Nope. Thankfully that wretched tyrant never attempted to sire an heir to the throne, so you are fully unopposed in the matter.”

“B-but there must be somebody more qualified,” Skeletor stated.

“Unfortunately… You might be the last,” Emerald Secret said quietly with a tinge of pain resonating in her words. “The sun rose this morning, albeit very oddly, so there’s hope that the Alicorn sisters may be alive. But sire, even if the princesses could lead us, I’m sure there’s nopony else your subjects would want to follow other than you,” Emerald Secret reassured.

Skeletor didn’t quite understand the reference to a sun rising or acorn sisters, so he chose to ignore it and move onto a more important matter.

“Right, subjects… Uh, out of curiosity, what are they?”

“The crystal ponies, my lord. Oh my, I just realized that you probably didn’t even know that. My mistake, I’ll be sure to have Copper Plate prepare a history lesson for you regarding the Empire’s original formation. Oh wait, we could have a play instead! I know that the actors haven’t had much time to rehearse, but I’m sure they’d be thrilled to present a show for you. Not to mention it would do greatly to boost morale of the Empire even more!” Emerald happily chirped as she trotted down the hallway a bit more quickly.

“Oh, it’ll be a lovely addition to the next Crystal Fair. It won’t be ready for this fair, but if we’re lucky the actors and actresses can be ready in a few months and you can watch it then. In the meantime, Copper Plate’s history lesson should be enough to get you started on the basic knowledge you’ll need. Wait, no that might not work though… My lord, pardon me for my question if it offends you, but can you read?”

“Of course, I can read.”

“My humblest apologies for believing otherwise, my lord.”

“It’s alright… So… Where am I exactly?” Skeletor asked as he looked at the crystal walls that made up the interior of the castle. Large monoliths of multifaceted crystals towered over him, allowing the ceiling to rise a few dozen yards above his head. The ceiling was high enough to allow several large candlestick chandeliers to hang over overhead that held brilliantly bright orange flames that danced on blue candlesticks.

“The medical wing of the castle,” Emerald Secret told him. “Track Record and I tried to bring you here as soon as we heard your screams, though it ended up taking a few more guards to come and help move you. N-not that you’re overweight or anything! It’s just that there were a lot of stairs and—"

“I get it, Emerald,” Skeletor interrupted. “I meant more specifically where I am like… Continent wise. Are we somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle or maybe the North Pole? How far away from America are we?”

“I’m not sure where those are. We’re in the Crystal Empire, in the Frozen North of Equestria.”

“Equestria? Damnit, you might as well have said Narnia." Skeletor muttered to himself as he continued to follow Emerald Secret. It took around another minute or so of walking until they reached two elegant doors that reached to the peaks of the ceiling.

Skeletor silently marveled at the intricate carvings that were etched into the massive rectangular sugilites that acted as a pair of doors to the dining room. Although time had worn away most of the carvings, allowing them to nearly disappear with age, he could still see the figure of a tall pony with wings and a horn carved into each door. A pure image of divinity and regality staring into his eye sockets with half lidded eyes and a warm smile on her muzzle.

Emerald Secret pushed the door open with surprising ease. “After you, my lord.”

“Thank you,” Skeletor said as he entered the lavish dining room.

The dining hall was filled with several extraordinarily long tables that barely came up to his knees, covered in white tablecloths that held dozens of plates made of clear crystal plates and platinum silverware.

The velvet colored chairs were much larger and closer to the ground than what he was used to, the legs of the chairs barely letting the chair rise three inches above the floor. The seats of the chairs were also much larger than what was normal for human chairs, allowing a pony to sit comfortably on the chairs with all four limbs touching the seat.

Skeletor walked towards the table with the largest backrest that was placed at the head of the centermost table and took a seat, deciding to sit cross legged in it as he did so. Skeletor waited for Emerald to either leave the room or join him for breakfast, only to notice that Emerald Secret was standing stock still at the entrance like a decorative statue.

“Um… Are you going to take a seat too?” Skeletor asked, feeling awkward that he was the only one sitting at the low table.

“Thank you for the invitation, my lord,” Emerald Secret replied respectfully with a bow before she trotted up to the table and took a seat to Skeletor’s right.

Before Skeletor could attempt to strike up some form of conversation or ask Emerald Secret a few questions, an orange furred stallion with a bright albino colored mane trotted into the room through a smaller door that was tucked away to one of the corners of the room. Skeletor took notice of the comically large chef’s hat perched on top of the stallion’s mane that slightly swayed from side to side whenever the pony would trot on a different hoof. He somewhat admired the balance needed to wear something that clearly wasn’t designed for a pony’s head, and if it were designed for a pony then Skeletor would question why someone would design something so unfit for a creature like the stallion.

He also noticed an image of a frying pan that hovered over a small fire on each of the stallion’s flanks. Skeletor’s invisible eyes flicked over to Emerald Secret’s seat to see if she had an image similar to the one the stallion had. Surely enough, an image of a magnifying glass with a question mark inside of it was on full display on her left flank and, even though he couldn’t see the other one, he would have guessed that a nearly identical image was on her right flank as well.

“Good morning, your highness. It’s an honor to prepare your meal, Lord Skeletor, I’m the head chef, Pan,” the stallion introduced with a respectful bow. “I would also like to apologize for the quality and stock of our food at the moment. We couldn’t find any of the lambs in their pens and the subterranean farms are either so overgrown that we can’t get to the actual crops, or they’re completely dead. What’s even more strange is that the food in the pantries is completely stale or mummified. Thankfully though, we still had plenty of jars of crystalberry jam and used it to make a large amount of stew for the citizens,” Pan said through a clearly nervous smile.

“Wait, stew made of jam?” Skeletor questioned which prompted a response from the green mare sitting to his right.

“Desperate times call for intuitive solutions, my lord. Since you were indisposed of, the new council took up the obligation of keeping the citizens fed and warm while we try to fix the Empire. Don’t worry sire, any big decisions in the future will be left up to you, now that you’re awake,” Emerald Secret reassured.

“Alright…” Skeletor said, before a noticeable growl from his stomach reminded him of his need for food. “So, you only have stew at the moment?” Skeletor asked the stallion.

“Yes. My humblest apologies, your highness.”

“Well, when in Rome, I suppose. Could I get one of those jam stews then?”

“I’m sorry, your highness, but there isn’t any meat in that dish.”

“That’s fine,” Skeletor said with a wave of his hand. “Never really liked soup with meat in int anyway, too soggy for my tastes.”

“You’d be fine with something that wasn’t meat?” Pan asked with a look of pure bafflement on his face.

“Of course, I’m not a picky eater.”

“B-but aren’t you a carnivore?”

“Carnivore? Oooooh, you mean these,” Skeletor said as he tapped a finger against one of his menacingly sharp fangs. “I’m actually an omnivore.”

“A what?”

“Omnivore, it means that I can eat whatever I have on hand. Whatever you prepare for me will be great, Pan,” Skeletor reassured him.

“Thank you for the preemptive praise, Lord Skeletor, I’ll make sure that we can not only meet your standards, but surpass them later on once we have more ingredients on hoof.”

“I’d like that very much, thank you,” Skeletor said, causing Pan to nod in satisfaction and bow before he trotted off back to the kitchen.

“So, I take it that ponies aren’t omnivores?” He asked Emerald Secret.

“No. While we used sheep for meat whenever carnivorous creatures visited the Empire, we mostly used them for getting wool to make blankets and bedding. Though, for some reason, all of the sheep are dried up husks,”

“Really?”

“Yes. It’s strange, a few days ago the pens were full and the farms were perfectly fine. But something happened while Princess Luna placed us under a sleep spell. Some of the council members believe that it happened because Sombra died, but a few of us, myself included, believe he did something during his fight with the princesses.”

“Why would he do that?”

“We’re not sure, but it’s the only explanation that we have,” Emerald Secret answered lamely, as if she were ashamed of her own explanation.

“Alright. What else can you tell me about the Empire?” Skeletor asked as he tapped a finger on his knee.

“Oh, yes. While I may not be as well versed in history as Copper Plate, I believe I can give you a brief history of the Empire while we wait for your food to arrive,” Emerald Secret said before she cleared her throat to prepare for a small lecture to catch her new lord up on the history of the Empire.

“The Crystal Empire was formed by the crystal ponies, thestrals, and ruvas, who had initially refused to settle in Dream Valley with the pegasi, earth ponies, and the unicorns. During their trek towards the north, the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies accidentally summoned spirits called windingos. The windingos brought a terrible storm that made the Frozen North a much more treacherous landscape. While the ponies of Dream Valley were able to chase away the spirits through the power of acceptance and love, our ancestors weren’t as lucky. The storm of the Frozen North made the windings too strong to chase off with our love, so they did the next best thing they could, they survived.

“Inside of the tunnels that would one day make up the foundation of the Crystal Empire, our ancestors found a magical crystal they named the Crystal Heart. With it, they were able to erect a barrier over a good portion of the Frozen North, allowing them to erect the first buildings that would make up the Crystal Empire. Centuries later, Princess Amore found our Empire and became the representative of Dream Valley, eventually becoming the ruler of the Crystal Empire after speaking on behalf of the Empire for nearly a thousand years. Peace and happiness continued to power the Crystal Heart, allowing us to be protected from the storm.

“But then, a power hungry ruva tampered in the dark side of magic and used his newfound abilities to overthrow Princess Amore… … For three years, he made us suffer. He took advantage of our removed freewill, using us as a physical shield to prevent the ponies of Dream Valley from marching towards the Empire. So, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna flew in with heir pegasi and thestrals instead, and Princess Luna used her magic to send many of the crystal ponies to sleep, preventing them from harming themselves or her soldiers. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to send everypony in the Empire into a dream, so a large portion of Sombra’s slaves were still able to fight their forces. Nopony is really sure what happened after that. The slaves that were awake claimed that they blinked and suddenly, all of the thestrals and pegasi were gone and the Empire was on the brink of collapsing.

“Many of us believe that Sombra… That he killed Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and that the death of the diarchy of Dream Valley did something to the Empire. But some of us hold out hope since the sun rose this morning, which either means the sisters fled and teleported their army away, or they died and the unicorns of Dream Valley took up the mantle of raising the sun and moon,” Emerald Secret explained.

“Wait, what do you mean raising the sun and moon?” Skeletor questioned.

“You don’t know about the Alicorn sisters? My lord, the sisters raised and lowered the celestial bodies since the Goddess of Chaos severed their ties to Terra’s gravity. At first, the ruva and unicorns took up the job of moving them, causing entire bloodlines to lose their magic by sacrificing it to continue cycles of night and day. It wasn’t until Princess Celestia and Princess Luna arrived that the sun and moon began to regularly rise and fall once again.”

“Really?” Skeletor asked with a subtle skepticism that he attempted to disguise as genuine interest.

While he was willing to accept that unicorns, pegasi, and the other creatures she listed were real, Skeletor doubted the validity of the latter half of Emerald Secret’s explanation. It sounded more like a religious story than a historical record, especially since her story involved a God.

“Oh yes, I’m surprised that you don’t know that part. Even the dragons know about Princess Celestia and Luna.”

“Dragons… What do you mean by dragons?” He asked in a suddenly less optimistic tone.

“Dragons, they’re the flying creatures of the Dragon Lands. Do you not know what dragons are, my lord?”

“No, I know about them I just… They’re supposed to be…” Skeletor was about to say ‘fictional’ but, due to him having a conversation with a talking green pony, he realized how dumb that would have sounded. “Sssssupposed to be exceedingly rare, right?”

“Not necessarily. While they don’t leave the Dragon Lands often, they do occasionally send a drake as a representative to discuss peace in exchange for a great sum of gems, rubies, crystals, and other valuables,” Emerald Secret explained to him. “Sombra used quite a few dragons during his reign, but his paranoia eventually got the better of him and he disposed of them. Since he couldn't control them like he could the crystal ponies, he believed that they would turn against him when he least expected it.”

Before Emerald Secret could continue her “small” lecture, the chef came out of the kitchen door balancing a goblet of water and a bowl of steaming lavender sludge on a platinum platter on one of his fore hooves.

“Your meal, your highness,” Pan said with a bow after he placed the platter in front of Skeletor who stared at the bubbling slop with a new sense of hesitation.

Skeletor delicately picked at the purple colored goop in front of him with a spoon, experimentally prodding it before he committed himself to eating the thing that was placed in front of him. As he poked at the crystalberry jam stew he all lost failed to notice the look of longing on Emerald Secret’s face as she stared at the stew. If it weren’t for the sudden rumbling coming from her stomach, he may have missed it entirely.

Once Emerald Secret had realized that the rumbling of her stomach had betrayed her, she sheepishly looked away from his meal. “A-apologies, my lord.” She said as she looked anywhere except where Skeletor sat or his stew was set.

“For what? If you want some, I’m sure you can ask the chef for some.”

“I can’t. T-there are still a lot of ponies that need to eat, and I’m going to have some later anyway,” She stated with a smile which turned into a slight grimace as her stomach began to growl once again.

“Emerald… When was the last time you ate?”

“Yesterday.”

“And how much did you eat?” Skeletor pressed on.

Emerald remained silent for a few moments before she quietly muttered, “Enough.”

With a heavy sigh, Skeletor took his goblet and quickly drained it before he partially filled it with the stew, handing over the rest of the bowl to Emerald Secret.

“M-my lord, I can’t accept this.”

“You can and you will. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine with this,” Skeletor said as he gestured to the steaming sludge in his goblet.

“My lord, I’ll be fine waiting a few hours. You need to eat,” Emerald Secret argued.

“It’s fine, Emerald. Besides, I’m not about to eat something I might not like and probably won’t finish in front of someone who’s practically starving.”

“Really, my lord, I—"

“Please Emerald, just eat a little bit. For me?” Skeletor pleaded.

Emerald Secret looked at the bowl of stew in front of her with a sense of apprehension. While her thoughts argued against the idea of eating some of Skeletor’s food, her stomach made a much louder argument.

“Thank you, my lord,” Emerald replied with a slight nod of her head before she picked up a spoon with one of her hooves.

Skeletor watched the spoon in her hooves with complete bafflement and felt almost tempted to ask her how she was able to hold something with her hooves, but pushed that question away from his thoughts and looked at the unappealing purple mush in his goblet.

Skeletor reluctantly scooped up a small portion of the stew using his own spoon and swallowed thickly as he mentally prepared himself to eat the unappealing stew. The stew had consistency of malases and the texture of a smoothie along with the smell of of a berry pie that had been left in the sun for too long.

As quickly as a viper, Skeletor closed his jaw around the bowl of the spoon, swallowing the stew quickly to avoid letting the taste linger on his tongue for too long. A moment or so later, the small aftertaste of crystalberry jam stew hit him in an instant. While the stew wasn’t absolutely horrendous, he still thought that it was far from pleasant. It certainly wasn’t as bad as the black bread he had eaten at school when a student gave a presentation about the holocaust, allowing the other students to eat what the victims of the Holocaust did in order to explore the subject from a different angle.

He continued eating the stew with a great reluctance, not letting any of it go to waste since food was so scarce. He’d sooner let himself starve to death than let such a limited resource go to waste, even if he absolutely despised the taste and feeling of the unnaturally warm berry mush.

He desperately wished that he still had a goblet of water to wash the bitter taste out of his mouth. As Skeletor tried his best not to gag on the next spoonful of crystalberry jam stew, he heard a satisfied noised coming from Emerald Secret next to him

Emerald Secret was an amazing contrast to Skeletor at that moment. While he absolutely hated the flavor and texture of the stew and did his best to fight it down, Emerald ate it with a feverish gusto, shoveling spoonfuls of stew into her muzzle as if someone else would steal the bowl from her at any moment. It was then that Skeletor noticed just how thin she really was.

If Skeletor stared just hard enough, he could see the barely visible outline of Emerald’s ribcage pressing against her skin, hidden under the shimmering hairs of her thick fur coat. He questioned how he failed to notice it earlier and chastised himself for feeling so reluctant to eat the stew. Emerald Secret and the other ponies in the Crystal Empire were teetering on the edge of starvation, and he wanted to complain about the food not tasting good? He should have been thankful to get anything considering how many ponies were still waiting for their fair share.

Skeletor took the time to appraise his own body in comparison to Emerald’s. While she was small and thin, he was a towering monolith of muscles. He was at the peak of physical perfection from the neck down, and the mare next to him was a small starving creature.

As Emerald Secret continued to eat the stew that sat in her bowl, Skeletor delicately placed the mostly full goblet of stew in front of her, breaking her out of her food induced trance.

“Here. Take it,” Skeletor quietly said.

“My lord, please, you’re being too generous, I—"

“You’re starving, Emerald, I’m mildly hungry. This isn’t up for debate,” Skeletor stated firmly as he pushed the goblet of stew closer to Emerald before he unfolded his legs and stepped out of his chair.

“Where are you going, my lord?”

“The kitchen. If there’s a way I can help them, I will,” Skeletor promised as he made his way to the door. While helping the ponies would be nice considering that they fed him and took care of him while he was unconscious, his motives for helping were somewhat more selfish than that. He desperately needed something to distract himself so he didn't scream his head off, and if helping in the kitchens could offer him some reprieve from his mental breakdown of sanity then he'd take it.

Emerald Secret sat in silence as she watched Lord Skeletor knock on the kitchen politely door before entering. Once he left the room, she turned her attention to the barely touched goblet of crystalberry jam stew. She gave it a hesitant sniff before she ate a small spoonful of his stew, savoring the flavor as it touched her tongue.

It had been years since she had something actually edible, King Sombra hadn’t allowed anypony either than himself to eat full course meals, only allowing his slaves to survive on the barest minimum to keep them weak against his magic.

Emerald Secret quickly chased away those memories, refusing to allow the tyrant to take residence in her mind and continue to haunt her with memories of the past. Sombra was dead, her new lord had seen to that.

It was all such a strange turn of events; First the Alicorn sisters came to fight Sombra, then they disappeared into the ether, and a demon took up their crusade to put an end to Sombra. Not only that, but it apparently discovered a secret staircase to the tallest tower in the Empire and found the Crystal Heart, giving back to the crystal ponies without hesitation and seemingly oblivious to the painful ramifications that would befall him when they returned the Heart to its pedestal.

It felt as if she was just waiting for the other whorseshoe to drop, for Lord Skeletor to reveal that it was actually all an elaborate ruse. And yet, there he was, leaving Emerald Secret more stew as he went to help the kitchen staff in some capacity.

How is it possible for a demon from Tartarus to have a heart made of honeysuckle? She wondered to herself as she tossed another glance at the kitchen doors. Part of her chastised herself for letting her lord go in unattended while another part of her was overly curious about what he was doing.

Dark magic wasn’t a creative force, so Lord Skeletor most likely wouldn’t be able to use any magic to cook. So, if he couldn’t use magic, how did he expect to help the kitchen staff? It could have been possible that Lord Skeletor’s power wasn’t only limited to dark magic, but having more than one type of magic was considerably rare for ruvas and unicorns. Most ruvas had solely devoted themselves to cooking, medicine, farming, combat, or crystal sculpting.

Sombra was one of the few ponies who knew how to use crystals to amplify his magic, allowing him to dip into forbidden spells and develop an affinity for dark magic. Through his experiments, he was able to create a spell using black quartz to nullify ruva and Alicorn magic, and slaughtered them all so he could rule unopposed.

Emerald Secret pushed the memories of the past with a greater force than before, desperately trying to not let her thoughts linger too long. Loose chains of thought led her down the winding paths of her memories where her dead friends and family lived. Those memories were a constant reminder of what she lost to that monster, of all those who he murdered.

Emerald Secret felt tears building up in her eyes as she failed to avoid recalling the life she had before Sombra. No matter what, nothing would bring them back to her. She had to force herself to move on and forget about them, leave their memories in the past where their smiles and laughter couldn’t haunt her.

Chapter 7. The Empire's Good Graces.

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Tall mounds of snow littered the streets of the Crystal Empire as everypony prepared for a grand celebration. A smile adorned the muzzle of everypony who was helping fix the Empire, sweeping up rubble and shoveling piles of snow to clean the streets and reclaim their home. Anyopony who wasn’t working was relaxing with a warm bowl of crystalberry jam stew, savoring the first real taste of freedom that they had in three years.

Uproarious cheers and joyful conversations filled the air as everypony talked about their newfound freedom. Families that were once torn apart reunited, friends embraced each other as they mourned those they lost, and separated lovers refused to leave their partner’s side.

Tears of happiness, sorrow, and disbelief fell from hundreds of eyes as they roamed the streets in search of ponies that they desperately hoped were still alive. Unfortunately, many of them would have to accept that the crystal ponies they knew were dead, overworked or tortured to death for Sombra’s sick pleasure.

In order to commemorate those they lost, the ponies chose to carve the cutiemarks of their deceased friends and family into the walls of the tunnels that went into the green caves. Since their bodies were either tossed into the frozen tundra or thrown down the deep pit that rested a few miles away from the Empire, they couldn’t be given a proper send off.

Their bodies would never be graced by the embrace of warm fire, allowing their ashes to be spread over the green caves so they could fertilize the soil, which would have allowed their spirits to help younger generations of ponies survive in the Frozen North as their ancestors did for them. While the ashes of their bodies could not be used to keep the Empire alive, many ponies burned items and went to spread their ashes over the infertile fields underground, giving their families a more symbolic burial while also helping the Empire.

Some ponies were enraged that King Sombra’s corpse was burned, stating that it technically counted as a burial for their old tyrant, even though his ashes were never used to help the farms and gardens in the caverns thrive. His ashes would never taint the fertile fields of life-giving food that laid in the caverns beneath the Empire, protected from the never-ending storm and illuminated by citrine stalactites that hung from the ceiling.

While some of the farms had spontaneously grown into a jungle of crops and vines that were nearly impossible to navigate, a majority of them had completely whitened up and died as if death itself took a stroll through the farm. It was one of the many unexplained anomalies that occurred after Princess Luna and Princess Celestia arrived and subsequently vanished. A majority of the food had either become petrified or rotten, their homes and businesses were shattered, and the ponies they had been forced to fight against disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Rumors about what happened to the Crystal Empire traveled like a fire in a library, each one more extravagant than the last. Some believed that the Goddess of Chaos, Eris, owed a favor to Sombra and repaid the tyrant by snapping her talon claws, causing the Empire to fall into a terrible state of decay. Others theorized that Sombra unleashed a powerful spell to expel the princesses and their army, which in-turn took a heavy toll on the Empire.

The other theories ranged from the impossible to the inane, eldritch gods to distortions in reality itself, and none of them had guessed that they were tossed thousands of years into the future. The crystal ponies were entirely oblivious to the world outside of the magical barrier that protected them from the never-ending winter. To the creatures outside of the Empire, nearly three thousand years had passed since the spell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna placed on Sombra, and only less than a day had passed for the crystal ponies since the arrival and sudden disappearance of the princesses.

As many ponies heavily debated what had happened during their small gap in memory, others busied themselves with working, eating, or listening to an enrapturing tale of a demon slaying a foul king.

Track Record stood on top of a large pile of snow, regaling the crowd of crystal ponies that surrounded him with everything he had witnessed when Lord Skeletor first appeared.

“And with a mighty swing of his scepter, he caved King Sombra’s skull as if it was made of dough!” Track exclaimed proudly to the group of enraptured ponies. “King Sombra screamed in agony as Lord Skeletor continued to fight him, using his own physical strength to attack King Sombra, while the cowardly tyrant only tried to run away in fear. King Sombra launched a volley of spells at Lord Skeletor in rapid succession, nearly obliterating the throne room with his immense power. But, no matter what, Lord Skeletor continued his assault against King Sombra, hitting him again and again until the ruva's horn shattered into a thousand pieces!” He finished.

The crystal ponies surrounding him listened in complete awe as Track recalled the fight between King Sombra and Lord Skeletor. While his descriptions weren’t entirely accurate, since Track looked away as soon as he had free control of his body, he could still hear the battle happening behind him after he averted his eyes.

As Track continued the epic tale of Lord Skeletor’s liberation of the Crystal Empire, a group of royal guards patrolled the streets, helping the citizens by clearing the streets and answering any questions they could. Among the many guards that walked the freshly shoveled streets of the Empire was the captain of the royal guard, Cannon Fodder.

Cannon Fodder was in the midst of moving a large chunk of crystal to an ever-growing pile of debris when he overheard Track’s passionate story, causing him to look at the Crystal Castle with an unwavering glare. While many crystal ponies had accepted Lord Skeletor without hesitation after delivering the Crystal Heart, Cannon Fodder still held onto his suspicions regarding the new demon that sat on the crystal throne.

He knew better than to blindly trust the demon because of two coincidental good deeds. Lord Skeletor didn’t kill Sombra to free the crystal ponies, he did it because Sombra was the first one he saw. And when he handed the Crystal Heart over to Track, he had no real idea of how the Crystal Heart worked or any understanding of how powerful it was. Cannon Fodder knew that if he had woken up to any other pony, and if he did have an iota of an idea of how powerful the Crystal Heart really was, then Skeletor would have done something different, something that would hurt the Empire and its citizens.

And yet, everypony else ate out of his claws, praising him as if he were the world’s first male Alicorn. In Cannon Fodder’s mind, they were too trusting, and too willing to sing the praises of a demon that they hadn’t even met. He wouldn’t allow himself the naive pleasure of being willfully deceived by the demon, letting his guard down so that Lord Skeletor could strike like a viper at any given moment. He'd stay vigilant and alert, ready for whenever Lord Skeletor would reveal his malicious nature to his unwitting subjects.

Cannon Fodder refused to let his guard down after what happened to Princess Amore, and he absolutely refused to kneel down and accept the bipedal demon as his new king. For the moment, he’d act the part of a loyal subject, carrying out his orders without question until the demon got comfortable. And then, he’d strike the monster down and save the Empire from being enslaved again.

All he had to do was wait for the perfect moment to strike, when the demon was at its most vulnerable. Once the demon was dead, the Empire would thrive once more under the leadership of… ... Somepony.

That was unfortunately one of the few hitches in his plans. He had no idea who would take over once the demon was dead. Cannon Fodder wasn’t a politician, so he couldn’t and wouldn’t take the throne, and he, like many other ponies, still wasn’t sure what had happened to the diarchs of Dream Valley.

The sun and moon had fallen and risen over the horizon, leading many ponies to believe that they were either alive or that the unicorns had once again taken up the burden of moving the celestial bodies. Though, even though they still moved, now they moved in an odd way. Instead of rising from the east and setting in the west, the sun now rose from the east until it reached it's apex in the sky and slowly fell back down to below the horizon of the east. What's more, while the moon still rose from the east and set in the west, now it physically dragged the night sky behind it. Cannon Fodder didn't know if this was the doing of the God of Chaos or the incompetency of the unicorns in Dream Vally who were raising the celestial bodies while the sisters recovered. He desperately hoped for the former, knowing that if they were alive, one of them would be able to take the throne once the demon was slain.

But he had no guarantee that the next ruler wouldn’t be an even more despicable monster that would capitalize on their lack of a proper ruler. He had hoped that somepony worthy of the throne would usurp Sombra, and that hope had been spat on with the arrival of a demon. He couldn’t hope for something good to happen, he had to make it happen.

The few minutes that Lord Skeletor worked in the kitchen threatened to turn into eternity as Emerald Secret sat at the table with an empty goblet and an clean bowl. She had no idea what her new lord was doing in the kitchen and she wasn’t too opposed to leaving it as a mystery.

While she somewhat trusted her new lord, she hadn’t crossed the threshold to blind obedience and complete acceptance like Track Record had, so she was a little uncomfortable with leaving her lord unsupervised in the kitchen. She was almost certain that Lord Skeletor wouldn’t do anything to harm or impede the kitchen staff, but a small nagging voice at the back of her mind refused to allow her to fully relax.

The eerie silence of the room also didn’t help her paranoia, the quiet and still air painting a morbid picture in her mind as she wondered what was going on behind that closed door.

She actively reminded herself that Lord Skeletor wasn’t King Sombra but, once again, those thoughts were questioned by the lingering voice that remained at the back of her mind. Each of her greatest concerns and fears came forth to cut down any counter argument, making her question what her feelings were in regards to Lord Skeletor.

She didn’t fully trust the strange creature that appeared from nowhere, but she allowed him the benefit of the doubt after he had returned the Crystal Heart. But, even though she wanted to trust Lord Skeletor, she couldn’t silence the voice at the back of her mind that made her doubt his intentions.

Emerald Secret looked at the door that Lord Skeletor walked through, steeling her resolve to confront the unknown and confirm that she had nothing to worry about.

Swallowing her fear, she stood up and trotted to the door with the bowl and plate in her hooves, giving her an excuse to go inside and see if they were alright.

She hesitantly opened the door to peek into the kitchen, her eyes scanning the room full of busy ponies who were running around with cooking, cleaning dishes, and carrying cauldrons of soup to take to the front of the castle to distribute it.

Once she stepped inside, her bowl and goblet were taken by one of the staff and brought to a large sink. As she watched the pony trot to the sink, her eyes finally fell on Lord Skeletor, towering over the many ponies with a mixing bowl cradled in his left arm. His scepter was slung over his back as he worked, allowing both of his hands to cook.

“Oh, hey… Emerald, right?” Lord Skeletor asked.

“Yes, my lord, Emerald Secret,” she replied as she continued to watch her lord stir the ingredients inside the mixing bowl. “So, have you been helping the kitchen staff cook this whole time?”

“Of course, what did you think I was going to do, just wash dishes?” Skeletor rhetorically asked with a small chuckle.

“No, I suppose I’m just… Surprised that you can cook.”

“Yeah, my grandmother taught me. I used to go to soup kitchens with her to help out on the holidays, I figured I could take some of the things I learned from my time in the kitchens and help out a bit,” Lord Skeletor elaborated as he continued to stir the mixing bowl.

“An entire kitchen dedicated to soup?” Emerald Secret questioned as she searched Lord Skeletor’s skull for any signs of deceit or smug glee.

Of course, Emerald Secret was unable to read his alien facial movements, and the usually blank look of his skull didn’t allow for a wide range of emotions to come across to her. She was, however, able to understand what it meant when a creature shook its head from side to side, even if said head was just a skull.

“Not just soup. Sometimes we’d have sandwiches and other things to serve the homeless who came around Christmas,” Lord Skeletor replied as he poured the contents of the mixing bowl into a cooking pot that hung over a low flame.

“So, how was your stew?” Lord Skeletor asked as he grabbed a jar of crystalberry jam and poured it into the bowl.

“Quite nice, my lord, it reminded me a lot of crystalberry ice-cream. Princess Amore would let the council join in on her desserts at least once a month, and she’d always allow us to get whatever we wanted. Crystalberry ice-cream was my to-go choice whenever the time came around,” Emerald Secret fondly recalled as her mind wandered to a better time.

She quickly pushed the memories of her princess to the back of her mind where it would join the rest of the memories of those she lost. “My lord, I’m sorry to interrupt your work but we need to attend to other matters now that you’re awake.” 

“Like what?” Lord Skeletor asked as he stopped stirring his mixing bowl.

“Well, you need to address your subjects, my lord. Many of the ponies are worried about everything and need leadership. Making an announcement that you usurped Sombra would put many of their worries at ease.”

Lord Skeletor went rigid as those words reached his nonexistent ears. “A… Anouncment? Like… Like a crowd?” He apprehensively asked.

“Only a few thousand ponies, my lord. I’d hate to pry you away from helping the staff, but this is of the utmost importance,” Emerald Secret informed him.

“W-Well I uhhh, I-I’m just so busy helping the chefs and I—“

“Don’t worry about it, your highness,” the head chef, Pan, said to Lord Skeletor as he took the mixing bowl from his claws. “You’ve helped out enough with us, don’t need to get your… your uh…. hands! That’s it! Don’t need to get your hands any dirtier helping us. We all appreciate your help, your highness, but me and the colts can take care of the rest. Ain’t that right, colts!?” Pan shouted over his shoulder to the many cooks and cleaners.

A chorus of, “Yes Chef!” was his instant reply.

“See? We’re all good here, your highness. Go take care of the citizens, me and the colts will prepare some lunch for you later,” Pan said as he led Lord Skeletor and Emerald Secret out the door.

“B-b-But I can do more, surely!” Lord Skeletor practically begged as Pan escorted them over the threshold of the kitchen.

“Don’t worry your pretty little… Skull over it, your highness. We can handle ourselves. Take care out there, your highness,” Pan replied before he shut the door, not allowing Lord Skeletor to get any final say in the matter.

Emerald Secret’s hairs stood on end as she saw the door close right in front of her new lord, flashbacks of Sombra’s temper tantrums playing in her mind as an orchestra of agonizing screams sung in the background of her thoughts. She instinctively braced herself for whatever her dark lord would do next.

As Emerald Secret prepared for a cascade of anger to flow from Lord Skeletor, obliterating anything that even slightly upset him, Lord Skeletor took a deep breath and let out a sigh.

“Oooookay… Talk to a crowd… I can do that…” Lord Skeletor quietly said as he walked over to the large doors of the dining room.

“Talking to a crowd… Of ponies… That I’m the king of….” Lord Skeletor stated with a nervous chuckle. “Ooookay. That's fine, it's fine... Fuck me...”

Emerald Secret stared at her new lord in complete bafflement, wondering why anything that wasn’t nailed down wasn’t thrown across the room or on fire. She had to actively remind herself that Lord Skeletor wasn’t Sombra, she shouldn’t have expected him to act exactly like him.

“Are you coming, Emerald?” Lord Skeletor asked her, causing her to shake herself out of her stupor.

“Y-yes, my lord!” Emerald Secret called out as she quickly trotted to the doors.

The sun slowly approached its peak in the sky as Cannon Fodder and the other guards stood at the entrance of the balcony that overlooked the Crystal Empire, waiting for Lord Skeletor to arrive and speak to his subjects.

Thousands of ponies below the castle gathered to get a glimpse of their new lord, counting the seconds that it took for their mysterious master to make a public appearance. All they had to go off of were the vivid descriptions Track had given them, which quickly became muddled and confusing as more gossiping and exaggerating ponies spread their own ideas of what Lord Skeletor looked like.

Each pony had their own version of what they thought he looked like with one of the very few consistent factors being his skeletal face and bipedal body. And even then, ponies took the opportunity to greatly exaggerate those features, creating allusions that he was a giant that towered over the buildings and inventing stories where he wore the skulls of his enemies as trophies.

He was able to catch a few of the many bits of gossip that rang through the crowd, ignoring some of the more absurd parts such as Skeletor having wings or him having a second head inside his mouth. Cannon Fodder soon turned his attention away from the crowd gave the door an untrusting glare that went unnoticed by any of the other guards, scowling as he imagined Lord Skeletor marching through the doors with the same smug confidence Sombra wore.

After a few minutes of silently glaring at the door, Cannon Fodder returned to his stoic appearance as the doors began to open.

The crowd below the balcony immediately fell silent as Lord Skeletor walked through the doors with deliberate slowness, each step lasting longer than it should have as he made his way to the railing. Cannon Fodder’s eyes locked onto the scepter that Lord firmly held in his grasp, parading the skull of an enemy as if it were a trophy.

He had no idea who the ram skull belonged to and he quite frankly wasn’t too interested in who it was. All that mattered is that Skeletor had slaughtered another creature and used its head as a decoration.

Once Lord Skeletor finally reached the edge of the balcony, his advisor, Emerald Secret, joined his side, prompting Cannon Fodder to trot up to Skeletor’s other side. As the only two council members left from Princess Amore’s council, he and Emerald Secret needed to stand by their new lord to ease the ponies and show their support for their new lord. Cannon Fodder wasn’t thrilled about deceiving the ponies into believing that he supported Skeletor, but the new council members made it clear that it was necessary to ease the transition of power and show the crystal ponies that they were safe.

“H-hello my… My subjects,” Skeletor hesitantly announced to his crowd of admirers.

Brilliant smiles filled the faces of every mare and stallion in the crowd, and lively eyes stared at him in appreciation and wonder as they dedicated his image to their memories. Cannon Fodder was able to notice that a few ponies in the crowd backed away slightly once Lord Skeletor spoke, but maintained their composure to not show open fear.

“I want you to know that, starting today, you are all free…” Skeletor announced to the amassed ponies.

Silence once again dominated the air as Lord Skeletor’s words hung in the air.

“Free what?” One of the crystal ponies in the crowd shouted.

Hundreds of ponies flinched at that question, fearing that Lord Skeletor would seek retribution for being interrupted by somepony. Even Cannon Fodder shrunk back at the sudden question, wondering if he could keep up his facade of loyalty if Lord Skeletor ordered the pony to be cut down.

“Um… J-just free? Like, not slaves anymore?” Skeletor explained.

The air stood still for only a moment before a thunderous applause and cheers erupted from the crowd below them, causing Lord Skeletor to jump back in surprise. Cannon Fodder had to suppress a small smile that would have given away his hidden glee. Lord Skeletor had revealed that he could be taken by surprise and even startled, meaning that he wasn’t omnipotent and he was easily startled.

As the chorus of cheers died down another pony shouted a question to Lord Skeletor, emboldened by the last pony’s question. “What are we going to do with the Empire?”

“Great Question, citizen!” Lord Skeletor told them, before he kneeled down to Emerald Secret and whispered to her in a panicked voice. “What else do I say!?”

“Well, what do you plan to do as the new lord?” Emerald Secret replied.

“I don’t know!” Lord Skeletor whispered back before he stood up to his full height to address his eagerly waiting crowd.

“Ahem. As the new lord of the Crystal Empire, I… Promise an era of prosperity and happiness for all of you! I Uhhh… You see I-I believe that together, we can make a better Empire, one you will be proud to call your home!” Lord Skeletor announced to his crowd, causing an uproar of cheers. “Yes! We are stronger together, than we are when we’re divided. Together, we will lead the Empire into a brighter tomorrow and start an era of peace and prosperity!” He promised, causing more cheers to erupt from the crowd.

Cannon Fodder looked at Lord Skeletor, briefly letting down his guard as he attempted to reevaluate the demon turned king. With a quick yet subtle shake of his head, he banished those thoughts from his mind and returned to his stoic position and plan.

If it weren’t for the power vacuum created by Lord Skeletor’s death, Cannon Fodder may not have hesitated to run a spear through Skeletor’s abdomen. He could wait until a capable leader was found to fill that position of power, and then he’d be able to rid the Empire of the new demon.

“Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I… I have important plans to start!” Lord Skeletor quickly said before he turned on his heels and made his way towards the balcony doors.

Cannon Fodder and Emerald Secret soon followed him through the doors as he departed, Emerald Secret trotting in front of her new lord to lead him to their next destination.

“Oh god, that was terrible…” Lord Skeletor complained as he held a hand to his face.

“I thought it was a wonderful speech, my lord,” Emerald Secret reassured him.

“You and I have two very different ideas of ‘wonderful’ then,” Lord Skeletor complained as he followed Emerald Secret down a corridor that was decorated with large blank canvas frames made of bismuth.

“Where are we going, exactly?” He asked Emerald Secret as he tried to look for a hint of paint anywhere on the blank canvas.

The frames had once held portraits of King Sombra during his rule, but with the crystal ponies’ new-found freedom, they searched for any artwork of the old king and burned them to ash, using them to fuel the fires that kept the citizens warm as they cleared the streets of snow.

“The meeting room, my lord. The other council members are already there waiting for us,” Emerald Secret replied as she continued trotting down the hallway with Lord Skeletor and Cannon Fodder in tow.

“Council?” Lord Skeletor questioned the green mare.

“They divide tasks to carry out your orders. For example, if you ever wanted or needed to be involved with military strategy or know about the guards in the Empire, you would go to Cannon Fodder for that,” Cannon Fodder didn’t appreciate being used as an example by Emerald Secret, but elected to not voice his aggravation with her.

“If you need to talk about issues involving finances or using the treasury Avid Value will be the pony you’ll want to speak to. As your Advisor, I have a seat on the council to advise you of decisions and how they could affect the average pony. Sombra… He disbanded—” Murdered Cannon Fodder bitterly thought as he mentally chastised Emerald Secret for her choice of wording. “—the council. Cannon Fodder and myself are the only ones from the last council, all others are new except for Copper Plate. She retired from the council a few years before Sombra’s rise to power, so he never took any interest in her.”

“Huh… Like Game of Thrones...” Lord Skeletor muttered under his breath.

“What game, my lord?” Emerald Secret asked.

“Nothing!” Lord Skeletor quickly exclaimed, causing Cannon Fodder and Emerald Secret to tense up. “Er-I mean aaah, it was nothing. Just forget I said anything,” Lord Skeletor said in a quieter tone as they continued to move towards the council chamber.

The air stood still as they continued forward, none of them too eager to break the now established silence after Lord Skeletor’s sudden reaction to Emerald Secret’s question for clarity. Thankfully, they didn’t have to stay immersed in silence for long as the sound of muffled bickering from the last door of the hall began to reach their ears.

A verbal jousting match of insults between two stallions arguing over who was being the bigger idiot. It wasn’t until the doors began to open that their unintelligible argument became clear.

“—you hedge-born levereter!” A regal voice shouted, which was answered by a voice made of silk that came from the other stallion.

“Levereter?! You pompous prick, I’m trying to make sure the Empire is standing!”

“The Empire stands for its citizens, and the citizens need the Fair you sorner!”

“Oh, so now I’m a sorner? That’s funny coming from a smell-feast like you!”

“Quiet!” A third elderly voice shouted as the door opened up completely, revealing two stallions and an old mare sitting at a circular table with two open seats and one unoccupied throne.

The owner of the third voice, an old mare with lavender fur, a graying mane, and a pair of thick brim glasses, turned her attention to the three new occupants of the room. “Lord Skeletor, Emerald Secret, General Cannon Fodder, thank you for attending today,” she said as she bowed her head, prompting the other two stallions to follow suit.

One of the stallions had a blue coat of fur and slightly lighter blue hair that was combed back and trimmed to give it a sleek look. The stallion wore a black tuxedo coat that appeared to be made specifically for his body, allowing him to give off a more noble look than the other two ponies. The twin tails of his tailor-made suit nearly covered the images of a pair of diamond encrusted hand mirror on each of his flanks, only allowing a small amount of the handle to be seen.

The other stallion was much smaller than the other two by about a head and didn’t wear a scrap of clothing. His brown coat was on full display, shimmering in the candlelight of the room like his black mane and tail. An image of three differently sized stacks of gold coins adorned both of his flanks, showing his talent at handling money and organizing funds.

“Uh, hi miss….” Lord Skeletor trailed off as he waited for somepony to finish for him.

“Copper Plate," she answered.

“Thanks. Um, so this is the council I presume?” Lord Skeletor asked as he took a seat on his personal seat.

Even though the chair was designed for larger ponies like Sombra, the chair looked relatively small compared to Lord Skeletor. The back of the chair only came up to the base of his nonexistent neck and the cushion sank deeply into the seat of the chair as he placed himself down on it. In contrast to Lord Skeletor’s obvious discomfort, Cannon Fodder and Emerald Secret took their seats without any issue.

“Allow us to introduce ourselves to our new lord,” Emerald Secret announced as she took the seat next to Lord Skeletor’s right. “I am Emerald Secret, your royal advisor. It is my sworn duty to advise you on decisions that… Require a different perspective on the matter,” she said carefully, as she avoided using any words that would question Lord Skeletor’s skills as a leader.

When Emerald Secret finished her introductions, she turned to the blue stallion sitting to her right, prompting him to introduce himself. “Greetings, Lord Skeletor, I am Crumb Catcher,” he said with a polite bow. “I supervise the staff whom serve your meals, clean the castle, and keep everything pristine. Aside from my duty as head of staff, my duty is to bring whispers of gossip or relevant news to you that could help please your little ponies, Lord Skeletor. I also act as the Royal Spymaster, weeding out any ponies who may have ill intentions and wish to harm you. Rest assured, I will do everything in my power to make sure you are safe, Lord Skeletor.”

Lord Skeletor slightly nodded in satisfaction at Crumb Catcher’s introduction before the brown coated stallion went next. “I’m Avid Value, your highness. I oversee the Empire’s treasury, imports, and exports, making sure that we have enough money to keep the Empire standing. It’s an honor to serve you, your highness.”

“Fustilarian,” Crumb Catcher muttered under his breath.

Thankfully, before another argument could erupt between Crumb Catcher and Avid Value, Copper Plate cleared her throat and spoke to her new lord.

“Greetings, your majesty, my name is Copper Plate, I am the head of archives for the Crystal Empire. Emerald Secret told me that you may want to look into some of the Empire’s history at some point. If you do, then please know that the archives would be more than willing to supply you with any information you need,” Copper Plate finished with a courteous bow to her lord.

All of the council members and their lord turned their attention to the last pony at the table who sat with a stoic expression on his face as he stared at a random spot in space.

“General Cannon Fodder, reporting for duty… Sir,” Cannon Fodder said emotionlessly.

An intense stillness filled the room as everypony, sans Lord Skeletor, stared at Cannon Fodder with wide eyes at his introduction.

“Uh, he’s in charge of the military and guard patrols, my lord,” Emerald Secret added on as she shot Cannon Fodder a quick look from the corner of her eye.

Cannon Fodder kept his stoic expression as Lord Skeletor silently evaluated him, seeming more surprised than angry at Cannon Fodder’s abrasive tone. He looked at the burgundy colored stallion with an inquisitive gaze, his eye sockets dancing across the platinum armor that covered his body and hid the image of a shield that was present on both of his flanks.

“Very… Interesting names…” Lord Skeletor commented idly as he squirmed in his throne, trying to find a more comfortable position to sit in.

“So… What uh… What do we do?” Lord Skeletor asked his council.

Crumb Catcher released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as Lord Skeletor redirected the attention of the council to their work. “The last item that was up for discussion was the Crystal Fair, which was postponed until we could speak with you, Lord Skeletor,” Crumb Catcher stated.

“What’s the Crystal Fair?”

“The Crystal Fair was established by Princess Amore so that we could renew the spirit of love and unity in the Empire so we could protect it from harm. This’ll be our first Crystal Fair in three years after… After what happened,” Emerald Secret explained to him. “Some of your subjects wanted to celebrate right away, but we decided it would be best to wait for your recovery first.”

“But before we do any of that, we need to discuss restructuring the Empire,” Avid Value interjected.

“I think the moral of the citizens should take priority in this matter, Avid,” Crumb Catcher countered.

“Morale won’t mean much when a roof falls on their head and they die, Crumb Sucker,” Avid Value argued.

“Will you two stop acting like little colts!” Copper Plate shouted as she threw a soul crushing glare at each of the stallions.

Crumb Catcher quickly stood up from his chair and pointed an accusing hood at Avid Value. “He Sta—"

“I don’t care who started it, I care about who will end it, and that’s Lord Skeletor’s decision,” Copper Plate interrupted. “You’re at the big mare’s table now, so act like a grownup and not like a foal. Both of you!” She added on after noticing Avid Value stick his tongue out at Crumb Catcher.

Copper Plate sighed to herself before she bowed to her new lord. “Apologies, my lord. These two are still new to this position, I’m sorry for their actions and I beg that you be merciful towards them,” She apologized.

Lord Skeletor stared at the mare for a few brief moments, his gaze flicking from her to everypony else in the room. Even though Cannon Fodder and the others couldn’t see his eyes, and weren’t even sure if he had any, they could still feel something looking at them that sent shivers down their spines. It was similar to the feeling of being alone in the darkness, the power of paranoia creating imaginary enemies that stalked them from the edges of the shadows as if they were prey.

“Um, it’s alright, ma’am,” Lord Skeletor eventually said as he held up a hand.

“So, my lord, what do you think?” Emerald Secret asked.

“About what?”

“The last topic. Should we put our resources towards repairing the Empire or helping the morale of our citizens through the first Crystal Faire in three years?” She elaborated.

“Oh! Right… Uh... I guess…” Lord Skeletor paused for a few moments as he stroked his lower jaw with a finger, debating the best course of action for the council’s time and funds. “Put priority on the hospitals and... uh, residentials?” The new lord guessed, which earned an enthusiastic nod from Emerald Secret as she wrote that down for the records of Lord Skeletor’s decisions.

“Excellent choice, sire," Avid Value stated. "Now we can approach the issue of our budget.”

“Alright, so uh…. How does it look?”

“... We honestly have no idea, sire,” Avid Value admitted with a hint of sorrow. “The treasury was locked by Sombra when he took over the Empire. Only a unicorn, ruva, or other creature wielding dark magic could open it; and since you have dark magic we were wondering if you’d be willing to unlock the treasury for us to access.”

“Dark magic?” Lord Skeletor questioned before he looked at the golden horned ram skull on his scepter. “Right… Right, dark magic… fuck me, it’s dark magic. Ahem, so where is the treasury?”

“It was moved to the vault directly under Sombra’s bedchambers, which is technically now your bedchamber, I suppose. We don’t know if there’s an entrance from your room, your highness, but we do know that the front entrance was locked with a complex spell that none of us could unlock,” Avid Value told Lord Skeletor.

“Alright… So, should we get it open now then?” Lord Skeletor asked his council.
 
“If you wouldn’t mind, your highness, I think that would be an excellent idea.”

“But we still need to discuss other concerns,” Crumb Catcher stated. “We can unlock the vault after attending to other pressing issues.”

“What’s more pressing than getting bits back in the hooves of the citizens and paying somepony to fix the buildings?” Avid Value asked with a glare.

“That right there. We need to discuss what we’ll do with the bits. Who gets them first? Do we pay the guard first or the builders? What about the cooks and the bakers? When will they be paid? We need to think these issues through before we leap to a decision.”

“We should at least know how many bits we have before we decide who to pay.”

“It’s a vault, it’ll be brimming with bits.”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“Colts!” Copper Plate shouted again, earning everypony’s attention as she did so. “Don’t argue points to each other, convince your lord. This is a council, all decisions are made by Lord Skeletor, and you won’t get anything done if you’re trying to shout at each other and not acknowledge your lord,” she chastised the arguing duo.

Both of the stallions muttered quiet apologies to Copper Plate before turning their attention to Lord Skeletor. Thankfully, before either of them could continue their attempts to persuade Lord Skeletor, while subtly insulting the other council member, Lord Skeletor held up a hand to preemptively silence them.

“I… I think we should check the vault. We can’t make any decisions without knowing how much… bits you have,” Lord Skeletor stated as he stood up from his small throne. “Let’s go unlock this thing and get it over with. Rip off the band-aid, so to speak.”

Once again, neither Cannon Fodder nor the other members of his councils understood his last statement and decided not to question their lord or ask for a more detailed explanation about band-aids as they stood up from their seats.

Emerald Secret held the door for her new lord and fellow council members as Avid Value led them all to the vault. Cannon Fodder decided to take the rear of their little group, staring intently at Lord Skeletor’s hands as he waited for the demon to show the slightest hint of hostility. He briefly debated if one of the other council members could take Skeletor’s place as ruler of the Empire if he killed the demon right then and there.

Copper Plate was more of a scholar than a leader, Avid Value and Crumb Catcher were too inexperienced, both of them only being trainees to the previous council members when Sombra rose to power, which only left Emerald Secret. Cannon Fodder didn’t have the patience to listen to whatever nobles were left drone on about problems that don’t matter, and he wasn’t sure how long he could listen to them before considering stupidity a capital offense punishable by death. Emerald Secret seemed to be the prime candidate for princess, even if she wasn’t an Alicorn like Princess Amore was.

She had spent more time with the princess than most of the other council members combined, allowing her to learn the princess’ intimate secrets. For all intents and purposes, Emerald Secret seemed to be the perfect candidate to take the throne, but her new views towards Lord Skeletor would make convincing her to rise to power an uphill battle against both her and the demon.

As Cannon Fodder went through the list of ponies who could possibly help him kill the demon and ponies who could take the throne, he and the rest of the council made their way down the stairs and towards the vault door.

The large iron door that separated the crystal ponies from their bits and treasures, money and antiques the tyrant had stolen from his ponies driving them into financial ruin which prevented them from paying smugglers to help them escape the Empire.

Appraising the door by pressing a hand against the cold surface of the iron, Lord Skeletor ran his fingers across the smooth surface of the door.

“Well, it worked once…” Lord Skeletor said to himself as he raised his scepter and slammed it against the door.

A loud clang rang throughout the hallway as spurts of dark magic flew off the ram skull’s horns once it hit the vault door. Everypony within earshot flinched at the noise as the sparks of dark magic sank into the door with an ear-piercing screech.

Cannon Fodder and the other council members, along with the few guards who had witnessed Lord Skeletor’s methods were… Surprised, for a lack of a better term, since they had expected something more eloquent than hitting the door with a skull. Thankfully, while his methods were questionable, they were very effective.

Streams of dark magic phased through the enchantments placed on the iron door, easily untying the intricate spells that prevented even the most powerful of mages from unlocking it. The door slowly creaked open to reveal a room of gold coins that nearly buried the council and Lord Skeletor as the door opened, a tidal wave of shimmering gold that came up to their chests as it poured out and came up to Lord Skeletor’s thigh. A few more coins trickled down the large pile

“Scrooge McDuck, eat your heart out…” Lord Skeletor mumbled as he stared at the large collection of gold coins.

Cannon Fodder and the others didn’t know who Lord Skeletor was talking about, and they all silently elected not to prod him for an explanation.

Lord Skeletor kneeled down to grab a handful of solid gold coins, feeling them trickle between his fingers as they fell back into the pile. A look of pure awe and amazement washed over the demon’s face as he examined the gold coins, looking closely at the designs of Princess Amore that were engraved on each bit. It was a parody of the princess that completely failed to capture the raw beauty that emanated off princess Amore. Each golden bit was simply a bastardization of her visage in comparison to her, but they were one of the few images of her that remained in the Empire after Sombra’s rise to power.

“My word…” Avid Value mumbled as he stared at the pool of valuables that filled the hole. “This is… This is terrible…”

“What?” Skeletor asked as he felt the gold coins slip through his fingers.

“I didn’t think Sombra had used so much of the Empire’s resources to ally himself with the few measly dragons he found. Even in death that tyrant found a way to vex us!” Avid Value shouted as he stomped his hoof on the ground.

Skeletor looked back at the pit of treasure in disbelief. “Are you kidding me, this is huge, Avid. It’s a load of solid gold!” He shouted as he grabbed a handful of gold and held it up to Avid Value’s face.

“Exactly, your highness. This is a meager amount of money compared to what we had when I was younger. Copper and brass used to bury this pitiful amount of change under a mountain of value and treasure. But this… Bucking Sombra, I can’t believe he would deplete our resources like this!”

“Copper? Guys, this is gold! Gooooold. How can brass and copper compare to this?”

“Because it’s more valuable… Sire, you do know that gold is the lowest unit of currency in Equestria, right?” Avid Value asked Lord Skeletor.

Skeletor’s face turned back towards the thousands of gold coins that spilled between his fingers staring at the almost worthless treasure that he was sitting in. None of them understood how their lord’s skeletal face could show such a variety of expressions, but they knew what disappointment looked like on any creature. It was as if Lord Skeletor had been told that there was no such thing as the tooth pixie and that all the bits under his bed were just loose change his parents had lying around.

Does he even have parents? Cannon Fodder idly wondered. He quickly banished the thought of Lord Skeletor’s parents from his mind after only succeeding in conjuring images of much more demonic versions of Skeletor. He didn’t need to know or think about his past to know that Lord Skeletor was just a demon spawned from the depths of Tartarus. And the mental image of Skeletor with lipstick and eyeliner unnerved Cannon Fodder to no end.

“So... This is just pennies...” He said quietly after a few moments of contemplation.

“I’m not sure what that word means, your highness.”

“It means this is worthless… What should we do?” Lord Skeletor asked Avid Value in complete fear.

“I uh… I’m not sure.” Avid Value weakly admitted.

Lord Skeletor shook his skull back and forth as he looked at the collection of gold bits with terror. “Nononononono. There’s … There’s gotta be something we can do. What if we offer them an I.O.U. with interest?” Lord Skeletor desperately asked his advisor.

“Um, could you elaborate, sire? I’m afraid that I’m not familiar with that term,” Emerald Secret asked.

“We simply promise the citizens recomposition over time, possibly promising their descendants interest over the course of their lives. The Empire will technically be in debt to its citizens,” Lord Skeletor elaborated as he began to pace back and forth on the pile of bits, more or less talking to himself rather than his council.

“If we go through with this it’ll possibly hurt in the long haul, maybe amassing about a million dollars or so, but if we don’t then we’ll have an uprising of angry citizens who don’t know what we’re doing… Assuming they’ll even like the idea of an I.O.U. Fuck me, how do you pay someone in promises, we’d need at least a hundred contracts and something to use as an indicator for our wealth. America had most of its gold in Fort Knox, but gold is worthless here… Wait… This could work,” Lord Skeletor said to himself as he picked up a gold coin.

“How much is this worth?” Lord Skeletor asked his council as he held the coin towards them.

“That’s a five bit, your highness,” Avid Value answered.

“And what does that equate to in crystals?”

“Uh, it depends on the crystal, my lord. Why do you ask?” Emerald Secret asked.

“Where I’m from, we have a saying. ‘it’s worth its weight in gold.’ The term was used to describe the value of salt for another country since they never had it before. To them, salt was the most valuable resource around. If brass and copper are the most valuable metals, and we don’t have any of that, we need something of equal or greater value to equate these coins to,” Lord Skeletor explained to his council.

“You could buy salt for less than a bit in your country?” Crumb Catcher asked with a surprised tone. “Your lands are… Interesting, Lord Skeletor. Unfortunately, Dream Valley is the only place where ponies have been able to find large deposits of salt. The Empire doesn’t have any export or valuable materials aside from crystals, and most crystals are more abundant than gold. We do have platinum and iron, and while this are valuable, they’re mainly used for armor and weapons.”

“… By any chance, do you know what steel is?”

“Sorry, sire, but I don’t think any of us know what that is.”

A wicked grin split across his skeletal face as he looked at the door. “Thank you, Professor Steiner,” Lord Skeletor quietly said before he turned back to the council. “If we could use something as a promise of how much wealth the Empire has, we can promise the citizens a portion of that wealth for accepting its value. It’ll be nearly impossible for them to accept the idea of gold suddenly skyrocketing in value without something more valuable that these coins could be measured against. Avid, how much is this vault door worth?”

“Including specialized enchantments? A few thousand bits, but it’s not like we can sell the door to anypony.”

“And what if it was an even stronger metal, a metal that was so stronger than iron, and technically the rarest metal in all of the Empire?”

“Something stronger than iron? The only thing stronger than iron is enchanted iron,” Cannon Fodder stated.

“And steel,” Lord Skeletor replied firmly. “It’s also the only thing this Empire doesn’t have that it can reasonably get. Or, well, make. If we make a certain amount of steel and limit the amount of steel released to the public, we can make something more valuable than all of the scraps of brass and copper in the Empire. Sure, those small sums of brass and copper will be valuable, but nowhere near as valuable as a metal that doesn't even exist yet. I need a blacksmith, a couple of them, and an alchemist or two. You have alchemists, right?” Lord Skeletor asked them.

“A few, but not many. Most of them work in the royal archives alongside me, your majesty. How soon would you like them?” Copper Plate asked her lord.

“Immediately. Cannon, I assume you know where the blacksmiths who made your armor are. Find them and bring them to the council room immediately. I want this issue resolved as soon as possible. Crumb Catcher, get somepony to organize these… bits into neat and tidy stacks. Avid, I want every bit accounted for so you’ll help Crumb Catcher oversee the maids or whoever he gets to clean this up. Emerald, come with me back to the council room,” Lord Skeletor ordered his council.

Cannon Fodder and the others nodded at their lord’s orders, dispersing once they were delivered to set his plan into action. Cannon Fodder wasn’t too sure how much he could trust Lord Skeletor’s promise of a metal stronger than enchanted armor. But on the very, minuscule, minute chance that it could work, he’d be willing to try it if it didn’t involve blood magic or sacrifices.

Chapter 8. Planning for the Future.

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Skeletor walked silently through the hallways of the once luscious castle, a frown etched on his skeletal face as he stared at the fires that lit the halls. The flames flickered and danced on the candle chandeliers that lined the dark hallways of the Crystal Castle. Despite the light offered by the fires that hung above his head, it could barely pierce the thick darkness that enveloped the hallways.

He looked at the slightly swaying forms of the crystal guards, each guard fighting a battle against their own bodies as they tried to win the war against sleep. As Skeletor looked at the pony who was guiding him down the many halls, he noticed that the orange stallion also appeared to be beating off sleep deprivation with a twig. The guard’s eyes threatened to close permanently with each slow blink as he led Skeletor to his bedroom, fighting the urge to fall asleep mid step.

Skeletor turned his attention back to the lavish walls made of crystal, not noticing the subtlety of the love magic that was woven into the cracks of the castle. The hypnotic beauty that radiated off of the walls nearly lulled him into a blissful sleep that managed to calm his already shot nerves.

He was no one on Earth, just a directionless man who wanted to live until he was eighty. Now though, he was lucky if he’d live another eighty seconds. Skeletor still waited for a blade that never came, an angry guard who wanted to avenge King Sombra, or an army of citizens who despised his rule.

One of the things he feared most was the ponies uprising because he had said the Empire’s equivalent of, “Let them eat cake.” That dumbass line got a queen in his world beheaded when her subjects complained about not having any bread to eat, and Skeletor desperately wanted to avoid having his head placed on the chopping block for poor word choice.

The finance situation almost made Skeletor’s heart writher up and die as despair overwhelmed his mind. Money often led people to take drastic measures in order to attain wealth and power, the lower class clawing their way to the top through a multitude of methods, which could easily include his corpse being used as a stepping stone for someone who wanted it badly enough.

Hopefully the alchemists and blacksmiths could take the basic knowledge he had about steel and create at least a few bars of it. He only had the most basic of knowledge thanks to his science teacher’s absurd fixation with metals and incorporating them into his lessons and lectures, and Skeletor had been so tempted to let those memories of high school fade into the recesses of his mind. Thankfully, that annoyingly catchy song his teacher played on loop during study hall had made that nigh impossible, allowing him to call back on the knowledge that he kept hidden away at the back of his mind with the rest of his unimportant thoughts and memories.

Even one bar of steel could promise a great profit for the Empire, and give Skeletor a bit of breathing room before his new subjects came to smother him with demands. But if his plan didn’t work, he’d be paying his subjects/murderers in his own blood once they rose up to overthrow him.

As his thoughts took a grim turn towards every worst-case scenario, he failed to notice that the guard in front of him coming to a stop, causing him to accidentally bump the stallion's rear with his leg. The guard jumped at the physical contact and quickly galloped away from Skeletor as if he was about to be flailed.

“Oh! S-sorry,” Skeletor quickly apologized as he shouted to the stallion. His apology fell on deaf ears as the guard galloped down the hallway.

He briefly considered running after the pony, but quickly tossed that thought away with a powerful yawn. Skeletor turned his attention to the guard posted next to the door, noticing how the guard was suddenly much livelier and more attentive.

“Um… This wouldn’t happen to be my room, would it?” Skeletor asked as he pointed at the door.

“Yes, Lord Skeletor, these are your private chambers,” the guard replied stoically.

Skeletor barely noticed the hint of worry in the stallion’s voice and wouldn’t have assumed anything was wrong if it weren’t for the light shaking of the guard’s armor. Skeletor decided to leave before he ended up scaring the pony enough to run a sword through his chest. His girlfriend’s love of animals had taught him the importance of a fight or flight response and when he should avoid a scared animal, which was 99.999% of the time if he wanted to keep his fingers or, more importantly, his life.

He quickly opened the door and closed it behind him, allowing him to escape to the sanctuary of his new bedchambers as he felt the weight of recent events fall on him. Thrusted into a strange world, in a body that wasn’t his, and forced into a position of overwhelming power he didn’t want. While the idea of holding such power on Earth felt immensely appealing to him, the actual practice of ruling had been… Stressful, for lack of a better term.

Skeletor slid down the door frame as he leaned against it, holding his knees against his chest while he breathed in deeply.

“Fuck,” he said as he banged the parietal bone of his skull against the door. His invisible eyes lazily danced around the room as he lost himself in the mess of memories he had created in the last day and a half.

The candle that rested on the nightstand next to his new bed shone with a steady green flame, illuminating the interior of Lord Skeletor’s room with an ominous green glow. His eye sockets glanced at the royal sized bed with four posts that dwarfed his old one in length and width, but was much closer to the floor than he would have preferred, only standing a little bit taller than the tables in the dining hall.

He looked around the rest of the lavishly furnished room that was decorated with the finest silks and fabrics money could buy, or an evil tyrant could steal. It was more likely the latter of the two.

A large mirror sat on a wooden dresser across from the bed on the other side of the room. The wooden dresser sagged to the side as the wood struggled to stop the spread of rot that ate away at it. A wooden cupboard in a similar state of disrepair sat directly across from Skeletor on the other side of the room which Skeletor could tell only came up to his shoulders. The only wooden furniture that wasn’t rotting away was a bookcase that was lined with ancient tomes.

As far as Skeletor could tell, those were the only pieces of wooden furniture that he ran across in the castle, everything else was either made of crystal or platinum. It made sense, there weren’t a lot of trees to cut down for wood in the frozen tundra outside the Empire.

The final thing that Skeletor’s eyes landed on was a stain-glass window, right next to the wooden cupboard, that let streams of moonlight flow into the room. The image of King Sombra stared back at Skeletor with a sly grin on his face as he looked into Skeletor’s soul. Skeletor got off of the floor to walk towards the window glaring into the jade colored eyes of the grey colored stallion.

“You… You fucking did this, didn’t you?” Skeletor accused as he pointed a finger at the imitation of King Sombra.

It was the only thing that made sense to Skeletor, one minute he was buying a prop from a man in a leather hoodie, and the next he was in the middle of literally nowhere. And then, when he passed out, he was suddenly in front of the evil stallion in a void of darkness.

But why would King Sombra do that? Did he want a monster to serve him, did he purposefully make Skeletor look like the character he was dressed as at comic-con? Did he also mess with his memories to make him forget his real name and face? He could remember a few parts of his old body, like the mole on his right arm that was missing, the scar his cat gave him on his hand when he had stupidly pulled her tail, the discolored patch of skin that was on his knee that he could never explain, they were all gone. His skin was nearly flawless if he ignored the unnatural color and the darker patch of blue on his right arm where King Sombra hit him.

Sombra… He had stolen everything from Skeletor. He ripped him from his home, his family, his friends, everything. Skeletor felt his knuckles turn white as the grip around his Havoc Staff tightened. In a flash of fury, Skeletor smashed the window with his staff, letting shards of glass rain down to the streets. He continued taking his aggression out on the window, striking it with enough force to send the shards of glass flying across the street.

Skeletor stared at his handiwork with an exhausted gaze, several shards of glass stuck to the edge of the frame as more rays of moonlight poured through the gaping hole in his wall. Bathed in the light of the moon, Skeletor looked out to the Empire, hundreds of candle lights illuminating the few houses that withstood the test of time. His anger slightly diminished as his eye sockets caught the moon, it’s enchanting beauty reminding him of his home on Earth.

The angelic glow of the celestial body was perfectly framed by the alignment of alien stars that filled the sky. He felt his pent-up aggression melt away as his memories carried him back to a better time, a moment when he and his girlfriend Evelyn were stargazing, watching a meteor shower that he didn’t much care for at the time.

The outdoors were cold, the grass was too damp, he hadn’t brought a blanket since he assumed they would be sitting in their car, and the meteor shower was nothing too special. Sure, it was nice for a few moments, but it failed to capture that sense of childlike wonder he had when he had seen fireworks for the first time, or when he saw his first ever Super Moon. Watching a meteor shower meant almost nothing to him, and he might have not gone to see it if it weren’t for his girlfriend’s enthusiasm.

Evelyn was his complete opposite, a girl who lived life by doing things that made her happy, enjoying the beauty of nature and all the wonders the world had to offer. He didn’t like being adventurous, he didn’t like going outside, and he practically seethed whenever he had to spend time with people he didn’t know. But with her, none of that mattered. All that mattered was seeing the beautiful smile that graced her lips, watching her eyes light up with a glee that he envied, holding her delicate hands in his own.

“I love you,” He told Evelyn as he watched the stars reflect in her eyes.

“I love you too, Ke—" The rest of Evelyn’s sentence was cut off by the sounds of reality screaming in agony inside his brain.

“FUCK!” Skeletor exclaimed in the real world as the painful sensation of static wretched him from his happy memories and forced him to face his agonizing present.

He writhed in pain as he fell to his knees, clutching the sides of his skull as the shrill screams of something unnatural punished him for reliving a pleasant memory. Skeletor breathed heavily as the torturous sting started to die down, his chest heaved as he desperately tried to fill his lungs.

His anger was reignited by the horrible pain, and even though it didn’t run as brightly as it did before, he channeled that anger into his scepter subconsciously. Deep inside, Skeletor wanted nothing more than to rip Sombra apart again after he realized what the demon stallion did to him, and his scepter was more than happy to comply. Unfortunately, while the intent and reason for killing Sombra a second or even third time was clear, Skeletor simply didn’t have enough power for the scepter to grant his subconscious wish, so it did the next best thing and repaired the window.

The flash of blinding light above Skeletor drew his attention to the once destroyed window, allowing him to marvel at the artwork that had replaced it. Brilliant colors of glass mixed in unique shapes to form version of himself standing triumphantly over the corpse of a grey stallion as his free hand reached towards a blue and green sphere that rested just outside of his grasp. It was an enchanting display of work that mesmerized Skeletor not simply for its beauty but also for its magical nature.

After staring at the new window for a short amount of time, letting the pain from his punishment slowly diminish as he did so, Skeletor turned his attention towards his Havoc Staff. Spurts of green and black auras sparked off of the ram skull, fizzling out of existence once the strange energies dropped to the floor. Skeletor slowly stood up as he appraised the new window, quickly noticing that it was made out of the shards that he had smashed, leaving small flaws in the glass where parts of the picture didn’t properly align or where they left gaping holes to be filled by the sonic background of the night sky.

Skeletor’s eye sockets lingered on the small sphere that was placed at the peak of the window, staring at the unmistakable planet that he was born on. His fingers lightly pressed against the image of his home before it, and the rest of the window, fell apart when a stiff breeze blew it down.

A shard of green glass that had been used to make the image of his home fell to his feet and shattered when it hit the floor. The small shard was quickly buried under a pile of colorful glass as the rest of the window joined it on the floor, once again leaving a hole in Skeletor’s wall that allowed unfiltered moonlight to shine down on him.

He stood in stupefied silence with his hand still outstretched. A few tense moments passed before Skeletor’s anger once again broke through the surface and he let loose a shrill scream of pure hatred as he cursed everything for his pain. He took his scepter and began to smash the cupboard to pieces, taking out all his rage on the most destructible thing in the room. The wooden walls of the cupboard snapped apart with each swing of the Havoc Staff, the cupboard soon collapsed from its lack of support, allowing a cascade of red fur capes to fall out of it.

Skeletor barely took notice of the fabrics, too focused on destroying something while he screamed his heart out, all the while imagining that it was King Sombra with each swing.

“You fucking bastard! Fuck you and you’re godamn fucking-J-Just FUCK YOU! You piece of fucking shit, you mother fucking—” Profanity was woven into each word that was thrown from Skeletor’s jaw. While his knowledge of profanity was unfortunately limited, it did allow him to verbalize what he was feeling. Pure and unadulterated rage filled his veins as he continued attacking the furniture. When there weren’t any large pieces of wood left for Skeletor to smash he turned his attention to the rest of the room, looking for his next target as he continued to work out his aggression.

Skeletor quickly moved towards the dresser and reared back his arm to swing at it, before something in the mirror caught his eye. Or rather, the lack of something. He looked at a mirrored reflection of his room, his eye sockets darting back and forth between the room behind him and the mirror, hoping beyond hope that the mirror was playing a trick on him.

Finally, he looked fearfully back at the mirror, staring at the reflection of his room that didn’t have him in it. He continued to stare at the mirror, as if hoping to somehow find his missing reflection somewhere inside of it. His anger quickly faded as fear and mild curiosity began to consume him. His mind failed to process the concept of not seeing his reflection in a mirror, and he dropped his Havoc Staff as he backed away from the mirror.

His thoughts tried to reject the reality in front of him as his mind fought to find a hint of reason in the madness that suddenly made up his life. Skeletor felt himself grow sick as he stared at his missing reflection, bile threatened to rise from his stomach as he felt his body physically grow older with each passing second. Before anything worse could happen, Skeletor grabbed one of the many red fur robes that laid on the ground and threw it over the anomaly that threatened to tear his mind asunder.

“Out of sight… Out of mind,” Skeletor muttered to himself as he breathed a sigh of relief.

Skeletor could feel a headache starting to grow in his skull as he tried to dispel the memory of the mind-breaking… thing he saw. Even the memory alone of the reality distorting mirror caused Skeletor to feel sick to his core. He didn’t know why he couldn’t see his reflection and he didn’t want to know, a good amount of ideas were already going through his mind and he hated just about all of them.

It was just another thing to add to the ever-growing list of shit that made Skeletor’s life worse. First, he was forced to leave his home, then he lost his body, and now he was slowly losing his mind. Or maybe he had already lost it.

“No… No, it’s fucking real… Christ, this is all real…” Skeletor quietly said as he looked at the red fur cloak that hid his nonexistent reflection.

He picked up the Havoc Staff and backed away from the mirror, pointing his scepter at the mirror as if it would keep the anomalous properties of the mirror at bay. He slowly sat down on the edge of his bed with his scepter still pointed towards the mirror, unfortunately he hadn’t taken the height of the bed into account and quickly fell on his after misjudging the height of the pony sized furniture.

“Fuck!” He exclaimed as he fell on his back.

A blast of magic flew off of the ram’s skull at his sudden spike in confusion and fear, hitting the book case with a blast of concussive magic that destroyed a large section of the shelves. Dozens of books exploded into a flurry of burning pages that threatened to set the rest of the shelf on fire when the smoldering paper drifted towards the shelf.

Skeletor quickly leapt off of the bed and grabbed another one of the red fur cloaks to smother the fire before it began to spread and swallow the entire book shelf.

“Shitshitshitshitshit!” He repeated as he smacked the small fires with the spare cloak before the fire could grow too large.

The fires soon died after Skeletor beat them off, leaving behind a partially burnt bookcase and several badly damaged books.

“Good fucking work, numbskull,” He said to himself as he assessed the damage he caused. Several books were lightly burned and an entire shelf had completely collapsed, causing an entire row of books to litter the floor.

Skeletor winced as he looked at one of the more badly damaged books, which had been reduced to a pile of loose pages and a broken spine and decimated set of covers. Another book, or maybe even more than one book, was turned into smoldering confetti thanks to his little light show. Bending over, Skeletor picked up one of the few books that weren’t damaged beyond repair, only having a slightly singed cover and a few bent pages.

“Well... Technically they’re mine so… I think they’re mine now, at least, so maybe nobody’ll care that I did…. This… I hope,” Skeletor said as he read the cover.

Skeletor almost scoffed at the title, “Magical Theory and Practice” but the memories of the past day and a half hit him over the head like a baseball bat, painfully reminding him that he was in a world full of magical ponies in a magical castle… That used magic… Meaning that they’d probably have hundreds of magical spells. Magic that he had just demonstrated that he could wield in some capacity.

Magical spells that could theoretically send him back home.

A wide smile split across his skeletal features at the revelation that he could use magic to send himself back to Earth and he quickly scanned the pages for any relevant information. It wasn’t long before Skeletor found a glossary of spells and saw the answer to all of his problems, teleportation.

“ ‘Picture a familiar setting in your mind, then pick a specific area of the location of to appear at. Failure to do so may lead to appearing inside, on top of, or under something that may result in severe injury or death.’ ” Lord Skeletor read aloud.

“ ‘Teleportation can only be done with a basic understanding of the layout of the location, and should only be done with the thought of the location in mind. The spell caster must want to have the absolute desire to go to their location in order to teleport.’ Check. ‘Blah, blah, must have an ample amount of magic within them,’ Big maybe. ‘and should only be used as a means of traveling distances that can be measured in yards. The minimum space needed to teleport is one yard. Teleporting an inch away from the previous location or half a yard could result in….’ Oh fuck... Okay, got it, laziness is a big no-no. That's fine, I'm okay with that… Fuck the poor bastard who discovered that,” Skeletor quietly muttered as he tried to push the mental images of the side effects out of his mind.

“Alright! Let’s do this!” He shouted as he tossed the book aside and held his scepter towards the ceiling.

Skeletor closed his eyes as he concentrated on a mental image of his home on Earth. His memories painted a perfectly accurate portrait of his room and he focused on imagining himself there.

Energy pulsated through the Havoc Staff as it’s master’s wishes were carried through it, magic gathering around the golden horns of the ram skull like a superconductor. Naked to the eyes of any mortal, arcane symbols formed in a unique pattern to travel through the seams of time and space without breaking the overall fabric of reality. An orange oval portal appeared before him, glowing with a warm energy that reminded him of his mother's embrace.

He was completely petrified by the distortion in reality that stood before him, forced to stare in awe as the space that submerged reality and time danced in front of his eye sockets. Overwhelming wonder and astonishment washed over him as his gaze lingered on the edges of the portal, observing the bent parts of reality clumping together around the portal like a picturesque frame.

The swirling portal sent Skeletor into a trance like state as the puncture in reality emanated an enchanting aura. It called to something inside him, filling him with an immense feeling of love and acceptance that he refused to ignore. It wasn’t a hyperbole to say that he was draw to it like a moth to a flame, ignoring the dangers he knew were there in order to get closer to the concept of perfection and grace itself.

Skeletor was thankfully able to shake himself out of his hypnotic state and reappraised the orange portal in front of him. He had no idea if the portal actually worked, if it would send him home or send him six feet underground, literally and metaphorically. For all he knew, the portal was just a wall of plasma that gave off the illusion of being a bottomless pit of warm hues that mixed into a sea of desire, singing a promising song of safety that slowly began to pull him back into his trance.

Skeletor slapped himself across his cheek bone as he realized that he was falling back into a daze, allowing him a few more moments of clarity before he inevitably became too fixated on the beauty of the portal to think straight.

He couldn’t delay it any longer. His possibly one and only chance of heading home was a few feet away from him. He would have preferred to stay in the castle, learn some more about teleportation, and then get out of dodge, but the risk of being overthrown and beheaded by his subjects didn’t allow him the pleasure of time. Besides, his family were probably worried sick about him, and he needed to get back to them before they declared him legally dead. He refused to let them worry sick about him, or worse, think that he actually did die.

After taking a few steps away from the portal to get a running start, Skeletor took off and sprinted towards the portal.

“SO LONG, WONDER-HELL!” Lord Skeletor shouted with wicked glee before he leapt through the portal.

Skeletor was glad that he took a running jump through the portal since the momentum felt like the only thing that carried him through the void. Skeletor felt himself get the equivalence of sea-sickness from floating in the infinite space for somewhere between a millisecond and eternity. Skeletor could taste sound, see smells, and feel the warm embrace of the portal become bone-chillingly numb in his heart.

Hours passed in a matter of seconds for Skeletor once he emerged from the other side of the portal, falling flat on his face against a well-placed carpet that somewhat managed to soften the blow. He groaned as he stood up from his position, forcing his muscles to find feeling in his legs to help him stand up. He was forced to lean against the Havoc Staff as he stood up, using it as a third leg to keep himself balanced on his two jelly-like legs.

Skeletor heard the sound of someone gasping behind him and turned to look at a white stallion clad in platinum armor gaping at him. The guard’s eyes widened as he looked at the shrinking portal, his gaze rapidly moving from Skeletor to the vanishing hole in reality.

"My lord, what was that?!"

“Uhhhh… What was what?" Skeletor asked as he looked at the petrified guard.

"T-the orange thing you stepped out of! … Sir," The guard tacked on as he reigned in his outburst.

"Oh, that thing. I... was testing my divine abilities in this realm," Lord Skeletor explained as he attempted to exude an aura of confidence and regality.

"What was it?"

"A portal. I was attempting to travel somewhere, but ended up in the throne room instead. I'll need to test it out more."

“Oh, uh… Alright, do you need somepony to escort you back to your room, sir?”

“No, I… I can do it myself,” Lord Skeletor replied as he tried to open another portal that could send him home.

As he stepped through the portal, he went through the similar feelings of sea sickness and nausea. Fortunately, the second time he went through the portal felt more diluted than the first time.

He soon fell into one of the many piles of snow that filled the streets below his window. On the street below, he could see right where his bedroom was thanks to the new window that his scepter made. The brief smile that image brought to his face quickly melted back into a frown as he attempted to concentrate.

“Okay… Let’s try this again…” Skeletor muttered as he opened another portal to send him home without much fanfare.

Like the other portal, it completely failed and only managed to open a hole in reality that led back to his bedroom. He barely even noticed the odd sensation of going through folds in reality the third time and quickly raised the Havoc Staff to try again but was stopped by a sudden wave of fatigue that threatened to overwhelm all of his senses.

The room spun around Skeletor as he dropped to his knees, feeling the air being forcefully dragged out of his lungs by some unseen force. He felt his legs turn into soft rubber under his own weight, his arms becoming little more than a pair of table legs to keep himself somewhat upright, and his head began to swing in a sea of delirium and confusion. Skeletor felt tears leak from his eye sockets and he struggled to keep his body from failing him, desperately trying to claw at his non-existent throat to force some oxygen back into his body.

When his body finally began to cooperate with his mind, he filled his lungs with haggard breaths, fighting the urge to spill the contents of his stomach all over the floor of his bedroom as he did so. It was an uphill battle for Skeletor as he fought tooth and nail to reclaim some sense of normalcy over his conflicted and hurt body.

Skeletor’s arms eventually gave out under him, causing him to lay prone on the floor for what felt like hours as air filled his lungs and tears spilled from his eye sockets. He wasn’t sure how long it was until he regained feeling in his arms and legs, though if he had to guess he would have said an hour or so since he was pretty sure he blacked out at some point during his body’s latest attempt to drive him to his mental breaking point. The third one that night alone with doubtlessly many more to follow if he didn’t get back to Earth soon.

Still feeling the lingering symptoms from going through three magical portals, Skeletor slowly crawled over to the book he discarded and looked at its contents again. When his vision became clear enough to read the next few pages, Skeletor stumbled across a section titled, “drawbacks of magic” and found a section relating to teleportation.

" 'Teleportation is reliant on the stamina and endurance of the spell caster. The distance traveled between locations will be instantaneous, but many advantages will be negated by the energy that is exerted. Teleportation is not a displacement of place, but of time. It uses the physical stamina of the spell caster to take them to a location faster at the price of using the energy they would have needed to gallop there.’ Wait… So… I would need to be able to run to Earth if I wanted to get there. Nononono, there has to be something more here,” Skeletor said before he began skimming through the passage for any hint that there was still hope.

As Skeletor began to feel the effects of his spell casting take a more drastic toll on his body, he closed the spell book and slowly got back up to place the book on one of the few shelfs that remained in the bookcase.

“Fuck it. Fine, a problem for tomorrow,” Skeletor stated as he walked back to his bed.

Once he got under the warm covers of the bed, he licked his fingers and pinched the green flame to extinguish the candle on his nightstand. The room quickly descended into darkness as the light of the fire faded and the glow of the moon became obscured by wandering clouds, letting the shadows of night obscure the world around him as he laid in bed. Through the darkness, he could see the familiar shapes of the bookcase and the mirror, which he quickly averted his eyes from as he tried to forget about the disturbing mirror.

He closed his eyes to fully bask in the darkness and buried himself under the blankets of his bed. Skeletor found solace in the memories that weren't blocked off from his mind, using their memories as a light at the end of the tunnel to give himself hope. He remembered the smiling faces of his friends and family, of his half-brother Rand, his mother, and Evelyn. His family fueled his motivation, allowing the lingering pain in his body to dull as he distracted himself with his final goal.

He could play the role of king for a while, bullshit his way through it and convince the crystal ponies that he actually knew what he was doing.

He’d simply bide his time, learning as much as he could about his abilities and strengthen his power until he found a way to get back to Earth. Even if it took years for him to get strong enough, he’d find a way to go back home.

Chapter 9. Things Left Unsaid.

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The sun slowly peaked over the distant horizon as it began its ascent into the sky, signaling the coming of morning and the end of a calm night. The golden glow of morning caused the shadows that fell from the still standing buildings to stretch across the Empire, creating a series of arrows that pointed towards the Crystal Castle.

The few citizens who were able to wake up at the break of dawn occupied their time by embracing the warmth of the sunrise, enjoying their ability to once again bask in the warm light of the sun with their own volition. Many of the citizens couldn’t remember the last time they got to watch the sun rise or were able to enjoy the beautiful stars that dotted the sky at night.

They embraced the simple pleasure of watching the sun rise with overwhelming joy. Many of them were unable to fight the tears that threatened to spill past their eyes as they stared at the horizon. While most of those tears were tears of joy, some of them were made of bittersweet sorrow as many of the crystal ponies began to believe that one or both of the Alicorn sisters fell to Sombra’s hooves. The unfamiliar rise and fall of the celestial bodies was a sign to them that something had happened to them, and it was all too easy for them to believe that the princesses had truly died.

The ponies who still held onto their faith in the Almighty Weaver, Faust, either prayed to her for the safety of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna or prayed that they were able to rejoin their cousin, Princess Amore, in heaven. Many of them sent a prayer of thanks to their goddess for delivering a beast that could deliver divine judgment onto the old tyrant, believing that Faust had used the fires from the depths of Tartarus to weave a monster that could kill the demon in a pony’s coat.

Some claimed that he was the son of Faust, others believed he was Faust’s antithesis, and a very select few had been bold enough to assume that it was Faust wearing a disguise. None of them would ever guess that their dark lord was a human turned into a fictional character, leaving the origins of their master a mystery that would be debated until the end of time.

As many of the citizens stared at the rising sun in awe and wonder, one pony had his attention pointed directly towards the Crystal Castle. Cannon Fodder’s eyes struggled to stay open as he stared at the broken window outside of Lord Skeletor’s bedchambers. Cannon Fodder barely got an hour of sleep before a vivid nightmare of King Sombra made him wake up in a cold sweat.

Unlike the usual nightmares that revolved around Princess Amore’s murder, his newest nightmare was almost solely devoted to the blue demon he was forced to call his lord. The demon stood on a pile of corpses that led to his throne, letting the monster look down on Cannon Fodder as he mourned the death of Emerald Secret. Cannon Fodder woke up as soon as he felt a golden ram horn pierce his withers and refused to go back to sleep after he woke up.

He spent the rest of the night patrolling the castle, often asking guards if they saw anything suspicious. One of the guards, Stone Wall, had reported that Lord Skeletor appeared before him when an orange colored portal opened up in the hallway early on into the night. At first, Cannon Fodder was quick to dismiss the guard’s claims as hallucinations brought on by sleep depravity since he, like everypony else, knew that there was no such thing as portal magic. And even if there was such a thing, instant teleportation was a much more efficient and practical means of travel for the most skilled unicorn and ruva mages.

If the demon knew magic to open portals, then he would have known about proper teleportation. However, there was no guarantee that the creature could use magic like unicorns and ruvas did, it didn’t even have a horn to channel its magic through. Unless it was using the ram’s skull as a conduit for magic, but if a pony could ever figure out a way to do something like that then more than just unicorns and ruvas would be lifting things with their mind. Earth ponies, crystal ponies, pegasi, and thestrals would all be using magic to teleport and cast spells if it were possible. And since nopony had ever discovered a way to channel magic through something to imitate unicorn magic, even with the most powerful mages on Terra looking into it. then it was almost impossible for Lord Skeletor to do it.

“Almost” being the operative term since Cannon Fodder still had no idea what Lord Skeletor was capable of. Ever since Lord Skeletor was dragged into the throne room, he had been a complete anomaly that Cannon Fodder couldn’t figure out. He was clearly a magic user and he clearly knew some spells, yet his methods for casting spells were crude and different from ponies, hitting a door with his scepter and using his own raw strength to beat Sombra to death. There must have been at least a dozen less messy spells that could have killed Sombra much quicker, granted Cannon Fodder wasn’t opposed to the violence and brutality of Sombra’s death, but he was confused by it.

Maybe his new lord was a sadist, and he simply found pleasure in hurting his enemies without relying on magic? It would explain why he didn’t launch any noticeable spells at Sombra, but wouldn’t explain why he hit the vault door to open it. A simple wave of his scepter or hands should have been enough to send a spell at the door and remove the enchantments Sombra placed on it, so there was no real reason for him to hit it with the ram’s skull.

Skeletor was an anomaly wrapped in a mystery, more importantly though, was that he was a threat to the crystal ponies. Cannon Fodder couldn’t have the luxury of questioning Lord Skeletor’s actions, he simply had to observe him and learn more about the monster before he enacted a plan to kill it. Traditional weapons such as spears and arrows were thrown out the window since Cannon Fodder wasn’t sure those would work on Lord Skeletor. Using fire was also thrown out since Lord Skeletor was clearly a demon from the deepest depths of Tartarus, meaning that he might have actually enjoyed fire. So, the only thing that could reasonably kill Lord Skeletor would be a ruva or a unicorn, and the old tyrant, Sombra, made sure that there were no other ruvas in the Empire.

Lord Skeletor would rule unopposed until the unicorn guards from Dream Valley could arrive to avenge Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The possibility that the Alicorn sisters died in an epic battle against Sombra seemed to grow by the day, as more and more ponies became convinced that their technical demigoddesses were killed. Sombra had managed to kill one Alicorn, and even if they outnumbered him, it wasn’t too far of a leap in logic to think that Sombra got the upper hoof and used his momentary advantage to strike them down.

It was unthinkable, almost sacrilegious to believe, and yet it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. And what did that make Lord Skeletor as a result? A demon that killed a monster that murdered demigoddesses? Would that make Lord Skeletor stronger than Alicorns, or did he just have an advantage at fighting monsters like Sombra? Maybe he just got lucky in his battle with Sombra, it did look like Sombra was caught off guard, and Lord Skeletor didn’t give him any time to cast any spells either.

That was another odd thing about Lord Skeletor. Magic users such as Alicorns, unicorns, and ruvas preferred to fight at a distance to give themselves time to cast spells. However, instead of staying back to give himself the opportunity to launch any offense magic at Sombra, Lord Skeletor decided to fight him head on.

It would have made sense for a none magic user to attack in close quarters to prevent the unicorn or ruva from casting a spell, but for a magic user to fight a magic caster head on? It would be like a meteor creating another crater on the moon, there would be some damage but overall it would be a waste of time and energy on the attacker’s part while the other could throw up a shield to keep themselves safe from the assault. If Sombra had managed to put a shield around himself at any point during the fight, then things would have probably turned out much differently.

And yet, he didn’t. Or maybe he did and Lord Skeletor shattered his defenses? Or perhaps Sombra was about to but then his horn shattered? Cannon Fodder desperately hoped that it was the latter of the two options, since breaking a shield with strength alone would take a force equivalent to a dragon’s might. If Lord Skeletor had the strength of a dragon, then fighting him would become a much more arduous, if not impossible, task.

Cannon Fodder turned his attention away from the castle, watching the sun rise as it marked Skeletor’s technical second day as lord of the Empire. He wondered how many more sunrises he would see before the demon’s true intentions were revealed, before he would enslave the crystal ponies like Sombra did, before he would start to torment and kill them.

He watched the sun rise, committing it to his memory like it was the most precious treasure. It could have possibly been the last time he would ever see the sun rise.

Skeletor dragged himself out of bed as the light of morning poured through his completely shattered window. He felt his sore muscles scream out in defiance as he moved out from under the comfort of the blankets.

A cold breeze from the window nipped at Skeletor’s bare skin as he stood up to examine his new room. The mess of wood chips, shattered glass, and singed papers were scattered around the room haphazardly by the wind that drifted in through the open window.

Skeletor winced at the mess that his fit of rage left behind, wondering how the ponies outside his door would react if they saw the room.

Just… Just gotta relax. You can’t get beheaded for a messy room, right? Skeletor reasoned as he tried to calm his nerves.

Glancing at a small pile of paper that was lying on the floor near his bed, he subtly pushed the mess under his bed with a foot.

Better safe than sorry. He thought as he cleaned his room by pushing more of his mess under the bed or, in the case of the smashed cupboard, cover it with a few well-placed cloaks and blankets.

As Skeletor busied himself with cleaning his room and rearranging the bookshelf from least damaged to spare confetti, his eye sockets roamed the many titles of the tomes.

Magic Theory, Dark Arts, Forbidden Spells, wow, what a blatant title. I wonder which one of these has a cleaning spell… Or an immortality spell. He wondered as he looked at the books relating to magic.

If he was going to be stuck in magical pony equivalent of the North Pole then there was no reason not to take advantage of it. After all, what was the point in having dozens of spell books if you couldn’t exploit it? Not to mention, knowing an immortality spell would greatly reduce the chances of being killed and beheaded by angry multi-colored ponies.

Granted, there was no way to know for sure if he could still use magic once he got back to Earth, but there was no harm in seeing if he could do something besides making a vomit inducing portal to seemingly random places.

Thinking about the mind-altering portals caused a shiver to run up Skeletor’s spine as he picked up the book he started reading the night before. Unfortunately, the book didn’t offer much that made sense to him, delving into philosophical questions and theories about magic that completely went over his skull and made him question the meaning of life. Before he could fall into the pit of despair that would make him ponder his own mortality and the thin veil that hides the terrifying unknowns of the afterlife, Skeletor placed the book back on the shelf and preoccupied himself with ~~hiding~~ cleaning the rest of the mess.

The rest of the glass, paper, and wood chips were swept under the bed quickly after he reorganized his now sparse bookshelves. With nothing else to distract him, his invisible eyes drifted to the covered mirror that rested on his dresser. Memories of his missing reflection danced in his mind as he stared at the cloak that separated him from the strange mirror.

Skeletor debated whether or not he imagined his missing reflection, and steeled his nerves to confirm that his reflection was still missing by walking towards it and tearing the cloak off of the mirror. Skeletor held his breath as he clenched his invisible eyes shut, slowly peaking one eye open to look at where his reflection should have been.

Just like the night before, his mirrored self was completely absent. Skeletor looked at the mirror from different angles, searching the corners of the mirror in the vain hopes that it was somehow hidden from him.

He hesitantly reached out towards the reflection of his room, touching the smooth surface of the mirror as he examined it more closely. Skeletor’s fingers only rested on the mirror for a second before he suddenly felt his fingers start to burn from the contact and he quickly pulled his hand away from the mirror as he felt it singe his fingertips.

“FUCK!” Skeletor let loose a yelp of pain before he instinctively blew on his fingers, desperately trying to cool off the burning sensation in them.

Skeletor felt the lingering sting that mirror left on his fingers, the pain faintly reminding him of the time he accidentally touched a hot stove when he was younger. He quietly cursed under his breath as he tried to dull the pain by waving his hand frantically as if he could somehow shake the burning feeling off of his hand.

“Fucking stupid mirror, fucking piece of shit, I—“ Lord Skeletor quietly muttered before a knock at his door interrupted his silent tirade.

Grumbling to himself, he quickly threw the cloak back over the mirror before he grabbed his Havoc Staff and went to answer his door. Once he opened the door, he saw Emerald Secret standing on the other side with a bright smile on her face.

“Good morning, my lord, how did you rest last night?” Emerald Secret asked in a chipper voice.

“Uh, good, good. What about you?”

“I slept wonderfully, my lord, thank you for asking. I’m sorry to wake you up so early, but there are a few issues that need your attention. If you could please follow me, my lord, I can explain everything on the way to breakfast,” Emerald Secret said as she stepped aside to let Skeletor leave his room.

Skeletor threw one last glance over his shoulder to look at the covered mirror and the mess of his bedroom before he nodded and followed Emerald Secret down the hallway.

“So, what’s happening?” Skeletor asked.

“Well, firstly, the alchemists have been attempting to take the information you gave them to create a small amount of steel, and I think you’ll be happy to know that they've been working all night to work on the process. Secondly, some farmers were able to make some headway into the overgrowth in the subterranean farms, and gathered a decent number of crops for feeding the Empire. Oh, and Crumb Catcher and Avid Value were able to come to an agreement regarding the Crystal Fair and the expenses. If it would be alright, my lord, the rest of the council was thinking about celebrating the Crystal Fair by the end of the week.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. Is there anything I need to do for it?”

“Aside from providing your seal of approval, we need you to participate in a few events such as judging the pie eating contest and overseeing the jousting tournament. We’ll unfortunately have to forgo the petting zoo since all of the livestock in the caves were… Well, for lack of a better term, mummified, so this year we were thinking about gathering extra blankets to hand out.”

“You found extra supplies?”

“There were a lot of ponies who fled or… died during Sombra’s reign, leaving their houses and their possessions to be taken by him.”

“Fucking pony Hitler,” Skeletor stated as memories of documentaries surrounding the hordes of stolen property the Nazis stole during World War II. “So, what did he do with them?”

“He created large and odd collections. Sombra had several different chambers for his collections, including one that was completely covered from the floor to the ceiling in blankets, and another that was completely stuffed with pillows. We handed out a good amount of them during your initial in-disposal after finding the Crystal Heart, but we still have a large surplus of them. We’ve also expanded the medical ward by converting the diplomatic bedchambers into makeshift infirmaries. A few of the noble families that are still around have also allowed regular ponies to take up residence in their homes, since most of the Empire has been reduced to rubble. I hate to say it, but the Empire is more like a kingdom now.”

“What’s the difference?”

“An Empire is made up of many kingdoms that answer to one leader, my lord. The Crystal Empire was originally made up of the Ruva Kingdom in the Diamond District, the Thestral Kingdom in Pearl Paradise, and the Crystal Pony Kingdom in Sapphire Sector. These three kingdoms made up the Crystal Empire, and they all directly answered to Princess Amore. The Ruva Kingdom was ransacked after Sombra stole the throne, and most of the thestral kingdom flew away once Sombra started his genocide of the ruvas. With no more thestrals or ruvas, Sombra tore the kingdoms apart for materials, wealth, and to get rid of any areas where his enemies could gather. All that left was the Sapphire Sector where the Crystal Castle was built.”

“So most of the Empire is just rubble then, along with most of its housing as well.”

“Correct, which is why some of the remaining noble families allowed the commoners to stay with them. The crystal ponies in the castle right now are either your personal staff, your guards, or heavily malnourished or exhausted from being forced to do strenuous and heavily taxing work. I’m sorry to say that we’ve lost nearly a hundred ponies so far,” Emerald Secret grimly informed Skeletor, causing him to stop mid-step as he took that in.

“Oh my god… How… Oh Christ, Emerald…” Skeletor said as he buried his face in his free hand. “How many… Oh fuck, how many of them were kids?”

“ ’kids’? What is that?" Emerald Secret asked.

"What? They're-they're children. You know, the thing that pops out when a mom and dad have... sex," he explained as he braced himself for the number of children casualties.

"Ah, you're referring to foals. Un… Unfortunately, there aren’t… any foals in the Crystal Empire,” Emerald Secret told him as terrible memories began to flood her mind.

"Wait, what!? What do you mean there aren't any children? What happened?”

"Well... our... The tyrant king used foals to... to..." Emerald Secret chocked on her words as a cascade of tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Emerald? Emerald, are you alright?" He asked in a panicked concern as he kneeled down next to her. When the lord placed his claw on Emerald's withers she went completely ridged and quickly swatted it away with her hoof.

“NO!” She shouted as she backed away from Skeletor with a look of pure terror on her face. “I-I’m sorry, my lord, I-I just don’t like being touched. I didn’t mean to, I ju—"

“It’s alright, Emerald. I…” Skeletor stopped when he was about to reach out to her again, noticing the panic and fear that danced behind her eyes as she flinched at his movement.

Skeletor’s hand fell back to his side as he slowly backed away from Emerald Secret, making himself look as small as possible as he did so. “Everything’s okay, Emerald, no one is going to hurt you,” Skeletor softly said as he gave Emerald Secret the space she needed to feel more comfortable.

“I… I’m sorry, my lord, I… I’m fine now,” Emerald Secret lied, with a painfully forced smile on her muzzle.

Skeletor looked at her with sympathy in his invisible eyes, one of the few emotions that couldn’t come across clearly with his skeletal face. He waited in silence as Emerald Secret fixed her mask, hiding the emotions that threatened to bubble to the surface. Skeletor’s mind raced with a thousand words, a hundred hypothetical conversations, and no real idea of how to console her. He had no idea how to help her and he was too scared of hurting her to try.

One slip up, one wrong word choice, could have caused irreparable damage to her, hurt her in worse ways than he could even imagine. With no idea of what he could say to try and take the first steps to help her, he chose to stay silent, he decided to be pathetic and let her work it out herself, he chose to be selfish.

Skeletor wore a mask of calm patience as his heart pounded in his chest, fighting the urge to help in the fear of hurting her.

“Alright,” Skeletor quietly said as he willfully accepted her lie.

If she would reach out to him, then he would help her, but if she wouldn’t, then he’d keep his thoughts and worries to himself, like a coward. A sickening silence filled the halls as Emerald Secret led Skeletor to the dining hall, only broken by the occasional sniffle from Emerald Secret as she fought to keep on her own mask to hide her pain. Skeletor tried to look anywhere but at Emerald Secret as he followed her, drowning out her silent sorrow as he lost himself in his own thoughts.

Idle chatter filled the dining hall as many of the guards and maids seated at the tables ate their breakfast rations. Nearly every table was filled to the brim with ponies sitting down to eat their breakfast, the only exception being the table for royalty that sat at the end of the room, completely secluded from the other tables.

At the royal table, Copper Plate sat across from Cannon Fodder as she ate her crystalberry jam stew, listening to Cannon Fodder drone on as he used the monotonous conversation from the other tables to hide his hushed conspiracy with her. The waiters had already set plates for the council and their lord, leaving their lord’s stew under a shiny platinum cloche that kept his food warm.

“Don’t you think you’re jumping to conclusions a bit too quickly?” Copper Plate asked in a bored tone as she stopped another spoonful of crystalberry jam stew into her muzzle.

“I’m not jumping to conclusions,” Cannon Fodder scoffed. “I let my guard down once, and I ended up letting a monster disguised as a pony get too close to Princess Amore, I’m not turning my back to an obvious monster.”

“An ‘obvious’ monster? May I ask what’s so monstrous about returning the Crystal Heart?” Copper Plate skeptically asked.

“I’ll admit I was wrong about the Heart being real, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong about him,” Cannon Fodder argued.

“And you want to be right about him being evil?”

“I want to be prepared.”

“Whatever. Why don’t you talk to the others about this?” Copper Plate incredulously asked.

“Avid Value’s too enamored with that dumb mythical metal, Crumb Catcher would tattle to Skeletor—"

“Lord Skeletor,” Copper Plate corrected.

“So that he could kiss up to him,” Cannon Fodder continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “I need you to help me convince Emerald to take the throne once we get rid of that demon. You were on the council before either of us and you spent more time with Princess Amore, she'll listen to you.”

“And why should she take the throne?”

“Because she’s the only qualified pony I can think of. There are a few nobles left from Princess Amore’s reign, but I don’t know enough about them to trust any one of those brown snouts to hoof over the Empire to them. Emerald’s the best choice—”

“Aside from the one we already have?”

“The one we have now is a literal demon! Li-ter-uhl dee-muh-n! We need to get rid of him before he kills us all!” Cannon Fodder quietly argued as he tried to keep his voice below a hushed whisper.

“Look, Cannon, I’m old, and I’m tired,” Copper Plate stated bluntly. “I’m not going to spend the last few years of my life fighting a battle against a demon I know we can’t beat. Besides, Lord Skeletor hasn’t given us any reason to doubt him.”

“He’s a demon! That’s reason enough.”

“And Sombra was a pony. If a regular ruva can turn into a monster, I don’t see why a monster can’t be a decent pony,” Copper Plate reasoned. While she wasn’t entirely sure what Lord Skeletor was, she didn’t think Cannon Fodder was too far off with his assessment of Lord Skeletor being a demon, mainly because of the fact that he had an actual skull for a head. But, just because he was possibly a demon didn’t mean that he was evil... Probably.

“Sombra wasn’t a pony, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing and Skeletor is just a wolf out in the open,” Cannon Fodder stated firmly.

Before Copper Plate could offer a retort, the conversation from the other tables that hid their conversation abruptly died as dozens of eyes locked onto the doors of the dining hall. Lord Skeletor stood at the doors with Emerald Secret at his side with a weary smile that struggled to reach her eyes. While many ponies may have missed such a minor detail, being too fixated on the large creature that was next to her, Copper Plate was able to see the sadness in Emerald Secret’s eyes.

Lord Skeletor said something to Emerald Secret and started to walk towards his seat, taking long and deliberate strides to cross the room quickly, falling and catching himself with each of his long legs, similar to how minotaur and dragon diplomats walked when they came to the Empire. Copper Plate compared his movement to the slithering of a cockatrice, observing the mesmerizing spectacle with curiosity and interest as she watched him walk with only two legs.

Lord Skeletor awkwardly shuffled into his seat as Emerald Secret took a seat between Cannon Fodder and Lord Skeletor, her smile slightly growing by a hair as Lord Skeletor fumbled around in his large chair.

“Good morning, Lord Skeletor,” Copper Plate said with a polite bow.

“Good morning… I’m sorry, what was your name again?”

“Copper Plate,” she informed him, watching her lord silently repeat that word to himself as he dedicated it to his memory.

“Thank you. And you’re Cannon, right?” He asked as he pointed a finger at Cannon Fodder.

“Yes…” Cannon Fodder curtly replied before turning his attention towards his stew.

Copper Plate resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Cannon Fodder’s lack of tact. For somepony who planned to start a coup, Cannon Fodder had no ability to hide his thinly veiled disdain to most ponies. Cannon Fodder made it his job to make sure ponies knew how he felt about them, refusing to dance around his opinions with fluffy words and usually being extremely blunt with no regards for what happened. While that usually worked against nobles and criminals, his blunt attitude wouldn’t do him any favors if he actually decided to go along with his inane plan to overthrow a creature that reportedly beat Sombra to death with his own skull.

Thankfully for Cannon Fodder, Lord Skeletor either didn’t notice his attitude or wasn’t concerned enough to point it out. In fact, it seemed like Lord Skeletor wasn’t too concerned with anything around him, as he became completely mesmerized by the reflective cloche that covered his food, staring at the warped reflection of his skull with a strange look on his face that sat on the borders of fear and astonishment. The other two council members soon took notice of their lord’s odd fixation and broke him out of his trance with a light cough from Emerald Secret.

“My lord, is everything alright?” She asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Fine,” Lord Skeletor dismissed before he hesitantly reached towards the cloche to unveil his stew, throwing a quick glance at his reflection before he placed the cloche next to himself.

A lull of silence swallowed the ponies and demon at their table as Lord Skeletor ate his morning meal, occasionally looking back at the distorted reflection of himself in the cloche. Regular conversation from the other tables soon filled the air once again as some ponies stole quick glances at their lord, watching in a mixture of fascination and awe as he poured the contents of his goblet down his jaw.

Copper Plate’s eyes lingered on the visible hole under her lord’s jaw where the water from his goblet should have fallen through to pour down on his chest. She watched the water disappear into thin air as it went into his mouth, subtly observing her lord’s eating habits with intrigue as she mentally added her lord’s digestive system to her list of growing questions and quandaries.

Clearly uncomfortable with the growing silence between them, Lord Skeletor cleared his throat to speak to his present council members. “So, are the other two council members going to be joining us?” Lord Skeletor asked as he looked at the several empty seats for council members and diplomats.

“Avid Value is still busy with counting our finances and checking in on the alchemists, and Crumb Catcher is busy setting up preparations for the Crystal Fair,” Emerald Secret informed him. “We told him to wait for your decision regarding the Crystal Fair, but he was too excited to even entertain the idea that you wouldn’t approve of the fair.”

“Speaking of which, Lord Skeletor, what is your decision for the Crystal Fair?” Copper Plate asked.

“If we can do it, then I don’t see a reason not to,” Lord Skeletor replied easily with a shrug of his shoulders. “I know I just have to sit there and look pretty…” He trailed off before the stole another glance at his reflection. “Or just sit there… Emerald, is there anything else that needs my attention?”

“Hmmm… Well, some of the citizens have requested to reopen the court,” Emerald Secret told him.

“Court?”

“An allotted time where ponies can come to you with grievances ranging from the mundane to the most paramount of problems.”

“So, ponies come to me with problems and I try to fix them… Huh. Just like in Game of Thrones…” He quietly muttered.

Copper Plate raised an eyebrow at his strange comparison to throne games, feeling an urge to ask her lord to elaborate on it before catching a quick look at Cannon Fodder and Emerald Secret who seemed to tense up at those words. Copper Plate chose to ignore his comment about throne games since inquiring about it appeared to draw a negative reaction out of the other council members, and planned to ask them more about it once they were in private.

As the other council members sat in silence, Lord Skeletor mulled her words over while chewing his lower jaw. Copper Plate felt a shiver run up her spine as Lord Skeletor’s fangs became more prominent as they nearly reached the edge of his bottom jaw, a clear sign of a predator that mainly used meat it its diet. If it weren’t for the fact that she had just seen her lord eat crystalberry jam stew, Copper Plate would have been more skeptical towards Emerald Secret’s claims of him being an “omnivore”.

She had seen a few references to animals that had a similar diet in the many tomes that filled the archives, and some of the few stories they had regarding minotaurs claimed that some of the lower class minotaurs lived off of a diet of vegetables and livestock. She imagined that Lord Skeletor’s large fangs would easily tear through flesh and that his black claws could shred a pony to ribbons with ease, making the fact that he was an omnivore all the odder. His body was clearly made to be a predator, to hunt for food and devour it with gusto when they caught their prey, and yet he seemed completely content eating something that had no meat in it.

Copper Plate was soon knocked out of her wandering thoughts by her lord’s voice as he gave an order to his royal advisor.

“Alright. Emerald, go prepare whatever we need to start court. Find the other two council members and prepare seats for them in the throne room. I want all council members to be present for whatever decisions I make.”

“With pleasure, my lord,” Emerald Secret said before she got out of her chair and trotted towards the doors.

Copper Plate noticed that Lord Skeletor’s skull subtly turned to watch Emerald Secret trot away, until she disappeared behind the doors to the hallway. His gaze stayed on the door for a few sparse moments before he turned his attention to his two remaining council members.

“Is everything alright, Lord Skeletor?” Copper Plate asked.

Her lord remained silent for a few seconds before answering, seemingly debating his choices before he gave her an answer. “.. No. I… I need your help,” he finally replied before he turned his skull towards the ever-stoic Cannon Fodder.

“Something’s wrong with Emerald. Cannon, you’re her friend, right?”

“We could be classified as such,” Cannon Fodder formally replied with a raised eyebrow.

“… If you don’t mind, I want you to talk to her. You know more about her than I do so you probably won’t say anything to set her off,” Lord Skeletor told him.

Copper Plate watched a range of emotions dance over Cannon Fodder’s face as he appeared to struggle with the order. Whether it was because he was uncomfortable talking to other to fix problems or because of something else, Copper Plate wasn’t sure.

“… Yes sir,” Cannon Fodder quietly said, as he got out of his chair and trotted toward the doors of the dining hall.

“Before you go, take this to her,” Lord Skeletor told him as he held out the stew that Emerald Secret left. “Waste not, want not, am I right?” He rhetorically asked with a smile as his upper jaw appeared to raise a hair of an inch.

Cannon Fodder eyed the small portion of stew with skepticism for a brief moment before he accepted it and went to find Emerald Secret. Once Cannon Fodder left the dining hall to search for Emerald Secret, Lord Skeletor turned his attention to the only council member that still sat at his table. Copper Plate felt a twinge of instinctive fear flare up in the back of her mind as her new lord focused solely on her, ignoring everypony else in the room as he stared down at her.

“Mrs. Plate, I have a few questions I need to ask.”

“I’ll answer them to the best of my ability, Lord Skeletor. And if it would please you, you can call me Copper,” Copper Plate quickly responded as she tried to keep herself composed by convincing herself that there was nothing to worry about or fear. She wore a pleasant smile on her muzzle as she awaited her lord’s questions.

“Thank you, Copper… I… I want to know why there aren’t any children-er-foals in the Empire. What happened to them?” Lord Skeletor asked her.

In a matter of seconds, Copper Plate’s cheerful smile died as she was confronted by the memories of foals being ripped away from their mothers' hooves. The Crystal Mines. Those... things that came out. Copper Plate felt bile build up in her throat as she tried to force herself to forget those tragedies.

She swallowed thickly as she felt a shiver run down her spine, mentally preparing herself to tell her lord about the dark rituals that Sombra preformed to increase his power.

Chapter 10. Assumptions and Growing Worries.

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Dread and fear filled Cannon Fodder’s soul as he trotted down the hallway to find Emerald. His mind wandered to Lord Skeletor’s choice of words, repeating the ominous message he left Cannon Fodder with before he hoofed over the partially eater bowl of stew.

Waste not, want not...

Cannon Fodder contemplated the meaning of his strange statement, imagining a dozen hidden meanings that could be interpreted as thinly veiled threats. Could the demon have learned about his plots against him? Did it know that he wanted to put Emerald on the throne as soon as Cannon Fodder slew him?

If so, then what guarantee did Cannon Fodder have that the stew he was carrying was safe to eat? What if Lord Skeletor poisoned it using his dark magic and he was planning on having Cannon Fodder being an unknowing accomplice in her death?

Cannon Fodder threw a cautious glance over his shoulder before he tossed the contents of the stew into one of the many crystal pots that decorated the hallway. Like every other plant pot in the Empire, the once beautiful flowers had completely withered to dust, adding an air of dread to the nearly barren halls. Most, if not all of the artwork that depicted Sombra, from paintings to tapestries, were torn off of the walls and burned to keep the crystal ponies warm.

He tore his eyes away from the light silhouettes that the old pieces of art left on the naked walls, staring at the empty bowl in his hooves as he briefly entertained the idea of throwing the bowl itself in the dead crystal pot. After a few moments of consideration, Cannon Fodder put the bowl behind the pot since the dirt inside was too hard to bury it.

Taking comfort in the idea that Cannon Fodder may have prevented an assassination attempt on one of the few friends he had left from the time before Sombra, he returned to his duty to look for Emerald, occasionally asking the sparsely placed guards if they had seen her trot by. It didn’t take long for Cannon Fodder to find Emerald talking to Crumb Catcher in one of the hallways.

Crumb Catcher was busying himself with making one of the empty pots look more presentable by placing small pillars of various colorful crystals into them while Emerald was speaking to him. Once Crumb Catcher noticed Cannon Fodder trotting towards them, he gave the pot full of crystals one last appraising glance before he bided farewell to Emerald and trotted towards Cannon Fodder. Before he left, Cannon Fodder could have sworn that he saw the ghost of a smug smile on Crumb Catcher’s muzzle when he trotted past him.

“Hey Cannon, what are you doing here?” Emerald asked him as his eyes lingered on the retreating form of Crumb catcher for a few moments before he turned back to Emerald.

“Skel… Lord Skeletor asked me to find you.”

“Oh, does he need me for something?”

“Not really, he… He just wanted me to talk to you, see how you were doing, I guess?” Cannon Fodder answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Ah… Well, he’ll be happy to know that I’m doing wonderfully, nothing to worry about,” she stated with a less convincing smile on her muzzle.

“You’re sure? Emerald, if something’s bothering you, I’m here to listen,” Cannon Fodder assured her as he reached up to place a comforting hoof on Emerald, before she shied away from him as his hoof came closer to her.

A look of subtle worry flashed across Emerald’s face as she eyed Cannon Fodder’s hoof wearily, as if it were holding a dagger covered in fresh blood. Cannon Fodder was briefly reminded of how Emerald reacted on the staircase when they were looking for the demon, pure fear that he had only seen from ponies who had witnessed the death of Princess Amore with their own eyes.

“Can… Can you please talk to me, Emerald?” He asked as his hoof fell back to his side.

A suppressing silence engulfed them both as Cannon Fodder waited for a reply. He watched one of his oldest friends struggle with an inner conflict that he wanted to help her through. Cannon Fodder stood completely still as he resisted the urge to comfort her with a gentle nuzzle. Ponies were physically affectionate creatures, relying on touch to show each other that they were safe, an evolutionary trait they had received from their ancestors back in the early years of Terra, when demons roamed freely and when the word "Eris" held no meaning.

“I’m fine, I just… I need to find Avid,” Emerald stated before she turned to trot down the hall.

Cannon Fodder felt his body lock up as he watched Emerald trot away, his mind and body arguing for dominance as one demanded action while the other pleaded for a plan. His mouth hung open as he tried to find the right words to say, refusing to let a single syllable escape his throat until he had thought of the right words, until he found the magical statement that would fix everything and make her feel better, but only one word came to mind.

“Wait,” Cannon Fodder said quietly before his voice raised to call out to her. “Wait!”

Cannon Fodder’s legs suddenly moved without hesitation as he trotted after Emerald. “Please I… I don’t know how to help you if we don’t talk. Please, just tell me what’s wrong and I can help,” he told her as he started trotting a few feet behind her.

“It’s… It’s nothing, I’ll be all right. I just need to find Avid and tell him to meet us in the throne room,” Emerald dismissed.

“It’s not all right, Emerald, something’s wrong and you’re hurting. I just… I want to help you, Emerald. I know what Sombra did is still—"

“You don’t know!” She shouted at him. “You…. I’ll be fine,” Emerald quietly muttered as she continued to trot down the hall, leaving Cannon Fodder alone with her words echoing in his mind.

“What did that bastard do to you?” He asked as Emerald trotted out of earshot.

Skeletor braced himself against the wooden dresser of his room as he fought for control of his stomach, swallowing back the building bile that crawled up his non-existent throat at the recent memories of his conversation with Copper Plate.

The things Sombra did should never be said aloud, never repeated under a quiet breath, and never heard. Dark Magic was an entirely different form of magic, one that came at a disturbingly high and grotesque cost, and it freely flowed through Skeletor’s own veins now that he was in the body of a fictional character.

He tried to purge any lingering memories from his conversation with Copper Plate from his mind, drowning them in a sea of kittens and puppies to calm himself.

His vision became hazy as the memories began to resurface with a violent vendetta, driving him to the brink of despair as his imagination took her words and created a vision of death and gore that sickened Skeletor to his very soul. His mind composed a chorus of crying foals, fillies, and colts who were taken from their homes, sometimes dragged out of their beds by their own parents who had fallen under Sombra’s complete control.

Skeletor violently pulled one of the drawers of the dresser open to empty the contents of his stomach, the acidic sting of his stomach burned his throat as his mind took his moment of weakness to attack him with a barrage of disturbing scenes of death and torment to add fuel to his growing fire of disgust and pain.

Skeletor hung his head over the open drawer as he fell to his knees, clutching the edge of the dresser to keep himself upright as his body gave up on him. He breathed heavily as he regained his breath, tearing his eye sockets away from the pool of vomit to look up at the still covered mirror. Skeletor saw the vague shapes of gore and death in the unkempt cloak of crimson fur, causing him to unconsciously paint more vivid images in his mind that built up more bile in his throat.

He stayed like that for a few sparse minutes, collecting enough pleasant memories to bury the death and despair he had imagined under a mountain of distractions. Random catchy jingles and annoying repetitive songs were tossed around in his mind haphazardly in an attempt to drown out the imagined cries of pain, which only caused their cries to grow in intensity until they were the only things he heard.

Tears fell from his invisible eyes as he lost the battle against his mind, allowing the scenes of carnage and bloodshed to dominate his thoughts. Skeletor tore himself away from the dresser and went over to his bed to sit down, burying his skull in his hands as his imagination began to overwhelm him with visions of suffering foals at the bottom of a disgusting pit.

As Skeletor’s imagination plotted to push him towards more dark thoughts, a soft knock on his door that roused him from his thoughts, allowing him a small reprieve from his internal torment. After grabbing his staff and wiping off his jaw with one of the discarded cloaks, Skeletor walked over to the door as the pony on the other side knocked again.

Once Skeletor opened the door, he saw Emerald Secret with her hoof raised to knock again before she quickly put it back down.

“Hello, my lord, are you ready?” She asked.

“Ready for what?”

“For court, my lord. I informed Avid Value and Crumb Catcher about your plan to host court with all of the council members present and I also took the liberty of asking Crumb Catcher to find somepony to spread the news of court being open today. We likely won’t have many ponies coming to court today, but we should expect more later on in the week,” she informed him.

“Court? Oh, right, right, I uh… That’s now?” He asked as he dragged a hand down his skull to banish the last of his disturbing thoughts.

“It’s actually scheduled to be an hour from now, my lord, I just thought you’d like to get prepared, perhaps you could use the hot springs to freshen up?”

Skeletor unconsciously ran his invisible tongue along the top of his mouth at her words, slightly recoiling at the fresh taste of vomit that filled his mouth. “Yeah, I think that’d be good. Um… Do we have any tooth brushes?”

“Is that another word for a chew stick? If so, then I can arrange that to be placed with the rest of your toiletries. If you’d follow me, my lord, I can lead you to the hot springs under the castle.”

Skeletor simply nodded to Emerald Secret before he left his room, prompting Emerald Secret to escort him down the hallway and several flights of stairs. Skeletor’s invisible eyes wandered the halls, following the intricate patterns that naturally formed in the walls. Skeletor was able to catch faint glimpses of his reflection in the many faces of the walls reminding him of his first encounter with his reflection in the dining hall earlier that day.

He saw the skull of a strange monster staring back at him whenever his gaze would flick to a random part of the wall, feeling a chill run up from the base of his spine to the bottom of his skull whenever he would catch the empty eye sockets of his doppelganger. Skeletor moved the hood of his cloak closer to the edge of his face to avoid seeing his reflection and searched the halls for something to distract him.

His invisible eyes eventually drifted towards the oddly silent Emerald Secret, watching her traverse the halls with ease, unburdened by Skeletor’s plights and silently suffering with her own problems. Skeletor briefly thought how to best approach his question before he decided to throw caution to the wind and act on instinct, too worried that his own “if’s” And “should’s”.

“Hey Emerald, how are you feeling?” He asked.

“Wonderfully, my lord. Crumb Catcher assured me that preparations for the Crystal Fair are going off without a hitch and Avid Value is ecstatic with the progress the alchemists and blacksmiths are making with your creation. They were able to produce the ‘pig’ iron and are in the process of preparing to make the first ever bar of steel,” she summarized.

“That’s nice, but… How are you doing?”

“If you’re referring to my… To earlier this morning, then rest assured that everything is fine, my lord. Cannon Fodder came to speak to me on your orders and I’m feeling much better because of it.”

Skeletor released a quiet sigh of relief at the news and let a small smile touch his strangely malleable jaw which defied nature, presumably a result of his new body being based off of a cartoon villain, though he wasn’t too interested in looking into it since feeling himself smile felt like he still had a face.

“That’s good to hear…. And, Emerald, I’m… I’m sorry for asking an uncomfortable question this morning. Christ, I had no idea about… that,” Skeletor told her, feeling his thoughts begin to stray towards his conversation with Copper Plate.

“That’s… It’s fine, my lord, everything is alright now,” she reassured him with a struggling smile.

Skeletor remained oblivious to her silent plights as Emerald Secret successfully deceived him with very little effort.

They continued walking down several winding corridors and hallways in awkward silence which was only broken by the occasional cough or random noise from one of the many doors that lined the halls. After walking down several flights of dimly lit stairs, Skeletor was led through a pony-made tunnel that was too low for his stature, forcing him to crouch down as he followed Emerald Secret.

Skeletor was able to see a dim blue light at the far end of the tunnel, a dull light that just barely cut through the darkness that blinded Skeletor, the vague shape of Emerald Secret’s body was the only thing that prevented him from getting lost in the shadows. After stumbling through the darkness for close to a minute, the blue light at the end of the tunnel became more noticeable, allowing the outline of Emerald Secret’s body to become more defined.

Maneuvering around an oddly placed pillar of stone, Skeletor shielded his eyes from the sudden explosion of light that appeared from the other side of the pillar. After a few moments, Skeletor looked to see a small cavern completely bathed in blue bioluminescent light from the thousands of glow worms that hung from the ceiling of the cave.

The floor was tiled with dull orange mosaic crystals that were mostly obscured by a thick layer of grime that had fallen from the ceiling. A few yards away from the entrance laid a pool of pristine water that shimmered in the light of the bugs that hung from the stalactites.

“I’ll fetch one of the maids to find you some toiletries, my lord,” Emerald Secret told him as she excused herself, disappearing behind a pillar of stone that obscured Skeletor’s view of the entrance to the hot spring.

Skeletor walked towards the pool of warm water, piping one of his newly monstrous toes into the to test its temperature. He recoiled slightly at the warmth of the water, buy was relieved by a second toe joining the first, allowing his body to accommodate to the now pleasurable temperature of the water.

Without much thought or care, Skeletor stripped himself of his cloak and limited clothing, including the black underwear that offered him only a morsel of modesty. It was an irksome task to maneuver the cloth around his much larger feet, snagging on his larger than average feet as he pulled them off. It was also the first time Skeletor had properly disrobed, allowing him to look at his body in full detail in the reflective surface of the water.

The face of death stared back at him with an expression of fear and hesitant wonder, mirroring Skeletor’s actions perfectly as his hand touched the surface of the water. Light ripples from the contact caused his reflection to shift slightly as he drew closer, feeling his arm sink into the water until it reached his bicep. His hand touched the bottom of the surprisingly shallow pool of water, giving him a brief reminder that everything in the castle, aside from the doors, was designed for the proportions of an average sized pony.

After taking his arm out of the water, Skeletor stepped into it. The water barely came up to his knees while he was standing, and only came up to his waist when he sat down, causing his upper torso to feel incredibly cold by comparison. He slipped deeper into the water, laying on his back as his skull rested on the ledge of the pool so that he could feel more comfortable.

His tense muscles relaxed as the warm water enveloped his body, feeling his concerns and worries melt away as his spectral eyes close. A moan of pleasure escaped Skeletor’s throat as he laid in the water, savoring the blissful relaxation that the pool offered him.

His mind wandered to the last time he had used a hot tub, which had been years ago, a crime that he would never commit again now that he had his own personal hot spring. The last time he had felt the luxury of warm water surrounding him was when he first caught a glimpse of Evelyn leaving the pool to go to her room at the hotel he and his family were staying at. He had only noticed her because of her pale complexion and her albino hair, but he thought nothing more of her when she left the room.

They had bumped into each other the next day at breakfast in the lobby, sharing one of the few tables that sat near the beginning of the line for breakfast. Idle chatter between them soon evolved into interested conversation, which miraculously led to them friending each other on Twitter. Months of being friends online led them to exchanging usernames on Steam, Tumblr, and eventually exchanging phone numbers. Skeletor wasn’t sure what had compelled him to ask her on a date to the prom since she didn’t even live in the same town as him. But, somehow, some way, she said yes.

Thinking about that night brought a smile to his face. Prom was absolutely horrible, all the movies that made it look grandiose and wonderful had been extremely exaggerated, either that or his school was being extremely cheap. It didn’t matter that the food, music, dancing, and even the Photo Booth were subpar or horrible, all that mattered was hearing her laugh, becoming lost in her eyes, and being near her.

He briefly wondered if he would ever be able to see her eyes again, if he would ever be able to feel her hand interlock with his. Skeletor unconsciously started to curl his fingers, momentarily tricking himself into believing that the warm water that slipped through his fingers was Evelyn’s warm embrace. The illusion of being near her only lasted for a dying moment of time before his mind started to drift towards the rest of his family on Earth.

He knew that his family would wait for him, but would she? It wasn’t as if he was accusing her of being unfaithful to him, but how long could he have expected her to wait before she believed he was really dead? It wasn’t like they were married or anything, they had only casually dated for around three years. If it actually took him years to get back to Earth, who was to say that she wouldn’t have already moved on by the time he finally got back?

Skeletor quickly chased those thoughts away, sinking deeper into the water until only his nasal bones stayed above the water. He lost himself between thoughts of young deaths and a dying relationship, fighting to keep his emotions in check as his tormenting mind re-doubled its efforts. The only thing that was able to pull him from the brink of despair was the sound of hooves echoing from the dark tunnel.

Skeletor turned to the source of the noise to find Emerald Secret trotting into the cavern with a stick in her front hoof. Glancing down, Skeletor swiftly covered his groin with his hands to hide anything unpleasant from Emerald.

“Apologies, my lord, it took me some time to find a chew stick, I was only able to find it thanks to Crumb Catcher,” she said as she held out a hoof towards Skeletor, causing him to stare at her hoof more than the small twig with a frayed end.

How the hell is she holding it with her hooves? He wondered as he used one of his hands to accept the stick, using the other to discretely conceal his family jewels.

As Skeletor took the stick from Emerald, he noticed that his fingers were more wrinkled than dried prunes.

“Court should start in about fifteen minutes, my lord,” she informed him as she pulled a towel off of her back and draped it over red foreleg. “I trust that you had a relaxing bath?”

“Uh… Yeah, I guess I just lost track of time,” he replied as he looked at the stick he held in his pruny fingers. Lifting the stick to his mouth, he rubbed the frayed ends of the twig against his teeth to remove and plaque and clean out the lingering taste of vomit that his earlier panic attack left him with.

“Do you need me to do anything else, my lord?” Emerald asked in a slightly weaker voice.

Skeletor noticed her sudden change in tone and her slightly fighting legs. He stopped brushing for a brief moment as his incorporeal eyes watched her tail tuck between her legs, something Evelyn had told him scared animals did to protect themselves.

“I just need a little privacy. Would you mind going behind that pillar for a bit?” He asked as he wondered what was making Emerald worry.

Emerald nodded, a bit too quickly for his liking, and she cantered behind the pillar that separated her and Skeletor.

He rinsed the taste of vomit out of his mouth with water from the hot spring, not worrying about any bacteria or germs that were inside of his bath water, before he stood up and grabbed the towel that Emerald left for him. While he was drying himself off, Skeletor became disturbingly familiar with his new skeletal face, having to dry off his jaw from the inside out after letting it soak in the hot spring. Skeletor gagged on the towel a few times as he felt it hit brush up against his teeth and invisible gums.

He noticed that trying to access the inside of his mouth from below his jaw would only lead to him touching bone, while reaching directly through his mouth allowed him to feel his tongue, gums, and, much to his chagrin, his uvula. If he delicately placed a finger in his mouth, Skeletor could feel something that felt like the inside of his cheek, but if he pressed too hard, it would pop like a bubble and reform shortly after. After a few more experimental pokes popped his invisible cheek again, Skeletor stopped playing with his ghostly features and dressed himself with his limited clothes.

Skeletor briefly pondered if any of the staff in the castle would be able to make him a pair of pants, but shook that thought away as he focused on more important matters. He could worry about clothing when he got back to Earth, and getting back there meant not getting killed in the enemy kingdom of the Emerald City from Oz, and the only way to do that was to make sure the ponies were happy. Simple. Easy. Absolutely fucking terrifying. He thought to himself, as he held the cloak closer to his body like a security blanket.

He firmly grasped the Havoc Staff in his free hand, using it as another item to give him a little more distance between himself and the rest of the world. When Skeletor walked around the stone pillar, he saw his new advisor peering into the darkness with trepidation as she watched the small flakes of dust twirl in the air, closely observing it as if a vicious monster would jump out at any moment. Clearing his throat slightly startled Emerald, knocking her out of her worried state and upgrading her to absolute terror as she stared at Skeletor.

Fear flashed across her eyes as she gazed at him, bracing herself as if Skeletor would lunge at her in a moment’s notice to strike her. “Are… Are you alright, Emerald?” Skeletor stupidly asked.

Emerald regained her composure a few moments later, although her mask of calmness had become a warped mess that allowed her true emotions to seep through. “Yes, my lord, everything’s fine,” she replied before she began trotting down the dark tunnel.

Skeletor stayed in place as Emerald’s hoof clops grew more distant before he eventually plunged into the darkness to talk to her. “Emerald, can you please tell me what’s wrong?” He persisted.

He had assumed that her conversation with Cannon Fodder had helped her deal with the memories of what Sombra did to the poor foals that he captured, but clearly something else was bothering her. She had been completely fine until she handed him the chew stick, as if a light switch was flipped, the normal mare suddenly became timider and more fearful of him. Was it his sharp fangs that worried her? Had he done something to scare her without realizing it? He had no idea what caused her to suddenly change but he desperately wanted to know.

“Well… I’m just worried about the Crystal Fair, that’s all, my lord. Nothing you need to be concerned about,” she lied. Or maybe it was the truth? Either way, he’d need to dig a bit deeper to see where the root of the issue laid.

“Really? What’s on your mind then?”

“Just thinking about the festivities, my lord. We… We will be having a celebration, right?” She meekly asked

“Of course. Why, is there something wrong with it?”

“I’m happy to say that isn’t the case, my lord,” she said with a much happier tone prominent in her voice.

Alright, not the festivities then. So what’s bothering her? He questioned. “So, what are you going to do during the fair?”

“Standing by your side, my lord, along with Cannon Fodder and a few of the guards.”

Skeletor paused briefly at that little tidbit of information before he reminded himself that he somehow managed to become king of a bunch of colorful equines. It made sense that there would be guards surrounding him, although the protection they would offer failed to make him feel safe. If anything, the knowledge that a group of highly skilled soldiers would be surrounding him with weapons caused him to feel the exact opposite of safe. All it would take was one well-placed poke with the sharp end of a spear and he’d be a dead man. Yet another thing to add to the ever-growing list of fears that would keep him from getting a restful night’s sleep.

“How many guards?” He asked as he tried to not betray his relaxed and calm facade.

“Half a dozen, not including Cannon Fodder. The guards will create a circle around you while Cannon Fodder personally escorts you from inside the circle. The outer ring of guards is in place to protect you from threats in general, while Cannon Fodder acts as a last line of offense to anything or anypony that gets past them. Though I don’t believe you’ll have to worry about anypony in the Empire attacking you, after all, you liberated us from Sombra,” She said as she led him out of the dark tunnel and up a spiraling staircase.

Skeletor had a few doubts about Emerald’s claim about everyone being happy that the old king was dead. While the disturbing atrocities that he had committed would make him hated by thousands, if not millions, Skeletor knew that monsters like Sombra still had a number of supporters ever after their demise. He was reminded of the many groups and organizations that had devoted themselves to the memories and corpses of monsters like Hitler and Joseph Stalin.

Ignoring those worries for the time being, Skeletor directed his attention back to Emerald and her concerns. “Good, so everything will be alright? There’s nothing to worry about for the Fair?”

“None that I can think of, my lord,” she said happily, seemingly forgetting about her own lie as she thought about the Crystal Fair.

So, it’s not the fair, it’s not the foals, Skeletor shuddered at the drifting images of foals being tormented in his mind. so what is it? Should I call her out on her lie? He wondered as he tried to focus on Emerald’s plights.

“I see… Is there anything else I should know? Something I should be worried about?” He asked as he tried to lead her to revealing her underlying problems.

Emerald was quiet for a few moments as she contemplated his question before she finally answered under a quiet breath. “Everything is fine.”

Skeletor wasn’t sure if the answer was directed towards him or if she was trying to convince herself, but he took it as if it was an answer to him. He slightly nodded his head as he followed her up another staircase, inwardly debating the best course of action to indirectly ask her what was wrong before he once again threw away any sense of planning in favor of action.

“Emerald, if you won’t tell me what’s wrong then that’s your decision to make, just know that I want what’s best for you, and if you think you know what’s best then I’ll respect that. Just know that I’m here if you need to talk,” he told her.

Tense moments of silence filled the space between them as they reached the peak of the stairwell. Skeletor could see the debate raging on inside of Emerald’s mind as her ears twitched erratically as they fought to turn towards Skeletor’s footsteps, only earning a few degrees of freedom before they were swiftly returned to their front facing position. Her ears continued to fidget until she finally answered with something he dreaded to hear.

“Thank you, my lord, but, like I said, everything is perfectly fine.”

Chapter 11. Knowledge is Magic.

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Skeletor’s left hand firmly grasped his knee to prevent it from bouncing as he sat on a throne overlooking the many crystal ponies who came to meet their lord. Dread brushed up his spine as he sat on his throne, looking at all of their silently pleading eyes and their weak bodies.

Many of the crystal ponies who came to attend court were those who had taken up temporary residence in the medical wing of the castle, and were some of the most tormented ponies in the Empire. Unlike most of the ponies who were used as soldiers, a majority of the ponies who came to him during court were those that had been forced to work in the mines for the entire three years of Sombra’s rule. Several of the attendants were supporting each other both physically and emotionally, either needing someone to help them stand or needing someone to say their words to Skeletor for them.

Skeletor’s own words either consisted of reassuring the crystal ponies that Sombra was dead and wouldn’t return, or parroting the words of his council as he heavily relied on them to ease the ponies who came to him. He had only asked for one break once a young mare, whom had lost touch with reality, asked where her daughter was.

He knew where she was, he knew where they all were, and so did most of the citizens of the Crystal Empire. The mare's loose grasp on reality left her as one of the few blessed ponies who weren't burdened with the knowledge of what had happened to the foals. It was both a blessing and a curse, to be free of the painful memories that haunted her sleep and to be left without any answers to where her little Sunshine was.

Once she was escorted back to the medical wing, Skeletor requested that she be put on suicide watch and had to briefly explain what the concept of suicide watch was. It was then that Crumb Catcher had informed him that dozens of parents had already died at their own hooves after being released from Sombra’s spell.

Skeletor was left with his own thoughts as his council members debated the ethics of forcing those who wanted to die live, each of their arguments became background noise as Skeletor fought to focus on anything that wouldn’t add to his growing terrors. The only thing his council members had agreed on were that it was his order and, by all right, his final decision. If he were in a clearer state of mind, Skeletor may have thought about the ramifications of his decision and asked his council to do what they, as a majority, thought what was best, but his current state of mind prevented him from doing so. With a wave of his hand, Skeletor ended their meeting break and reluctantly returned to the throne room.

He had lost count of how many ponies had come to see him, how many desperate and tearful eyes looked up at him, how many of them begged for their nightmare to really be over. A few of them had asked if he knew what happened to the solar and lunar princesses, hoping that he would be able to shed some light on their sudden disappearance. Unfortunately, he was just as, if not more, confused by it. Any time one of them asked if the princesses were still alive, he would tell them that he believed the princesses were alive and assured the crystal ponies that they would find out for certain soon, although he planned to postpone “soon” to “indefinitely.”

The crystal ponies that arrived later in the day requested help rebuilding their homes, shops, and underground farms, tasks that were handled by Avid Value’s input on the cost of repairs and finding capable hooves for the job. A handful of guards had also gathered the courage to ask if they could resign, and a few of them appeared to be more than willing to jump on their own spears if Skeletor had refused their request.

They were officially relieved from their duty by Skeletor’s royal decree and Cannon Fodder was tasked with handling the official process of their resignation. While Cannon Fodder tried to argue that the first few guards who asked couldn’t resign, his attempts to persuade Skeletor soon died out once over two dozen guards had come to be relieved of duty.

Hours sluggishly trudged on as more ponies came to the throne room, Skeletor could have sworn that he saw the life in their eyes dying the more he spoke of empty promises to look for the diarchs of the sun and moon, to rebuild the Empire so that it could regain its former glory, and to essentially fix every problem in the Empire overnight. It was an exhausting experience for the human turned mythical villain, and one that he was barely prepared to handle on an emotional level as he tried to maintain his composure and fight against the bile that desperately crawled up his throat.

After an entire day of listening to the crystal ponies, the sun finally began its slow descent outside the castle as last of the ponies were escorted out of the throne room. Skeletor pensively watched the throne room doors as he waited for another pony to trot in, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn’t have to hear any more stories of their suffering or give them any more promises of false hope.

He released a loud sigh of relief once the throne room doors were shut, leaving only Skeletor, his council, and a large amount of stoic guards in the throne room. Skeletor then proceeded to slump into the cushions of his throne, throwing away his masquerade or power and poise as he sunk into his seat. His skull rested in his left hand for a few brief moments as the memories of court replayed in his mind.

“Is everything alright, Lord Skeletor?” Crumb Catcher asked from his seat.

Four pillows were placed on either side of the dais with one placed directly next to Skeletor’s throne. Emerald Secret sat on the pillow next to Skeletor, using her position to whisper relevant information to him whenever he couldn’t understand their terminology or failed to understand what they were asking for. Crumb Catcher and Cannon Fodder were sat to the right of the dais while Copper Plate and Avid Value sat to the left of it, allowing a senior council member to sit next to one of the newer members and keep an eye on them.

“I’m fine… I won’t have to meet with anyone else, will I?” He asked no-one in particular.

“That was the last one, my lord. I didn’t think so many ponies would hear about court so soon,” Emerald Secret told Skeletor.

Crumb Catcher’s posture slightly straightened as he wore a prideful smile on his muzzle. “Of course, it was Lord Skeletor’s wishes and I executed them to the best of my abilities,” he bragged.

“You mean the maids executed them,” Avid Value stated from his side of the dais.

“I’ve accomplished more than you, wandought,” Crumb Catcher shot back bitterly.

A fierce glare from Cannon Fodder and Copper Plate prematurely stopped either of them from continuing their argument. While Avid Value brooded over his inability to get another word in, Crumb Catcher was immensely proud that he was able to get in the last word. Neither of their attempts to insult each other managed to catch Skeletor’s attention since his mind was too preoccupied thinking about the many crystal ponies who came to court in seek of help.

Several guards shifted nervously as Skeletor sat sill with his head in his hand as the silence inside the room became deafening while everyone waited for him or someone else to speak up. The silence soon became too much even for Skeletor, prompting the new lord of the Crystal Empire to take his head out of his hands before he fell asleep on his throne.

As he raised his head, he noticed that all of the room’s occupants were staring directly at him. Skeletor was able to catch a few eyes that were quickly torn away from him when he raised his head and he saw the nervous tension dance across their faces as they tried to not gawk at Skeletor.

Skeletor slightly tensed up when he noticed how much attention was pointed towards him and attempted to redirect it to the other council members.

“Avid, how are the alchemists doing?” He asked.

Avid Value noticeably perked up at his question before he turned to Skeletor. “Wonderfully, your highness! I’m proud to say that they made leaps in progress so far, and we believe that it will only take a day or so to perfect the process. The alchemists and blacksmiths were able to make a few ounces of steel and we believe it won’t be long until we can start molding them for coins.”

“Excellent, but we can’t use the steel as direct currency,” Skeletor stated without hesitation.

“I’m… I’m sorry, your highness? Wasn’t this endeavor started to help our financial situation?”

“And it will. It’s a resource that we can control and make as much of as we want. Making too much steel will make it worth less than gold and not making enough will cause its value to be too high for anyone to actually use. So, if we flood the Empire with steel coins…” Skeletor led, rolling his wrist to prompt Avid Value to finish for him.

“Then… We’d still have a financial crisis on our hooves… So, what do we do?” Avid Value asked.

“We need something that can also be made and give it an arbitrary value, using the worth and cost of steel to give the new currency value. My government had paper currency that was given worth by a place called the Federal Reserve Bank, which held all of our country’s real value. We can afford to make a few coins of steel, but there needs to be a more accessible currency that can equate to steel,” he rattled off as he tapped his fingers against the staff of his scepter.

“You use paper as currency?!” Copper Plate shouted as if it was the most blasphemous thing she had ever heard. Noticing the many shocked stares that the council members and Skeletor threw at her, she nervously coughed into her hoof. “Apologies, Lord Skeletor. It’s just… Paper is really scarce in the Empire.”

“How scarce?”

“Well… I think the only paper in the Empire is in the Royal Archives.”

“But what about books? Shouldn’t there be dozens of books in the Empire?”

“Books are a rare commodity among ponies of all races. Very few ponies even know how to read, so the texts aren’t designed to be available to the public. The only books in the Empire should be in the castle,” she informed him.

“Sooooo… How bad would it be if someone say, completely hypothetically, destroyed some books?” Skeletor hesitantly asked.

“It was punishable by death during Princess Amore’s rule, your highness.”

A sudden spike of fear pierced Skeletor’s soul as he remembered the partially destroyed bookshelf in his bedroom. “Ah… W-Well, we should definitely fix the book problem then.”

“What problem?” Copper Plate asked.

“The book problem,” he repeated. “Books are a treasure that outlives and outweighs any monetary value, for they hold the keys to the most important thing in existence. They possess knowledge, history, and lessons that are passed down from those who were brave enough to fail so that those in the future could succeed,” Skeletor rattled off, as a flood of words that just so happened to sound inspirational fell out of his mouth.

“First, we’ll have the alchemists find a way to make paper,” he stated as he hopped out of his throne and began pacing the floor. "I know that there are methods that can use animal skin or plant fibers, but I don’t know much about them. It’ll be trial and error to make paper, but with it we can use it to make more books and use it as paper currency. The Empire doesn’t have any cattle, so we can’t use animal skin or cotton, unless we can use a few blankets and pillows, but that would hurt the citizens... And there are barely any plants either. Wait… Who knows the most about agriculture here? How are the subterranean farms doing?” He asked his council.

“That would technically fall under my title, my lord,” Emerald Secret answered. “As I told you earlier, the farmers were able to cut through the overgrown vines to get to the crops.”

“Excellent. Once the alchemists have completed perfecting the process of making steel, have them focus their efforts on making paper. Tell them to use any of the rotten foods or any dead vines and leaves to try and make something with them.”

“Paper made of plants? That’s ludicrous,” Cannon Fodder stated firmly. “You’re asking the alchemists to turn water into wine without magic.”

“Without magic… Wait, the alchemists don’t use magic?” He asked his council. Each of them shared worrying looks for a few quick moments before Emerald Secret cleared her throat.

“There were a great number of ruvas who were part of the alchemist’s guild, but once Sombra rose to power…” She trailed off as the memories of Sombra’s many atrocities, the ghosts of her many friends lingered inside her mind as she suppressed the memories of their demise.

A look of realization washed over Skeletor’s skull as his posture suddenly tensed up. “Right. Right, I uh… Okay…” He quietly said.

A brief silence befell the throne room as many ponies sent silent prayers to the all-loving weaver, Faust, and Skeletor sent a silent prayer to his own god. Skeletor let out a breath as he resolved to focus on the incoming economic crisis at hand rather than the recent tragedies of yesterday. As much as he wanted to take a few moments to mourn the dead, he had to worry about one life: his own.

“Are there spells for making paper?” He asked Copper Plate after letting the silence hang in the air for a few more short seconds.

“There are a few conjuring spells, but they need physical matter to transmogrify.”

“Alright, do we have any books that have chapters dedicated to the process of making paper or any spell books that have spells for making paper?”

“There are a few that might be helpful. Should I go find them?”

“Yes. Making paper is one of our top priorities right now. With paper currency we can solve out financial situation, not to mention we’ll have more books so it won’t be a death sentence if someone say, accidentally destroyed a few books,” Skeletor stated as he stared at the ram skull on his scepter. “The only concern is my magic, I’m… I'm Sooooo powerful that doing something as menial as creating paper may be a laborious task, like asking the sun to warm a cup of tea,” he lied. “We’ll need the alchemists to work on making more paper with their own methods in case I can’t refine my immense power enough to do it. Who is in charge of the alchemist guild?”

“That would be Purity Flame, my lord, the mare you met with earlier today,” Emerald Secret answered. “Would you like one of us to deliver your orders to her?”

“Do it tomorrow. The sun has already set and she’s probably worked all day. Tomorrow when she wakes up, tell her my orders and ask her to meet with me. An issue we need to deal with now would be the medical ward. How are the doctors doing on supplies?”

“The medical cabinets are almost fully stocked, my lord, but the main issue afflicting the ponies isn’t physical, it’s mental,” Emerald explained. “The doctor’s aren’t ruvas, so they can’t use any spells to ease the minds of the patients.”

“What about anti-depressants for the suicidal patients? Do we have any of those?” Skeletor asked.

“ ‘Anti-depressants’? Is that a spell?” Emerald asked in-turn.

“No, it’s…” He paused for a moment as he mulled his response over in his mind. A deceptive plan formed in his mind that, while morally apprehensible, would also prove beneficial to the ponies suffering from mental trauma. “… Do any of you know what a placebo is?”

“I’ve never heard of that term,” Emerald stated as she looked at her other council members. Each one shook their head at the question, confirming that none of them had ever heard of a placebo before.

“Well, it’s… A magical medicine,” Skeletor lied, as he began concocting a plan that could possibly help the crystal ponies. “It’s a medicine for the mind that uses hope and belief to strengthen a creature’s vitality. It can’t magically cure all problems, like severed limbs or deadly diseases, but with enough time and effort it can help with problems plaguing the mind, and we-er-I could create an elixir that could possibly help them. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s better than nothing so it’s worth a shot.”

“Fascinating, your highness,” Crumb Catcher praised before he asked one simple question that could have derailed all of Skeletor’s plans. “How do we make it?”

“… The first main ingredients in a placebo are faith and trust; all the other ingredients are secret,” Skeletor continued to lie. “Should the other ingredients ever be explained, then it can lead to disastrous consequences. Where I come from, a man fighting off a deadly disease that caused hiss blood to rapidly multiply was given a placebo to help. Even though they were never designed to fight against such a deadly disease, they worked, but once he found out the other ingredients in his placebo medicine, it stopped working. So, to assure that the medicine won’t lose its magic, I and I alone will make it and give it to the doctors to use on the patients. I’ll need to use the kitchens early tomorrow, they should have everything else I need to make it. Now, is there anything else we need to do for what little remains of the day?” Skeletor asked as he glanced out of one of the windows.

The sun slowly fell beyond the horizon with the moon beginning its ascent from the same horizon. Skeletor quickly did a double take as he realized that he was watching the sun set and the moon rise at the same time towards the east of the Empire, the two celestial bodies moving uncomfortably close to each other as the day ended and the night begun. Skeletor silently watched the twilight sky become engulfed in darkness as it slowly swallowed everything above the clouds. Tentacles of shadows crawled over the horizon to complexly obscure the sky, causing Skeletor to slightly recoil at the unnatural process of turning day into night.

He swallowed thickly before he tore his gaze away from the sky, deciding not to question the rules of his new reality for fear of losing what little remained of his sanity.

“I think it’s time we all retire for the night, unless there are any other pressing matters I should know about,” Skeletor said calmly as he turned towards his council.

Out of the corner of his eye-socket, Skeletor noticed that a few weary eyed guards stifled their yawns. Many of them had stayed for the entire court session, only leaving for the allotted bathroom break and lunch break, standing at attention even as Skeletor and his council took an impromptu break after the childless mother came in asking to see her daughter again.

Skeletor’s council perked up at the mention of retiring for the night, hopping off of their cushions as Skeletor walked towards the large throne room doors. The guards at either side of the door moved quickly to open it for him, allowing him to leave the room and head towards his only slice of sanctuary in the fantasy land from hell, his bedchambers.

After a few helpful directions from the two guards that flanked Skeletor’s side, one of which being Cannon Fodder, Skeletor was led back to his bedroom. Once he was confided to his room, Skeletor released a deep sigh of relief as he tried to relax on his bed.

Moonlight trickled through the open hole in his wall that was left by the smashed glass mosaic of Sombra, offering a small amount of light to illuminate his pitch-black room. Skeletor placed his scepter on the floor and laid in bed for a handful of restless minutes. Flashes of pleading voices and tearful gaze appeared in Skeletor’s mind before he fumbled blindly on his nightstand for a small candle.

Holding the candle in his hand, he picked up his scepter and placed the wick of the candle against one of its golden horns and closed his eyes. Focusing on the image of fire inside his mind, Skeletor concentrated on the candle in front of him and tried to force magic to flow through his scepter.

After a minute of imagining fire erupting from his scepter, and subtly rubbing the candle against the horns of the ram skull as if the slow friction could miraculously light it, Skeletor opened his eyes to look at his failure. He saw a spark of energy fly off of the horns and ignite the wick of the candle, causing a small emerald colored blaze to spring to life and dance on top of the cold wax.

Skeletor flinched in surprise at the now lit candle, watching the green flame move with a chaotic life that refused to bend to the whims of existence. As if the candle existed to solely spit in the face of reality, the small fire managed to illuminate the entire room as if it burned with the wrath of a small sun.

Using the surprisingly bright light from the relatively small flame, Skeletor took several books off of his shelf to skim through their pages, blindly searching for anything that looked like the most basic of beginners guides for magic users.

From the small parts that Skeletor could somewhat grasp, magic worked off of taking a concept and dumbing it down to its most basic factors. Skeletor wanted fire, so the horns became hot enough to make it through heating the horns, he wanted to kill Sombra a second time, so his magic created an image for him to relive the memory.

In the most basic of terms, magic could be theoretically considered a form of life that grows with its caster, meaning that the magic that obeys the whims of its caster ages and learns as the caster grows. Even though he was a grown adult, his magic was still in its infancy since he had never used it, so his magic would take any of his orders as literal while also dumbing them down to a point that could achieve some type of satisfaction.

An example would have been the staircase that opened in the throne room a day or so ago. He had wanted whatever shroud that was used to obscure his memories removed, and his magic had dumbed it down to revealing or finding something hidden. And while his powers weren’t enough to remove the seal that hid some of his memories, they were strong enough to reveal the hidden path to the highest tower. His magic also couldn’t actually bring Sombra back to life for him to kill the evil stallion a second time, so it took the idea of, “I want to kill Sombra again.” and turned it into, “I want to experience killing him again.”

The purpose of magic was to appease or satisfy the caster by either giving them what they wanted or doing something similar that could satisfy them. Skeletor wasn’t sure how it applied to his portal spell, since he definitely wasn’t satisfied with the end result. Perhaps it took his idea of “I want to get home” and turned it into, “I want to leave.” His powers weren’t strong enough to open a portal to Earth, so his magical essence was forced to dumb down his order into something more manageable.

If a spell caster was powerful enough, they could circumvent the “dumbing down” phase of casting their spell so that they could achieve what they actually wanted. He was powerful enough to remove the basic lock spell from the vault, so there was no need to dumb his desire down from, “I want it unlocked.”

Deciding to test out his spells once more, Skeletor picked up one of the more heavily damaged books from his shelf and placed it on the floor. After stepping back a few feet, Skeletor lowered his scepter to press the frontal bone of the ram skull against what remained of the book’s cover.

Swirls of magic swarmed the remains of the old tome for a few moments before several tendrils of magic quickly darted between his legs to reach under his bed. Ashes and shreds of paper flew out from under his mattress to merge with the ins book, slowly repairing the damage caused from his accidental combustion spell. In a few brief moments, a patchwork of papers mended the cover of the book and repaired the burned and frayed pages.

The pages inside the book were left mostly blank after the spell restored the book, with only a few lines of text and images that managed to survive the initial combustion spell. The parts of the book that were burned away were replaced blank sheets of paper that held fair images and faded words that were taken from the burned scraps that were hidden under Skeletor’s bed. Many of the pages were numbered incorrectly, and several of them used letters instead of numbers to mark the pages.

While Skeletor was happy that the book was repaired, the fact that it was now mostly illegible and still badly damaged caused him to feel a stab of fear that cut through his cheerful spirits. Copper Plate had told him that damaging books were a death sentence in the Crystal Empire, and he wasn’t too sure how his status as king would protect him.

King Henry was able to murder his wives and thousands of other people without any repercussions for his actions, but that was on Earth. Did the same rules apply in magical pony land? Skeletor wasn’t brave enough to find out that answer and did his best to repair the covers of the other books on his shelf, superficially fixing the exteriors instead of the interiors. Afterwards, Skeletor used the wooden remains of his cupboard to fix the shelf of his book case and used the cloaks to make a large curtain to cover his broken window.

With nothing else to do, Skeletor returned to reading more of his limited collection to learn how to control his abilities and learn what else he could do with them.

Copper Plate trotted along one of the many rows of books in the royal archives, her eyes roamed each of the shelves in search of anything that could help Lord Skeletor. Her gaze trailed from the title to its corresponding chain, making sure that each of the books were still securely chained to their locks.

It was odd how she found comfort in the sight of chains, a symbol of repression and confinement that should have brought forth a hundred memories of Sombra’s reign. And yet, seeing her catalogue of knowledge safe on their shelves brought her a sense of silent relief. Even after Sombra’s takeover of the Empire, the history of the crystal ponies and their princess were still safe, their culture and beliefs were untouched by sullied hooves and monstrous claws.

A small smile crept onto her muzzle as she checked her list of books, happy to confirm that the archives still had most of their books with the only exception being those that Sombra stole for his private study. Her smile faltered slightly at that wandering memory, but the knowledge that Skeletor had promised to find a more efficient way to make paper reinforced her smile by two-fold. Any lingering worries about him were tossed away by his plans for the Empire, helping their economy crawl back from the brink of collapse and improving their production of literature and texts.

Copper Plate’s eyes stayed firmly placed on the books as her ears moved towards the sound of hooves clopping in the isle next to her, briefly reminding herself that the pony in the next isle was somepony she could trust near her valuable collection of knowledge.

“Oh, Copper, I think I found a book that might help us,” Emerald Secret called from the isle next to Copper Plate.

Copper Plate trotted to the next isle to see Emerald marveling at a thick tome that was dedicated to agriculture and farming. “Do you think there’s anything in here about using plants to make items?” Emerald asked while she squinted at the title of the book as if she were interrogating it.

“I doubt it,” Copper Plate answered. “That book doesn’t have anything that goes beyond the subterranean farms and what time of year the sun crystals glow brightest.”

“Oh, that’s unfortunate,” Emerald said as her posture dropped slightly.

“It’s fine, Emerald, we’ll find something down here to help Lord Skeletor and the Alchemists,” Copper Plate reassured her as she patted Emerald’s withers.

Emerald initially flinched at the contact, but after a moment of consideration, she melted into Copper Plate’s embrace.

“I’m fine, Copper.”

“And I’m a stallion,” Copper Plate responded with a roll of her eyes. “I might be old, but I’m not blind, thank Faust. Something is eating at you, and the other council members have noticed too, not to mention Lord Skeletor has noticed as well.”

“It… It’s nothing,” she lied. “I had a talk with Cannon Fodder and everything is settled now.”

“Oh really? And what was settled?”

“The… The Crystal Fair. I was worried that we might not have one this year,” she stated with a far too cheerful smile. “But Lord Skeletor assured me that we would be hosting the Fair this year in celebration of Sombra’s death and the Empire’s liberation.”

“No offense, dear, but that’s codswallop. Look, Emerald, I want to help you, but I can’t help you unless you let me.”

“I don’t need help, I can deal with it myself.”

“A lot of ponies say that, but not many of them mean it,” Copper Plate told her.

Emerald bit back a retort to let Copper Plate’s words sink in, possibly reminding her of how many times she had told other ponies that she was fine or that she could deal with it alone.

Emerald had been an invaluable addition to the royal Archives for the past two days, giving Copper Plate a first-person account of Princess Amore’s death and the final moments of King Sombra. Many tears were shed over the memories of Princess Amore and solemn smiles were shared between the two as they fondly remembered Princess Amore for the pony she was behind her mask of regality.

They provided each other a shoulder for her to cry on for their woes, gave an ear to listen to their problems, and openly discussed their greatest fears and worries. Emerald’s belief in Lord Skeletor was one of the few things that eased Copper Plate’s worries about what would happen to the Empire, and she was one of the few ponies Copper Plate considered a friend in the post-Sombra Empire. If there was even the slightest hint of a chance that Copper Plate could help Emerald in any way, she would take it.

“Promise not to tell anypony? It’s… It’s stupid…” Emerald muttered.

“Don’t worry, Emerald, nothing you say will leave these walls,” Copper Plate said as she gestured to the lifeless walls of the archives.

Emerald took a deep breath as she found the courage to not only admit her fears go herself, but to share them with another pony. She shared her personal fears with Copper Plate, struggling to find the right wording that wouldn’t make her sound like a filly that was afraid of the dark.

Copper Plate listened intently to her words, holding no judgment or ill-will towards Emerald as she spoke, only nodding her head and offering a shoulder to cry on whenever Emerald needed it.

Emerald’s problems would not be fixed in a single night, no magical phrase or inspirational speech would be able to alleviate all of her fears in a single night. All she could do in a single night was take the first step on a long journey to recovery, one that no one should trot alone. No matter what, as long as she reached out, Emerald's friends would be there to help her along her expedition.

It would take a long time, a time only marked by how many tears would fall from her eyes and how many nights she spent awake. And by the end of her journey, Emerald would overcome her fears with her strength and the power of her friends. No matter what, her friends would be there to help her down the path to healing.

Chapter 12. A Battle of Brawn and Brains.

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The sun rising from the east marked a new day for the Crystal Empire. Unlike the moon which rose in the east and set in the west, the sun rose from the horizon of the east where it would later fall again, like a ball bouncing in slow motion.

The tendrils of the night chased after the setting moon, tearing the darkness of the sky away to reveal a beautiful blue backdrop of the sky. Hundreds of crystal ponies watched the skies, sometimes nipping at themselves to confirm that they still weren’t dreaming.

As many crystal ponies rose in the early morning to embrace the beauty of their world, one creature completely ignored the majestic nature of the planet, locked within the confides of his bedchambers in the Crystal Castle as he experimented with his magic.

Inside his room was Skeletor and a collection of red cloaks that were clumped together in a corner, the two stared at each other intently, or at least Skeletor pretended that the inanimate pile of cloaks were staring at him. He imagined that the lump of red fur was King Sombra: the pony who had cursed him by bringing him to a world of equines, the monster that had locked away his memories, the demon that he desperately wanted to kill a second time.

Skeletor’s left hand rose quickly as he struck a confident pose, spreading out his fingers as he prepared to unleash one of the magical spells he had seen in the ancient tomes that lined his bookcase.

“I have unlimited Power!” He shouted with glee as lightning leapt from his fingertips at his fabricated foe.

As the lightning struck its target, electricity began soaring through Skeletor’s veins and burned his insides. Immense pain shot through Skeletor’s body immediately as his spell began to take its toll, causing him to scream out in agony, “FUCK! That fucking hurts!”

Skeletor immediately cut off the spell and clutched his twitching arm as he felt the residual electricity run through his limb. Streaks of static and lightning flickered across his arm as he held it close to him.

“Fuck me, fuck! Fuck, okay, magic hurts like a bitch,” He said to himself as he focused on the pain soaring through his arm.

The smell of burning hair promptly knocked Skeletor’s thoughts away from the pain he felt, causing him to focus on the fire hazard that begun to grow in the corner.

“No! Stop being on fire, STOP BEING ON FIRE!” He exclaimed as he held out both of his hands towards the growing flame.

A blast of ice magic flew from his open palms towards the fire, snuffing out the fire while the bitter sting of cold magic swallowed his hands.

“Coldcoldcoldcoldcoldcold. COLD!” He shouted as he began flailing his hands to get his blood circulating through them again. After failing to get any immediate results, Skeletor began blowing in them in a vain attempt to make them feel warm before he shoved them under his armpits.

“Fuck,” he squeaked as he felt the frigid touch of death assault his senses.

Skeletor shivered as he felt the cold embrace him, his jaw clattered hysterically and his legs trembled. He quickly wrapped himself in the blanket that laid on his bed to warm himself as he shuffled back to the open book on his nightstand. After hours of reading and deciphering the cryptic and confusing passages about magic and teleportation.

From what Skeletor could piece together, there were two types of teleportation known to equine kind. The first was creating a portal that was designed to fold reality to take something a certain distance at the cost of time. This type of travel was known as “Portal Walking”, an ability only used by the most powerful of unicorn mages such as someone, or rather somepony, named Starswirl the Bearded. Portal Walking was soon replaced by teleportation once it was discovered by a mage named Clover the Clever.

Teleportation itself was the act of moving to a location instantaneously, with the only downside being that it was the equivalent of a blind leap of faith into a dark room.

While a portal would guarantee going to a location safely, a teleport was a blind leap into a place with no idea how safe it would be. If a person/pony knew the location well, then they could teleport to that location without being worried about ending up inside a wall, but that wouldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t end up inside a piece of recently moved furniture or inside a pony that happened to be in the spot the other pony was teleporting to.

The cost of teleporting to an area within the caster’s field of view was a more practical use of teleportation while traveling great distances was something more suitable for using a portal. Apparently, portal walking faded into obscurity once the ponies settled in Equestria and began using teleportation for ponies and physical objects.

Skeletor personally preferred using portals since he was too worried that teleporting could, and most likely would, make him end up inside of a wall or halfway through the floor. Once Skeletor decided that opening a portal back home would be the wiser and safer option of the two, he began looking for a means to get more power to open a portal back to Earth.

He learned that magic was similar to muscle in the sense that it became stronger with more use and became weaker with fatigue and age. The only way to make it stronger was to exercise it by casting more spells, and if he didn’t regularly practice and use his magic then there was good chance that it would become lethargic and possibly dangerous. Ponies who had used magic after years of inactivity would often suffer a magic attack, which was the equivalent of a heart attack in their soul.

Magic attacks were almost always lethal to the caster, sending them into a coma like state known as living death where they would starve to death or die of thirst despite anyone’s attempts to help them. Skeletor was immensely grateful that one of the first signs of a magic attack was extreme fatigue, it was the only thing that prevented him from experimenting more with his magic on his first night in the castle. If he had kept using the portal spell that night then it would have been very likely for him to become another victim of a magic attack.

Taking a break from his self-taught magic lessons, Skeletor flopped onto his bed to rest his body and mind. Using magic drained and affected certain parts of the body depending on what the spell uses. Transportation spells used overall physical strength and endurance as the fuel to enact the spell, elemental spells such as lightning and ice drained him emotionally, removing his sense of glee and fear respectively, and his one attempt at a levitation spell had given him a major migraine as it fed off of his conscious thoughts, causing his mind to sit still for an uncomfortable amount of time as any train of thought was diverted to physically moving an object. What was worse, was that Skeletor acted more like a mindless machine than a person while he used his levitation spell, leaving him practically defenseless until the object went to where he wanted it to go.

Sombra had avoided the cost of his power by using something other than his body, mind, or emotions to pay it for him. Skeletor was fairly certain that the power he achieved was from his sacrifices, but the fact that the sacrifices, pit throws, and other atrocities happened after his initial spell to take the Empire left a large hole in his theory. Sombra had found a way to subvert the cost of his spell without sacrificing foals, meaning that Skeletor could find a way to do so as well.

He wracked his brain as he tried to think of how Sombra avoided having a magic attack and there was no way he was physically, emotionally, or mentally strong enough to cast his enslavement spell, let alone keep it constantly running for three years. Enchantments like his lock spell or the spell he used to hide his staircase only needed to be casted once since they were affecting an object, if he had placed the concealing spell on himself of another pony then he would need to actively concentrate and focus on that spell to keep it intact.

As Skeletor laid on his bed his thoughts drifted towards the different uses of enchantments, a soft knock at his door pulled him away from his thoughts. Quietly groaning to himself, Skeletor pushed himself off of his bed and walked towards the door with his havoc staff draped over his back with the small holder that was attached to his harness.

After slapping himself in the face to wake himself up, Skeletor opened the door to see a brightly smiling Emerald Secret standing on the other side. Skeletor suppressed a yawn as he tried to greet her.

“Morning, Emerald.”

“Yes, it is morning, my lord, and may I wish you an absolutely wonderful morning,” she replied cheerfully.

Skeletor nodded as he stepped out of his room and closed the door behind him, making sure not to reveal how much of a mess he made to Emerald as he slipped out.

“Yeah, wonderful, wonderful. So, what’s on the itinerary today?” He asked.

“Well first is breakfast, followed by a meeting with the master of the alchemist guild, Purity Flame, to discuss your plans for finding a new method to mass produce paper. Then court will be opened for an hour until we need to break for lunch. Afterwards, Crumb Catcher requested that you pose for your portraits so Art could paint your visage.”

“Why do I need my portrait painted?”

“Well, I and the rest of the council believed that you would like to have your image replace all of Sombra’s old portraits. Crumb Catcher also brought up the idea of commissioning a statue of you as well, but Avid said that it wasn’t in our budget at the moment,” she explained as she led Skeletor down the hall.

Skeletor briefly considered the idea of getting a statue of himself before a stiff headache reminded him of his inability to remember his old face and what he looked like now. “I don’t think portraits will be necessary, Emerald.”

“Why not?”

“I… Uh… Feel like the money for the artist would be better spent on expenses for the Fair and other things,” he lied.

Skeletor didn’t know how he was able to look at his reflection in the water or in the dining hall, but he did know that he didn’t like it. He was unnerved by his own reflection, disgusted even. Having portraits and paintings of himself hanging all throughout the castle would have only been a constant reminder of the monster he became.

Sure, he was glad that he was more muscular and could do magic, but that didn’t make up for the fact that he was a legitimate monster.

“Ah. Well, my lord, there’s nothing to worry about. Art is more than willing to do it for free. In fact, I think that he’d pay you for the chance to paint your portrait.”

“W-well… What about your previous princess?” He asked.

His sudden question caused her to trip over her front hooves for a moment before she caught herself. “What about her, my lord?” She hesitantly asked.

“Well, you ponies looked up to her, right?” Skeletor asked in a leading tone. Emerald simply nodded in response as Skeletor continued speaking. “And I assume that Sombra removed any art of her, right?”

“There are only a few pieces of art left of her. Anything that wasn’t built into the foundation of the castle was stripped from the Empire and burned to ash or smashed into rubble.”

“So, wouldn’t the crystal ponies feel better if they had art of the former princess again? I mean, I know I would certainly like to see what my predecessor looked like,” he said with a knowing smile as he watched Emerald’s ears stand at attention and her tail swished back and forth happily.

“In fact, why don’t we honor her memory. Does the Crystal Fair happen on the same day every year?”

“It did, before Sombra took over. The last Crystal Fair was supposed to be a month ago.”

“Then we’ll make this Friday the official day for the Crystal Fair, and we’ll call it… Uh, what was her name?”

“Princess Amore.”

“Prrrrincess Amore Memory Day!” He announced while rolling his r’s and pointing a finger to the air. “In fact, we shall honor the memory of all those who died under Sombra’s cruel reign. What do you think, Emerald?”

“That sounds wonderful, my lord! I’m sure the citizens will love it!”

“GREAT! Go find Art and tell them of my plan, I’ll find my own way to the dining hall, I’ll be fine without a guide.”

“At once, my lord!” She stated before she turned to gallop away from the path to the dining hall.

Skeletor chuckled at his success to avoid having any reminders of his face hanging around the Empire while also finding a way to make the ponies happy as well. The happier they were, the less likely he’d be taken to the gallows.

Briefly looking back to make sure Emerald was out of earshot, Skeletor cleared his throat to get the attention of one of the guards who stood nearby while he was talking to Emerald.

“I require a guard to escort me to the dining hall,” he said with fake confidence.

“Um, didn’t you say—"

“Never-mind what I said, just do what I said,” Skeletor firmly stated with fake anger, causing the guard to shut up and lead Skeletor to the dining hall since he failed to remember how to get there himself.

Cannon Fodder slowly rose from his mattress as he wiped the crust out of his eyes. He yawned loudly as he stretched his legs and arched his back to pop his spine. His eyes lazily took stock of the few things in his spartan room. His armor was meticulously placed on one of the spare training dummies that matched his height and build almost perfectly. A weapons rack of spears, his gladius, and a battle axe that was passed down from his father’s father back from when his grandfather, Glass Cannon, had served as a member of Princess Amore’s royal guard.

Even though Cannon Fodder didn’t know how to properly wield his grandfather’s battle axe, seeing it brought a smile to his muzzle as he carried on his family’s tradition of serving Princess Amore. That smile quickly vanished as soon as he remembered how he was the last of his family to serve her, that he was the one responsible for her dying. He didn’t jump in front of her, he didn’t defend her, he let his guard down and she paid the price, and now he was forced to serve a demon.

Cannon Fodder hopped off of his uncomfortable mattress as he stared at the blank picture frame that hung over his weapons rack. The bismuth frame once held a beautiful portrait of Princess Amore, painted by his mother when his father served the royal guard. Cannon Fodder, like everypony else with a painting or piece of art of Princess Amore, was forced to take any art or memorabilia of her to the center of the Empire for Sombra to incinerate them.

He scowled at the memory of Sombra’s arrogant smile as he watched the fire consume her image. The bastard forced all of his enslaved subjects to watch their possessions burn in a column of fire that nearly blinded them with its bright flames. It only became worse once he forced the few ruva and thestral slaves he had to throw themselves into the fire and dance around on the streets and in the air.

Cannon Fodder wondered if Dice, Star Shine, and Torch Wind were commanded to burn themselves that day or if they were fortunate enough to be among the first batch of ponies who threw themselves into the pit. He hoped that their deaths were quick, that they weren’t tortured by the monster that had murdered Princess Amore.

A rhythmic knock from his door took his attention away from the blank picture frame to the stallion standing at his opened door. Cannon Fodder frowned at the blue stallion that came into his room unannounced.

“What are you doing here? Did you come to talk about polishing my armor again?” Cannon Fodder asked as he began placing his armor on his body.

“And good morning to you too, General Fodder,” Crumb Catcher replied as he trotted into the room and closed the door behind him.

“You better have a damn good reason to be in my room, Crumb.”

“I do actually. I’ve come to speak with you about something very dire, something that could threaten the security of the entire Empire,” he cryptically told Cannon Fodder.

“And what would that be?”

“Regicide,” Crumb Catcher said as he ran a hoof over the dusty chest that held Cannon Fodder’s spare blankets. “I know about your plans to kill Lord Skeletor.”

“What are you talking about?” Cannon Fodder asked, not allowing his sudden change in emotion to manifest physically as he kept his voice calm and continued putting on his armor.

Crumb Catcher chuckled humorlessly as he wiped the dust off of his hoof with a rag. “You seem to forget, General Fodder, I’m the not only the head of the staff, I’m also the Royal Spy Master. Even if it's something as mundane as an empty bowl next to a crystal pot, I hear about it. My one goal in life is to not repeat the failures of my predecessor. She should have been able to see Sombra’s attack coming and informed you so the guards could stop it. But she failed, she let Sombra slip past her eyes and the princess paid for Star’s inability to do her job.”

“You take that back you prick! Star was a damn good pony, better than you!” Cannon Fodder shouted at Crumb Catcher as he took up a fighting stance, completely prepared to literally beat some sense into the thick headed stallion for insulting the precious Royal Spy Master.

“Be careful what you say, General. It’s not smart to openly insult the stallion who holds your fate in his hooves. All it would take it a word and Lord Skeletor would be on you in an instant,” he threatened with a vile smile.

“Then why don’t you? In fact, what’s stopping me from cutting your head off and saying you were plotting against him?” He asked as he glanced at the spear that was leaning against his wall.

He was physically stronger than Crumb Catcher, if necessary, he could beat him to death and claim self-defense, but he had no idea how many ponies besides Crumb Catcher knew his secret. The only way Crumb Catcher could have known about his plans was if one of the maids overheard him, which meant at least one other pony knew about his plan. For all Cannon Fodder knew, the entire castle staff was informed of his treachery and they were waiting for Cannon Fodder to kill Crumb Catcher before they went to warn Lord Skeletor.

“Because you’d be no use to me if you were dead and you would be down a possible ally if I died. And since you’re planning regicide, you need all the friends you can get,” Crumb Catcher stared as he made a point of looking at the weapon with a bored gaze. “While hoofing you over to Lord Skeletor would definitely put me in his favor, I believe having you as an ally instead of an enemy would help me more-so, especially with your inane plan to place Emerald on the throne,” Crumb Catcher elaborated.

“What do you mean? What do you get out of this?” He asked skeptically.

“I get to be on the right side of history if Lord Skeletor is actually evil. In all honesty, I like him but that doesn’t mean I trust him. He’s an unknown creature who wandered into our lands and managed to kill a monster even the solar diarchs couldn’t defeat. And speaking of the beloved princesses, we still have no idea what happened to them. While many ponies are willing to accept that they’re dead, I am a bit more…”

“Hopeful?” Cannon Fodder guessed.

“Fearful. Yes, that’s it, fearful,” Crumb Catcher stated firmly. “If they are still alive then I have almost no doubts that they’d want to remove Lord Skeletor from the throne. And, as much as I like him, I like being alive and on the princesses’ side more. There's absolutely no way I'll be standing next to him if or when the Princesses arrive.”

“So, you want to get rid of Skeletor then?”

“Lord Skeletor, and I want to be prepared. I don’t want him to be evil and I don’t necessarily want to get rid of him, I simply want to be alive at the end of all this.”

“... So, what’s your plan now?”

“Simply to watch for now until something happens. So far, watching him from a distance has revealed a lot of interesting things about him. Do you want to know something about our new lord?” Crumb Catcher coyly asked. Before Cannon Fodder could reply, Crumb Catcher whispered to him in a conspiratorial manner, “He hides his messes under the bed, he destroyed a few books from his personal collection, he doesn't use the chamberpot under his bed, and I don’t think he likes his reflection.”

“What makes you say that?” Cannon Fodder asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn't understand why the demon would be afraid of its own reflection, but if Crumb Catcher was telling the truth, then perhaps Cannon Fodder could find a way to use that to his advantage. He had definitely noticed how Lord Skeletor kept stealing long looks at his reflection in the dining hall, giving Crumb Catcher's last statement some credence to consider it possible.

“Because he covered it in one of Sombra’s old cloaks.”

“And how do you know that?”

Crumb Catcher scoffed as he waved a hoof dismissively. “Please, General Fodder, as a servant to Lord Skeletor, it is my duty to clean up for him, especially his private bedchambers. After seeing his spotty attempts to hide the signs of his outburst, I decided it would be best to leave the room the way it was. I once heard a rumor that Silver Spoon had swept up all of the rose petals in Princess Amore’s room and the princess was absolutely livid. So, I’d rather not take my chances and accidentally upset a being who caved in Sombra’s head with a decorative stick. For all I know, he might like having a broken window in his room and closing it could earn his ire. I didn't even dare to touch whatever mess he left in the top drawer. I'm going to play my cards right and not step on anyone's tail, especially his.”

With a swish of his tail, Crumb Catcher smacked Cannon Fodder’s muzzle as he turned around to leave Cannon Fodder’s room. “If you insist on being a moron, then I’ll drop our deal and tell Lord Skeletor everything. For now, play nice and do as Lord Skeletor says and everything will be fine,” he told Cannon Fodder as he wore a smug smile on his muzzle. “I trust you can do that, can't you General?”

Cannon Fodder glared at Crumb Catcher as he gave a stiff nod to him. Crumb Catcher’s smile only grew at Cannon Fodder’s obvious reluctance and anger as he trotted out of the room, leaving a livid Cannon Fodder alone in his own room once he left.

Once the door was closed, Cannon Fodder waited for a few moments before drew his gladius from his weapons rack and stared into the eyes of his reflection. He berated himself for letting somepony find out about his plans and briefly wondered if Copper Plate told somepony, or worse, somepony overheard him talking to her in the dining hall. He had made sure to keep his words below the quietest of whispers as he spoke, only raising his voice by a hair whenever one of the other tables was being obnoxiously loud.

He stomped a back hoof as he snorted, throwing a seething glare at his door as he reevaluated what he knew about Crumb Catcher. Before Sombra came to power, he was nothing more than a common butler for the higher up nobles, the only reason why Emerald and Copper Plate suggested him for the position was because he was one of the few ponies who knew how to read and write. Cannon Fodder didn’t think Crumb Catcher had what it took to be part of the council, and Avid Value was only with them because of his tutelage under Torch Wind.

Cannon Fodder would have never expected one of the green horned council members to blackmail him, let alone find out about his plan. If it weren’t for Crumb Catcher’s position on the council, Cannon Fodder wouldn’t have hesitated to silence him permanently. For all he knew, Crumb Catcher had a plan in place in case he died where one of his little spies would go to Lord Skeletor and tell him about Cannon Fodder’s plan.

How much would he tell him? Would he tell him about Emerald? He thought fearfully. He didn’t care about his own safety, but if his actions got Emerald killed as well, or worse, if she was the only one punished for his plan then he wouldn’t be able to live with that guilt.

Crumb Catcher had Cannon Fodder in his hooves, his life and possibly the life of Emerald rested in his grasp. Cannon Fodder sulked for a brief moment before he embraced his rage and stabbed the wooden dummy in his room, burying his gladius deep into its chest as he pictured Crumb Catcher’s horrified expression. He refused to be anypony’s puppet.

He had spent three years being a plaything for Sombra, he wouldn’t allow that to happen again. Just like he had done with the demon, he can act like he was on Crumb Catcher’s side. The arrogant stallion would eventually drop his guard, and Cannon Fodder would take the upper hoof to kill him and Lord Skeletor in order to protect the Empire. He wouldn’t fail the ones he loved again, he’d fight the entire guard if it meant keeping the citizens and his friends safe.

He just needed to bide his time, learn Crumb Catcher’s secrets and use them to get rid of Lord Skeletor. It was only a matter of time until his plan came to fruition, all he had to do was wait. Sooner or later, he’d get his chance to save the Empire, and when it came, he’d take it without hesitation.

Chapter 13. The Demon in The Mirror.

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The day passed by with relative ease for Skeletor as Emerald led him through his schedule. After she went to find a pony named Art to tell them that Skeletor wanted paintings and pieces of art of Princess Amore for the Crystal Fair, she went straight to the dining hall to fetch Skeletor for his meeting with the master of the Alchemist Guild, Purity Flame.

Together, along with the higher members of the Alchemist Guild, Skeletor and Purity Flame were able to use a few alchemist spells designed for ruvas to make a single sheet of paper. While the progress they made was extremely minimal, it was enough to prove that it was possible to use plant fibers to make paper. Skeletor tasked the alchemists with making two types of paper, one for books and one for currency. He informed them how durable the paper currency would need to be and informed them about how paper money in his land was mostly made of cotton.

When one of the alchemists asked where Skeletor was from, he brushed off the question by simply stating, “Very far away,” and he left it at that.

He didn’t want to get into the intricacies of being from another universe/plane of existence/reality. After seeing the sun and moon rise and finding out about magic, Skeletor realized that he wasn’t on some far away planet in his dimension, he was in another reality all together. Once he came over that surprising revelation the way anyone else would, a flood of tears and complete denial, he decided to keep that information closer to his chest than any other secret he ever had.

He wasn’t sure how the crystal ponies would react if they knew of his other worldly origins, and he definitely wasn’t too eager to find out. Skeletor already knew that he was a monster in the eyes of most of the crystal ponies, and he heard some of the guards and maids whispering about him being an actual demon. It was only a mixture of fear and respect that kept most of them from running away from him whenever he entered a room and only a few of them were truly fearless in his presence.

While being feared was slightly better than being hated, he doubted that their fear of him would prevent them from eventually uprising if they were angry enough. Once they realized that they held an advantage in strength, speed, and probably even intelligence, they’d lose that small sense of fear and overthrow him for a more capable magic equine. If he wanted to keep what was left of his head, he needed them to at least respect him more than they feared him.

After accomplishing their task with the smallest amount of progress possible, Skeletor and Emerald went to court where the other council members were already seated on their cushions. Court went about as well as Skeletor expected. Several more ponies were placed on suicide watch, four more guards were released of their duty, and Skeletor approved the reconstruction of a church for a deity called Faust.

At first, Skeletor was hesitant to approve the reconstruction of a house of worship and not an actual house for living in, so he approved the construction with the caveat that it would be used as temporary housing for crystal ponies who had lost their homes. He then asked Emerald to schedule a meeting with the reconstruction team to see how they were doing, and hopefully find a way for Skeletor to help them make the process go faster.

Once court was finished and dinner was served in the dining hall, Skeletor returned to his room to continue his studies of magic. During court, Skeletor had requested several magic books from Copper Plate under the guise of wanting to make paper.

While making paper was one of the things he wanted to accomplish, Skeletor was more concerned with learning what the limitations of magic were. Most of the books didn’t offer anything that his own didn’t and only one of them offered anything new to him.

Magic fell under three categories based on what it used to power a spell, emotional, mental, and physical. Mental magic was used for spells such as levitation, barriers, and enchanting by using the caster’s conscious thoughts as a source of fuel. While lifting things with his mind sounded good on paper, in practice it was a different beast of burden altogether that sent Skeletor into a zombie like trance. Emotional magic such as elemental spells fed off of a person/pony’s emotional state while other spells like transmogrification, teleportation, and portal walking used physical strength as a source of energy to power the spell.

Some passages theorized that it was possible to substitute one energy source for another, such as using physical strength to power a levitation spell or using emotional magic to enchant an object. Skeletor knew that the theory was sound since he was told that the Crystal Heart used the power of love to keep the barrier over the Empire, and he wondered if it was possible for him to substitute his energy with something else.

Sombra had found a way to use a different energy source for his magic, and it was likely an outside force that he drew the energy from since his spells never suffered any fatigue or decay. If he could just find what Sombra used to increase his magical power, he could open a portal straight back to Earth and say goodbye to knockoff Narnia.

Skeletor closed his book as he went to search through his room again. If Sombra had a secret object or a hidden spell book that allowed him to use a different source of energy, then Skeletor could repurpose it and use it to power his spell back to Earth. It was a long shot, but it was still better than sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

He opened the drawers of his dresser for the third time that day. After cleaning out the top drawer of aged vomit and emptying the other drawers of their random assortments of crystals, Skeletor tried and failed to see if there was a hidden compartment in any of the drawers. Even though he knew it was useless, Skeletor still searched the drawers regardless of the obvious outcome.

Skeletor then proceeded to remove every book from his shelf in the hopes of opening a secret passage to a room of divine relics and artifacts, or at least a hollowed-out book that held the secret to his escape from his magical world. He searched high and low for Sombra’s secrets for hours. Faced with no other options, Skeletor turned his attention to the one item in the room that clearly had magical properties.

He stared apprehensively at the concealed mirror on his dresser, wondering how Sombra could have used a mirror of all things to increase his power. It didn’t make any practical sense to Skeletor, but then again, he was in another reality where the laws of nature, physics, and rationality didn’t apply to his worldview. The mirror was the only thing in the entire room that stood out to him, so there must have been something that it could offer him.

After taking a deep breath, Skeletor tore the cloak off of the mirror to confront his missing reflection. Like all the times before, his mirrored counterpart was nowhere to be found. Skeletor took his Havoc Staff off of his back and pressed the ram’s skull against the reflective surface.

Thanks to his earlier experimentation, Skeletor was able to find out spells focused through his scepter didn’t take as large of a toll on his mind, body, or emotions as they did when they were focused through his hands. Skeletor closed his invisible eyes to focus his efforts on casting a spell to reveal the mirror’s secrets, dumbing his own spell down to revealing secrets in general in case his magic wasn’t strong enough to attack any of the enchantments placed on the mirror.

Skeletor felt the room drop by a few degrees in temperature as his spell began to take effect, bending and reshaping reality to his whims. In a flash light that would have blinded Skeletor if he had kept his eyes open, his spell on the mirror finished allowing him to take the secrets he desperately needed.

With joy and hope soaring through his soul, Skeletor looked into the mirror early before he recoiled from the monster he saw inside of it. A truly vicious and vile creature stood on the other side of the mirror, looking at Skeletor with an equal amount of surprise before his expression melted into a villainous smile. Skeletor couldn’t believe what was on the other side of the mirror. He gazed into the sickeningly green eyes of the beast that had caused him so much torment, the villain who had traumatized thousands, the monster that he killed on his first day in the Crystal Empire: King Sombra.

“Hello, Skeletor,” the monster said to him.

“What the fuck? Y-You’re supposed to be dead!” Skeletor shouted as he stepped away from the mirror.

“Heh. ‘dead’? Creature, I was already dead long before you arrived,” The spirit of Sombra said as his eyes took in Skeletor’s form. “You only destroyed my vessel, a chamber that kept my soul latched onto the mortal coil. I lost my life to have a greater power, and that power has a steep price. My deal with Grogar costed my Empire many souls, and I was never able to fully repay him. I have a large debt that you have inherited. And you will pay it,” he commanded.

Skeletor’s fear gave way to boiling rage as he heard Sombra’s words. “The… The hell I will! Go fuck yourself you piece of—“

“SILENCE!” Sombra roared, causing the room to shake as his booming voice reverberated off of the walls.

“You stopped me from repaying my debt. Because of you, Grogar will come, and he will take what is his by force,” the spirit warned. “Once he comes, he will take the Empire and all of their souls. You are no match for him, but together, we can pay off our debt.”

“Our?… Th-there’s no fucking ‘our’, there’s you burning in pony hell and that’s it!” Skeletor shouted back. “You ruined my life, you ruined their lives! Fuck you!”

“What do you mean I ruined your life, I never met you before, demon.”

“Bullshit. You brought me here, you turned me into… Into this!" He stated as he gestured to his overall body.

“I did no such thing. I never attempted to summon you to my kingdom. I don’t know how you came to my Empire, but I do know of your plans to leave,” Sombra replied with a sickening smile. “I also know of your various failures, and I know you won't get anywhere without help. Together, we can claim the power needed to send you home. Just align yourself to me, and I can set you free of your bonds of leadership.”

Skeletor remained silent for a few sparse moments as he actually considered Sombra’s words. Thankfully, sanity pulled him away from his temptation and lead him towards his anger once more.

“I’m not joining you! And I don’t believe you, either! So, fuck off!”

“Fool! You don’t understand the power you’re trifling with by being king of the Crystal Empire. Grogar is far more powerful than I am, and he will claim your power to collect my debt.”

“That’s your debt. Not mine, not theirs, yours. So, I don’t need to worry about it.”

“You moron! Do you actually think that matters to Grogar? He was promised a large sum of souls with interest, interest that has had many ages to grow while my Empire was banished. What will you do when he comes? Do you think you’ll be safe in your own home by the time arrives, do you think any amount of distance will stop him?” He asked.

Sombra’s silver tongue lulled Skeletor into a state of compliance for a brief moment. Because the spell was using energy from Skeletor’s train of thought, his mind was left open to persuasion and verbal commands. It was only his pure rage that kept him from agreeing with Sombra, but even rage could not keep Sombra’s velvet voice and sweet promises from invading his mind.

“I’ll… I’ll think of something.”

“Heh. Pushing your problems off until it’s too late, then? Very well, but, there is hope for you,” he said with a knowing smile. "Check the top drawer."

With great reluctance and an overwhelming curiosity that tempted him to give into the mystery of Sombra's strange order, Skeletor tore the top drawer open and prepared himself for the worst. Skeletor had expected to see anything from a portal to hell to an eldritch abomination of darkness, but he he didn't expect the seemingly mundane object that was actually there. Inside his drawer, resting on top of a folded velvet blanket was a leather-bound tome that had been dyed green, with no noticeable markings or images on the cover and an image of a golden rose that was carved into the spine of the book.

“Inside that book is everything you need to get home. I can teach you how to escape the Frozen North, how to open a portal back to your home in Tartarus,” Sombra promised.

“Tart… No… NO! Fuck you! I’m not going to join you, so just go back to hell where you belong!” Skeletor exclaimed as he banged his palm against the mirror, causing him to quickly pull his hand away once he felt the stinging burn the mirror left on his palm.

“You blithering oaf! You’ll never get out of the Empire without my help. Do you think the Alicorn sisters will let a demon like you live outside of Tartarus?! They’ll kill you in an instant! Face it, beast, you’re nothing compared to them or me! Nothing!”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Skeletor shouted as he smashed the mirror with the skull of his scepter.

Shards of glass exploded from the frame of the mirror as Skeletor unknowingly released a ball of pure anger infused energy into it. Shards of glass that bounced against his skin burned him like falling embers, a thousand small burns hitting him instantly after he smashed the mirror.

Skeletor breathed heavily as he felt the effects of being completely drained of his sense of anger. His mind became hazy as his other emotions rushed to the surface to replace the rage that was burning in his veins moments ago, causing him to feel a whiplash of other emotions. Joy, fear, relief, sorrow, and lust smashed against each other to form a mangled monstrosity that attempted to fill the void inside of him. His mind struggled to understand the foreign feeling of being completely drained of an emotion and nearly shut down as a result. After a minute of drowning in a sea of mixed emotions, Skeletor was able to cling onto one emotion to keep himself afloat.

Uproarious laughter filled the air of his room as Skeletor laughed at the absurdity of his situation. Thrown into a foreign world in the body of a monster, given the title of king to creatures that could easily overpower him, cursed to have no recollection of his name or old face. Not to mention he was now apparently responsible for Sombra’s debt to some demon. It was painfully hilarious to him.

Skeletor openly dove into the madness of his life, losing himself in complete bliss as he began to realize how dire his situation really was. Skeletor briefly lost his mind in the ecstasy of his own pain and misery, laughing at the cruel joke life had played on him. He laughed louder than he had ever laughed before, enjoying the soap-opera that was his life after comic-con.

He wasn’t sure how long he was writhing on the floor as he laughed. It was only when the sun finally set that his laughter finally began to die down, allowing him a reprieve from his short stint of madness. Tears trailed down his cheekbones as he stared at the ceiling of his room and short chuckles of insanity escaped him with each passing breath as he laid on his back.

His body finally found its emotional equilibrium when his anger and rage had filled the pit their complete absence had left. With his emotions back in order, his mind slowly found its delicate grasp on reality once more, pulling Skeletor back to his sanity after a few more minutes of insane chuckling.

Soft chuckles soon devolved into ragged breaths as Skeletor reclaimed the final pieces of his sanity. Tears of joy turned into tears of repressed sorrow as he stared at the reflective surface of the ceiling. A kaleidoscope of insane demons looked down at Skeletor, reminding him of the monster he had become.

Temptation pulled at his heart as he remembered the book and the box that Sombra had summoned for him. As he silently pleaded for the book to be gone along with the mirror, he looked over to the dresser and saw the top drawer was still open. Skeletor slowly got up and shuffled towards the dresser to look closer at Sombra’s “gift”.

Skeletor picked up the mundane looking book, searching for any sign of obvious evil or darkness. There was no cover made of pony skin, no screaming face carved into the back, not even an ominous title or author name. And yet, despite its average appearance, it held the darkest secrets Skeletor could imagine.

The worst part was, part of him felt tempted to use some of those spells. It would be so easy to strip a pony of their free will, to make them just a tad bit more agreeable, to make them obey without hesitation. He’d never have to be worried about them overthrowing him or sending him to the gallows. He could gain more magical power by using the blood of ponies, making his attempts to go home much easier.

Quiet whispers pulled at Skeletor's thoughts, tempting him to open the book and read the dark spells inside of it. The easiest route home was under just a few millimeters of paper, just a single page could send him back to Earth. All he would have to do was to open it and read to his heart’s content and he’d be back home. But at what cost?

Skeletor’s grip on the book tightened as he thought of the atrocities Sombra committed for power, the lives he ended and ruined. Sombra had done the unspeakable to keep the crystal ponies enslaved, and Skeletor could never cross that line to get what he wanted.

“Not today, Satan pony. Not today,” Skeletor said to himself as he walked over to his bed to hold the book over the candle on his nightstand.

He was too drained emotionally and mentally to use his own magic to burn the book to cinders, and in a way, he was grateful for that. Because of his inability to use his own magic to instantly incinerate the evil tome, Skeletor was treated to a show as he watched the book burn in the fire with a vacant expression on his face. The flames lapped at the pages like a rabid animal, consuming the book and erasing it from the world. Even as the fire began to kiss his fingers, he held onto the book and watched it burn to ash.

All he could think about was how Sombra's ghost still roamed the halls of the Crystal Castle, watching Skeletor from the shadows as Skeletor continued to fail time and time again. The old king was mocking him, and what was worse, he was threatening to take the Crystal Empire back. At that moment, all thoughts of returning home were shoved aside as the anger inside of him made him crave revenge for what Sombra had done to him and the crystal ponies. He couldn't, in good conscience, leave them alone with the demonic stallion, even if Skeletor desperately wanted to return home. Even if Skeletor couldn't vanquish Sombra for good, he'd at least make the effort to try.

“Before I go home, I’ll make sure to kill you Sombra… Count on it,” he promised as he continued to watch the book burn in his hand.

Far away from the Crystal Empire, beyond the border that separated the Frozen North from the rest of civilization, was the capital of Equestria. The marvelous city of Canterlot sat on the side of the tallest mountain in all of Equestria, allowing the rulers of the land to look over their kingdom from their castle at the peak of the mountain.

Canterlot Castle was the pinnacle of unicorn architecture, a lavish fortress of enchantments to protect the Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon when Dream Valley was annihilated. The pristine castle was the crowned jewel of Canterlot, a beacon of hope to the ponies of Equestria, and home to the two most powerful rulers on Terra.

Princess Celestia walked to her room with several guards escorting her. The recent invasion of the shapeshifting monsters known as changelings had caused security in Canterlot to increase by two-fold, allowing the princesses to have a large squad of battle-hardened soldiers to devote themselves solely to the protection of the Equestrian royalty.

Despite the hardened faces and cold gazes of the guards that surrounded Princess Celestia, she knew that they were all ecstatic at the prospect of protecting her from some unknown evil.

What they didn’t know was that she and her sister hardly needed anypony to protect them. The only threats that could harm the immortal princesses were eldritch abominations and chaotic gods of chaos which the princess doubted her guards could defeat. The truth of the matter was that her guards were for the more mundane threats, like paparazzi who wanted a picture of her bathing or religious zealots who believed she was the reincarnation of Faust.

The guards that surrounded her sister on the other hoof were tasked with keeping more insidious ponies at bay. Cultists of Nightmare Moon and would-be assassins who wanted to get rid of the, “Dark Empress of the Night” were an unfortunately common occurrence for Princess Celestia’s younger sibling. While Princess Celestia and her staff were able to shield Princess Luna from most of the verbal lashings and outcries from angered subjects, Princess Luna’s domain over the realm of dreams allowed her to see the nightmare most of her subjects still saw her as.

It wasn’t her sister’s fault that a demon had corrupted her mind, Princess Luna was simply a victim to the demonic whims of monsters from Tartarus. Princess Celestia had to restrain herself whenever she heard the nobles whisper ugly lies about her sister. She could have easily incinerated the belligerent ponies or sent them to the dungeon for spewing slander about her sister, but Princess Luna had told her not to.

For some inane reason, Princess Luna believed that a thousand years trapped on the moon wasn’t a sufficient enough punishment for her crimes. What was more maddening, was that there was no punishment to be delivered. All of her crimes were committed by the demon that had stolen her body, and yet Luna still blamed herself for the actions of the demon that possessed her.

It wasn’t fair to her sister, to the mare who had suffered a thousand years on a desolate rock in the sky. Princess Celestia hated the demon that caused her sister so much grief and she condemned the father of monsters, Grogar, for creating such a vile abomination.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Princess Celestia crossed the threshold of her bedroom to let her anger and worries melt away as she entered her sister’s domain.

But, before she could leap into the land of dreams and relax, a flicker of green fire magic appeared near her horn. In a spark of emerald flames, a book of dark spells materialized in front of the solar diarch of Equestria. A book from a time long forgotten, from an empire that only existed three thousand years ago.

A sign that something had happened to the once lost Crystal Empire.

Chapter 14. No Rest for The Demonic.

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The third day of Lord Skeletor’s rule came and passed without much haste or historical importance. After retiring early on the evening on his second day of ruling, on the third day Lord Skeletor had refused to leave his room.

When Emerald Secret had trotted to his room to fetch him for court, Lord Skeletor delegated Court duty to his council, stating that he trusted them to come to any decisions during court, and that if they couldn’t they would need to come to him for a final say on the matter. After she asked why, Lord Skeletor told her that he would be too busy practicing his speech for his subjects while working on spells to make paper to go to court. What was odd though, was that before he delegated Court to them, he asked Emerald Secret to fetch him a series of books from the archives that related to magic and any literature relating to spirits. Emerald Secret didn't question her lord's odd demands, but still kept the questions in her mind as she accomplished her task.

While Emerald Secret was fine, if not somewhat hesitant, about holding court, the other council members held a range of silent opinions towards Lord Skeletor’s choice. Even though nopony would openly say anything negative about Lord Skeletor's decision, Emerald Secret knew that Cannon Fodder wasn’t too keen on letting Lord Skeletor have a day away from court.

During the first court in history to not have a member of royalty present, several more ponies were placed on Lord Skeletor’s newest invention, the “Suicide watch”, two more guards were relieved of duty, and at least a dozen chefs and bakers were given permission to use the castle’s facilities to prepare food for the Crystal Fair. Among the many chefs and bakers was the yellow pony who had come along with Emerald Secret and Cannon Fodder on their way up the mysterious staircase.

Track Record wore a bright smile as he trotted into the throne room, but that happy face soon melted away when he noticed that Lord Skeletor was absent. Once he asked where their new lord was, Emerald Secret informed him that Lord Skeletor was busy preparing for the Crystal Fair and shared the news that the Crystal Fair would mark the beginning of a new holiday for the Empire. While Cannon Fodder and Crumb Catcher had done a good job spreading the news about Lord Skeletor’s new holiday, there was still a large number of ponies who were completely oblivious to the news about Amore Memory Day.

Lord Skeletor for his part was oddly silent the day before the Crystal Fair, only coming out of his room a few times to use the chamber pot in the drawing room. Why he hadn’t used the one under his bed, Emerald Secret and the others had no idea.

It wasn’t until dinner time on the fourth day of his rule that Lord Skeletor left his room to eat in the dining hall, and even then, his skull was buried deep into one of the books Copper Plate and Emerald Secret brought to him. Emerald Secret and the other council members threw weary glances at their silent lord, watching his head slightly bob every now and again as he dove into the passages.

A stifled snore from Lord Skeletor informed the council members of whenever he dozed off to sleep, which caused Copper Plate to cringe as his sleep deprived state threatened to make him use his book as a pillow. After dinner, an obviously drowsy Lord Skeletor excused himself from the table to return to his studies in his bedchambers, leaving the council members to throw each other concerned looks.

“I have never heard a more terrifying snore in my entire life,” Avid Value muttered under his breath.

Copper Plate chuckled lightly at Avid Value’s statement. “You should have heard Princess Amore whenever Torch Wind talked about taxes. Sometimes I wondered if she was part dragon with how loud she snored.”

“Is that why the door has a soundproof enchantment on it?” Crumb Catcher asked.

“I can vouch for that,” Cannon Fodder added on. “My grandpa said that my great, great, great granddad, Red Shirt, almost knocked the door down when he heard Princess Amore snore for the first time. I always hated that damn enchantment. What if somepony broke into her room? None of the guards would be able to hear it,” he complained.

The slightly mirthful mood of the table instantly died down as they remembered how Princess Amore was killed. Emerald Secret buried the memory of Princess Amore’s death and tried to move the conversation back in a positive direction. “So, Crumb Catcher, is everything ready for the Crystal Fair?”

“So far, splendidly. The bakers who came to court today will make a wonderful addition to the festivities. The arena for the jousting tournament has also been cleaned up and the armor has been polished to perfection. The only real issue is the crystal flugelhorn players, a hoofful of tone-deaf daws if you ask me.”

“Speaking of music, are we going to play the national anthem?” Copper Plate asked.

Emerald Secret was about to reply before she realized that she had never asked Lord Skeletor. “I’m… sure Lord Skeletor wouldn’t mind… But just in case, I’ll go ask him,” she said as she stood up from her seat.

“Come now, Miss Secret, I’m sure Lord Skeletor would be ecstatic to have the anthem played,” Crumb Catcher reassured her.

“There’s nothing that will upset him in the song, is there?” Avid Value asked.

“Of course not! Well… How do demons feel about fire?” Crumb Catcher asked after a moment of consideration.

“Lord Skeletor isn’t a demon!” Avid Value argued, earning the attention of a few guards and maids who were sitting at other tables.

“I meant no offense towards Lord Skeletor. I’m just pointing out his species,” Crumb Catcher retorted.

“What makes you say he’s a demon?”

“Do you have a better idea for what he could be?”

Avid value opened his mouth to retort, before he closed it and quietly pondered Crumb Catcher’s question. “He… Maybe he’s an undiscovered species?”

“A species that has a weird monkey skull for a head?” Cannon Fodder asked incredulously. “Face it, colt, we’ve got a bona fide demon running the Empire.”

“We don’t know that for sure! I mean, Lord Skeletor said that he was from a country when we went to the vault."

"And Tartarus is a large place. I'd be surprised if there weren't massive continents that dotted the sea of fire under our hooves," Crumb Catcher rebutted.

"Well, what if he’s like Eris or something? Maybe he’s a god.”

“Of what? Death?” Cannon Fodder asked in a mocking tone, before a look of sudden realization dawned on his face. “All-loving Faust… He might be the god of death…”

“Cannon, you’re grasping at straws,” Copper Plate told him.

“No! It makes sense! Eris is the Goddess of Chaos, and she's made of random body parts from different species. Skeletor is a bipedal version of Death from the book of Faust. Oh Faust, we’re all screwed…”

“You’re overreacting, General,” Crumb Catcher reassured him. “The odds of Lord Skeletor being a god like Eris are incredibly slim. A demi-god, maybe, but I doubt he’s an actual god.”

“Well if he’s not a demon, and he’s not a God of Death, then what is he? There’s not much else besides…. Oh Faust, he’s Grogar…” Cannon Fodder said as his eyes grew wider in fear.

“Please, Grogar is just a foal’s tale,” Avid Value stated, before a hesitant fear ruined his calm facade. “Right?”

“Debatable, since demons were also a foal's tale. Besides, isn’t Grogar supposed to be a goat?” Crumb Catcher asked with a raised eye brow.

“Yeah, but he’s got a goat head on his scepter!” Cannon Fodder argued.

“It’s actually a ram skull,” Copper Plate corrected. “And here’s a funny idea: Why don’t we just ask?”

A heavy silence was the only response to her blunt question as the other council members took a moment to replay her words in their heads. None of them wanted to approach Lord Skeletor so openly, but they struggled to think of a good reason not to ask. Sure, they could claim that he might get upset and kill them like Sombra had whenever somepony referred to him as a prince, but they didn’t have any proof that Lord Skeletor had as short of a fuse as the tyrant.

He wouldn’t be offended if we asked, right? Emerald Secret wondered. “So… How would we ask him?” She asked the other council members.

“Well, it’s not like we can just drop it into a conversation,” Avid Value stated. “And is there even a way to ask that question naturally? ‘Oh, hi Lord Skeletor, so the alchemists have made some progress on the steel, I have a few plans for our finances, and what species are you?’“

“What if we had somepony else ask?” Crumb Catcher proposed. “If a pony came to court to ask Lord Skeletor that question, it would make sense, and if he does get upset and murder somepony then none of us will be harmed.”

“Lord Skeletor wouldn’t murder somepony because of a question,” Avid Value admonished.

“And what would he kill a pony for? Will he never kill a pony again after Sombra? Does the pony need to be evil like Sombra? What if he gets offended by somepony blessing him when he sneezes and he decides to kill them?” Crumb Catcher asked. “Now granted, I’m not saying that Lord Skeletor is a murderer or that he would defiantly kill somepony for looking at him oddly, but the fact of the matter is that we don’t know.”

“He’s got a point,” Cannon Fodder added on. “Emerald and I heard him muttering something about a throne game in the halls, and when Emerald asked if he could repeat what he said, he blew up!”

“I wouldn’t say he, ‘blew up’. I’d say he… was surprised by my question,” Emerald Secret explained.

“Surprised enough to shout at us. How many times have you heard him shout, Emerald?” Cannon Fodder asked.

“I… I suppose it was just that one time.”

“And we still don’t know what set him off that time. What if asking what species he is, is the thing that sets him over the edge and makes him kill one of us?”

“You’re making assumptions again, Cannon, and you know what they say about ponies who assume things,” Copper Plate admonished.

Cannon Fodder simply grumbled in response as he crossed his fore legs.

“You know… Maybe we should wait for Lord Skeletor to tell us himself,” Emerald Secret suggested.

“That’s fine and all, but I think we’re all forgetting what this conversation was about,” Avid Value told his fellow council members. “Are we sure Lord Skeletor will be alright with having the national anthem play for the Crystal Fair?”

“As much as I loath to admit it, Mr. Value has a point, miraculously,” Crumb Catcher stated, earning a glare from Avid Value. “I concede the point that, perhaps, Lord Skeletor may not be a demon. If this is the case, then there should be no problem with the anthem’s lyrics. Alternately, we could ask Lord Skeletor if he could approve the lyrics before the anthem is played and, if necessary, we can modify it.”

Cannon Fodder suddenly stomped a hoof on the table in rage at Crumb Catcher’s suggestion. “We are not changing the anthem! It’s been three damn years since it’s played, and I’m not accepting anything other than the original anthem!”

“Are you sure, General Fodder? I’m sure Lord Skeletor would have a good reason to change it if necessary, and it will still be the same anthem, just with different lyrics. It will make Lord Skeletor happy if we ask him, wouldn’t you agree?” Crumb Catcher asked with a restrained contempt dancing on his tongue.

After a few moments of glaring at the royal spy master, Cannon Fodder surprisingly nodded and gave up his side of the argument. “Fine. We can ask Lord Skeletor,” he muttered bitterly.

As if he was summoned from the depths of Tartarus from his name alone, a orange colored portal opened up near the table for Lord Skeletor to emerge from. The dining room fell deathly silent as their dark lord trudged through the portal, seemingly oblivious to the wide-eyed stares he was receiving as he rubbed his eye sockets.

“L… Lord Skeletor?” Avid Value dumbly asked, earning the attention of his drowsy lord.

“Hmmm? Oh, hello,” Lord Skeletor said as he stifled a yawn. “Crumb Catcher, has the Empire invented coffee yet?”

“... I’ve never heard of coffee before,” Crumb Catcher replied after a moment of pondering Lord Skeletor's question.

“Of course there’s no coffee…” Lord Skeletor muttered to himself as he dragged a hand across his skull.

“Lord Skeletor, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing back in the dining hall?” Copper Plate asked.

“… I…. I was refining my magic,” he replied after a moment of silence. “The books I have been reading had passages about strengthening a creature’s capabilities to use magic by casting a variety of spells. I figured that, with my immense and incredible power, if I casted more mundane spells then I could refine my magic enough to do something as menial as conjuring paper. It’s a very complicated process to understand. Sorry for interrupting your dinner, I’ll take my leave and return to my complicated work.”

“Wait,” Avid Value said before Lord Skeletor had a chance to conjure another portal. “Uh-your highness, we were just talking about the Crystal Fair, and we were wondering if it would be alright to play the Empire’s anthem. I-if that’s alright with you, Lord Skeletor.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Lord Skeletor replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Now, I need to return to my room to continue stre-er-refining my magical capabilities since they're so immense. Like, you can't even fathom how powerful it is, so don't even bother thinking about it. Good? Good. Bye!”

With a wave of his scepter, Lord Skeletor opened a mystical portal that stood as tall as his staff and stepped through it. Once Lord Skeletor was completely swallowed by the portal, the oval distortion in reality collapsed on itself, leaving a room of bewildered, terrified, and confused ponies to simply gawk at the area where the portal appeared.

“Well… That was unexpected…” Copper Plate said as she turned her attention back to the rest of her dinner.

Skeletor returned to his bedchambers through his orange portal and instantly collapsed face first onto his bed once his portal collapsed behind him. His muscles burned with the fury of a volcano after his experiments with opening a portal back home. Hours of studying and experimenting had left him no closer to his goal of returning to Earth.

“Push through the pain… Just gotta try again in a few minutes… maybe an hour…” Skeletor grumbled to himself as he flipped himself onto his back.

His mind wandered to the many failures of his attempts to open a portal home. He knew it was a fruitless endeavor since he wasn’t powerful enough to open a portal all the way back to Earth, but part of his mind just refused to accept that fact. If he got back to Earth, then he would likely be able to open a portal back carrying whatever ghostbusters tech and cross necklaces he'd need to take care of Sombra. Skeletor eventually convinced himself that he would be able to eventually create a portal to take him back home if he just did it enough times and strengthened his magical powers.

His first attempt to leave the Empire that day resulted in him falling into a deep bank of snow that was pressed against the barrier that covered the Crystal Empire. After nearly freezing to death for the second time in one week, Skeletor opened a portal to the hot springs under the castle, then to the only room in the castle that Skeletor knew had a toilet, and then to the dining hall before he finally returned to his room.

Each portal was influenced by a small thought at the back of Skeletor’s mind; a desire to get out of the Empire sent him to the border of the Crystal Empire, a desperate need to get somewhere warm placed him in the hot springs, a slight need to use the bathroom landed him inside the drawing room of the castle, and then a small desire to see his council again placed him in the dining hall.

To make matters worse, Skeletor barely had any idea what to say for his speech to the crystal ponies to start the Crystal Fair. Part of him was hoping to push that off in the vain hopes of returning home and not needing to worry about it, but reality firmly stomped on any aspirations of heading home by proving how weak his magic was. Add on the fact that any of the paper Skeletor managed to create earlier that morning crumbled apart after an hour, Skeletor felt even worse.

No paper meant no money, which meant the Empire would get upset and send him to the guillotine, and then bam, off with his head.

“Why the fuck is the money problem my problem? Christ, I guarantee King Henry never had to deal with this shit. Then again, apparently, I’m the only damn magic user in magical pony land. Fuck me,” Skeletor complained before he sat up and buried his face into a pillow.

He a loud scream escaped his invisible throat and was muffled by the fabric that was pressed against his skull. “FFFFFFFUUUUUUUCK!”

Skeletor’s face remained firmly planted in the pillow as he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. After a few moments of weakness where he was tempted to fall asleep and push his problems back further, Skeletor took his skull off of the pillow and walked towards his book shelf.

After taking one of the blank books that he repaired off of the shelf, Skeletor took a bottle of ink and a quill out of his dresser drawer to prepare writing for his speech for the Crystal Fair. Fresh ink dripped onto the mostly empty pages as Skeletor mindlessly tapped the quill on the paper. The ink stain dried on the page as he tried to think of a single sentence to start his speech with, and he idly wondered if he could plagiarize a speech from his home.

“I have a dream… No, I'm not butchering that speech... Fore score and.... …. God damnit, I’m so screwed.”

Chapter 15. A Festival to Remember.

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The plaza beneath the Crystal Castle was bustling with crystal ponies. Hundreds of voices filled the air with joyous wonder as they eagerly waited for the festivities to start.

A crowd of crystal ponies gathered around the Crystal Heart as it spun on its pedestal in the plaza, admiring its beauty as it shimmered in the sunlight of the early morning. The dozens of guards posted around the Heart fought to stop the smiles that crept onto their muzzles as they gazed at the happy faces of the citizens.

The stoic guards were reminded of a time when they wore their armor with pride, when the worst threat to the citizens was a belligerent drunk who had too much salt. For a few brief moments, some of the guards were convinced that Sombra was just a bad nightmare and that the princesses were all still alive. Their blissful escape from reality would only last for a few seconds before a solemn face in the crowd or the distinct lack of colts and fillies became noticeable.

Among the many crystal ponies who became lost in their memories was Emerald Secret. Unlike most mornings where the walking reminder of change was standing next to her on two large legs, that morning Emerald Secret was allowed to contently stare at the sun’s slow ascent into the sky. She and the council, sans Cannon Fodder, waited patiently on the balcony of the Crystal Castle for Lord Skeletor to arrive so that the festivities could start.

Emerald Secret sat next to Copper Plate as they watched the sun rise, silently enjoying her time with the older mare as she remembered how helpful she had been.

While Lord Skeletor still caused Emerald to feel a chill of fear run down from her crest to her croup, she was slowly becoming more relaxed around him thanks to Copper Plate's advice. The eldest member of the council was surprisingly helpful with Emerald's problems, teaching her a plethora of ways to relax herself through breathing exercises and calming techniques that helped to quell her fears and anxieties. She wondered if there was anything she could do to repay Copper Plate for her help and considered convincing Avid Value to give more funds to the Alchemist's Guild to quicken the process of making paper.

It would be beneficial to the Empire in the long run, but more importantly, it would also make Copper Plate happy to have more paper to write with. Her obsessive fondness for books was a delightful quirk that Emerald admired, the pure joy and happiness her new friend felt whenever she spoke passionately about books was a reminder to Emerald that happiness still existed in the world. Even after the cruel reign of Sombra, despite the countless deaths and unspeakable tragedies, ponies like Copper Plate still found the strength to smile. And maybe Emerald would find the strength to wear a genuine smile too, no longer plagued by the memories of her past and the waking nightmares that tormented her mind. Some day, she wouldn't remember the cold nights that Sombra summoned her to the throne room, or the sickening smile he wore as his hooves slammed against her barrel.

Just as her thoughts began to wander to the darkest memories of Sombra's rule, she was forcefully pulled away from them by the sound of the balcony doors being opened behind her. Emerald’s ear reflexively twitched in anticipation as she heard a dozen sets of hooves and a pair of draconic feet walk through the open doors. Her heart raced for a few moments as her mind briefly flashed back to the synchronized hoof beats of Sombra's slaves marching through the Empire, but a gentle touch from Copper Plate brought her back to reality.

Emerald initially flinched at the sudden contact, but relaxed once she followed the owner's hoof and gazed into Copper Plate's sympathetic eyes. A light smile graced her muzzle as she nodded to the older mare, silently thanking her for her support before she breathed trough her nose and released a breath through her mouth, repeating the action several times as Lord Skeletor walked towards them.

The six guards escorting Lord Skeletor cleared a path for him to walk towards his council, creating a wide enough berth for Cannon Fodder to trot alongside Lord Skeletor to the near edge of the balcony. Just as Lord Skeletor passed the halfway point, the Crystal Empire's flag began to rise on a pole above them, casting a large shadow over the crowd as it waved in the air. For the first time in years, the crystal ponies were able to look up at the flag of their nation, a purple flag with a ringed snowflake in the center. As Emerald watched the flag wave in the air, she sent a silent prayer to Faust, begging the divine weaver to give her a sign that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were still alive, hoping beyond hope that they had survived their battle with King Sombra and fled to safety.

The idle chatter of the crowd below them instantly died as the crystal ponies set their eyes on Lord Skeletor. He walked with silent confidence as he puffed out his chest like a minotaurian general, exuding an air of pride to all of his subjects as he approached his council. Lord Skeletor’s imposing body gave him the appearance of a perfectly carved statue, a furless figure with flawlessly chiseled muscles.

Once Lord Skeletor stopped next to his council, he and the other council members waited for the flugelhorns to play. As they stood a few yards from the edge of the balcony, the low buzzing of the flugelhorns filled the silence as a light blue crystal pony took her place on the raised platform below the balcony. Her brown mane was brushed back with a white headband to hold it in place, and a single white bow-tie that was tied around her neck. The white color of her clothing perfectly matched the color of her cutie mark; a harp in the shape of a heart with a music note leaning against the soundboard of the harp. Emerald struggled to remember the blue pony’s name, and soon gave up trying to remember it.

The trumpeters in the orchestra took their cue to begin playing the national anthem, allowing the two bells of each instrument introduce the patriotic melody of the Crystal Empire’s anthem. After a few short notes, the music stopped to allow the blue mare to sing the first few hymns of the anthem without any interruption.

The mare sung the notes beautifully, as if she had been practicing that one song for her entire life, giving the song a new sense of life that Emerald Secret had never been able to appreciate before. Long ago, Emerald Secret would listen to the anthem with a sense of patriotic love, but the mare on the stage was able to give a performance that struck Emerald Secret's soul. Emerald Secret was so taken aback by her playing that she almost forgot to press her hoof against her chest.

The words left the mare’s throat without hesitation, filing the air around the crowd as the lyrics danced in the air with the booming drums. Memories of the once mundane anthem turned into brilliant battle cries of love and admiration for the original composers of the song. Many ponies openly wept at the familiar tune, felling a true sense of safety for the first time in three years. The song officially marked the end of a dark trial, and the beginning of a prosperous future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlMxZRqmcwY

As the anthem finished playing, Lord Skeletor walked towards the edge of the balcony to deliver his speech to his subjects. Lord Skeletor raised his arms up slowly, holding the strange scepter in his right hand as it touched the heavens. The gold horns of the ram skull caught the light of the early sun, allowing the light to brighten Lord Skeletor’s skull as it was reflected from the ram horns.

“My subjects!” Lord Skeletor shouted loudly, gaining the complete attention of all the crystal ponies. “It is my pleasure to announce today as a new holiday! The Crystal Fair will now take place on Amore Memory Day! We shall remember those that have died and keep them close to our hearts. Let us not be sad for their deaths, but instead, let us celebrate their lives before the arrival of he who shalt not be named on such a joyous day. Let us remember the glorious lives they lived and not those they lost, let us find comfort in what they accomplished and saw, and let us remember the best of them,” he stated proudly.

The crowd broke into applause as their lord stood silently before them and continued to cheer until he held up a hand. It wasn’t a command for silence, but a solemn request for his citizens to contain their joy for a few more brief moments. The loud cheers slowly died down as Lord Skeletor kept his left hand up, it wasn't until a deafening silence fell over the crowd that he finally lowered his hand. The few tense moments of silence felt like an eternity before it was effectively shattered by his next words.

“I will never be able to know the pain you feel,” he stated with a more solemn tone, causing Emerald and the other council members to look at him in shock. “The burdens and memories that you carry are yours alone, and I cannot even hope to understand it. I could lie, I could say that I know what it’s like to lose someone close to you, but I don’t. Not like you. I have lost friends, family, I have lost more than I could have ever imagined… And you have lost even more. Many of you have lost your innocence, some of you have lost your sanity, and even more of you have lost your families. Everyone hurts in different ways and everyone faces that pain in different ways; I don’t know your pain, just as you do not know mine. Pain is different for all of us.

“But, one thing we all know well is the love of family and friends. I have stared into the bright eyes of newborn and gazed into the dull eyes of a wonderful woman who laid on her deathbed; and I have felt the same love for both. Loss is different to us all, but we all have the same understanding of love.

“So, let us take our love and think fondly of the lives that were lived, and not the ones that were lost.

“For those that are religious, pray to your gods. For those who have lost faith, hope that their last moments were painless, and please believe that you shall meet them again in reincarnation or in another world. Let us not waste our breath cursing the life of the old tyrant, let us come together and celebrate the lives of those who you have lost. And with that, let us honor the memories of those who have died and celebrate the lives they lived!” He shouted.

Although the cheers weren’t as loud as they were earlier in Lord Skeletor’s speech, the smiles were much more genuine and grateful. If Lord Skeletor had shown Emerald his speech before hoof, she may have made a few adjustments, but his speech still managed to get his point across. The Crystal Fair and Amore Memory Day were a time to celebrate memories and not just grieve for what was lost.

The streets of the Crystal Empire were filled with laughter, tears, and blissful memories of the past. Many of the guards surrounding Lord Skeletor and Emerald failed to stop smiles from spreading on their muzzles, except for Cannon Fodder of course.

While suppressing a smile was a menial task for him, because of his experience with keeping a stoic frown on his muzzle during his time as Princess Amore's personal guard, he struggled to fight off the contemplative look of his eyes as he squinted in deep thought. He tried to pick apart Lord Skeletor’s speech, searching for double meanings and subtle threats in his passionate words. Lord Skeletor’s voice may have sounded sincere, but Cannon Fodder couldn’t believe that anything other than lies could pass through the lips of a demon.

A small hint of doubt circled around his thoughts as he went through Lord Skeletor’s words once more. He trotted next to Lord Skeletor without any idea of what was going on around him, and actively ignored the ponies who would bow to their new lord before they returned to milling about the city as they continued their activities. The sound of laughter went through one ear and out the other as he listened to his own thoughts, and it was only when the smell of fresh bread drifted to his nostrils that he found his way back to reality.

His eyes glanced up to Lord Skeletor’s sockets before he followed his dark lord’s gaze towards a stall selling bread. Steam rose from the collection of loaves and other baked goods, creating a curtain of mist that promised a warm salvation from the frigid temperatures of the Frozen North. Cannon Fodder looked back at Lord Skeletor to see him gawking at the stand with a hanging jaw.

For a brief second, Cannon Fodder wondered if the jaw bone would fall off of Lord Skeletor’s skull and questioned what would happen if a piece of Lord Skeletor fell off. Lord Skeletor touched the sides of his strange looking skirt before he looked at his hips and grimaced. “Uh… Emerald, by any chance, do you have any… what did you call it… Bits?” He asked his Royal Advisor.

“A few, my lord, why?”

“Well… I figured that, as the leader of the Crystal Empire, I should partake in the delicacies of my subjects and give them my praise. But, I can’t get any of their food without bits.”

“Why not just ask for a loaf of bread?”

Lord Skeletor stared at Emerald with an expression that spoke of pure befuddlement. “I can’t do that. I mean, look at that vender. He’s so thin, he could eat hoooo-whole house. And yet, he’s still selling food instead of eating it. The least I can do is pay for it. So… uh... Could you lend me some bits?”

“Lend? I… Of course, my lord,” Emerald said as she fished out a small pouch of bits from her saddle bags.

Lord Skeletor counted the bits inside of the pouch as he approached the stall, completely oblivious to the vender’s dismay as he approached. The stallion behind the counter had a deep blue coat of fun and a black colored mane of hair that was a few hues lighter than Emerald’s midnight black mane. The stallion bowed deeply to Lord Skeletor and patiently waited for Lord Skeletor to command him to rise. Seconds turned into a full minute as Lord Skeletor watched the stallion bow to him and he began to shuffle on his two large feet in an uncomfortable way.

“Is… Is he alright?” Lord Skeletor asked Emerald.

“Yes, my lord, he’s just waiting for you to allow him to rise.”

“Oh? That’s a thing I have to do? Sorry, I uh… Never needed to ask my subjects to do so before. You may rise, Mr…”

“Fresh Bake, your majesty. I’m honored to meet you. Would you like some bread?” The stallion asked.

“I’d love to, Fresh Bake. How much is it for a loaf?” 

“They’re two bits for now since not many ponies have a lot to spend, but I can I just give you—”

“Nope,” Lord Skeletor cut him off. “As much as I like giving to charity, I’ve never been a fan of receiving it. So, I’ll give you two bits for a loaf and… do you guys want anything?” Lord Skeletor asked his guards.

The guards surrounding Lord Skeletor threw each other quick glances before they responded with a polite head shake to tell him they were fine. Lord Skeletor nearly shrugged before he turned to Emerald and Cannon Fodder. “What about you two, want anything from here?”

“I’m fine, my lord,” Emerald replied as Cannon Fodder just shook his head.

Before Lord Skeletor could pay for his loaf, he heard the unmistakable sound of a stomach rumbling and he turned his attention towards the source. Fresh Bake shrunk under Lord Skeletor’s gaze and kept his eyes away from the sockets in Lord Skeletor’s skull. Heavy silence fell on the group as they watched the stallion hide the fear that was rising inside of himself.

Cannon Fodder glanced at Lord Skeletor, watching him stand as still as a statue as he observed the slightly trembling stallion. The oddly malleable bones on Lord Skeletor’s skull contorted in unnatural ways, allowing his eye sockets to grow as has brow arched upward.

“You haven’t been eating much,” Lord Skeletor stated in a quiet tone.

Fresh Bake flinched at Lord Skeletor’s comment, most likely fearful that his own body had somehow insulted the demonic lord before him, and attempted to defuse the fearful situation with a lighthearted joke. “Heh… Kind of hard to make a living if you end up eating the product.”

Lord Skeletor remained deathly silent as his sight traveled across the dark blue hairs on Fresh Bake’s coat. His gaze lingered on the loaf of bread Fresh Bake had for his cutie mark, taking in the detail of the highly stylized image on his flank with a look of mild curiosity which quickly morphed back to sadness when he counted the visible ribs on Fresh Bake.

After spraining the stallion’s body, Lord Skeletor took four bits out of Emerald’s pouch and placed them on the counter. He then proceeded to take two loaves of bread and held one of them towards Fresh Bake.

“Here you go,” Lord Skeletor said as he held the loaf of bread to Fresh Bake’s muzzle. “I insist that you eat something. A doctor cannot perform surgery if they’re sick and a baker cannot cook if they’re starving.”

“My lord, please, I’ll be—” Lord Skeletor didn’t allow the stallion to finish his sentence before he turned his skull towards Emerald.

“Emerald, please remind me; who is the leader of the Crystal Empire?”

“You are, my lord,” Emerald responded with a raised eyebrow.

“And my word is absolute, correct?”

“Y-yes…” She replied a bit more hesitantly. A sudden pang of dread rippled through Cannon Fodder’s soul as he felt Lord Skeletor’s change in tone.

“Then as ruler of the Crystal Empire, I order you to have some of your bread,” Lord Skeletor commanded with an unwavering firmness that quickly melted into a concerned and troubled voice. “Think of the other ponies who come to you for food. If you end up dying because you haven’t eaten, then they won’t be able to eat either. I admire your resolve to help others in these troubling times, but sometimes you need to help yourself first. So please, eat something to keep up your strength.”

And with that, Lord Skeletor left the second loaf of bread on the counter and walked away from the vender. The guards escorting him were quick to form a perimeter around Lord Skeletor after shaking off their initial shock. Cannon Fodder couldn’t help but to peek over his shoulder and look at Fresh Bake as they left.

The stallion was watching Lord Skeletor and his entourage with disbelief clearly written on his face, and Cannon Fodder couldn’t blame him. It didn’t make any sense to Cannon Fodder. Lord Skeletor was a living demon that had crawled from the deepest pits of Tartarus, he had killed the old tyrant and effectively conquered an entire Empire without even raising his voice. There was no reason for him to pretend to be nice to his citizens. So, why was he acting nice to them?

As Cannon Fodder pondered the reasons behind Lord Skeletor’s actions, he looked up to see the large demon eating his loaf of bread with a delighted moan.

“Oh~ mawh gawd, thith ith thoo goowd,” he said with a jaw full of bread. Cannon Fodder tilted his head ever so slightly to take a peek at the hole under Lord Skeletor’s jaw bone, and was heavily surprised by the fact that he couldn’t see the bread in his skull from his angle.

“Thanks again, Emerald, I’ll pay you back when we get to the castle,” Lord Skeletor promised.

“There’s no need to that, my lord.”

“Nonsense. I’ll pay you back and that’s final,” Lord Skeletor stated as he took another bite of his bread.

While Lord Skeletor ate his meal, his skull turned towards the ponies outside of his group of guards. A colorful sea of crystal ponies happily trotted towards the jousting arena, laughing and making bets on who would win the joust. Because bits were still sparse in the Empire, ponies gambled with promises to reveal embarrassing secrets or deals to pay the winner in free snow shoveling since there were still large piles of snow that littered the streets of the Empire.

Lord Skeletor’s gaze seemed to wander back to Emerald, who was trotting next to him. His hollow eye sockets stole a glance at her flank for a few brief seconds before he turned his attention to her head.

“Hey, Emerald, I’ve been meaning to ask… What are those tattoos you all have?” Lord Skeletor asked.

“Tattoos?”

“The things on your thighs,” he explained as he gestured to the image on her side.

“Oh, you mean our cutie marks?” Emerald asked as she pointed at one of the magnifying glass with a question mark on her flank. “It’s our special talent. My talent is noticing finite details in written records, and I specialize in finding inconsistencies and incongruities in any and all legal documents that enter or leave the Crystal Castle.”

“Huh. So, where do you go to get them put on?”

“Put on? They naturally appear whenever we find out calling in life, usually we find it when we’re very young. Personally, I found my special talent when I noticed that the profits of my father’s shop were declining even though business was booming. It didn’t take long for my mother to find out where he was spending the profits,” Emerald recalled with a bitter tone.

“What was happening to it?”

“A harlett with a ruby pair of lips for her cutie mark was what happened to it. Father and the whorse decided that their sex life was more important than his wife and daughter, so when he was caught he made a choice.” she stated with a chilling anger. “That bastard and his whorse moved to the Thestral Kingdom of the Crystal Empire soon after, I haven’t heard from him since then. Not that I care, they were perfect for each other, a pair of lowlives who thought sex was more important than family!” Emerald shouted.

Emerald breathed heavily as she seethed over her bitter memories of her family. After a few moments of stewing in anger, she noticed the concerned looks the ponies outside of the guard circle and Lord Skeletor were giving her. She wilted as she remembered who she was talking to and began to apologize.”

“Sorry for ranting, my lord, I… I…”

“It’s fine, Emerald. I get it,” Lord Skeletor dismissed. “Fathers can be real assholes sometimes, I know from experience,”

“Experience?” Emerald parroted.

“Let’s just say that my situation was similar to yours and leave it at that. I’m grateful that you were willing to share that piece of yourself, but I don’t wish to drag up my own misfortunes. Besides, today isn’t a day of anger at the past, it’s a day of loving fond memories! If thinking of your dad makes you upset, then fuck him! Don’t even give the memories of him the time of day. Today is about your happiness, not his sex life! So be happy, and live in the moment!” He exclaimed happily as he threw his hands into the air.

Emerald faintly smiled at Lord Skeletor’s apparent enthusiasm, her grievances with her father melting away as she focused on her happier memories.

“So, Emerald, what’s on the itinerary for today? A pie judging contest? Perhaps a play performed by a local theater group?” Lord Skeletor asked with an upbeat tone.

“Well, the jousting tournament will be starting in a few minutes. I’m sure if we start trotting over there now, we could see the first round before it’s too late.”

“Oh, a jousting competition? Excellent! I can’t wait! I’ve never seen one in person before, this will be so exciting,” Lord Skeletor commented, prompting his group of guards to guide him towards the arena.

Cannon Fodder had to admit to himself that he was also looking forward to the jousting tournament too. He fought valiantly to keep a smile from spreading across his muzzle as he trotted with the group to the arena, a battle the other guards that surrounded Lord Skeletor had sufficiently lost once they saw the makeshift arena a few blocks away.

The sound of deafening cheers flooded the air as their group drew closer to the arena, filling Cannon Fodder with a sense of nostalgia as he remembered his first time going to a jousting tournament with his father. For a brief second, every problem Cannon Fodder faded away as the memories of his father filled his mind. His father’s warm smile and soulful eyes gave Cannon Fodder a sense of warmth and pride that he hadn’t felt in years.

He lost the valiant battle against his muzzle when a small smile raised the edges of his lips as he trotted towards the arena. A small flicker of hope burned inside of him, prompting him to recapture the experience he had with his father.

The Crystal Fair flew past Skeletor in the blink of an eye. The joyous festivities, fine food, and wonderful music had all ended too swiftly for him. As he stared at the crystal ponies cleaning up their stalls and decorations, Skeletor couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness for not being able to celebrate for a little while longer. He desperately wanted to visit one more stall, play one more game of pony shoe toss, eat just a little more crystal berry pie, to do anything to keep himself distracted.

For the first time in days, Skeletor truly felt at ease, as if a heavy burden was lifted from his shoulders thanks to the celebration. Even though the weight of his fears and anxieties returned after the fair was officially over, it felt lighter than it had before.

A content smile was plastered on Skeletor's jaw as he recognized a few of the ponies below who were cleaning. The few ponies that he had managed to talk to during the festivities were a colorful cast of characters who held fun little quirks in their personalities. Fresh Bake trotted alongside a petite mare who was spending the fair by patching up any damaged blankets and fabrics ponies would bring her. Skeletor had briefly played with the idea of asking her if she could sew him some more clothing, but he quickly dismissed that idea when he saw the large pile of fabrics she still had to go through.

A group of guards passed by the pair of ponies as they patrolled the streets, allowing Skeletor's eyes to wander towards another familiar pony who was in their path. Onyx Comet, one of the many competitors in the jousting tournament, sat off to the side of the street with a crystal guard sitting next to him. The two spoke passionately about the tournament, lamenting Onyx's unfortunate loss in the fourth round, but keeping their spirits up that he would win next year.

Skeletor's smile slowly fell as he listened to their conversation. While he could only catch bits and pieces due to their distance from him, they spoke loud enough for him to catch a few choice words and promises that they shouted to the heavens. "Next year, I'll show Thunder who's a better jouster, count on it! I'll show that blowhard once and for all," Onyx told his friend.

As Skeletor heard his words, he wondered if he would even be around for the next Crystal Fair. How long will it take to get home? A month? A year? Years? Skeletor grimly pondered as he rested his chin on the ledge of his window, being mindful of the pieces of glass that still stuck out from the frame of the window.

Night quickly befell the Crystal Empire as Skeletor wondered about his old life. He wasn't sure how his family and friends were reacting to his disappearance. His mom, his half-brother, and his girlfriend Evelyn were all probably worried, if not terrified. He almost knew for a fact that his dad didn't give a damn, his father never cared about him. A bastard child born out of wedlock, all because his father couldn't keep it in his pants. Rand's mom may have cared about Skeletor, he had never really spent enough time with her to know how she felt about her husband's bastard.

Skeletor watched the alien celestial bodies turn from day to night, the small sun fell beyond the horizon of the east as the moon drifted through the air, bringing the tendrils of night along with it. Skeletor allowed a humorless chuckle to escape himself as he stared at the bizarre spectacle in the sky, a grim reminder of how far away from Earth he was. He found some small sense of solace in the familiar stars that were held in the tentacles of the night, constellations like Orion's Belt and the Little Dipper filled the unfamiliar sky above him. How stars from his home had found their way into an alien sky, Skeletor had no idea, and he didn't care enough to wonder anymore. He wouldn't question the one thing in the world that reminded him of home.

If Skeletor stared up at the stars for long enough, he could convince himself that he was on Earth, stargazing with Evelyn. The memories of her lovely face, her stunning eyes, and her enchanting voice lulled him to sleep that night, allowing him to completely forget all of his fears and worries for the night.

Chapter 16. Love is a Higher Law.

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A deathly silence permeated the council's meeting room on the beginning of the second week of Lord Skeletor’s reign over the Crystal Empire. The days after the Crystal Fair had allowed the Empire to make great strides in their attempts to repair the damages caused by Sombra.

Buildings were being rebuilt, victims of mental or physical trauma were being treated in the medical wing of the Crystal Castle, and the Alchemist Guild had made excellent progress in their attempts to use cotton to make paper; though Lord Skeletor appeared somewhat uneasy about the alchemist’s decision to use their own bedding and blankets to get the cotton needed.

While the buildings could be fixed with a few weeks of hard work, and the physical scars left on some ponies would naturally heal with time, the mental lashings Sombra inflicted on them would take years to repair. When Lord Skeletor heard of the issues in the medical wing involving the ponies who were placed on suicide watch, he hesitantly suggested giving them a magical medicine of his own design. Cannon Fodder didn’t initially believe that the “placebos” Lord Skeletor created would do anything other than hurt the patients, but to his surprise, some of the patients were calming down slightly. His elixir was a secret concoction that had the potential to help those who have a strong sense of belief in their hearts, at least that's what the demon claimed.

Still being wary of the demon, Cannon Fodder snatched up a jar of the “placebos” and, with the surprising help of Crumb Catcher, tasked one of the alchemists with finding out what was in it. While Cannon Fodder was still extremely uneasy about Crumb Catcher, he was relieved to know that his fellow council member shared his skepticism for Lord Skeletor’s remedy. If it turned out that his magical drink was actually a poison or complex concoction that could turn ponies into mindless zombies, then he and Crumb Catcher would be able to use his own creation against him.

As Cannon Fodder and Crumb Catcher waited for the alchemist to deduce what Lord Skeletor’s placebos were made of, they continued to play the part of loyal council members for the days following the Crystal Fair. Unfortunately, playing the part of loyal lap dog appeared to be harder then either of them could have imagined.

One sentence was all it took for the conversation to completely die, much to the confusion and worry of Cannon Fodder.

Lord Skeletor looked towards the general of his Empire in a mixture of horror and disbelief, as if he had told the demon the most blasphemous thing to ever leave a pony’s throat. The silence in the room dragged on for an uncomfortably long time, causing time to feel as if it was struggling to crawl forward in the room. Seconds sluggishly moved by as Lord Skeletor looked into Cannon Fodder's eyes with complete shock.

“What… What are they in the dungeon for?” Lord Skeletor eventually asked the General of the Royal Guard in a stupefied tone.

Cannon Fodder briefly glanced at Crumb Catcher to see if he knew anything about Lord Skeletor’s sudden shift in mood. Crumb Catcher made no attempt to relay any silent messages to his ally, choosing instead to stare at Lord Skeletor with an equal amount of confusion to the rest of the council members.

“Illegal relations. They were caught in the caverns below the Empire and were detained,” the general easily replied.

“Illegal? Why the hell is being gay suddenly illegal!?” Lord Skeletor questioned loudly, causing his council members to instinctively flinch back at his outburst. The council members threw confused looks to each other at their master’s inquiry, silently asking if anypnony else knew what their lord was talking about.

“Um, I don’t believe being happy is illegal, my lord,” Copper Plate replied hesitantly.

“What? No, I mean gay, like homosexual, the thing those two mares are: Gay! When a mare really likes a mare or when a stallion really likes another stallion. For Christ's sake, do I need to draw a picture?” Lord Skeletor exclaimed as he attempted to explain his foreign terminology to his council.

“Well, in that case, being ‘gay’ as you call it is illegal,” Crumb Catcher explained. “It was Princess Amore who had told us that having feelings towards a member of the same gender is a sickness of the mind that could spread to other ponies who are near them. If two ponies of the same gender were together, then that would pollute the love that powers the barrier over the Empire, and thus leave us vulnerable to the elements outside. Some citizens, like the ones in the dungeon, decided to ignore the divine word of Princess Amore, and conduct their debauchery in secrecy. The two mares who were captured were too lax, and were easily apprehended, all that remains is your decision for their punishment, sire.”

As his explanation dragged on, their lord violently seethed in anger, an unbridled rage threatening to spill out of him after hearing Crumb’s explanation.

“Well then, I officially abolish that law,” Lord Skeletor announced firmly.

Many of the lord’s private council were taken aback by the sudden tone in his voice, a commanding anger that hadn’t been heard by anypony who served the new lord. Before any of his council members could object or question his sudden decree, he stood up from his chair and banged his scepter against the ground. His seat scraped against the floor as it flew back several feet, allowing Lord Skeletor to stand to his full height and completely tower over the seated ponies. Any thoughts of questioning his decision died instantly as their instincts took hold, telling them to run away from the predator that had suddenly turned aggressive.

“I wish to know every law, and I will announce whether or not I believe they should be enforced. If any of you disagree, then please present your reason as to why and I will take that into consideration. However, I will remain firm on this point; if two ponies of the same gender love each other and are of consenting age, then they should be allowed to be together. And if I hear anything about it being a mental issue then I will be making serious changes to whom I allow on my council. Is that clear?” Lord Skeletor rhetorically asked his council.

Everypony in the room knew that their lord’s order was not up for debate, at least not while he was so agitated after hearing about it. With a great haste, all of his council members nodded their heads in agreement to their lord’s order.

“Good then. Cannon Fodder!” Lord Skeletor called out, causing the guard to reflexively salute his lord.

“Go down to the dungeons and bring those two mares to my throne room. Copper, I want to officially abolish that law by tonight if I can, bring any legal documents needed to do so. And Crumb…” Lord Skeletor seethed, causing the head of staff to swallow a nervous lump in his throat.

“Go to the kitchen and ask the staff to prepare two extra servings for tonight. Emerald, prepare a statement for the citizens in regards to my order. I want to know every counter argument the citizens could use, I don’t want to be blindsided by a fact or ‘fact’ from some arrogant douchebag,” he demanded. “Also, look into the claim about it being, ‘tainted’ love and see what jackass pulled that out of their hat. I want to know how qualified they were to make that claim and hear their argument. Are there any questions?” He asked the rest of his council.

“Um... Is there anything you need me to do, your highness?” Avid Value worryingly asked.  

“… Not for this. I don’t see how this issue could impact our financial progress, and I wanted to visit the alchemists to see progress on producing paper first hand. Once this meeting is dismissed, I'll need someone to guide me to the Alchemy Tower, so you can help in that regard. Emerald, delay court until tomorrow and make sure the two mares are comfortable when they arrive to the throne room. The rest of you have already been given your duties, so unless there is anything else I should know about, then I want my orders to be carried out swiftly,” Lord Skeletor finished.

Cannon Fodder decided that it would be best to bring up his desires to retrain the guard at a later date for another meeting since he had accidentally earned the scorn of the demon he called his lord.

After Emerald Secret had brought up the possible need for stronger placebos for some patients, Lord Skeletor stated that he would attempt to help them later on and dismissed his council. Each of the council members hastily trotted out of the meeting room to complete their tasks, with the exception of Avid Value. The youngest council member waited patiently for his lord to speak, and was rewarded with an order to wait outside the council room for Lord Skeletor to collect himself.

Cannon Fodder felt a tinge of fear for Avid Value being forced to be near the demon when he was in a volatile state. If Avid Value said one wrong word, it could have been the end for him.

Skeletor sat alone in his chair in the council’s meeting room. As he breathed through the nasal cavity of his skull, he buried his face into his hands and let out an exhausted groan. His high of anger faded away, leaving him with a sobering sense of dread as he was left alone with his own thoughts.

“Fuck me… I just made an enemy of the church, didn’t I? Ooooh that’s not good…” Skeletor said to himself as he leaned against his chair.

“Wait to go, dumbass, you probably pissed off the pony pope,” he berated himself. “That’s definitely going to bite you in the ass. If there’s a religious organization that heavily agreed with that law, then you’re screwed. Fuck, not to mention Princess Amore was seen as a damn goddess… fuuuuuuuuck,” he groaned as tapped his fingers on the table.

“Fuck me, I reeeeally hope they aren’t like some of the countries on my planet. I can see it now, revolutions led by religious groups that now have a physical monster to vilify and use as the devil,” Skeletor stated as he wondered what had compelled him to speak out against his council.

Equality for them didn’t help him with his plans of getting home, if anything, it hindered him since he would now need to worry about religious organizations in the Empire gunning for him. A leader may have power, but a church held a great influence that could persuade armies to rise and topple empires. He could vividly imagine the outcry from the Empire. Burning effigies of himself would be paraded through the Empire along with hundreds of pitchforks and torches that would move in rhythm to the chanting of, “Kill the King.”

History would possibly smile upon his decision to legalize it, stating that he was ahead of his time. But who cared what history would say about him when his skull was in a basket and his body was on the other side of a guillotine?

It wouldn’t matter to him because he would be put on a spike and skewered, or maybe even tortured by the ponies for legalizing something that went against their religion. While he knew enough spells to protect himself, such as a portal spell that could give him some distance between himself and an angry mob, he was only one man against thousands of ponies. They had numbers, knowledge of the Empire’s layout, and the ability to kill without hesitation.

He didn’t think he could kill any of them like he had Sombra, even if he could use magic to make the act of killing them easier. The mental toll and strength needed to actively kill something without relying on instinct was too much for him. Even if he took down a few of them, hundreds upon thousands of ponies would be there to take their place. No matter what, if he were to upset the crystal ponies enough, he would die by their hooves.

After taking a deep breath and berating himself internally for another minute, he rose from his seat and walked over to the doors of the council room. Outside of the room, Avid Value was sitting patiently with his ears facing Skeletor and his head pointed away slightly. Skeletor desperately hoped that the Alchemists could deliver on their promise to make paper. If they were successful, then Skeletor could use it to gain public favor, though he highly doubted that it would give him any more sway than any of the religions in the Empire.

Without any prompting, Avid led Skeletor down the hallway towards the staircase to go to the Alchemist’s tower which was about ten minutes away from the council room on foot. For ponies, walking there was exceptionally quicker because of their four legs, so Avid trotted at a slower and more relaxed pace to allow Skeletor to follow him without practically speed walking down the halls. After nearly a full minute of silence between them, Skeletor decided to get a pony’s perspective on his abrupt decision to legalize gay marriage.

If Skeletor knew which religious leaders to butter up to and who to be on guard for, he would be able to avoid being dragged through the streets by an angry mob of religious ponies. And if it turned out that the pony pope was someone Skeletor wouldn’t be able to convince or bribe, then he’d have a head start on running out of the Empire. The Thestral and Ruva Kingdoms were still abandoned and left unexplored by the freed crystal ponies. If worst came to worst, he could run to the Ruva Kingdom and rummage through any of the books left there to find a way to send him home using less taxing methods.

“Avid, I have a few things that I need to ask you.”

“Of course, your highness, what do you want to know?”

“I want to know how my decision will impact the Empire. How will the religions react, how will the citizens react, and so on and so forth? Start with religions, how will they react to my decree?”

“There isn’t really anypony in a high enough position of power to question it. Sombra banned all religions worshiping Faust during his reign, burning every Church of Faust in the Thestral, Ruva, and Crystal Pony Kingdom in the Crystal Empire. I believe he had the priests of the churches burn them down themselves before he forced them to… desecrate any of her religious texts,” Avid informed him.

“Jesus Christ, just when I think that I couldn’t hate that asshole any more than I already did… So, to clarify, there is no religious authority to oppose me in my decision?”

“None, your highness.”

“I see…” Skeletor simply stated as he wondered how happy that should have made him. On one hand, the possibility of him being put on a spike and flailed drastically decreased, but only because of the atrocities Sombra committed. Being thankful for one less threat almost felt like he was being thankful to the tyrant that had ruined the lives of thousands.

“Did anything in those religious texts talk about being gay, or call it blasphemous?” Skeletor asked.

“Not that I know of for a fact, your highness. I wasn’t literate like the priests were, and by the time I had managed to teach myself, I felt no need to read the book since the priest would read all the passages to us. The memories are a little hazy, but I don’t believe any of the texts of Faust directly stated that there was anything sinful about being… Gay, as you called it. I know that it was heavily frowned upon by each of the pony races, but I’m not sure when it was officially abolished... My lord, if I may ask, why did you change the law?” Avid Value asked.

“‘Why?’ Because it was stupid, that’s why,” Skeletor responded harshly.

“Oh… Uh, would you mind me asking why it’s stupid?”

“Because it is! People-er-ponies deserve to be allowed to be with the one they love. There’s nothing harmful about gay marriage, and gay ponies aren’t so different from you or anyone else in my council. It’s aggravating to think that laws like these existed in the Empire, and in a moment of clouded judgment, I made a decision without taking any time to consider it.

“Morally, I feel justified in my decision, but intellectually I’m at a cross roads. I begrudgingly admit that I’m not too familiar with your magic so they may have a point. And, on another note, I regret exploding at the council the way I did. Your culture and mine varies in ways I can’t even imagine, forcing you to change your culture in a day because it doesn’t align with mine feels… Morally grey, I suppose. It almost feels like I'm bullying the Empire into embracing my opinions,” Skeletor explained before he let his shoulders slump. “You’re a pony, Avid, do you know anything about magic powered by the love of the citizens?”

“Only that it powers the barrier above the Empire.”

“… Is there any validity to the claim that love shared between the same gender can affect the barrier negatively? Like, was there a point in history where it fell because of same sex love?”

“None that I know of… But…”

“But?” 

“I…” Avid paused as he mauled over his words inside his head. “There was a reason why the Crystal Heart was hidden. When Sombra first came to power, he attempted to make his slaves… He tried to power the heart by having ponies… have sex with eachother,” Avid quietly told him, forcing the words to leave his body. “That was the only time the barrier fell. I don’t think that the love of… Gay ponies will make it fall but… Lord Skeletor, why are you so passionate about this? Are you… You know,” Avid asked as he danced around calling Skeletor gay.

“No, I… I had a friend, back where I’m from, who, to put it lightly, wasn’t accepted for his preferences. Trevor uh, ’swung for the other team’ so to speak, and his mom didn’t like that,” Skeletor began to explain as he remembered one of his close friends back on Earth.

“He was raised to be a strict Christian and his mother saw it as a ‘terrible sin’ to like another man, because some book that was rewritten a dozen times claimed it was. It hit him pretty hard when his mother called him… Well, I’m not going to repeat it, but just know it hurt him a lot. And it hurt me too.

“Trevor was like a brother to me, sometimes he was more of a brother than my actual damn brother. And to hear about his mom shouting at him like that just… It just pissed me off! He was a good kid, got great grades in school, never did drugs or anything like that, was part of the swim team, he even took dance lessons since he was eight for Christ’s sake! But apparently, none of that mattered because he liked guys!” Lord Skeletor exclaimed angrily.

“It wasn’t fair to him… Trevor was… Well, he was a better man than me. Heh, I actually felt a little jealous of him sometimes. But no matter how I felt, he was there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on, or a friend to lean on. And when he needed a shoulder to cry on, I was there for him. Trevor wasn't a sinful monsters or anything like that, he was a good man and an amazing friend, and all he wanted to do was love Bedar. So, Avid, that’s why I legalized it. Because at the end of the day, people and ponies should be free to love who they want.”

“So… So then, you believe that there’s really nothing wrong with it, sire?”

“Of course not. Why? Do you have an issue with my orders?” Skeletor asked in an aggressive tone, as if begging Avid to insult his friend so he could have a reason to attack him. A protective fury burned inside of Skeletor as he looked at the smaller pony, waiting for the moment to let that fire explode from him.

“It’s not that, your highness! It’s just… Nopony was ever as vocal as you were. I just… I just wanted to believe what you said was true,” Avid quietly admitted as they passed by a pair of guards standing at a door.

Neither of the guards appeared to hear Avid’s quiet admission, leaving Skeletor alone with the little grain of knowledge that Avid had given him. Avid's words hung in the air as he led Skeletor down the hall, the quiet echo of his voice filled the silence inside Skeletor’s mind as he processed what his council member told him.

Taking a chance to confirm his suspicions, Skeletor approached the subject delicately to see if he had misinterpreted Avid’s words. “Avid… It’s not my place to pry, but… Is there anything you want to share with me?”

“Not necessarily, your highness. Anything we discuss should be for the benefit and growth of the Empire. The happiness and stability of the citizens comes before anything else. E-except your happiness, your highness,” he quickly tacked on.

“Alright… So, how will my decision involving the legalization of gay marriage, and by extension practices of gay relationships, affect the citizens?”

“I’m afraid that I’m the wrong pony to ask that question, your highness. I deal more heavily in the finances of the Empire, if you want a firm grasp on the public’s opinion, then I’d recommend speaking with Crumb Catcher. Though, if I had to make a guess, I’d say that there will be a few very happy ponies. I don’t believe that public relationships between the same gender will start appearing left and right, but I do think that some ponies will sleep better knowing that they won’t be punished for their choice in partner,” Avid stated with a small smile that was quickly hidden by a look of pure profesionalism.

“Speaking of punishment, what would have happened to those two mares in the dungeon if I hadn’t intervened?” Skeletor asked. Since burning and desecrating books of any kind was apparently an automatic death sentence in the Crystal Empire, Skeletor wondered if the punishment for being gay was of a greater or lesser value.

“… Before the rise of Sombra, gay ponies who were caught were, ‘cleansed’ by ruvas using mind magic,” Avid quietly admitted, causing Skeletor to stop dead in his tracks. “I believe Sombra was able to modify the spell used for the ‘cleansing sessions’ and used it to take over the Empire.”

“They… They would have been brainwashed?” Skeletor fearfully asked as thoughts of his friend being tormented flooded his mind for a brief moment.

“I’ve never heard that term be used, but it’s a fitting title for it,” Avid replied, completely unaware of the effect his words had on Skeletor.

Skeletor’s blood boiled as he imagined the torture those captured ponies must have gone through and the experiments they were forced to go through to be ‘healed’. The thought that a spell like that was regularly used by its government caused Skeletor to look at the previous beloved princess in a new light. He had been told stories about her love for her ponies, how she promoted love for all in her Empire when she ruled.

Now, to find out that a supposed Princess of Love would commit such atrocities, he felt nothing but disgust for the previous princess. Skeletor briefly entertained the idea of stopping the artisans from recreating artwork of Princess Amore, but quickly banished that thought as soon as it arrived. Even in death, the princess held sway over her kingdom from beyond the grave. If Skeletor were to call off the restoration of her paintings a few days after commemorating a holiday to her, then he would only be seen as another Sombra, another tyrant to be dethroned.

With no way to vent his frustration towards the dead princess, Skeletor decided to turn his fury towards the spells that she used to brainwash her subjects.

“After we meet with the alchemists, I'm going to go to the court room, speak with the mares, and then find Copper so that I can see those spell books,” Skeletor told Avid with a deep anger resonating in is voice.

“W-why?” Avid fearfully asked as he tried to control his voice. Skeletor admonished himself for a brief moment for accidentally startling Avid with his tone and decided to speak with a gentler voice that held no vitriol, but still commanded respect.

“Tell me, Avid, burning and desecrating books is a death sentence, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Well, first I’ll abolish that law, and then I’ll ‘accidentally’ cast a fire spell on the pages containing that brain washing spell,” he promised as he quickened his pace towards the Alchemist’s tower.

Chapter 17. Truth Lies in Belief and Hope.

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The new announcement regarding marriage was, of course, met with confusion, discourse, and partial acceptance. The few citizens who had feeling for a pony they knew they could never marry before felt a wave of joy wash over them as they were given the freedom to be who they wanted to be. Silent mares and stallions who had hidden feelings and fantasies felt encouraged to openly practice their newfound freedom and explore the possibilities of forming relationships that were once taboo, but decided to keep their lives secret until others made the first move.

While a small minority of homosexual or “gay” ponies, as the new lord liked to call them, welcomed this new announcement with open hooves, some questioned the logic behind their new lord’s decision. But, while many were confused or even resentful of the new law, very few felt the compelled to vocally object the new law to Lord Skeletor out of a mixture of fear and impeccable respect.

Among these confused ponies was a yellow stallion who had been baking a loaf of bread with his friend, Fresh Bake. Track Record had mindlessly rolled flattened the dough under his hooves as he listened to Fresh Bake regale him with his time spent with a mare named Lacey who he reunited with at the Crystal Fair. The two had been foal hood friends back when they were still looking for their Cutie marks, and had only stumbled across each other by chance during the festivities.

From how fondly Fresh Bake spoke about the pale blue mare, Track Record was fairly certain that the two of them would be spending a lot of time together in the foreseeable future. As Track Record was marveling at the possibly blooming love between Fresh and Lacey, he caught low whispers from ponies who were trotting outside his shop. Like everypony else, they were gossiping about Lord Skeletor’s latest law, something that had been the topic of a silent controversy ever since it was created a few hours ago.

Track Record wasn’t against Lord Skeletor’s law, since his new lord had helped save the Empire from the tyrant, brought back the Crystal Heart, and established a holiday in honor of their previous princess, all in the span of less than a week. But, even though Track Record didn’t hate the new law, he was still very confused by it.

Princess Amore had taught them that the perceived love between two mares or two stallions was just a sense of confusion that plagued the minds of those who strayed from the path of love, and she had told them that the false love between two stallions or two mares would weaken the barrier over the Empire. It felt counterintuitive for Lord Skeletor to legalize something that would undo a great deal of his hard work, but his lord must have had his reasons. Even if Track Record didn’t know the reasons behind Lord Skeletor’s actions, he still trusted his new lord.

Lord Skeletor hadn’t given Track Record or any of the other ponies any reason to doubt his wisdom and leadership. He was certain that there must have been a good reason for Lord Skeletor’s decision, and he hoped that his lord would reveal those reasons at the assembly later that day.

A large crowd of ponies had already converged around the castle before the flugelhorns were scheduled to signal the beginning of Lord Skeletor’s announcement. From the window of his shop, Track Record could see the balcony of the Crystal Castle, an empty platform that was only important because of who would stand on it. Two large flames danced on the ends of the balcony in stone burning bowls that had the Crystal Empire’s flag carved into the bowls.

Above the balcony, two tapestries of the Crystal Empire’s emblem hung on either side of the doors, a recent addition that was added to the Crystal Castle after Amore Memory Day. Track Record was so busy being lost in the memories that the Crystal Empire’s emblem invoked in him, he failed to notice his friend trot up to his side until he bumped him.

“Are you doing okay, Record? You’ve been staring out the window for a while now.”

“I’m alright. Just… Waiting for Lord Skeletor’s announcement,” Track Record replied as he turned his attention towards the sun, watching as it started its slow descent from its peak in the sky. While it took the citizens of the Crystal Empire some time to adjust to the odd new movement of the sun and moon, they were able to still tell the time of day thanks to the position of the sun.

“Yeah, I’m kind of anxious myself. I’m a little worried that he’s going to make normal relationships illegal now after he legalized the uh… What’s it called again?”

“Gay?”

“Yeah, that. Heh, kind of weird that he’d use the word ‘happy’ to describe those relationships. But anyway, I just hope that being ‘gay’ isn’t a mandatory thing now. I mean, he wouldn’t do that, right?” Fresh Bake asked with a concerned smile.

“We’ll just have to wait for his announcement,” Track Record replied.

In truth, Track Record was just as confused as Fresh Bake was. The guards and maids of the castle who started to spread the gossip about Lord Skeletor’s new law failed to say whether or not gay relationships would be a mandatory practice in the Empire like previous relationships had been. Relationships could only be formed between a mare and a stallion during Princess Amore’s reign, and consensual relationships were nonexistent during Somrba’s cruel reign over the Empire. So, Track Record was left to wonder what his new lord’s plans were and what they would entail.

Would every relationship need to be between two mares or two stallions, would the old relationships still be allowed to be practiced, was there a new form of punishment for ponies who practiced the old forms of relationships? So many questions went through Track Record’s mind, and like a sign from the heavens promising to answer them, the booming noise of flugelhorns bellowed through the Empire to signal Lord Skeletor’s announcement.

With great haste, Track Record and Fresh Bake galloped out of his shop and towards the Crystal Castle. Track Record’s eyes never left the balcony as he raced down the streets with Fresh Bake in tow, dodging the few ponies who cantered to the plaza instead of breaking into a full gallop.

The mysterious deity that had chosen to take the form of a monster to slay Sombra stepped onto the balcony above the crystal ponies. A face for evil to fear gazed down upon a crowd of colorful ponies who looked back up at him with a mixture of emotions. A hush descended over them as they waited for Lord Skeletor to speak. For a brief moment, Track Record thought that his silence spoke louder than anything he had ever heard.

Lord Skeletor’s silence demanded the respect and attention of the crystal ponies, a power that even the terrifying tyrant, Sombra, failed to achieve. The tyrant used his powers of fear and manipulation to force his slaves to show him respect, while Lord Skeletor’s presence simply demanded it naturally.

After taking a deep breath, Lord Skeletor’s voice boomed over the crowd. “Citizens of the Crystal Empire! I thank you all for gathering here today. I know that you all have important things to do, so I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible for you. I realize that many of you have questions regarding my decision to allow ponies of the same gender to form relationships, and I have appeared to shed light on my new law. To put it bluntly, I saw nothing wrong with the relationship of the two mares who were arrested earlier today.

“The two mares I met were delightful, a farmer and a miner, two ordinary ponies who help their fellow citizens day in and day out. They were no different than the pony standing next to you right now, they held the same aspirations, desires, and fears that all of you have.

“When I entered the throne room, the miner offered her life as tribute to me without any hesitation, in the hopes of sparing her lover from punishment. She was willing to die for her love, to sacrifice herself to keep her lover safe from harm. I have never seen something so moving in my long life.

“The disbelief on their faces when I told them that no harm would befall them both warmed my spirits and threatened to shatter my hope. To know that they had been living in fear for years, even under the rule of Princess Amore, hurt me deeply. They didn’t deserve to live in constant fear, they were good mares who simply wanted to express their love for one another. As such, I have come to the decision to rescind any laws that harmed ponies who sought relationships with the same gender, and I have decided to pass a law legalizing the union between two mares or two stallions,” Lord Skeletor told them.

Low whispers made their way through the crowd of crystal ponies as they silently picked apart Lord Skeletor’s words. A few ponies threw around theories about which mares he was talking about while others questioned if there was anything more to his decision. Quiet questions about the lord’s preferences in sexual partners and ideas about what motivated his choice rippled through the crowd, with only a select few voices reaching Track Record’s ears.

He didn’t care about what the ponies around him were saying, even when Fresh Bake whispered something to him. His attention laid solely on Lord Skeletor, watching his lord silently observe the ponies sharing hushed comments. After allowing his subjects to part with a few more quiet words to the ponies next to them, Lord Skeletor banged his scepter against the balcony to gain the attention of the crowd once again.

All eyes and ears instantly turned back to their lord. Conversations died without any resolution, fearful whispers were cut off without hesitation, and their worried glances were forcefully pulled towards Lord Skeletor.

“If there are any remaining questions I—"

“What about the law Princess Amore passed?!” A stallion in the crowd shouted.

Thousands of heads in the crowd turned to their neighbors, searching for the unidentified voice that interrupted Lord Skeletor, even Track Record’s attention was taken away from Lord Skeletor as he searched for the stallion who spoke out against Lord Skeletor. Whoever the stallion was, they faded into the anonymity of the crowd, becoming one of the many confused faces that looked around for the culprit.

With nowhere else to turn their attention towards after their quick search turned up nothing, the crystal ponies looked back up to Lord Skeletor to hear what he would say. Lord Skeletor glanced behind himself to look at the closer doors to the balcony for a few moments before he returned his focus to the crystal ponies. He fiddled with the collar of his navy-blue cloak, loosening it slightly as he quietly cleared his throat.

“Heh, yes well… Well … There's a good explanation that I have... You see, the thing about that is… She was… uh … She was manipulated!” Lord Skeletor suddenly exclaimed, causing the crowd below him to gasp in surprise. Quiet conversations between ponies started up again as they asked each other for confirmation on what they had heard, even Track Record felt the urge to check with Fresh Bake to see if he didn’t mishear Lord Skeletor.

Taking advantage of the crowd’s surprise, Lord Skeletor continued his explanation with vigor. “Y-yes, I too was appalled by this news. You see, she was lied to by a… A dark spirit that disguised itself as a heavenly ange-ahhhh-I mean messenger! Yes, a fake messenger that claimed to be sent from Faust! The false servant of Faust whispered lies into Princess Amore’s ears, warning her that if two ponies of the same gender loved each other, that it would break the barrier.

“She hated hurting her subjects, forcing them to find love in the opposite gender when they had already found love, but her fear for them and her blind devotion to the lying demon drove her to do anything to protect them. The monster who lied to her used this opportunity to gather the pain she was forced to inflict on her subjects and… and he created a body!” Lord Skeletor revealed to them, causing them to gasp once again. The conversations broke out of whispers and into loud conversations. Questions flew in the air as ponies began to panic at the sudden revelation that their princess, their goddess, was manipulated.

“That’s right! The monster who deceived your goddess was none other than the one who killed her! Like a coward, he chose to deceive her in a form that wasn’t his own, and when his plan failed to lead to mass genocide like he wanted it to, he took it into his own hooves and made a physical body. How else do you think a mortal could slay a goddess? Only a demon of pure evil could slay a goddess of love,” Lord Skeletor revealed to them.

Suddenly, everything made sense to Track Record. He had always wondered how somepony like Sombra could exist, a stallion of pure evil that held not respect for the Alicorns or any sense of morality. Sombra wasn’t a pony at all, he was a demon disguised as a powerful ruva the entire time. How had he not seen it before?! It explained why Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, goddesses who could raise and lower the sun and moon, had difficulty fighting him even when they outnumbered him.

Everything began to make sense as the final puzzle piece fell into place. Sombra was a demon, a monster from the deepest depths of Tartarus. That’s why it took a monster to save them, because only a monster could slay the demon that had disguised itself as a pony.

“I understand that this is a shocking revelation for all of you,” Lord Skeletor told them, breaking Track Record out of his trance as he looked back up at his lord. “It is another thing to add onto the list of atrocities committed by Sombra. He used the spell that was designed to brainwash gay ponies, and turned it on the entire Empire. And now the trickster devil is dead, forever banished to a place where he may never harm us.

“And now that he is dead, I shall end one of his many sickening deeds. I do not know how many times the dark stallion was able to deceive Princess Amore into legalizing, but know that I shall remove them. I will not let his wicked deeds sully the name of your previous princess, I will not let her history and legacy be tainted by his evil. I will purge the Empire of his sins, and bring glory to Princess Amore’s memory!” He exclaimed proudly.

The many ponies below broke out into a chaotic chorus of cheers at his statement, feeling overjoyed at the prospect of purging all of Sombra’s monstrous acts. Lord Skeletor would honor the memory of Princess Amore by fixing the problems caused by Sombra, all while singing the real praises of Princess Amore to his adoring subjects.

Track Record joined in the uproarious cheers, praising Lord Skeletor for honoring their goddess. He was so swept up in the loud cheers that he failed to notice Lord Skeletor disappear behind the balcony doors as the crowd continued to cheer his plans for the Empire.

The faint cheers of thousands of ponies seeped through the closed doors of the balcony. The quiet roar of ponies chanting the name, “Skeletor” trickled in through the walls of the castle, allowing Skeletor to listen to the repetition of his adopted name as he walked alongside Emerald Secret.

The green coated mare was patiently waiting on the other side of the balcony doors as Skeletor delivered his planned speech. Everything was going surprisingly well and, despite his speech being made up in under ten minutes, the crowd received it well until one stallion in the crowd shouted at him.

Thankfully, Skeletor was able to improvise an explanation that didn’t demonize Princess Amore or vilify himself for suggesting that she wasn’t perfect. He was actually pretty proud about how quickly he was able to pull that lie out of his ass. Not only had he managed to avoid any judgment for changing the law, but he also managed to use Sombra as a scapegoat for any future decisions. If there was another law passed by Princess Amore that Skeletor didn’t like, he could just blame it on Sombra and instantly win the Empire’s approval.

Skeletor wore a brilliantly bright smile as he walked towards the throne room, catching the occasional glances of the stoic guards that were standing at attention in front of one of the doors in the castle.

“… My lord, may I ask a question?” Emerald asked as she kept pace with Skeletor.

“Certainly, Emerald,” Skeletor replied.

Emerald cautiously glanced at a pair of guards standing at one of the doors in the hallway, waiting until she and Skeletor were a good distance away from the guards before she spoke to him in a hushed whisper. “… Why did you tell the citizens that Strike offered her life for Dally, and why didn’t you use their names?” She quietly asked.

Skeletor’s cheerful demeanor suddenly dropped like a stone in a lake once Emerald asked him those questions. His moment of triumph disappeared with those few words, reminding him of how fragile his secret really was. If he had done the smart thing and talked to the mares alone, then Emerald Secret wouldn’t have known about that particular lie, thus leaving one less loose end in his lie.

While he had told the truth about both of the mares being terrified of what would happen, he had lied about one of them offering themselves as tribute in the vain hope of saving their lover from whatever horrors they imagined. The crux of his original speech was a complete fabrication, something only he and three other mares knew, or would ever know. And, unfortunately for Skeletor, one of the three mares that knew was trotting right next to him after he had told a bold-faced lie to the entire Empire.

Skeletor subtly looked back at the two guards that they had passed, hoping that Emerald had waited long enough for them to be out of earshot before she spoke to him. He knew they weren’t close enough to overhear them, but that small conformation brought a little comfort to Skeletor.

Instead of answering immediately, Skeletor took his time to think of a proper answer that would satisfy Emerald. He couldn’t think of any reason not to lie to her since Emerald already knew the truth about the loving mares, whom had accepted their “fate” and embraced each other for what they believed would be the last time, so he decided to share his real reasoning.

“To answer your second question first, Emerald, for anonymity. I wanted them to be protected in case the citizens aren’t happy with my decision. If any of them want to air their grievances or look for a face to point the blame at, I will be the only one.

“And for your first question, I told the citizens that one of them tried to defend the other so the citizens could have less to argue against. If they think that one of them was passionately willing to die for the other, then they’ll think more critically about their own beliefs regarding love. If it’s something worth dying for, then it’s something worth protecting and defending.”

“I think I understand… So, what is the plan now?”

“Firstly, I need to have court open for anyone who still has questions. Gather the rest of the council and tell Crumb Catcher and Cannon Fodder to spread word about court being open tomorrow.”

“You’re not going to open it today?”

“No. It’s too short notice and it will only hinder us. I need to have the other council members throw me hypothetical questions the crystal ponies may ask. I was too taken aback by the random stallion earlier, and I won’t be caught with my pants down again.”

Emerald glanced at Skeletor’s bare legs with a raised eyebrow for a brief moment before she shook her head and turned her attention back towards their path down the hall. After a few seconds of silence, Skeletor took notice that Emerald wasn’t immediately carrying out his orders and looked down at her.

“Is there anything else we need to discuss, Emerald?” He asked.

Emerald remained quiet for a few moments as her ears danced on her head, eventually pinning themselves down to the base of her skull as her posture slightly lowered, as if she were a kicked puppy or a scolded child. “My lord, if I may be so bold to ask, how much of your speech was truthful?” 

“As much as the ponies needed it to be,” Skeletor cryptically replied. “If anyone were to ask, I’d tell them that I discovered a hidden journal in my room that belonged to Sombra. And if they ever ask to see it, I’ll tell them that I burned it to a crisp in a fit of rage.”

“… … So then, the proof is gone?”

“Ashes in the wind, with my word being the only thing left of it. And who would dare question the word of a lord? Now, if that is all, I need to return to the throne room. Copper Plate should already be there, so have the rest of the council members meet us there as well.”

“Yes, my lord. Is there anything you wanted to do before that?”

“No. Heading to the throne room is my top priority.

“Um… My lord, the throne room is in the other direction…” She pointed out cautiously.

“… I knew that. I was just… taking the scenic route to the throne room, imagining which walls would look nicer with a portrait of myself or Princess Amore on it,” Skeletor lied as he gestured to one of the many blank walls. “But you’re right, I can admire the craftsmanship and beauty of my castle later. I will leave you so you can find the other council members,” he stated as he turned on his heels and went in the opposite direction of Emerald.

As Skeletor walked down the hall, he thought about how lucky he had been so far with all his lies. Skeletor didn’t want to imagine the repercussions his deceptions would lead to if anyone else in the Empire found out. Then again, he had already lied to them about placebos, so what were a few more lies to add to the pile? So long as it kept him alive and them happy, he’d be fine with lying through his teeth.

It did hurt him somewhat to give the ponies in the medical ward a false sense of hope with the watered-down jelly that he fed to them. But, if they believed that it was medicine for the mind, then it had a real chance of helping them. He just needed to let their imagination take that false hope and run with it.

So long as they believed his lies, he could keep them happy and content until he finally went home. The only foreseeable problem was Emerald and the two other mares he spoke to in his throne room. While he was certain no one would believe either of the mares if they told anyone, Emerald had real power in the Empire and nothing to lose if she shared Skeletor’s secrets with the other council members.

He had made it abundantly clear to all three mares that not a single word was to leave the throne room, but what did he have to enforce that rule? They weren’t loyal to him, they didn’t love him like they did with their princess, they feared him. Emerald unknowingly held the silver bullet that could end his life, the truth to his lies that could send an angry mob on him in an instant. And if she were to ever let that truth slip, even accidentally, it would undoubtedly cause a disaster.

Skeletor’s thoughts momentarily drifted back to the magical book that Sombra offered him. The easiest answer to his problems were burnt to a crisp and reduced to ash. He fought against the brief pang of regret that wormed its way into his soul, reminding himself that nothing in that book could have actually helped him. It was a book of dark magic and nothing more, and he could never use the spells that Sombra had placed on his slaves.

Without the possibility of his morally repugnant and easy answer, Skeletor turned to the small sense of hope that he carried inside of himself. It was a fickle and fleeting sensation that slowly shrank with each failed spell, but it was still there. So long as he held onto his own sense of hope, he could take it and run all the way back home with it.

Chapter 18. In Pursuit of Knowledge and Change.

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A methodic tapping noise accompanied the ticking seconds of the clock that hung in the Purity Flame's office. The second hand passed by the minute hand with a loud click, signaling the hour’s end as the clock chimed. It was a strained noise, gears grinding against each other in the most unnerving way possible to create a high-pitched screech that would allow the alchemists to work well into the night.

Lord Skeletor sat on his seat with his legs crossed on an orange colored cushion and his hand resting on a small table that stood between him and a pink colored mare with a bright blue mane. The painful chime of the clock caused Lord Skeletor to momentarily stop his tapping as the noise assaulted his ears, or at least whatever the equivalent of ears were for a skull. The mare, the head of the Alchemist Guild and the most well-versed alchemist on hoof, Purity Flame, winced at the noise going off in her office.

On other days, the terrible noise managed to bring the ghost of a smile to her muzzle, letting her recall all the nights she spent in her old master’s office working. Once upon a time, the screaming gears were a reminder to her to wrap up any experiments quickly before her master came to the office and saw her using his equipment. But now it was all hers. Her office, her comfortable chair, her beakers, her books, and her annoyingly obnoxious clock.

But, due to the early arrival of Lord Skeletor, that noise now brought forth a deep sense of dread from within her. He had arrived a few minutes earlier than she was expecting, catching her at an inopportune time and causing her to rush to make her lord a cup of fresh dandelion tea. In her great haste, she failed to properly warn her lord of the noisy clock in the office, and she feared that such an assault on his senses would be seen as an act against him.

When the terrible noise finally stopped, Lord Skeletor rubbed the side of his skull for a few moments before he turned his attention back to his cup of tea. Two steaming cups of dandelion tea sat on small ceramic purple plates that had the emblem of the Crystal Empire painted on the surface. The rich scent of dandelions wafted from the two warm beverages as Purity patiently waited for him to take the first sip.

“So, what did you say this was again?” Lord Skeletor asked.

“Dandelion tea. I was able to brew some earlier thanks to a friend who was working in the flower fields in the green caves.”

“So, it’s made of actual flowers?”

“Yes, they’re absolutely delicious,” Purity replied with a happy nod of her head.

Lord Skeletor hummed to himself as he looked at the golden colored tea. He leaned forward slightly to reach for his cup of tea, gingerly picking it up by lifting the plate towards himself.

“When in Rome,” he said to himself before taking a tentative sip of his tea. “Hmmm. Not bad. Anyway, Purity, what was it that you wanted to talk about today? Are there any issues with the steel production or our paper project?”

“Well… Yes, there is an issue, Lord Skeletor,” Purity replied. “You’ll be happy to know that the other alchemists and I, along with the blacksmiths, have finished filling the new vault with steel like you requested, and most of the alchemists have now shifted their focus towards making paper.”

“Excellent! I’m glad to know that you’ve been making strides in progress. How is the paper task coming along in comparison?”

“It’s… A process. My lord, the reason why I asked for your audience today is because some of the alchemists believe we could have more success if they went out for materials.”

“Oh, do you need more plant fiber from the farms?”

“No, my lord, we’re doing fine with physical materials. What we’re lacking is references. You see, the Alchemist Tower used to mainly be comprised of ruvas who would hire other races as their apprentices. As such, most of their work was conducted in the Ruva Kingdom with only a hoofful of ruvas working in the Crystal Castle.

“Ruvas rarely shared any of their knowledge with the other kingdoms, and may have seceded from the Empire all together if it weren’t for the Crystal Heart keeping all the kingdoms safe. So, with this knowledge in mind, many of the alchemists were hoping for your permission to travel to the abandoned Ruva Kingdom in search of more texts involving the production of paper. Out of the three races in the Crystal Empire, the ruvas were always the most literate and well read, so we believe that they may have devised a way to produce more books than the other kingdoms.”

“And they didn’t share this method with the rest of the Empire?”

“The ruvas and unicorns were never one to eagerly share their wealth of knowledge freely. Knowledge and magic were power, and they wanted to horde as much of it as possible. Not that all magic users are like that! You’re not like those grubby dagger heads, you’re a wonderful magic user. Not like them, with their cloud pointers.”

“Um… Yeah, screw… uh… those guys,” Lord Skeletor said as he took a sip of his tea. “I’ll… I’ll bring this up with the council later. I’d like a group of guards to escort the alchemists to help in the expedition into the Ruva Kingdom. If the rest of the council approves, then I want you to take everything that could benefit us. Especially any books that have magical spells in them, or books on magical theory.”

“Of course, Lord Skeletor. We’ll give you any of those four-legged narwhals wrote.”

“Erm... Yeah, good. Anyway, unless there’s anything else we need to discuss, I think I’ll be heading out now,” Lord Skeletor excused himself, standing up from his seat and quickly making his way to the door. “Thank you for seeking an audience with me, Purity, I’ll tell you what the council’s final decision will be a while later, perhaps a few days or so. Goodbye!” Lord Skeletor waved off as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

Skeletor quickly strode down the halls of the Crystal Castle, putting as much distance between himself and the Alchemist Tower as he could.

“Racist ponies… Fuck me, why am I not surprised?” Skeletor muttered under his breath as he dragged a hand down his skull. “Slaves, homophobia, racism… Fucking rape, and child torture? What else ya got for me world?!” Skeletor suddenly shouted to the air, before quickly covering his mouth with both hands.

His hollow eyes darted around the empty hallway, searching for any wandering ponies that may have overhead him. Skeletor released a silent sigh of relief once he confirmed that he was alone, once again allowing his powerful facade drop as he slowed down his pace. His gaze wandered the walls of the castle, eventually settling on one of the new portraits of Princess Amore that someone painted.

“… Brush Past… Nye-Heh... Fucking pony names,” he said to himself as he read the signature of the artist at the bottom corner of the painting. The look of surprise on his council’s face when he asked where the signature was on the first portrait brought a light smile to Skeletor’s face. “Can’t believe they never signed their own paintings before this.”

Skeletor stared into the golden eyes of a light pink pony whose coat color could easily be confused with a light tan. If Skeletor looked closely enough, he could count the brush strokes the artist used to make the texture of Princess Amore’s pink coat. The color of her fur blended perfectly with the two massive wings on either side of her barrel, the transition between fur and feathers were subtly with a strip of fur that gradually disappeared along on the humorous of the wings.

A dark pink flowing mane was draped over her withers with sapphires woven into the braids of her mane. The princess’ crown comfortably sat between her foot-long horn and her luxurious mane, it was a platinum crown with amber colored jewels that accentuated her bright golden colored eyes. Her loving gaze stared back at Skeletor as she wore a gentle smile on her muzzle.

His eye sockets slightly narrowed at her perfect smile. Memories of the frightened faces of the two gay mares he met filled his mind as he stared at her portrait. Out of the corner of his eye socket, Skeletor caught the faint reflection of his skull in the bismuth frame of Princess Amore’s portrait. As he stared into his reflection, becoming momentarily lost in the eyeless monster’s gaze, he found himself unconsciously comparing the hideous creature to the literal goddess that was in front of him.

“Fuckin’ bitch…” Skeletor grumbled as he took his attention away from the portrait and continued his trek down the hall.

While walking down the empty hall of the castle, Skeletor reached over his shoulder and pulled the Havoc Staff off of his back. As he continued walking down the hall, with little regard for his surroundings, he looked at the ram’s skull on his scepter and briefly debated the futility of opening another portal back to Earth. Any hope of heading home slowly started to decay with time. Each failure had attacked his resolve with an impressive fury, nearly destroying any yearning for success that he carried inside himself.

His desperate desire to see his family, his friends, and to see Evelyn once more, all of it became background noise in his mind. A dull numbness washed over Skeletor as he resided himself to his fate, slowly accepting that there was no chance of ever going home. Skeletor resisted the shrinking urge to open a portal back to Earth, he knew that any attempts would only bring him pain and misery after his inevitable failure. After putting the Havoc Staff back on his back, Skeletor began to banish any lingering hope in his mind as he walked alone, and he started to accept that he was the only human on the entire planet.

I'll be alone... Forever.

“No… No, fuck that,” Skeletor muttered before he abruptly stopped walking to look out one of the nearby windows. Skeletor stared at the horizon of the Empire, looking at where the barrier met the snow. His invisible eyes scanned the area for any hint or indication of where the Ruva Kingdom could be.

“The Ruva Kingdom has everything I need. I’ll get out of here. You hear me Sombra?!” Skeletor shouted as he turned back to the empty hallway. “I’M GETTING OUT OF HERE! AND WHEN I DO, I’LL MAKE SURE TO SEND YOU TO HELL BEFORE I GO!” Skeletor threatened as he screamed to the air.

The faint sound of galloping hoofbeats immediately answered his shout as two guards name bursting through the doors on the far end of the hallway. Skeletor froze when he saw the gladius being carried in one of their mouths by the handle while the other held a spear in his right forehoof. A brief moment of fear broke Skeletor out of his rage as he suddenly became very fearful for what the guards would do to him.

His fight or flight instincts flared in his mind as he imagined how easily one of those weapons would pierce his exposed skin. Skeletor took a hesitant step back as the guard holding a spear trotted towards him.

“My lord, we thought we heard shouting. Is everything alright?” The guard asked as the other guard surveyed the hallway for possible threats.

After getting over the initial surprise of seeing two ponies run into the hallway, Skeletor shook his head to bring himself back to the present. “Yes I… I stubbed my toe, but I’m alright. Since you’re here, I’d like someone to escort me to the council’s meeting room.”

“Yes, Lord Skeletor,” the guards both replied before they led Skeletor down the hall.

Copper Plate shuffled through the many papers on her side of the table, scanning each paper for the tenth time that day to see if there were any laws that Lord Skeletor would disapprove of. She found several questionable laws that gave a great deal of leniency to nobles, several easily exploitable laws, and one odd law on marriage that allowed for a marriage to be declared void if one of the ponies was impotent.

After reading that law, she cross-referenced any surviving records of divorces to see if that law was ever used. Surprisingly, it had been used in a majority of ruva divorces but hadn’t appeared in any other court matters that took place in the capital of the Crystal Empire. Aside from that specific odd law, there weren’t many others that stuck out to Copper Plate. Then again, even the previous law regarding gay ponies never caused her to raise an eyebrow, so to be safe she decided to bring every law involving sex, marriage, and family structures.

It sickened Copper Plate to know that Sombra had been manipulating their princess for years, disguising himself as one of Faust’s apostles so he could feed her sweet lies. Were it not for Lord Skeletor, the crystal ponies may have remained completely oblivious to Sombra’s nefarious and cowardly acts against their princess. It was no wonder to the Master of the Royal Archives as to why she couldn't find any references to Princess Amore's, or rather Sombra's, claims about gay love being harmful to the barrier. Unless those texts were in the Ruva Kingdom, then there was little to no reason to doubt Lord Skeletor's claims about Princess Amore being manipulated by the monster that called itself a pony.

Copper Plate felt a pang of pain in her chest as she remembered seeing her princess smile upon her subjects while she carried her own torture. The agony of being persuaded by what she must have believed to have been one of Faust’s chosen messengers, carrying his abhorrent orders out without question. Or maybe she did question them, at least at some point. If Princess Amore would have carried out any of his orders, then there was no reason to kill her unless she had refused at least one of them. Perhaps she had caught on to Sombra’s ruse and was murdered by the bastard as a result.

She would have to ask Lord Skeletor what else he knew since Emerald had told them all that, in a fit of justified rage, Lord Skeletor had burned Sombra’s personal journal and destroyed the only record of his cruel deeds against the princess. While Copper Plate was upset by the destruction of something precious like a book, knowing that it was the personal memoir of Sombra helped to lessen her anger towards the act of damaging a work of literature. If she were in Lord Skeletor’s position, she may have acted irrationally as well and ripped it to shreds with her own hooves.

As Copper Plate organized her papers into a pile of laws that were organized by date of approval, the other council members were busying themselves with their own tasks. Cannon Fodder went over his proposal for reopening enlistment into the guard and his proposal to have the alchemists give their surplus of steel to the blacksmiths to forge armor for some units of the royal guard. As he quietly went over the financial costs of armor and weapons with Avid Value, Crumb Catcher sat in his seat with his eyes closed and his ears perked at attention, seemingly content staying inside his own head instead of speaking with any of the other council members.

Finally, Emerald Secret was busy looking over Lord Skeletor’s schedule for the next few days. Due to his spontaneous actions and orders, Lord Skeletor’s schedule was left fairly open to allow Emerald to reschedule anything should he decide to suddenly pass a new law or make another holiday. While the council members were finishing up their own tasks in preparation for Lord Skeletor’s meeting with Purity Flame to wrap up, Copper Plate finished her own task and gently laid the last paper on top of her pile.

It had taken the better part of two days to find any questionable laws for Lord Skeletor to review, but she had accomplished it nevertheless. It brought her a small amount of pride to know that she would be helping to undo some of Sombra’s evil, working with her lord to purge his influence from the Empire and bring the crystal ponies into a new era of peace and love. Copper Plate envisioned a prosperous Empire under the leadership of Lord Skeletor, one where books and literacy would be a massive part of the Empire’s infrastructure. She could hardly contain her joy at the prospect of having more accessible possibilities for literature. And to think, an old mare like herself would help Lord Skeletor in his quest to bring knowledge to the Empire, it was like a fantasy she would have dreamed up as a filly.

As Copper Plate became lost in a fantasy of having enough books to fill an entire town, the doors to the council room were opened by a pair of guards who wore blank expressions on their faces. Behind them, Lord Skeletor was wearing a small smile on his jaw, or perhaps that was just his resting face.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting,” Lord Skeletor apologized as he entered the room.

“You’re actually earlier than scheduled, Lord Skeletor,” Emerald corrected as she checked off something on her list.

Copper Plate glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, which was one of the few remaining functional clocks in the entire Empire. Just like Emerald had said, Lord Skeletor had actually arrived ten minutes earlier than the council planned for, likely a result of him attending his meeting with Purity Flame early after he skipped breakfast in the dining hall.

“Excellent. Then if we’re all ready, I would like to bring up the first point of order for our meeting,” Lord Skeletor stated as he sat in his seat. After a pregnant pause to wait for his council members to speak up to agree or refuse his request, he looked over to Emerald. “Um, I can do that, right?”

“Of course, my lord. You’re free to do as you wish,” Emerald answered.

“Excellent. My first order of business is the abandoned Ruva Kingdom. Purity has told me that a few alchemists have expressed a desire to travel to the abandoned Ruva Kingdom. General Cannon Fodder, I would like to request for you to assign some guards as escorts for this mission. Are there any objections or questions?”

“Yeah, I have one,” Cannon Fodder stated as he placed his hoof on the table. “I don’t think this is a good idea. The Ruva Kingdom is a three-day trot away from the Crystal Castle, and searching all of the libraries and alchemy towers there will take a few weeks at best.”

“Really? It would take that long?” Lord Skeletor asked with surprise evident in his voice.

“Yes, my lord,” Emerald answered. “The Crystal Castle is at the center of the three kingdoms. The edge of the Crystal Pony Kingdom is a few hours south from the castle, the Ruva Kingdom in the Northwest is a three-day trot, and the Thestral Kingdom in the Northeast is a five-day trot to get to. Before Sombra, we heavily relied on carriages pulled by thestrals to go to the castles of the other kingdoms.”

“There’s more than one castle in the Empire?”

“Technically, they're palaces though I honestly don't know the difference between the two," Emerald explained. "Each of the kingdoms had a prince or princess who would rule over their kingdom and report to Princess Amore. The center of the Crystal Empire was designed for all three races, while the kingdoms themselves were designed specifically for each race.”

“I see… How much of the Crystal Pony Kingdom has been searched so far?”

“Most of it since many of the crystal ponies lived there before Sombra’s reign. The palace in the Crystal Pony Kingdom was commandeered by the guard of the Crystal Pony Kingdom to prevent any of the ponies from stealing anything, not that there’s much left after Sombra anyway. Most of the maids and guards in the Crystal Castle right now were actually servants and guards from the crystal pony palace.”

“Really? Interesting. Has anyone tried to go to the other two kingdoms since Sombra died?”

“There’s no reason to,” Crumb Catcher stated. “The other kingdoms in the Crystal Empire are completely abandoned, and the Crystal Pony Kingdom had the largest agriculture out of the three kingdoms. There’s nothing the other two kingdoms could offer us.”

“So, we have no idea what’s in there?” Lord Skeletor inquired.

“Nothing’s there though,” Avid Value pointed out. “Sombra already robbed those kingdoms of their finances and valuables, so there’s no treasure to help the Empire’s economy or art worth recovering.”

Lord Skeletor mulled over the points offered by his council members, humming to himself as he rubbed a finger against his jaw. “So, you all believe it would be unproductive and impractical to attempt to search the other kingdoms,” Lord Skeletor surmised.

“… Not in so many words, but yes,” Emerald hesitantly answered.

“I see… What if I were to allow some of the alchemists to go unaccompanied?”

“That would be unwise,” Emerald stated. “The other two kingdoms of the Crystal Empire are too unsafe for anypony to go. The Ruva Kingdom’s buildings are unstable and are bound to collapse at any given point, and the Thestral Kingdom caved into the underground cities in the caverns below it. Even if the alchemists are willing to go, entering either of the other kingdoms would be too dangerous.”

“Alright then. In that case, I’ll need to tell Purity that the alchemists won’t be allowed to enter the Ruva or Thestral Kingdom. It’s unlikely that any methods the ruvas used to make paper would help us,” Lord Skeletor reasoned after hearing the other council members' opinions.

Copper Plate’s eyes widened slightly as she realized what Lord Skeletor’s intent was. If the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom wasn’t carried out, then their hopes for learning a method to mass produce paper would be pushed back indefinitely.

“Wait, shouldn’t we think about the benefits of searching the Ruva Kingdom?” Copper Plate asked. “It’s dangerous, sure, but it could help the Empire greatly! Think of all the magical tomes and history books they have in the Ruva Kingdom.”

“It’s not worth it,” Cannon Fodder told her. “I won’t be sending ponies there just so we can find out a better way to make paper. There’s more important things to worry about.”

“Actually, Copper Plate may be onto something,” Crumb Catcher added on. “The Ruva Kingdom was renowned for their spells and their medicine. As wonderful as your remedy is, Lord Skeletor, you yourself have told us that it is only limited to mental health issues. I’ve heard rumors from when I was younger that ruvas had medicine that could regrow detached limbs and extend lifespans.”

“If that were true, then we’d have those medical books in the Crystal Castle,” Avid Value pointed out.

“You clearly don’t know much about magic users then,” Crumb Catcher simply stated.

“What the heck is that supposed to mean,” Avid Value asked with a glare.

“It means that they’re greedy. Ruvas and unicorns don’t openly share their knowledge with, ‘inferior’ races as they call us. Their greed for holding knowledge is only outmatched by a dragon’s greed for gems.”

“Hey! Not all ruvas are like that," Avid Value argued.

“Then you’re either incredibly lucky or stupidly naive. Knowing you though, I’d lean more towards the latter.”

“You take that back, you arrogant ass!”

“You—"

“ENOUGH!” Lord Skeletor shouted as he banged his fist against the table, causing cracks to spread out from under his hand. A terrified silence engulfed the entire council as they stared at their lord, watching him silently fume in rage at the actions of the two newer council members. “I won’t pretend to know anything of the other races, but I know enough to understand when someone’s being racist. Crumb Catcher, you’d do well to watch your tongue. I've already had to deal with one racist pony today, and I'd rather not deal with another,” Lord Skeletor advised as he took his fist off of the table.

Once Lord Skeletor noticed the damage he caused to the table, briefly wincing at the sight of the many spider cracks that stretched from the point of impact. After rubbing the side of his hand for a few moments, Lord Skeletor turned his attention to Emerald.

“How are the patients in the medical wing of the castle doing, Emerald?”

“Better than usual… Though, I cannot lie, my lord, having more proficient medicine on hoof would be a great boon to the doctors. The Ruva Kingdom may have more advanced medicine then what we have on hoof.”

“Allegedly,” Cannon Fodder stated firmly. “I’ve worked with ruva guards before, and they never had their ears regrown or their horns reattached if they lost them.”

“Of course, you wouldn’t,” Crumb Catcher retorted. “Only the higher classes in the Ruva Kingdom were able to afford that treatment. How else do you explain Lord Caster’s great age?”

“I… He just got lucky to live so long.”

“Yes, and I suppose it’s lucky that he managed to outlive his grandfoals,” Crumb Catcher sarcastically agreed.

“Really?” Lord Skeletor asked as he began tapping his fingers against the table. “Well, that certainly changes things. Even if their medicinal knowledge isn’t as grandiose as Crumb Catcher has made it out to be, I’d like to think that there is something valuable there worth retrieving… I think we should put the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom to a vote. All in favor of the mission, raise your… hooves.”

Crumb Catcher and Copper Plate raised their hooves first, followed by Avid Value who hesitantly raised his own hoof after mulling it over. Lastly, Emerald raised her hoof as well, leaving Cannon Fodder as the only one who didn’t vote against it, much to his shock.

“Emerald? You just said how dangerous it was, and yet you’re willing to send ponies in there?” Cannon Fodder asked.

“I’m thinking about the ponies in the medical wing, they need help and the doctors we have on hoof aren’t able to give them what they need. You know as well as I do that most of them are just nurses and assistants, all of the actual doctors were ruvas with the exception of two or three crystal ponies and a thestral.”

Before Cannon Fodder could retort, Lord Skeletor offered a compromise. “It seems that the rest of the council has come to an agreement. Cannon Fodder, if it would make you feel better, the guards can call off the endeavor and return to the Crystal Castle if any of them get injured. If it’s serious enough, we will never bring up the idea of searching the other kingdoms,” he suggested.

“But—”

“Calm down, General Fodder,” Crumb Catcher interrupted. “Our lord has been generous enough to offer this deal when he could simply order us. Surly, you can see to reason, can’t you?” He asked with a harsh glare directed at Cannon Fodder.

Cannon Fodder held his ground for a few moments, before submitting to the rest of the council and dropping his argument. “Fine. I’ll find a few guards to escort them.”

“Thank you, Cannon Fodder,” Lord Skeletor thanked him. “So, what else shall we discuss today?”

“I brought you a list of laws that could be considered questionable, along with any of the papers necessary to abolish a law or change it,” Copper Plate said as she gestured to the stack of papers that sat near her.

“Excellent, Copper Plate. We can get that started after the meeting. What else do we have for today?” Lord Skeletor asked them all.

The rest of the meeting was carried out over the course of an hour and a half as Lord Skeletor worked with his council to help the Empire. Avid Value took the reins of the meeting for the first hour, eating away the minutes with concerns regarding the Empire’s finances. The rest of the meeting was taken up by Cannon Fodder’s request to have the blacksmiths start working on steel armor and weapons. Lord Skeletor postponed Cannon Fodder's request, stating that he would like more time to think about the issue to discuss how the increased production of steel would affect the value of the amount they already had in the vault.

Once the meeting was called to a close, the other council members left Lord Skeletor and Copper Plate alone in the meeting room. The two of them spent a great deal of time going over laws and making the necessary changes to keep some and entirely abolish others.

Copper Plate was surprised by Lord Skeletor’s signatures, each one was a squiggly mess of letters that barely blended together, almost as if Lord Skeletor had never written his own name before. Copper Plate wondered if there was a reason for his ugly handwriting, such as him using his non-dominant limb or something along those lines. Nevertheless, even with a sloppy signature, Lord Skeletor was able to abolish several laws and made changes to the wording of some of them, allowing for a wider range of interpretation and use in the Empire.

The quill and ink danced on the many forums and legal documents that Copper Plate passed to her lord, signing new laws and abolishing old ones left and right. There were a few instances where Lord Skeletor needed clarification on a law and the exact phrasing used. A majority of laws that were once punishable by death or exile from the Empire were changed into less severe crimes that would be punished by varying amounts of time in the dungeons.

While Copper Plate easily agreed with most of the changes, one major point of contention was his disapproval of trial by combat. Copper Plate’s fur bristled when Lord Skeletor claimed that it was a, “barbaric” act, and she quickly informed Lord Skeletor that it was a time-honored tradition that dated back to the ages before Equestria was colonized by the ponies.

Though he was reluctant, Lord Skeletor did allow his subjects to continue practicing trial by combat with the condition that all trials by combat would be non-lethal and that a non-partial medical professional would need to be in attendance to help either of the injured ponies. After Copper Plate wrote up the necessary additions to trials by combat, Lord Skeletor signed his name to seal the law and officially pass it.

Copper Plate’s eyes began to grow weary after nearly three hours of uninterrupted work. Her struggle to keep herself from dozing off after the combined efforts of sleep deprivation and work came together to send her to Luna’s domain in the Dream Realm. Unfortunately for her, her efforts weren’t enough to escape the watchful eye sockets of Lord Skeletor.

“Are you alright, Copper Plate?”

“I… I’m fine, Lord Skeletor,” Copper Plate replied as she stifled a yawn.

Lord Skeletor raised a brow ridge at her before he took a moment to observe the clock that hung in the council room. “Wow, I didn’t think we were in here that long, it’s almost lunch time by now. How about we get something to eat and then you can take the rest of the day off.”

“N-no, I couldn’t,” she tried got say as a yawn sabotaged her statement.

“Yes you could, it’s easy really. All you’ll need to do is it eat a bit and then lay down on your bed. It's so easy that a foal can do it, I’m sure you could too,” Lord Skeletor teased.

Copper Plate suppressed a light chuckle at Lord Skeletor’s wit, or rather lack thereof. “But court—"

“Will still go on without a hitch,” Lord Skeletor interrupted as he stood up from his seat and cracked his back. Copper Plate cringed at the sound of bones popping into place along Lord Skeletor’s spine, feeling the phantom pain of her own bones cracking with each loud pop. “You wouldn’t be much help if you fell asleep during court. Besides, it’s only a day. You’ve worked yourself down to the bone and you deserve some rest.”

“I… Thank you, Lord Skeletor,” Copper Plate said in earnest as she stood up from her seat and delicately placed all of their papers into her saddlebags.

“And thank you for your help today. It means a lot to me,” Lord Skeletor graciously said as he walked alongside Copper Plate at a steady pace down the hall. A welcoming silence fell over the two as the went to the dining hall, allowing them to internally bask in their accomplishments and relax.

A warm smile wormed its way onto Copper Plate's muzzle as she trotted next to Lord Skeletor. Any fantasies about an Empire full of literature and knowledge became possible thanks to her lord, something that she wondered if Princess Amore could or would ever do. The old princess was more concerned with the loving embraces of ponies than the comforting touch that words offered the soul. But Lord Skeletor, he understood the importance of literature, the value of knowledge, and the elegant beauty of written language. With him ruling over the Crystal Empire, Copper Plate's dreams to have an Empire full of literate ponies grew closer to becoming a reality with each passing each day.

Chapter 19. Stability of Life.

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The Crystal Heart, the symbol of love and faith that the crystal ponies felt towards one another, slowly spun on its pedestal in the plaza of the Crystal Castle.

Half a dozen guards stood at attention at key points around the heart, standing a few yards away from the mystical artifact to give it a large berth. Three guards watched the Crystal Heart spin on its pedestal while the other three faced away from ancient relic, observing the crowd of crystal ponies who would trot towards the Crystal Heart to bask in its beauty.

Emerald Secret and Copper Plate, ponies of high positions who melted into the crowd of regular faces, watched the Crystal Heart. Their time spent together staring at the Crystal Heart had become a silently planned schedule between the two of them, a time where they would meet up to relax and remind themselves of what they protected by helping the Empire.

It had all started on the day after Lord Skeletor had returned the Crystal Heart. While their lord healed from his injuries in the medical wing of the Crystal Castle, Emerald stood outside to watch the Crystal Heart like a hawk, as if taking her eyes off of it for even a moment would cause it to disappear. Because Emerald was so focused on the Heart, she failed to notice her new fellow council member, Copper Plate, trot up next to her and take a seat.

Nothing beyond a simple “hello” was exchanged between them that morning, and nothing more really needed to be said. They both had questions they knew the either couldn’t answer.

Was anything she had seen real? Was Sombra truly gone? What would happen to the Empire under Lord Skeletor's reign? So many questions, and not a single answer to be found.

Emerald unconsciously returned to the same spot the next day, observing the Crystal Heart from afar as Cannon Fodder assigned new guards to key positions to protect the Heart. Unlike the time during Princess Amore’s rule, they couldn’t trust that the power of love in the Empire would keep the Crystal Heart safe from sticky hooves or thieving claws since all the enchantments that kept it safe before had fallen soon after Sombra took over the Crystal Empire.

As she watched the crystal guards take their positions around the Heart, Copper Plate once again joined Emerald to silently stare at the Heart until it was time for the Royal Advisor to check up on Lord Skeletor.

Every day that Emerald went to look at the Crystal Heart, Copper Plate would trot along sooner or later and silently join her. It wasn’t until the morning after Emerald’s confessions to her that they started to talk more as they watched the Heart. Small talk and thoughts about how the weather in the Empire would be without thestrals to move the clouds that formed inside the barrier soon turned into long and drawn out conversations about fond memories of the past and hopes for the future. It was thanks to these conversations that Emerald was eventually able to get a better understanding of the older mare she spent her time with.

Copper Plate had been working in the royal archives of the Crystal Castle for years before she gained a place on Princess Amore’s council, originally taking the position of royal advisor before she convinced the princess to add a seat for representatives of the archives. It was then that Copper Plate became the first council member in history to be given more than one spot on the council. A close friend of Princess Amore, Cider Law, took the position of Royal Advisor before it was eventually passed on to Emerald Secret.

The last council member who acted as the representative of the Royal Archives, Dice, was apparently one of Copper Plate’s nephews from her step-brother’s side of the family. That news was given with a somber tone as they both recalled the plucky ruva stallion. He had shared his aunt’s love of literature to the point of burning thousands of candles to stay up late reading any text he could get his hooves on.

They both held fond memories of the plucky stallion, swapping delightful tales where Dice would go off on a tangent about the use of the word, “and” in the books in the Royal Archives and other such things. Emerald thoroughly enjoyed having somepony to talk to about the past, sharing pain and joy with Copper Plate as if they had been friends since foalhood.

“So, how have you been?” Emerald finally asked her after allowing the silence between them to go on for a few minutes as they silently observed the Crystal Heart.

“I’ve been doing alright. Lord Skeletor gave me the day off yesterday after our meeting.”

“I heard about that. How was it spending two hours alone with him?”

“It was actually pretty nice. There were a few times he asked for some help interpreting a word or a law, and aside from one thing, I don’t have much to complain about.”

“Oh? What was the one thing?”

“He wanted to get rid of trials by combat. He said they were, ‘barbaric’. I talked him out of it, thankfully, and he just added a few safety precautions to it.”

“Really? That is strange. Did he say why they were, allegedly, ‘barbaric’?” 

“Based on the stipulations he added to it, I think it might have been the killing part. I can sympathize with him on that, even though it's already rare for ponies to die in trials by combat, there were always a few exceptions where somepony wouldn't hold back or some idiot tripped on their own weapon. Aside from that, nothing too strange happened during our meeting. So, how have you been doing, Emerald?”

“I’ve been doing well for the past few days. I'll admit, I still feel a brush of panic sometimes, but I’m usually able to push past it without anypony noticing,” Emerald replied as she took her eyes away from the Crystal Heart to look at Copper Plate. “Thank you, by the way. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“You’re welcome, Emerald, it was the least I could do for a friend,” Copper Plate told her with a kind smile.

Emerald sat on those words for a few moments, briefly debating a question that had nagged at the back of her mind for a while. “… What about this? You, sitting next to me when you could be inside reading. I don’t really think we were more than colleagues when you started doing this. So, why?”

Copper Plate stayed quiet for a few moments, almost alarmingly so as she thought of the right words to say. A serious expression fell on her face for a few brief moments before a light chuckle escaped her, causing a smile to break across her muzzle as she looked deeply into Emerald’s eyes.

“It’s funny actually. It’s the same reason Amore came to me for teatime for a whole year,” Copper Plate stated, surprisingly dropping the princess’ official title. “She said I looked lonely. I was always squinting when I read, and I always had a serious expression on my face when I was younger. Most of the ponies in the archives stayed away from me since I always looked angry.

“It wasn’t until Amore pointed it out a few years later that I realized what I was doing. Because of that, I was usually… I was always alone in the archives. Princess Amore noticed and decided to talk to me, just like what I did with you. You were lonely, and I don’t think anypony should feel lonely,” she told Emerald.

Emerald allowed those words to swim through her mind for a good amount of time. Copper Plate’s Words were twisted by Emerald’s subconscious fears and anxieties. Suddenly, every sweet and genuinely caring word became a sickening bastardization of what Copper Plate actually meant. A single word rang out in her mind louder than any other thought that was racing though her head.

Lonely.

She was lonely. She was alone and that’s why Copper Plate sat next to her on those days, because Copper Plate pitied her. That’s all it was, wasn’t it? Pity? A charity case? She was just a broken mare that somepony pitied, a side project for somepony to fix!?

Her raging thoughts and bitter hatred faltered once a foreleg wrapping around her withers, pulling her into a tight hug with Copper Plate.

“I’m glad we’re friends, Emerald. I haven’t said much, but you’ve still helped me too. Just having somepony to call a friend in these odd times feels like I found something that I was missing for years. And, in a way, I was missing this. So, thank you,” Copper Plate quietly said.

Emerald didn’t respond immediately to Copper Plate with words, instead, she wrapped a foreleg around Copper Plate to embrace her as well. She closed her eyes and suppressed the negative emotions that clouded her judgment, silently cursing herself for letting her mind wander to such dark and twisted perversions of Copper’s kind words.

“Thank you, Copper.”

No more words were shared after that, as they both fell into a comfortable silence.

Skeletor blankly stared at a page full of numbers and mathematical equations that he pretended to understand while listening to Avid Value go over the Crystal Empire’s finances.

Avid Value went into great detail about the bits being distributed to the Empire and the amount of bits in the Crystal Castle’s vault. While circulation of currency would allow the Empire to remain stable for some time, Avid Value greatly stressed that their current monetary system would eventually collapse if enough ponies began saving up their bits, causing them to fall out of circulation unless they were used.

As important as this meeting was to Skeletor and the overall stability of the Empire, Skeletor still struggled to keep himself awake during his private meeting with Avid Value. After foregoing sleep the night prior to experiment with his magic, such as learning levitation and lifting light objects, Skeletor became the embodiment of a walking corpse thanks to his severe lack of sleep. The Royal Treasurer’s words became a lulling melody of large numbers that barely made any sense to Skeletor.

Avid Value, in comparison, was extremely lively and full of energy as he threw himself into his work, pacing back and forth between a blackboard and an abacus to calculate the cost of sending an expedition team to the Ruva Kingdom. Skeletor chose to spare no expense in making sure that the ponies going there would be safe, giving them an ample supply of rations, blankets, and other necessities. Needless to say, even though it was going to be a small group of ponies going to the Ruva Kingdom, it was becoming a very expensive endeavor for the Empire.

Since all of the old carts and carriages had rotted away and fell apart, Skeletor needed to commission a few carpenters to build a new carriage out of a naturally purple colored oak that grew in the subterranean farms in the lower regions of the caverns. Apparently, the once small saplings grew to enormous heights in the time between the Princesses’ and Skeletor’s arrival, causing the bipedal creature to wonder what Sombra did to the Empire during his battle with the princesses.

Two prominent theories crossed Skeletor’s mind, those being that either the Empire time traveled or a spell was used to make the Empire age by at least a few hundred years. Skeletor tossed out the time travel idea since the crystal ponies themselves were fine, and if the Empire did time travel then it should have just plopped down in another moment of time without any damage. One other theory also crossed his mind, though it was one that he desperately wanted to ignore.

He feared that whatever spell Sombra used to bring him here caused the Empire to decay by generations in the span of a few seconds. The issue with that theory was that Sombra said that he didn’t summon Skeletor, though, that could have easily been a lie. How else would Skeletor have ended up in the Crystal Empire if Sombra didn’t pull him from his world? Whenever someone got taken to another world in anime, it was usually because they died or because someone in the other world summoned them, and he was pretty sure that he didn’t die before he appeared in the Crystal Empire. At least he hoped that he didn’t die at comic con.

Skeletor shook those thoughts out of his mind as he turned his attention back to Avid Value once he heard his adopted name.

“—tor, is something wrong?” Avid Value asked.

“Hm? Sorry, I was just caught up in my own thoughts for a moment,” Skeletor waved off. “What were we discussing?”

“Taxes for this year, your highness. I recommended pushing those off until next year, when the citizens are more financially stable. By that time, we should hopefully perfect your plan for paper currency. Speaking of that, do you have an idea for what we should call it? Maybe something like, paper bits?”

“Why do… Oooh right, you never had paper money before. They’re just called dollars.”

“Doll-hairs… Hmmm, that could work. We also need to discuss the different value between doll-hairs and bits.”

“They’re ‘dollars’, Avid, not doll-hairs. And for the second question, I need to know how much a bit is worth.” 

“It’s a bit. It’s worth just that,” Avid Value stated.

“Okay, so what comes after a bit?” Skeletor asked.

“I’m not sure what you mean, your highness.”

“Like… Damnit, you don’t have a concept for change, do you?”

“Well, we’re trying to change it now. Aren’t we?” Avid Value asked as he looked back at the blackboard full of complicated mathematical equations, graphs, and other things Skeletor couldn’t understand.

“That’s not what I meant,” Skeletor said as he stood up from his seat and walked over to the blackboard. “Do you mind if I clear some space on this?”

“Not at all, your majesty.”

“Great.”

Skeletor wiped away a small part of the blackboard to give himself a decent amount of space to work with. He waved his hand, causing a light green aura to surround a piece of chalk to lazily pull it to his palm. Even though he didn’t need to use any magic to grab it, exploiting his powers for mundane purposes gave him a sense of control, allowing him to feel the potential power he had at his fingertips.

After allowing the piece of chalk to spin in the air for a few moments to extend his comforting feeling of power, he drew the symbol for cents and dollars on the blackboard and began his explanation.

“Where I come from, money can be broken down into different forms of currency. For example, one penny is the lowest form of value. Five pennies are a nickel, two nickels are worth a dime, two dimes and a nickel are worth a quarter, and four quarters is the value of a one-dollar bill. A one-dollar bill is worth one hundred pennies, twenty nickels, four quarters, and ten dimes. There are a number of coin combinations to make a dollar bill, like using ninety pennies and a single dime, or three quarters, two dimes, and a nickel. Do you understand?”

“Yes... But, what’s a bill?”

“It’s a type of dollar. A dollar is valued by the number on it. For example, we had one-dollar bills, five-dollar bills, ten-dollar bills and so on. The difference between each bill was the number and the picture of the president on it, giving each a different set value.”

“Alright. What’s a president?” Avid Asked as he began writing on a spare piece of parchment paper.

“How?… Right, right. You’re a monarchy, of course you wouldn’t know,” Skeletor said as he put the piece of chalk down. “A president is a leader elected and voted for by the people.”

“The ‘people’ choose them? And then they get their portrait put on money?”

“Not every president, just the ones from a long time ago near the beginning of my country’s independence,” Skeletor explained.

Avid Value wore a contemplative look on his face as he digested Skeletor’s words, letting a low hum escape his throat as he did so. “I see... your highness, do you mind if I say something that you may not like?"

"I... guess?"

"This whole system that you're trying to create is... Confusing, for lack of a better term. While I see the benefit of having different valued 'bills' so that ponies won't need to physically carry thousands of bits around with them to spend it, the idea of 'change' is... complicated.

“From what I can tell, you want to institute a plan that could be broken down into different levels of value that most of your subjects won't understand. Not everypony in the Empire can do complex math that breaks down something into one forth or one third of something else.

"Your plan for dollars is interesting, and it would be more efficient to carry that around since it could be folded up. But you're plan to create 'change' is perhaps too... advanced for some ponies to understand," Avid Value said delicately.

"Really?... Well, I suppose that makes sense. Then what do you recommend?" Skeletor asked

"Well... I'm... Also hesitant to institute the plan for paper currency," Avid Value quickly admitted as he clenched his eyes shut, almost as though he was expecting Skeletor to explode on him.

"Um... Okay, why?" Skeletor simply asked.

Avid Value opened one eye to look at Skeletor before both of them opened and his posture relaxed. "You're... not mad?"

"Of course not. I may not know much, Avid, but I'm not an idiot. Anyone who refuses to listen to experts, such as yourself, on things they don't know is a moron. So, please, tell me what you think we should do. Take your time and walk me through it," Skeletor said as he put his hands together and patiently waited for Avid Value to speak.

"Well... Firstly, I know that transportation of paper currency would be more practical for large scale purchases, it's impractical in longevity. If there's a fire or it gets wet, then it's gone. Bits don't deteriorate with age, and steel bits would last for generations."

"hmm. That does make sense. So, how should we proceed?"

"I think your plan for paper currency is still valid, your highness, but I'd also like to recommend starting production on steel bits as well. I believe it would be better to use dollars for large payments, such as housing and furniture, but nopony in the Empire will even be able to afford those expenses yet, so I believe it would be best to postpone the plan for paper currency."

"Alright then. That's reasonable. I should have expected that an American currency system wouldn't have been very practical.

"A-mare-ik-an? What an odd name, what does it stand for?" Avid Value asked.

"Oh, it's the name of my country. I was born in the U.S.A., which is the United States of America."

"Interesting. How far away is your country, your highness? I don’t remember hearing about any countries with beings that shared your stature or appearance.”

“Ah, well um... I’m uh… Fffffrom a faraway land. Farther than any ship bound by sea could sail, higher than any thestral can fly, a place that is on the other side of the rainbow. It'd be impossible to see it in your life time, but perhaps one day it will be possible for ponies to travel there,” Skeletor cryptically replied.

“Wow… I can’t… That’s amazing, Lord Skeletor!” Avid Value exclaimed with a wide smile as he began writing even more on his papers.

“Yes, yes. It is a fascinating place,” Skeletor dismissed as he pretended to be horrible at being humble. The less he had to say about his home, the better. He didn’t want word to spread that he was an alien from another planet, and most likely another dimension, since he didn’t want to find out how they’d react to that.

“So, taxes,” Skeletor said, bringing the conversation back to its original topic. “They won’t happen until next year then?”

“Yes, your highness. Even if we held taxes this year, not many ponies own land to tax. The lands in the other two kingdoms are desolate, and not many crystal ponies owned land before Sombra’s reign. The farms used to be owned by the Onion family, but… They’re all gone as well. So, the farms have fallen under the jurisdiction of the Crystal Castle.”

“I see. And how are the subterranean farms doing?”

“Fairly well. Pretty soon, we won’t have to eat crystalberry jam stew. It’s not terrible, per say, but it’s definitely… An acquired taste.”

“Yeah, it makes broccoli taste a lot better in comparison,” Skeletor joked as he continued to search for some sense of meaning in the numbers on the blackboard. “I assume the taxes go towards the upkeep of the Empire and the safety of its citizens, correct?”

“Essentially. A large amount of it also goes directly to you.”

“Me?” Skeletor asked as he tore his attention away from the blackboard. “I get paid?”

“Of course, your highness. You’re the leader, why wouldn’t you get paid?”

“I… I just never thought kings got paid… huh. So how much do I have to pay in taxes?” 

“Ha! Good jest, your highness,” Avid Value chuckled as he looked over his papers. “Royalty doesn’t pay taxes, Lord Skeletor.”

“… Really?” Skeletor asked as he imagined never having to pay taxes again. “That’s… nice? Soooo, I get paid and I don’t have to pay taxes.”

“Correct. The bits you earn go into the Crystal Castle’s vault.”

“Which is also the Empire’s vault, right?”

“Yes, your highness.”

“Okay…” Skeletor simply said, as his own brain started to fail him. “Well… Good. Good, Goooood, good. I’m... glad to hear that. Is there anything else we need to discuss?”

“Not for today, we already went over the budget for the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom earlier. I’m surprised that Cannon Fodder decided to lead the group instead of assigning it to Colonel Kernel.”

“It is surprising. I just hope everything goes well for them. They’re leaving tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, your highness,” Avid Value confirmed.

Skeletor nodded as he reassured himself that he was right. Cannon Fodder and his quickly assembled team of guards would escort three alchemists to the Ruva Kingdom, allowing one alchemist and three guards to be sent to each alchemy tower in the Ruva Kingdom. They had a surplus of supplies for their mission, taking two weeks’ worth of food for what should have only been a week and a half, and enough blankets to smother a small elephant.

Even though the barrier that hung over the Empire protected the Crystal Pony Kingdom and the Crystal Castle from the assault of snow from the never-ending winter, the other ruined kingdoms were still exposed to the unnatural elements of the Frozen North. There simply wasn’t enough love in the Empire to make the barrier expand over the other two kingdoms, meaning that the crystal ponies would have to leave the safety of the Crystal Pony Kingdom to search the alchemy towers of the Ruva Kingdom.

If Skeletor had known that, he would have been much more hesitant to agree to Purity Flame’s request to have a small number of alchemists search the Ruva Kingdom. Even if there was something there that could help Skeletor and the Crystal Empire, he didn’t feel good about it. Once again, the ponies would be risking their safety while Skeletor sat on his throne collecting bits and leaving all the hard decisions to ponies he just barely knew.

“Are you absolutely certain that they have enough supplies for the trip?” Skeletor asked.

“I’m fairly sure. The only thing I could think of is medical supplies, and that’s one of the main reasons they’re going.”

“What about weapons? Are there any wolves or other animals in the Frozen North?”

“None that I know of. The only other creatures that lived in the Frozen North were the animal stock in our Empire or the animals and Yaks of the Yak Kingdom,” Avid Value told him.

Skeletor’s mind stopped for a brief moment after he heard that. “Yak Kingdom? There’s a Yak Kingdom?”

“Yes. Yakyakistan is a kingdom to the most northern edges of the Frozen North, bordering between the Frozen North and the Northern sea. They were a wonderful trading-based economy, often giving the Empire food, wool, and other valuables in exchange for fruits and vegetables that could only grow under the Empire.”

“Really? Why didn’t anyone tell me about this before?”

“I... Well, I suppose we all just assumed you knew. But even if we didn't, there wasn’t much of a reason to tell you. The yaks usually came to us for trade since their thick fur allowed them to easily traverse the snow, and as far as they know, we’re still under Sombra’s control. They cut off all ties with us once Sombra… Well, the less said the better,” Avid Value said as he avoided talking about a clearly uncomfortable subject.

“I see. Reconnecting ties with… Yakyakistan, can come later. Once the Empire is stable enough, we could try sending a representative there to tell them that Sombra has been dethroned.”

“A wise decision, your highness… And if it would be possible, could we also consider getting into contact with Dream Valley?” Avid Value hopefully asked.

“What’s Dream Valley?”

“The kingdom of Equestria, which is the land below the Crystal Empire. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rule… ruled over the pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies that call Equestria their home. Relations between Dream Valley and the Crystal Empire were always harsh before Princess Amore arrived, and we became friendlier over time. I was just wondering if it would be possible to send some guards to Dream Valley to tell them that we were freed, and perhaps we could find out what happened to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

“How far away is Dream Valley?”

“Nearly four weeks by hoof, your highness. It’s quicker to get there by wings, but none of the ponies left in the Crystal Empire can fly.”

“Hmmm… I’m already concerned about sending anyone to the Ruva Kingdom, though it would help contact the outside world… For now, we’ll wait for them to come to us, and if they don’t, we’ll send someone over to Dream Valley once we have more fit and well-equipped guards. How does that sound?”

“It sounds wonderful, Lord Skeletor. If the princesses are still alive, then I’m sure that they’ll return soon. I’m sure the princesses will be happy to meet you!”

“… Uh… Right, yeah, I’m sure they’ll be ecstatic,” Skeletor said as he felt a chill run up his spine at the possibility of meeting the princesses of Dream Valley. How would they react to him being ruler of the Crystal Empire? They’d probably attack him on sight, or call him a monster and turn the crystal ponies against him.

Avid Value, being completely oblivious to Skeletor’s concerns, packed away his papers and abacus and wiped off the rest of the blackboard with a rag. “I think we’ve covered everything we needed to, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Hm? Ah, yes, we’re done for today. Will I see you for lunch today?”

“Unfortunately not. I wanted to speak with the blacksmiths to discuss something important. I’ll be around for court though.”

“Excellent. Thank you for this meeting, Avid. If there’s anything else we need to talk about, just come find me,” Skeletor told him.

“Thank you, your highness,” Avid Value replied with a bow. “I’ll see you later. Have a wonderful meal at lunch,” he said before he trotted out of the room, leaving Skeletor alone with his thoughts once more.

Avid Value trotted down the halls towards the blacksmith’s forge in the lower levels of the Crystal Castle with an extra pep in his step, humming a light melody that held no rhyme or structure. He wore an enormous smile on his muzzle as he made his way down the stairs, replaying the words that Lord Skeletor had told him when he asked about his home. Avid Value resisted the urge to squeal like a cheerful filly as he thought about the biggest secret he had ever been told.

A land beyond the rainbows, where nopony could sail or fly, a place where complex math was used to make money, and where everypony had a say in their government, it was so obvious.

Lord Skeletor was from the fertile fields of the afterlife, a disciple of Faust who was sent from the heavens. There had been rumors about him being a disciple or vessel for Faust, sent by the Devine Weaver so he could strike down the tyrant known as Sombra. However, Avid Value never placed much merit into those theories. But now he had Lord Skeletor’s own words as proof for those claims, and he trusted Avid Value enough to tell him.

Avid Value felt his spirits soar at his lord’s admission, resisting the urge to burst into tears of joy as he focused on Lord Skeletor’s commitment to helping the Empire. Even after freeing them of the monster that had enslaved them, Lord Skeletor remained in the Empire to see them through their recovery, fixing the injustices that remained even after Sombra’s death.

Avid Value had always had wandering thoughts that sought temptations in the flesh of the same gender, feeling a tight pull on his heart that he never felt for any mare. His closely held fantasies had been dubbed as sinful emotions that tainted the magic of love that powered the barrier, causing Avid to feel like a freak of nature that lived in paradise. But now, after finding out that Lord Skeletor had lived in Faust’s divine realm, he was certain that there was nothing wrong with what he felt.

It was like a heavy burden had been lifted from his withers and the demons that taunted him for being abnormal had been chased off by Lord Skeletor’s blessed divinity. He had always felt like an outcast, worried that the ponies around him knew of his secret. On a few brief occasions, Avid Value thought of submitting himself to a group of ruva doctors to remove those thoughts. But each time he thought of doing that, flashes of the strained smiles “fixed” ponies had kept him from seeking “help”. And he was so happy that he never went through with it

Lord Skeletor had given him the truth, and told him that there was nothing wrong with him. If his highness was fine with two stallions or mares loving each other, then that must have meant Faust taught him to think that way. Avid’s preferences in love were accepted by his highness, and he wouldn’t have to hide himself anymore.

He was free to be whoever he wanted to be, released from the crushing fears that had plagued him since puberty when he met a stallion named Iron Clad. Nothing romantic ever happened between the two, but the vivid dreams he eventually had for him caused Avid Value to realize how he felt for his friend. Those feelings reemerged and grew with age when he met Red Blaze, who ironically ignited a burning passion inside of him.

His feelings never disappeared, and even with his attempts to court mares failed to lessen the fire he felt for the same gender. He had never crossed the line that would lead him to entering the bed of another stallion, but now he had a chance to explore how he truly felt.

Avid Value didn’t expect to find his soulmate in a few days or even a few weeks, but he felt hopeful that he would one day be able to walk with his head held high as he trotted next to a stallion who shared his interests and desires. He was free to pursue whomever he wanted, all thanks to Lord Skeletor.

The smile on his muzzle grew wider by a hair as he thought about his plan for Lord Skeletor. Avid Value hoped that the blacksmiths would be able to use their new supply of steel to craft Lord Skeletor's gift, something that he had lacked since his first day in the Crystal Empire.

After all, a perfect king deserved the perfect crown.

Chapter 20. Perception and Perspective of Power.

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Cannon Fodder anxiously paced from one end of his room to the other as he made a mental checklist of everything he needed. He threw a glance at his large saddle bags, visualizing the contents of his bags as counted how much food and water were packed away.

He had spent the past two days planning out his expedition to the Ruva Kingdom, making sure that he had enough supplies, tools, and well bodied guards for the journey. The trip would be comprised of seventeen other guards and six alchemists, allowing each alchemist to have three guards next to them at all times. Cannon Fodder would lead the group through the ruins of the fallen kingdom, allowing his memory of the kingdom’s layout to guide him to any of the alchemist or mage guilds that he scarcely remembered passing by in the Ruva Kingdom.

While Cannon Fodder led the expedition, Colonel Kernel would take temporary command of the Royal Guard in Cannon Fodder’s stead, allowing Cannon Fodder to enact his plans away from the prying eyes and ears of Crumb Catcher’s spy network. Without Crumb Catcher’s lackies constantly looking over his withers from the shadows of the halls, he’d be able to find out how many allies he still had in the Empire.

Being the general who failed to protect Princess Amore had earned him the silent scorn of a large number of guards, each one throwing judgmental glances at him whenever his head was turned away. He started to feel paranoid when his guards would whisper to one another, occasionally mentioning Lord Skeletor whenever Cannon Fodder trotted by. Crumb Catcher managed to feed Cannon Fodder’s paranoia with warnings about certain guards and their silent conversations.

He didn’t have to believe Crumb Catcher, and he absolutely didn’t want to, but Crumb Catcher’s warnings always made Cannon Fodder feel more on edge. His journey to the Ruva Kingdom was his last chance to salvage some respect from the guards he would be leading. If Cannon Fodder failed at that, then he may as well have decided to attack Lord Skeletor with a spoon and hoped his death would make him a martyr to the other ponies of the Crystal Empire so that they could band together and overthrow the demon.

Cannon Fodder purposefully chose guards who appeared to be resentful towards Lord Skeletor, using Crumb Catcher’s seemingly infinite knowledge to find anypony in the guard who were either upset by Lord Skeletor’s latest law or who resented being led by a non-pony creature. Others took his claims that Princess Amore was being manipulated as blasphemous, believing that Princess Amore was infallible due to her godhood.

To them, there was no way Princess Amore had been manipulated by a demon, she was a princess, the pinnacle of power and purity. She would never be foolish enough to fall for the sweetened words of a demon, even if it was disguised as one of Faust’s apostles.

Even though Cannon Fodder didn’t believe Princess Amore was infallible, due to years of working directly under the princess and seeing her in a different light than the rest of the Empire, he could still use their blind faith to her as a tool to dethrone Lord Skeletor.

But in order to use anypony, Cannon Fodder would need to find out who among them actually held a great distaste for Lord Skeletor. Crumb Catcher could have easily lied to him, feeding him a list of ponies who were actually completely loyal to Lord Skeletor since he still didn’t know where Crumb Catcher’s loyalties lied.

For the moment, Crumb Catcher was just as much of a threat to the Empire as Lord Skeletor was. Neither of them could be trusted, especially not the blue skinned demon.

After Cannon Fodder threw one last glance at his personal supplies and took a moment to think if he was forgetting anything, the general nodded to himself and left his room to prepare for his journey into the Ruva Kingdom.

As he trotted towards the office of his second in command, Colonel Kernel, he kept a list of orders for the colonel to carry out while he was in the Ruva Kingdom. It wouldn’t be too much, just making sure that the guards were paid, that they were assigned their regularly scheduled patrols, and sign any papers necessary for any stallion who spontaneously decided to drop out, something that Cannon Fodder personally loathed doing.

To Cannon Fodder, abandoning their position in the guard during the Empire’s new tyrant was the equivalent of allowing him to do as he pleased without resistance. It boiled Cannon Fodder’s blood to know that they had abandoned their posts, especially while a demon sat on the throne. The guard was the only line of defense left that posed even the slightest of a threat to Lord Skeletor, and most of them had just up and left.

To make matters worse, the stallions who left were some of the very select few that still respected him as a general. The ones who remained still followed his orders without much question, but he had lost their respect a long time ago. Only their secretly shared hatred for Lord Skeletor could allow the guards to fall under Cannon Fodder’s complete command. He just needed to separate the more sensible ponies from the delusional idiots that thought Lord Skeletor was some sort of god.

While he was silently contemplating the possibility that he would need to sleep with one eye open during the expedition in case of any “accidents”, he failed to hear Crumb Catcher trotting towards him from behind. It wasn’t until he began talking that Cannon Fodder finally noticed him.

“Good morning General Fodder, I trust you slept well?” Crumb Catcher asked.

“It was fine,” Cannon Fodder bluntly replied as he trotter a little faster, making sure not to break into a canter to get away from his fellow council member.

“That’s good to hear. Are you prepared for your trip? You’ve been so busy these past two days that I haven’t been able to talk to you.”

“I have everything I need. I just need to talk to Colonel Kernel quickly and then I’ll leave.”

“I can go talk to him. I haven’t had a good excuse to speak to the colonel yet, and I would love a reason to talk to the stallion,” Crumb Catcher offered.

“Thanks, but I’ll do it.”

“Oh well, that’s fine. I’ll just speak with Lord Skeletor about a few interesting rumors I’ve overheard,” Crumb Catcher casually said as he turned to trot down the hall in the opposite direction.

It didn’t take long for the implications of his words to click into place for Cannon Fodder. It was a reminder of who held the power in their little deal. Cannon Fodder would simply need to refuse Crumb Catcher only once and that opportunist would go galloping to Lord Skeletor. But Cannon Fodder couldn’t piece together why he was threatening him then of all times. There wasn’t anything to gain from talking to Colonel Kernel in his place, it was as like Crumb Catcher was begging for an excuse to go tattle to Lord Skeletor.

“… What do you really want?” Cannon Fodder finally asked.

“An excuse to talk to a nice stallion,” Crumb Catcher calmly said as he stopped trotting and smoothed out the sleeves of his suit. “I’m sure he couldn’t be a worst conversationalist than Lord Skeletor or, fields above forbid, Avid Value. I’d love to hear how the colonel feels about our new Lord. If he shares our views, then we could all discuss… ideas,” he coyly said with a smug smile.

Cannon Fodder scowled at Crumb Catcher, but bit his tongue to stop any harsh accusations from leaving his muzzle. It was almost as if Crumb Catcher was purposefully acting untrustworthy to test Cannon Fodder and see how he would react.

“… Fine,” he eventually said. “I’m going to go say goodbye, tell Colonel Kernel to meet me and the rest of the expedition team at the plaza in an hour.”

“I’ll make sure to relay your message to him. Be safe on your trip, General Fodder,” Crumb Catcher said as he trotted towards Colonel Kernel’s quarters.

Cannon Fodder’s gaze hardened as he watched Crumb Catcher trot away, silently cursing fate for tethering him to the manipulative stallion. After seething in his own anger for a few more moments, Cannon Fodder trotted towards the alchemy tower to make sure that the alchemists coming with them were ready for the journey.

Colonel Kernel, a grey coated stallion with a dirty blonde mane and tail nervously tapped his quill tip on the rim of the inkwell that rested on his desk. A blank piece of paper sat on in front of him, waiting for the ink to stain the pages with a soliloquy of words that would beg for General Cannon Fodder to reassess his decision.

Father time taunted the new colonel with a slowly ticking clock placed at the other side of the room, a relic left behind by his superior’s-superior’s-superior. Each chime from the clock loudly mocked him for passively waiting, becoming a slave to the whims of time. Colonel Kernel looked at the ticking second hand of the clock and recoiled when he noticed how much time had passed.

The colonel looked back at the blank sheet, searching for the perfect words to use to convince General Cannon Fodder to demote him. He couldn’t handle the stress of being a colonel, the only reason he was promoted to the position of a colonel due to all of his superiors dying under King Sombra’s rule.

As Colonel Kernel stared at the clean sheet of paper, silently cursing his inability to find the right words to convince General Cannon Fodder to make a different decision, he threw caution to the wind and put a cap on his ink well. He had spent two days struggling to think of the best words, and he had failed miserably. There wasn’t enough time to find the right words, if he wanted to have his position given to somepony more competent, then he would need to speak to General Cannon Fodder personally.

Colonel Kernel was slightly startled when he opened the door to see a blue coated stallion on the other side, but quickly regained his composer when he realized it was just the head of the staff, Crumb Catcher.

“Ah, hello Colonel Kernel, good to see you,” Crumb Catcher said as he stepped aside to let Colonel Kernel leave his room.

“Good to see you too, Mr. Catcher. Is there something you needed?” Colonel Kernel asked as he trotted into the hallway.

“Nothing I need, but General Fodder wanted me to fetch you. He forgot to tell you to seek out Lord Skeletor and bring him to the plaza for the expedition team’s departure.”

“M-meet… Lord Skeletor?” He nervously asked.

He had never actually met the Crystal Empire’s newest master, only catching glimpses of his new Lord and hearing leftover whispers of Lord Skeletor’s conversations with the council members. There was never a reason to directly interact with Lord Skeletor before, and he was completely fine leaving it that way, staying away from the figurative stage of politics and life that Lord Skeletor took complete control of.

“Of course, colonel. You’re going to work alongside the council for the next few weeks, you were bound to interact with him sooner or later. Listen, I know that Lord Skeletor may look intimidating, but he’s a kind and just ruler. Steel your nerves, be respectful to him, and everything will be fine,” he reassured him.

“I-I’m not nervous. I’m excited!”

“And I’m a ruva,” Crumb Catcher sarcastically joked. “Colonel, you don’t need to lie to me. Truth be told… He scared me too, at first. But he’s a kind and gracious creature once you get to know him.”

“He is?” Colonel Kernel asked before he coughed into his foreleg. “I-I mean, of course he is. He’s our leader, we can’t expect any less of our lord, right?”

Crumb Catcher silently chuckled to himself as he held a hoof to his muzzle. “Yes, I suppose we can’t expect any less. Anyway, Lord Skeletor should still be in his bedchambers. Miss Secret usually goes to fetch him, but she’s preoccupied this morning with our dear Royal Archivist.

“If you go now, you should have time to eat breakfast with Lord Skeletor before you both need to go to the plaza in an hour. Have a good time and get to know Lord Skeletor. I’ll see you at the council meeting later today before court. Take care, colonel,” Crumb Catcher told him before he trotted away.

Colonel Kernel nodded to himself as Crumb Catcher left, taking deep breaths as he prepared himself to speak directly to Lord Skeletor.

“Meet Lord Skeletor, easy enough… Just have to put one hoof in front hoof the other… No pressure… Oh, I’m so bucked…” He quietly muttered as he trotted down the hallway.

After a few minutes of trotting down the halls aimlessly, he finally decided to ask one of the guards for directions to Lord Skeletor’s chambers. It was difficult to hold a conversation with another guard without receiving cold stares that spoke volumes of their inner rage towards him.

Three years ago, most of the ponies in the castle outranked him and had rightfully earned their position in the guard while he had used his family’s connections to become a trainee under Lieutenant Bolt. His father had pushed him into the position, stating that becoming a guard would teach him important life lessons about responsibility.

Now, he was responsible for more than he had any right to be. Colonel Kernel hadn’t earned his position, it was simply passed down to him because all the more qualified and capable ponies were dead. He wasn’t a warrior or a colonel, he was a farmer, no matter how much his father claimed that his cutie mark was a larger than average spear. And now, he was walking to the door of death himself to eat breakfast with him.

No matter how reassuring Crumb Catcher’s words were, Colonel Kernel still feared for his life and his immortal soul. Lord Skeletor held this natural aura of dominance and power that terrified Colonel Kernel, he was a pillar of strength that made everypony around him look like a group of foals. From what Colonel Kernel heard, Lord Skeletor had effortlessly beat Sombra to death with Sombra’s skull, and then he used his own skull to beat what was left of Sombra’s skull, and that was just because Sombra looked at him funny.

One wrong word out of Colonel Kernel, and it would be off with his head. While Lord Skeletor hadn’t killed anypony in the near three weeks of his rule, there was nothing to really prevent him from doing so. Even with an army of crystal ponies against him, Lord Skeletor would utterly crush them with his physical strength and magical prowess.

Far too quickly for Colonel Kernel’s liking, he was in front of Lord Skeletor’s door. Colonel Kernel eyed the door nervously before looking at the empty spot next to the door where a guard should have been. Nopony had been brave enough to guard it after the first night, and it seemed like General Cannon Fodder wasn’t too concerned with having somepony stationed there.

With so few guards to patrol the Crystal Pony Kingdom and guard the Crystal Castle, General Cannon Fodder positioned guards to protect other things such at the Crystal Heart, the Royal Archives, and the medical ward in the castle and makeshift medical tents that filled the backstreets of the Empire. There just wasn’t a need to protect a creature like Lord Skeletor since nopony posed an actual threat to him, even the guards assigned to trot with him at the Crystal Fair were more for show than his actual safety.

After steeling his resolve and swallowing his fears for the moment, Colonel Kernel knocked on the door and waited. Colonel Kernel’s hardened and professional demeanor crumbled as tense seconds turned into uncomfortable minutes, his heart boomed in his chest as he raised his hoof to knock again. Once again, there was no response from Lord Skeletor, leading the colonel to wonder if he was at the wrong door.

Reluctantly, Colonel Kernel pressed an ear against the door to see if he could hear anything. An unnerving and deathly silence was all he could hear, and he could have sworn that the sound from the halls became dulled when he listened to the unnatural silence of Lord Skeletor’s room. Colonel Kernel released a shuddered breath as he pulled his ear away from the door, allowing the natural noises of far off creaking doors and gentle breezes from open windows to fill his ears almost instantly. It was almost like the basic concept of sound died when he listened for any noises from the other side of the room, possibly due to a silencing enchantment that Lord Skeletor must have placed on the door.

Colonel Kernel wasn’t a ruva mage, so he only really knew that sound silencing enchantments stopped sounds, and he wasn’t sure if it worked both ways or not. He couldn’t have known that silencing spells only worked in one direction, so he simply assumed that Lord Skeletor hadn’t heard him knock because of the enchantments.

The colonel took a few calming breaths as he prepared to open the door to see if Lord Skeletor was still in his room. His hoof felt heavier than it had ever felt before, and his muscles felt like they were fighting against him, but he managed to do it.

Opening the door, Colonel Kernel felt the chilling embrace of death wash over him as a strong breeze flew through the open window of Lord Skeletor’s room. The low hum of magic in the room drew Colonel Kernels attention to the four posted bed where Lord Skeletor sat with a book on his lap.

Colonel Kernel waited for Lord Skeletor to acknowledge his presence but appeared to go completely unnoticed by his lord. A light green aura enveloped a page in Lord Skeletor’s book, lazily turning the page with a light levitation spell as he continued to read. Lord Skeletor appeared to be in another world as he read, barley moving a muscle as his eyes scanned the pages in front of him. If it weren’t for the green aura occasionally turning a page in his book, Colonel Kernel would have assumed that Lord Skeletor fell asleep sitting upright.

“Um… Lord Skeletor?” Colonel Kernel said, finally breaking Lord Skeletor out of his trance. His voice was barely above a squeak as he spoke, fear gripping his vocal cords as he worried for his own safety.

“Hm? Oh! Uh… Who are you?” Lord Skeletor asked while he wearily eyed Colonel Kernel.

“Colonel Kernel, reporting for duty, sir,” he said with an immediate salute. “I’m sorry that I interrupted your reading, sir.”

“At ease, colonel, it’s alright. You’re Cannon Fodder’s temporary replacement, right?” Lord Skeletor asked as he closed his book and placed it on the nightstand next to his bed.

“Yes, sir,” Colonel Kernel said as he put his foreleg down. “I was instructed to come meet with you as soon as General Fodder prepared the other ponies for their mission. He wanted to see us before he left.”

“Excellent, I was hoping I could say a few parting words. If you could take me to them, then that would be greatly appreciated,” Lord Skeletor said as he stood up and grabbed his scepter. Colonel Kernel simply nodded as he stared into the eye sockets of the ram skull that crowned Lord Skeletor’s scepter, becoming lost in the black shadows inside the ram’s skull.

“Yes, sir,” he said with another salute before stepping aside to allow Lord Skeletor to leave his room first.

Colonel Kernel trotted behind Lord Skeletor once they left his room, keeping at least two feet between them as he followed Lord Skeletor to the dining hall. A minute of calm silence went undisturbed until Lord Skeletor looked down at Colonel Kernel, whom had stated a few hoofbeats behind Lord Skeletor.

“Have you seen Cannon Fodder today?” Lord Skeletor asked him.

“Not yet, sir. He just sent Mr. Catcher to tell me to escort you to the plaza.”

“Hmmm. I hope they have everything they need,” Lord Skeletor mused before he fell silent once more. The silence only remained for a minute before Lord Skeletor asked him another question. “What are your thoughts on this expedition?”

“From what I’ve been told, the mission is to find any medical books in the Ruva Kingdom and alchemy books to make medicine and paper respectively,” Colonel Kernel replied.

“Along with any magical tomes they can get ahold of,” Lord Skeletor stated. “They’re potentially risking their lives, going into treacherous terrain in an unforgiving snow storm, all for the hope of finding medical and alchemy books. So, what are your thoughts on the expedition? How do you feel about my decision?”

“It’s not my place to question your decision, sir.”

“Aren’t you a colonel?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then you have some experience from Princess Amore’s rule,” Lord Skeletor assumed. “How would she handle something like this?”

Colonel Kernel took a few moments to consider his response since he had never directly spoken to the princess, but Lord Skeletor held the impression that he had. He didn’t want to correct Lord Skeletor, since could have given the wrong impression. After all, he wouldn’t want to accidentally insult his lord by telling him he was wrong about his assumption.

“I… Sssshe would trust her decision since she was the princess. She knew better than everypony, that’s why she was the princess.”

“And what if she needed a second opinion?” Lord Skeletor immediately asked.

“… Then she’d think about the Empire as a whole,” he guessed.

Lord Skeletor didn’t make any comments for a while, quietly mulling over Colonel Kernel’s words as they went down the halls. Colonel Kernel felt uneasy with the sudden lull of silence, fearing that he had given Lord Skeletor an answer he didn’t like.

“How do you know if you’ve made the right decision?” Lord Skeletor suddenly asked.

Colonel Kernel was struck silent by Lord Skeletor’s question, the lull in conversation was suddenly much more welcoming than his interrogation. As Colonel Kernel tried to formulate an answer that would satisfy him, Lord Skeletor continued to speak.

“You’re a colonel, you’ve made more tough decisions than I have and I respect whatever you say. So, I need to know, do you think I should let them risk their lives, let alone order them to do so? Should I call off the expedition entirely?” He asked as he stopped and turned to look down at Colonel Kernel.

His new lord had put far too much faith in his decision-making skills, and maybe Lord Skeletor knew that. It was all just a test to see if he deserved his position as a colonel. While answering the question wrong would almost guarantee that he would be relieved of his position, a bad answer could also spell the end of his life.

“I… I’ve always found that, difficult problems have easy answers. When I wanted to make a choice, but couldn’t decide, I just flipped a bit.”

“… You flipped a bit?” Lord Skeletor asked almost incredulously. Colonel Kernel noticed a hint of anger in Lord Skeletor’s tone and quickly tried to amend his statement. “You dealt with serious issues and problems… By flipping a bit? You balanced life and death, weighted hard options and difficult choices... On. A. Bit? You gave orders based on what a small piece of metal would tell you to? Am I hearing this correctly, colonel?”

“W-well, it’s because then I’d know what I wanted. If it came up as a snowflake and I was unhappy, then I’d know that I wanted heads, and then I’d just do what I would have done if it came up as the other option. So, if I ever had to do something that I felt conflicted over, that's what I'd do to find out what I really wanted to do,” Colonel Kernel explained, omitting the fact that he had mainly used this technique to decide what he wanted to eat for dinner.

Lord Skeletor hummed to himself as he looked off to the side, debating the admittedly shoddy advice that Colonel Kernel gave him. As Lord Skeletor thought about Colonel Kernel’s words, the colonel was inwardly screaming at himself for giving Lord Skeletor such faulty advice. He couldn’t believe that he had just told Lord Skeletor to flip a bit. His lord had come to him asking for his thoughts and he told the ruler of the Crystal Empire to flip a bit?

Colonel Kernel wondered if stupidity was a valid reason to be put on a death sentence, and quickly worked out a plan to weasel his way out of his situation and apologize to Lord Skeletor. But, before he could try to salvage the situation and beg for mercy, Lord Skeletor turned his attention back to Colonel Kernel.

“I see… Do you have a bit on you?” Lord Skeletor asked.

His hooves instantly flew to the small satchel of bits that hung under his barrel and pulled out a single bit for Lord Skeletor. As soon as Colonel Kernel offered them measly bit, he realized that he should have hoofed over his entire satchel.

Lord Skeletor accepted the single bit and twirled it between his fingers, subtly studying each imprecation, scratch, and discoloration he could find on the bit. In a flash of movement, Lord Skeletor tossed the bit into the air with the flick of his thumb, and struck like a snake as he snatched it out of the air before slapping it against the top of his other hand.

His hand was too high for Colonel Kernel to see what the bit landed on, and nothing in Lord Skeletor’s demeanor gave away if he was upset or happy with the result. After a few moments of complete stillness, Lord Skeletor handed the bit back to Colonel Kernel and simply said two words before he went back to walking.

“Thank you.”

“You’re uh… You’re welcome, sir. So, what did you decide?” Colonel Kernel asked as he put the bit back in his small satchel and cantered to catch up to Lord Skeletor’s long strides.

Instead of replying to Colonel Kernel’s question, Lord Skeletor chose to remain silent as he contemplated his decision. Colonel Kernel didn’t press his lord anymore as they trotted and walked respectively, and only opened his mouth to speak once he noticed that they had briskly walked past the dining room doors

“Are you not going to eat, sir?” The colonel asked.

“I’m not hungry right now, breakfast can wait. Since you’re here, there are a few things I want to talk about before the expedition team leaves, and you’ll be able to help. I’ve been worried about the Empire’s defenses; We have an hour before Cannon Fodder and the team leaves, so I’d like to resolve an issue I’ve had for a while.”

“What issue, sir?”

“The Crystal Heart,” Lord Skeletor replied. “I’ve been concerned about its safety. Cannon Fodder assured me that the guards standing by would protect it, but his answers always felt dismissive. I’d like a second opinion on the safety of leaving it open for the public. What stops someone from just walking up and taking it?”

“Isn't that what the guards surrounding it are for?” Colonel Kernel guessed.

“Yes, yes, I know about the guards. Half a dozen or so, if I remember correctly. I understand that they're the first line of defense, but what if someone got past them, which ponies do all the time already. What’s stopping them from reaching up, grabbing the Crystal Heart, and running? Cannon Fodder just said that the guards would stop them before they went too far, but I’m not satisfied with that. If I’m going to have the general and a good amount of guards leave the Crystal Castle, then I’m going to make sure we’ll be alright without them.”

“So, you decided to continue with the expedition?”

“Yes. You were right, Princess Amore didn’t second guess herself and I can’t afford that luxury either. Thank you for your advice.”

“You’re welcome, sir. I live to serve,” Colonel Kernel said proudly, before a more sober and weary tone took over his voice as he asked Lord Skeletor a question. “So... what are you planning for the Crystal Heart?”

“… I’m not sure, yet. I’d like something like a fence, but I’m sure that will cause some sense of uproar among the crystal ponies. Their happiness and safety is my primary concern,” Lord Skeletor told him.

Colonel Kernel briefly looked up at Lord Skeletor with wide eyes before he hid his surprise under a mask of calm professionalism and quiet contemplation. He hadn't expected Lord Skeletor to care about how his subjects felt about his decision. From the colonel's perspective, the word of the leader was something that should have been taken as law because they earned the power that they wielded, and to question any decision made by them was to question the power they held. Lord Skeletor had more than earned his power, not only by slaying Sombra but also by rebuilding the remains of the Crystal Empire. So for him to question his own choices and measure them against the desires and needs of the crystal ponies felt almost baffling to Colonel Kernel. It was almost as if Lord Skeletor believed that he should serve the Empire, and not the other way around.

"What do you think, colonel? Do you have any suggestions for my dilemma?" Lord Skeletor asked.

Once again, Colonel Kernel found himself in the uncomfortable position of offering advice to Lord Skeletor, something that should have been handled by an actual council member.

"What if... What if you… you put a gate around it during the night? I remember that the nightshift at the Crystal Heart was always the hardest since the ponies standing guard would usually be lulled to sleep by the Heart's energy. That could work... Uh, right?" Colonel Kernel suggested.

To Colonel Kernel's shock, and partial horror, Lord Skeletor's jaw adjusted to allow a large predatory smile to split across his skull as he looked down at the colonel.

"You might be on to something... Do you know where the blacksmiths are?"

"I do."

"Good, take me to them. I want to see if a portable gate is possible and how much it would cost. Then we'll see Avid Value and see if it's within the Empire's budget," Lord Skeletor commanded.

With a quick nod of his head, Colonel Kernel took the lead and guided Lord Skeletor to the blacksmith's forge in the Crystal Castle. While he trotted towards the forge, he couldn't stop the small smile from breaking across his muzzle as he went down a flight of stairs. Lord Skeletor was clearly pleased with his suggestion, and if he was lucky enough, then maybe he could get through the next two weeks without accidentally angering his lord even once. He had a near brush with Lord Skeletor's ire when he mentioned flipping a bit, but as long as he was clear in his actions and spoke with a tone of authority and knowledge, then he'd hopefully be able to appease Lord Skeletor. Then, he would be able to hoof the position back over to General Cannon Fodder and possibly quit the guard. While making his lord happy certainly gave him a small sense of pride, the overall fear he felt during his conversation wasn't worth it.

He'd just need to play his part in Lord Skeletor's council for the next two weeks and everything would be fine.

Chapter 21. A Princess' Plan.

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A serenade of crickets played their beautiful tunes in the secluded royal gardens of the Canterlot Castle, creating a mixed melody of sounds that held no discernible rhyme or reason. The occasional buzzing of a bee's wing beats would also add to the orchestra or random noise, blending in perfectly with the sound of nature whenever a bee flew by.

The calming breeze of a late autumn’s night brushed against the alabaster fur and feathers of Princess Celestia as she sat in her royal garden, staring up at the moon as it slowly continued its orbit around their planet. Her eyes lingered on the many craters that dotted the moon, searching for any hint that the silhouette of a dark alicorn on its surface, looking for any reminders of her sister’s banishment, when she was forced to send her only remaining relative to the moon for one thousand years.

To her immense relief, the craters that once created the visage of her imprisoned sister were still missing, a wonderful reminder that her sister, Princess Luna, was still with her on Equis.

It had been an odd two years for the solar princess since her sister was freed from her prison in the night sky’s jewel. Sometimes, it was downright horrifying even to an immortal such as herself, and yet, knowing that her sister was there with her made her feel like nothing could ruin her mood. She could handle a goddess of chaos, a swarm of shapeshifting invaders, and the threat of a demon who possessed an alicorn, but the one thing she could never face again was the soul crushing loneliness of her sister’s exile from the planet.

She was so grateful to her student and the other members that made up the Elements of Harmony, not only for saving her sister from the demon that possessed her, but also for saving the entirety of Equestria several times in less than two years.

And in that moment, she was nervous about having to use them yet again to face a great evil that was long forgotten, locked in another dimension outside the realms of time and space that kept the cruelest monster to ever roam Equestria imprisoned. It was a spell of such great magnitude that it took an entire three years for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to regain their magic, leaving the celestial bodies in the capable hooves of their subjects so that the world could continue to thrive.

For three thousand years, the Crystal Empire’s tyrant and his slaves were exiled from time and space, trapped in an unknown void that would only release them once a being of immense power arrived to free the Empire. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had waited for hundreds of years, receiving reports of noble heroes and foolish idiots who went to the ruined Empire in hopes of being the, “Chosen One”, only to return as failures or become missing ponies who died in the frozen wasteland.

After nearly two thousand years, and far too many graves, the princesses allowed the memory of the Crystal Empire to fade from history, thus putting an end to ponies risking their lives for fame and glory. The immortal sisters held hope that the Empire would soon return, believing that the ascension of Princess Amore’s descendant, the new Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadence as she preferred, was a sign that she would be the one to bring the Empire back one day.

However, it seemed as though fate had other plans for the royal sisters and their new niece. Unknown to anypony, somepony, or perhaps some creature, had summoned the lost Empire before Cadence, and they had sent a book of dark spells to Princess Celestia as a way of telling her. Of course, with the recent chaos that had happened in Canterlot not too long ago, nothing could be done to look into the issue. Nearly a month had passed after Canterlot weathered an invasion from a race of shapeshifting monsters known as changelings. The deceptive creatures used Princess Cadence’s wedding to Shining Armor as an opportunity to strike the heart of the Equestrian capital, replacing the bride to be with the Queen of Changelings herself, Queen Chrysalis.

Once the monster was revealed by the real Princess Cadence and her new sister-in-law, Twilight Sparkle, an epic battle was waged between the ponies and the changelings for control of the country’s capital, ending with the princesses being victorious and causing the remaining changelings to flee in terror at their strength.

Even after weeks of clean up and repair, signs of the recent invasion remained in both body and mind. Ponies of all races now held onto a new fear of the unknown, an inability to trust their neighbors, friends, and even their own families. Nightmares plagued the minds of hundreds of adolescent ponies, and physical scars marked the ponies who were forcefully taken from their homes by the insect like abominations.

Princess Luna had worked tirelessly to ease the dreams of their subjects during the night, while Princess Cadence did her best to heal the physical wounds of the Canterlot ponies with her magic during the day. As they worked to heal the ponies, Princess Celestia struggled to keep Canterlot and the rest of Equestria together, using tax payer money to repair buildings, increase the budget for the guard, and prevent nobles from passing laws that would legalize lynch mobs to target ponies who were suspected of being changelings. With so much going on in Canterlot, such as the guards being spread thin and paranoia plaguing the minds of hundreds pf ponies, the sisters couldn’t investigate the return of the Crystal Empire.

Now, she was sending her adopted niece and her new nephew-in-law to unknown territory in the hopes of finding out what was going on in the Frozen North. It filled her heart with great dread to know that she was sending them to the Empire with only a hooful of thestrals to fly them to the Empire, forcing them to face against a great unknown that made Princess Celestia fear for their safety. She was almost certain that King Sombra was slain by whomever wandered into the Empire, but the fact that they hadn't revealed themselves to the rest of the world caused alarms to ring inside her mind.

If one of their subjects had stumbled into the Empire and proved to be strong enough in body and mind to defeat Sombra, then surely the Crystal Empire would try to contact them at some point. But, for reasons that continued to allude the princesses, the Crystal Empire remained isolated from the rest of the modern world. The fact that somepony had sent Princess Celestia a book of dark spells through the magical dragon fire in the Crystal Empire also worried the princesses immensely. Was it meant as a message to her, a warning? Her mind raced at the implications of the evil tome, creating a thousand scenarios that could spell disaster for Equestria in its current fragile state.

As she imagined the Tartarus-hole that she was sending her niece into, Princess Celestia heard the wing beats of a dark coated alicorn approach her, and turned to see her sister landing near her.

Princess Luna's azure coat nearly allowed the lunar princess to blend into the shadows of the royal gardens as she landed. Her ethereal mane of stars and galaxies danced in a non-existent wind that bellowed through her mane and tail as she stood proudly, demonstrating a sense of regality and power that would easily amaze the ponies who served them. In a flourish of magic, her horn glowed with a light blue aura that caused the shadows in her path to physically move to clear a path of light for her, parting the shadows so that she would stand out from the darkness that enveloped the gardens.

“Feeling theatrical tonight?” Princess Celestia asked jokingly as Princess Luna trotted to her side.

“You never know when somepony is watching, dear sister. If I remember correctly, there is an amusing image of you shoving a cake into your muzzle that could have been easily avoided had you been more careful,” Princess Luna shot back teasingly. 

“In all fairness, I sensed those three fillies a mile away. I just didn’t sense the camera they had on them. Besides, it’s a lovely photo.”

“Very true, it is a shame that you will not allow me to hang one in the halls of the castle,” Princess Luna said as she laid down on the grass next to her sister. “So, what brings you to the garden at this time when you should be resting?” She asked.

“I’ll go to sleep in a few minutes. I just thought I’d admire your handiwork for the night,” Princess Celestia replied as she looked up at the constellations in the night sky.

“This night’s arrangement is nothing special,” Princess Luna stated as she scowled at her moon, igniting her horn to see if she could control its orbit.

To her continued and contained outrage, the moon was still severed from her magic, all because of a certain trickster goddess who cut off their ties with the celestial bodies a few months prior when Eris escaped her stone prison. If it weren’t for the fact that the self-proclaimed goddess of chaos had allowed Princess Luna to still have domain over the patterns of her stars then there would have been nothing to prevent Luna from turning Eris’ stone confides into a pile of rubble.

Princess Celestia watched as the moon stubbornly refused to listen to her sister’s demands, just as how Princess Celestia’s sun had refused to bend to her whims. It had absolutely enraged Princess Celestia at first but, after a few weeks of not needing to wake up before the literal crack of dawn, she soon realized that it was nice to occasionally sleep in without worrying about forgetting to raise the sun. Unfortunately, her sister didn’t share her positive outlook towards Eris’ latest “prank”.

Princess Luna had tried to reestablish her connection to the moon almost every night, sometimes spending hours attempting to reach out to the crowned jewel of her night sky with no success. Princess Celestia bit back a witty joke about her sister’s attempts at "getting it up," once she noticed the pained look on her Princess Luna’s face.

While she had easily brushed off the concern of no longer being able to raise and lower the sun, her sister had taken the news more harshly. After being exiled for a thousand years, Princess Luna gave herself a small sense of purpose in the modern era by taking up the task of controlling the cycles of the moon and guiding its orbit. But now, that small sense of value and power was forcefully stripped from her by the goddess of chaos.

Princess Celestia draped a wing over her sister’s barrel and gave her a reassuring smile as she stared deeply into Princess Luna’s eyes. The smaller alicorn released a sigh as she nuzzled Princess Celestia’s neck, melting into her sister’s embrace after her failure.

“How are you feeling?” Princess Celestia asked.

“I’m fine, Tia, I… I’m just still somewhat upset over what Eris did. Regardless, I’ll get over it eventually, perhaps when I lace the bird seed with laxatives and cover her statue in them,” it took a considerable amount of effort on Celestia's part to not laugh at the thought of that. “But that's a plot for another night, and I didn't come here to bore you with plans for revenge. How have you been faring, Tia? You were more silent than usual at dinner tonight,” Princess Luna observed.

“I’ve been better. The nobles of Canterlot are becoming rowdier, and one of them had the audacity to accuse me of being a changeling. Of course, he played off of the fears of the other nobles to gain their sway, but a helpful hoof from Sir Fancy Pants and Blueblood put an end to his scare-tactics.”

“Hmph. Typical, Nobles today, they have no real sense of nobility. Ever since our control over the sun and moon was stolen from us, they’ve grown bolder in their attempts to claim power. What happened after Sir Fancy Pants and Blueblood intervened?” 

“Well, the nobles were, ‘convinced’ that I was still the real Celestia, mainly thanks to Blueblood’s connections. Aside from that, nothing too interesting happened today.”

“I see... Are Cadence and Shinning Armor prepared for their journey to the Crystal Empire?” Princess Luna asked as she looked back at the castle, searching the many windows for the one that led do her adoptive niece’s room.

“They'll be fine, Luna. It will only take a few days for them to fly there, and if anything happens, they have a dragon fire candle to send us a distress letter. Then, we’ll simply send the Elements of Harmony to help them,” Princess Celestia reassured her, though in truth, she was just as worried as her sister was. “You still can’t access the dreams of the crystal ponies?” Princess Celestia then asked.

“No, it appears that Sombra’s enchantment is still in place even after all these millennia. Hopefully, Cadence will find whatever relic he enchanted to prevent me from entering their dreams and destroy it. I can only imagine how the crystal ponies reacted once their savior told them of their time displacement.”

“If they told them anything,” Princess Celestia added. “If one of our subjects managed to free them, then somepony from the Crystal Empire should have delivered a message to us by now.”

“It could be that another creature freed them. Perhaps a dragon flew over the Empire, and their presence summoned the Empire again?”

“That is a possibility, the spell never specified that it had to be a pony. But we also failed to specify what qualities besides strength the savior would need. It’s very likely that whomever summoned the Empire back is black-hearted like Sombra was,” Princess Celestia suggested as her thoughts drifted back to the book of malicious spells.

“As possible as that may be, sister, it is just as likely that some kind-hearted soul recovered the Empire and managed to defeat Sombra once and for all. We simply need to hope for the best in these troubling times,” Princess Luna stated as she gazed up at the stars. “Dwelling on the worst-case scenarios will only bring us more suffering. Instead, we should hope for the best from the Empire and focus on the problems affecting Equestrian currently. How have the guards been doing with their patrols in Ponyville?”

“For now, they haven’t found any changelings attempting to get near the Elements of Harmony, though I doubt the changelings will be content to stay away from our trump card. A few changelings were captured in Manehattan, though any attempts at interrogating them have reportedly failed.”

“I could think of a few ways to make them reveal what they know,” Princess Luna suggested.

“Using torture as a means of interrogation has been abolished for a long time, Luna. Even if they’re our enemy, that doesn’t mean that we have to commit acts of violence against prisoners who can’t even fight back,” Princess Celestia admonished.

While she hated to admit it, the idea of using violence towards the changelings was a very appealing suggestion and it would most certainly help them in some capacity. But, being as long lived as she was, Princess Celestia knew that her decisions would reverberate through history. Should, by some miracle, changelings become part of Equestrian society or evolve into a better kingdom, then her abuse of captured prisoners would only reflect badly on her and her ponies in the future. And unlike her loyal subjects, she wouldn’t be able to escape the scrutiny on future generations through her death.

She knew that some of her ponies held silent grudges against her for what she did in the past, such as when she was once among the many ponies who believed that same-sex relations and relationships between other races were taboo and sinful. Even though her decisions were made from a lack of wisdom and widespread misconceptions, such as believing that different aura colors from love between same-sex couples and interspecies relationships could affect magic when in reality the color had no impact on the energy.

Of course, her opposers would also conveniently forget that Celestia was the one to eventually legalize it, and that Equestria was one of the first countries legalize both same-sex marriage and interspecies marriage.

Back then, her decisions were made without thinking of how future generations would react to her choices and she couldn’t afford that luxury anymore. If she acted aggressively against creatures that were safely locked away, it would only breed hate in the generations that would follow.

Princess Celestia did her best to shield her little sister from the negative views that their history inspired in their subjects and the other nations, but even her greatest attempts failed to dispel the fears her little ponies held towards Princess Luna. Her attempts to hide the true atrocities Nightmare Moon caused by only revealing the demon's plans for an eternal night failed to prevent ponies from silently labeling her sister as a monster. With the combination of their past controversial views and the atrocities committed by the demon that possessed her sister, the majority of the world began to view Princess Luna as the living embodiment of evil.

Even after Princess Luna was purged of the Nightmare demon that possessed her a thousand years ago, she was still subjugated to hated opinions and several assassination attempts by her own subjects. No matter what Princess Celestia did, nothing would fix their tarnished reputation and history, all she could do was protect her sister and attempt to avoid the repercussions that split-second decisions could have in the long run.

She had made sure to teach these values to Cadence when she ascended from a pegasi to an alicorn, warning her of how her public image and her own views would change over her newly obtained immortal life. Princess Cadence properly understood the weight that her decisions held and used her power to travel the world during the first years of her ascension to learn more about the other nations’ and kingdoms’ views and cultures. And now, she was going to the one place that she had never went to see during her years of touring the world, the Crystal Empire.

It brought a sense of joy and sorrow to Celestia, not as a princess but as a mentor and possible mother figure, to know that the once small filly who believed true love and rainbows would solve everything had grown into a capable mare and became a pony worth following. Celestia still missed the spark of naive happiness that her adoptive niece had when she was younger, but the fact that Cadence had grown into knowledgeable mare who dreamed of protecting her subjects made Celestia feel proud of her.

Princess Luna, who had been oblivious to her older sister’s wandering thoughts, interpreted their lull in conversation as something negative and attempted to break the silence with a simple question. “Will you have time to say goodbye to Cadence and Shining Armor tomorrow?” She asked.

It was a simple question that held an even greater weight to it than Princess Luna realized. Even taking five minutes out of her schedule to say goodbye had the potential to prove disastrous for Equestria. The Nobles of Canterlot had grown much more rowdy, willing to throw even their own family members on the train tracks if it could benefit them, and their greed for power demanded her full attention during morning court.

Princess Celestia closed her eyes as she slowly nodded her head. “Possibly, though I can’t say for certain,” she replied.

In truth, the odds of her saying goodbye in person were slim to none. Princess Celestia kept the actual state of affairs of Equestria secret from her sister, not allowing her one other family member to be dragged into the cutthroat world of politics that dominated her life. Nor did she let her sister know about the problems that laid below the physical wounds that were inflicted on their ponies and homes.

Only Princess Celestia and a few of her council members knew the true gravity of the changeling’s invasion. While the primary goal of Queen Chrysalis' plan was to physically feed off of the love of ponies, the cunning queen of deceivers had another plan that had actually succeeded. A great portion of Equestria’s wealth and a plethora of powerful magic relics were stolen over the course of a few weeks at the beginning of the changeling’s subtle invasion thanks to their ability to replace the treasurers, bankers, guards, and other ponies in prominent positions of power. In the limited time that the changelings had successfully infiltrated Canterlot's government, they had nearly drained the nation's treasury of copper, brass, bronze, and silver.

If word got out that Cantrlot’s treasury was robbed for most of its valuables, then the stock markets of Equestria would inevitably crash, causing a recession similar to what the Griffin Kingdom went through after their war with the Zebra Nation. Even after a hundred years, the Griffin Kingdom was still struggling to pull itself back up from financial ruin, becoming indebted to both the Dragon Lands south of Griffonstone and the country of Minotauria as they attempted to rebuild, leaving them indebted to the other nations for the next few millennia at best. While it was likely that Equestria would soon fall into a terrible recession due to its sudden lack of finances, there was one hope that could save Equestria from its financial burden.

The Crystal Empire promised a new source of wealth and income that could rescue Equestria from the threat of bankruptcy. Princess Celestia and her sister had never seen a reason to touch the Empire’s abandoned treasury, but now, their locked vault held the potential to be the one thing that could put Equestria back in the black financially.

“Come now, Tia. I’m sure you could clear some time tomorrow to see them off,” Princess Luna said as she waved a hoof dismissively. “Equestria will not fall if you push back one court meeting.”

Oh, how Princess Celestia wished that were true. “Even if that was the case, you know that Blueblood would throw a fit,” she excused, using the stallion's theatrical attitude as a tool to deceive her sister.

“I swear, that stallion should… Oh, what’s the saying ponies use now? ‘Stop deep throating the stick’?”

Princess Celestia stifled a snort by holding a hoof to her muzzle at her sister's misquote. “It’s, ‘take the stick out of his ass.’ And, while I’ll admit that he can be very anal-retentive at times, he’s still a wonderful council member, and I respect him too much to not listen to his advice.”

“Then he should respect himself enough to take the stick out of his rear-end,” Princess Luna said dryly as she stood up. “Regardless, you won’t be able to attend morning court or see our niece off if you don’t get some sleep. Go to your room soon, Equestria will still be standing when you wake up.”

“I’ll go in a few minutes, have a pleasant night in the Dream Realm, Lulu,” Princess Celestia promised as she turned her attention back to the night sky.

“And you as well, Tia. I’ll see you in the morning,” Princess Luna said as her wings stretched out to let her fly away from the royal garden and return to the castle.

After her sister left, Princess Celestia became lost in the intricate design of her Luna’s stars. Her eyes danced between constellations and galaxies to see the pictures her sister painted in the night sky, momentarily forgetting the problems of their government as she remembered the many nights she stared at the same night sky for a thousand years. Princess Celestia didn’t dare to touch the constellations once her sister was banished to the moon, refusing to sully her sister’s canvas with her inexperience in wielding the stars.

Those painful memories of her sister’s exile soon turned bitter as she remembered the many ponies who stood in opposition to her beloved little sister. She remembered how the astronomers lost their tempers when Princess Luna reorganized the night sky for the first time in a thousand years, the audacity of the nobles started petitions to remove Luna from power, and of course there were the attempts on Luna’s life. It filled Celestia with a violent rage that burned with the fury of a newborn Sun, an immense hatred that she could never point towards those responsible for making her sister’s attempts to reintegrate into society nearly impossible.

She could never indulge in the sadistic joy of making those ponies suffer at her hooves, but she could at least find solace in the rare moments that Luna smiled, moments that were becoming more and more frequent as time went on. And, hopefully, her smile would continue to grow once she was surrounded by the loving embrace of the crystal ponies, the only beings on the entire planet who were unaware of Princess Luna’s possession.

It was a place that was free of the opinions of modern ponies, somewhere where the term “Nightmare Moon” held no meaning, a possible safe haven for her sister to travel to. It was exactly what her sister needed, a place where no creature judged her for falling prey to a malicious demon. If all went according to plan, then the Crystal Empire would prove to be a boon not only to Equestria, but also to its long-lost princess as well.

Even though Princess Celestia was optimistic, a small sense of doubt and fear nagged at the back of her mind. Just like a terrible rash, her doubts returned with a terrible vengeance, whispering untold terrors that would befall all of Equestria due to her naive hopefulness and her inability to plan ahead. Her morbid phantasms were thankfully halted by another gentle breeze that brought her back to reality.

"Everything will be fine," she assured herself as she looked towards the horizon.

Far away from the grasp of modern society, under the terrible storm clouds that plagued the Frozen North, a single monster was wandering through the tundra without any sense of direction. Snow pelted the black chitin armor of the four-legged creature, painting its black armor with the frozen tears of the sky as it trotted towards the one beacon of life it could feel in its antenna. Like a moth flying towards a flame, the abomination of magic and biology dragged itself to the largest source of love it could find in hundreds of miles.

The insect like creature was a monster that was born of constant hunger and strife, a beast of burden that drained the love of other creatures by taking the form of a pony. It was the newest enemy to all of Equestria, a boogeyman to foals and a nightmare to parents, a changeling named Thorax.

Thousands of blue ommatidia scanned the surrounding area for any sign of the mysterious source of compacted love. The lone drone had no idea what the immense amount of love he felt was from, or where it came from. Less than three weeks ago, he was happily sitting in a bar in Yakyakistan disguised as a unicorn mare, working under the name Blush Bush in the hopes of getting scraps of love from drunken yaks. After the failure of an invasion that happened a month prior, the changeling species were scattered to the winds thanks to a spell catapulting them across the planet.

For a while, the lonely changeling thought of returning to his hive so he could serve the queen and eat love, but he knew that would be nearly impossible. Only the strongest and most fit changelings would be able to return to eat while all the others would be forced to starve to death so the grubs could live off the meager amounts of love they had saved up in the hive. Returning home would be a death sentence for him since he was a terrible fighter and a horrible gatherer.

With no way of going home, and with Equestria being patrolled by royal guards wherever he went, Thorax sought out refuge in Yakyakistan. It was a rough time for him at first, being a fake pony in a large crowd of yaks made him the prime target of ridicule and verbal abuse from the denizens of Yakyakistan. But, he managed to survive by getting a job and nibbling off of the drunken lust and love of lonely nors who couldn't find a suitable dri. And even though Thorax was disguised as a mare and not a dri, drunken yaks could barely tell the difference between a female yak or pony when they were flirting.

It managed to feed Thorax, but the intoxicated love of yaks would never fully satisfy his hunger. Each day, his stomach roared at him, demanding the love of a pony to fill him for a few hours, and each day his body's pleadings became harder to ignore. Then, just when he thought he was going to lose his mind in a hunger induced hysteria, he felt a sudden surge of love emirate from the south of Yakyakistan. Ever since then, Thorax began walking through the snow under the guise of night, sleeping during the day to conserve energy and hide his true form from any creature that could be going to Yakyakistan.

As he trotted through the cold wastelands of the Frozen North, Thorax could feel his small reserves of love draining more. If he didn't reach the strange source of love soon, he would lose his mind until he found a fresh source of love, and if he couldn't find any love then, then it wouldn't be long until he died of starvation. Thorax briefly considered giving up on any hope of finding the anomalous love and lying down in the snow so he could just starve to death in his sleep. Those thoughts almost immediately disappeared, however, as he saw something that could either be his salvation or his reckoning a few dozen yards away from him.

Through the thick curtains of snow, Thorax could see the silhouette of several well-lit carriages being pulled by armored ponies. He saw the glistening iron armor that they wore, reflecting the light like a beacon in the night. A brief hint of confusion played through his mind as he noticed their armor and, for a moment, he wondered why a group of cosplayers were trotting to Yakyakistan before a sudden pang of fear bought him a second of clarity. It didn't matter why there were cosplayers in the Frozen North, what mattered was that they would undoubtedly report him to a royal guard or attack him if they saw him in his natural form.

Everypony in Equestria had heard about the changeling army's failed attempts to topple the Equestrian Diarchy, and the royal guards of Canterlot had made it their primary mission to hunt down any changeling that they could find. There was no way for Thorax to defend himself against such a large group of guards, especially given his current fatigue and weakness, so he decided to do what any changeling would do in his situation; he hid in plain sight.

Once Thorax closed his eyes, emerald flames danced across its chitin as black armor turned into soft azure colored fur, the gnarled horn and mangled wings retracted into his body, new fur then covered the gaping holes in his legs, and his many ommatidia's turned white and blue to give the illusion of normal pony eyes. A blue vase appeared on either side of his flank to complete the disguise, allowing the monster to look like an average earth pony stallion.

After giving his disguise a once over to make sure that it was alright, Thorax nodded to himself and prepared for the group of cosplayers to see him trotting towards them. A red stallion with a white mane and tail, wearing iron armor that had hints of purple accents, noticed Thorax first out of his group and stopped pulling his carriage.

"Who are you?" The burgundy stallion asked.

"I'm... Thooo-rite. Thorite... Hoof...” Thorax said.

“Thorite Hoof?" The odd cosplayer repeated as he sheathed his blade.

"Y-yeah! I’m Thorite Hoof, it’s nice to meet you,” Thorax replied as he held out a hoof to the other pony.

"What are you doing outside of the Empire? It's dangerous out here."

"Oh... I uh... Got lost. I was heading to Yakyakistan when I got turned around."

"Now what would make you do something so stupid like that?" The red stallion asked as he felt the bellowing winds of the North become more forceful for a few moments. Thorax did his best to pretend to feel cold, shivering like a small dog on a cold winter's night. "Look son, I know things in the Empire are scary, alright. I'm trying to fix it, so you don't need to run away, alright?" The stallion assured him.

"Um... Okay?"

"Good. We're gonna set up base and hunker down for the night. When the sun rises, I'm sending you back to the Empire with Red Flag and Cole," he told him.

"Wait, does that mean we're off the mission?" Another pony, presumably Red Flag or Cole, asked as they poked their head out of the carriage.

"That's right. It'll take too long for you two to meet back up with the group, and we can't afford to sit on our tails out here and wait a whole day for you two to come back. Take him back tomorrow and head to the Crystal Castle afterwards. Tell Colonel Kernel what happened and then return to your regular duties. Now, let's set up camp, everypony! Move it! On the double!" The red stallion commanded, causing the others to set up their carriages against each other to make three makeshift walls.

A large tarp was then thrown onto of the carriages to make a roof for the ponies, protecting them from the continuous assault of winter that fell from the sky. The earth ponies worked quickly to set up a campfire for the night, using a bag of twigs to fuel the fire while the red stallion and another pony built a forth wall out of snow. Thorax stood out of their way, pressing himself against one of the carriages and overhearing the idle chatter of the ponies who stayed inside the carriages. The still sheltered ponies spoke about some type of "ruva" kingdom that Thorax had never heard of before, and quietly debated the principles of science and magic, a discussion that completely went over Thorax's head.

Thorax wasn't sure what Empire they were talking about, and he briefly wondered if it had anything to do with the abandoned kingdom that he passed through a week ago. With any luck, he'd find the strange source of love in the "Empire," and if not, then at least there would be a good number of ponies to take love from. So long as he didn't stick out and acted like he belonged, then he had nothing to worry about.

Chapter 22. Memories of The Past.

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The smell of fresh bread and warm crystalberry jam filled Emerald Secret with a sense of clarity and joy, using only the memories of how they tasted to wake up the rest of her senses. The memories of past meals teased Emerald with the ghost of flavors that had touched her tongue a long time ago. Her mouth watered as she smelled the fresh scent off bread waft in the air, rising past her muzzle to mingle in the air with the scents of the other dishes that filled various other tables in the dining hall.

Quiet conversations became even more muffled as Emerald ripped off a piece of bread, becoming nothing but background noise to her as she lost herself in the pleasant smells. While Emerald happily ate her morning meal, her dark lord contently sipped his tea as he as he looked over the designs that the blacksmiths made for the new gate that would be put up for the Crystal Heart at night. Lord Skeletor drank his Honeysuckle tea in a fairly large porcelain cup that looked small in comparison to his powerful hands. 
Once he finished taking the last sip of tea, Lord Skeletor placed his empty cup down and gestured for one of the maids to fill it.

“Thank you,” Lord Skeletor said after the maid refilled it.

His eye-sockets didn’t leave the page as he scanned the parchment for any noticeable flaws in the designs. Even as he drank his tea, his gaze remained glued to the paper. Two of the designs allowed for easier maintenance, allowing guards to presumably set up and take down the gate in a little under a half an hour, while the other design offered more protection from all angles with small bars that wouldn’t let anything larger than a hoof to go through.

“Have you come to a decision yet, my lord?” Emerald asked after wiping her muzzle with a napkin.

“I’m still debating about the design with wheels… If the blacksmiths could find a way to lock them in place once the cage is set up, then I think I’d like to use that design. If the guards could wheel the gate in and out before and after dark, then that would help a lot. Emerald, you know more than I do about this, should we expect ponies trying to see the Crystal Heart at night?”

“It’s not too uncommon for some sleepless ponies to wander to the Crystal Heart to look at it in the moonlight.”

“I see… Then we’ll need to make the bars a bit wider then in the final design so the ponies can still see it clearly.”

“That would probably be for the best. Though I have to ask, my lord, why don’t you just put an enchantment of protection on the pedestal under the Crystal Heart?”

“… I don’t want to accidentally hurt anyone. You see, my defensive spells and protection spells are so powerful, that they could be lethal. With time and practice, I could probably refine my immense power, but until then, I need to rely on the ingenuity and creativity of the blacksmiths,” Lord Skeletor explained as he waved his hand lazily in the air, as if he physically cranking out his explanation.

Ever since Lord Skeletor revealed his lies about the two gay mares to Emerald, she became privier to Lord Skeletor’s dishonest nature. Small ticks like his tensed posture, hesitant pauses at the beginning of sentences, and his gestures as he rambled on whenever he over explained something made it easier to catch him in a lie.

Even though Lord Skeletor had earned her respect, and a decent amount of her trust, Emerald was still weary of him from time to time. Catching onto these little ticks allowed her to see Lord Skeletor in a way some hadn’t, she could see his deceitful nature and reliance on lies to lead the Crystal Empire.

Yet, even though she knew that lying was wrong, Emerald couldn’t really judge Lord Skeletor for it. When Skeletor explained his reasons for lying to the Empire about the two mares, he made a compelling argument for his reasons, and she could only assume that he had similar reasons for lying to her about how he discovered Sombra’s secret.

Emerald decided to change the subject to something else after she caught a hint of Lord Skeletor’s lie, and chose not to comment on what she knew. “Well, I’m glad you have so much faith in them, my lord. Have you put any more thought into their request to start making steel armor?”

“Yes. While I don’t like the idea of making more of something that’s supposed to be a limited resource, I think it makes sense to give the remaining guards better armor. Speaking of the guard, how many do we have left?”

“… Less than a third of what we had originally,” she sheepishly admitted. “A good number of veterans are still with us, but most of the fresh recruits who had joined a few months before Sombra’s takeover have left. I believe Cannon Fodder wanted to bring the issue up at some point but didn’t get around to it in our meetings.”

“I see… That definitely is a problem…” Lord Skeletor quietly said as he leaned back in his chair and tapped his finger against the table, silently pondering his decision before he spoke.

A minute of silence eventually passed before Lord Skeletor finally came to a decision. “For now, only the veteran soldiers will get steel armor and weapons while new recruits will have to make due with the armor we already have. Schedule a personal meeting with Colonel Kernel so I can talk to him about seeking recruits and volunteers for the guard. Oh, and schedule it so Avid can attend, that way we’ll know how much we can afford for extra armor and safety training, and see how much we can spare to pay volunteers. If we can’t afford to pay them a minimal wage for volunteering, then offer volunteers a certain amount of food from the dining hall or something.”

Emerald quickly wrote down her lord’s demands on a fresh sheet or paper, writing a note to speak with both of the younger council members so she could devise a good time for them to booth meet with Lord Skeletor.

“That sounds fine, my lord,” Emerald said as she finished writing her note.

Lord Skeletor nodded in appreciation before he stifled a yawn with his hand, managing to get a prolonged thanks to Emerald as he yawned. “Thaa-waaaah-Thanks Emerald.”

“My lord, did you get any sleep last night?” Emerald asked.

Lord Skeletor stifled a chuckle before he took another sip of his tea. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” he reasoned.

After a few moments of contemplating his own words, Lord Skeletor pressed a hand to his chest to feel his heartbeat. “Yup, still alive.”

“… Are you speaking literally or metaphorically?” Emerald hesitantly asked.

Lord Skeletor simply shrugged as he took another glance at his papers. “If I have enough tea, probably the former. I’ll probably take a nap later today. Do I have any room in my schedule for like, fifteen minutes to sleep?” Her lord asked.

Emerald quickly pulled out the itinerary that she had written for the day, quietly debating how the schedule could be reworked as she looked at the list of meetings and plans.

“You have an hour between the end of court and dinner, though that’s a little late for a nap. If we push your meeting with Purity Flame to that time so you can rest before lunch.”

“Ugh. I’d rather just get that meeting over with. What else is on my schedule?”

“Hmmm… Well, your bath in the hot springs could possibly be pushed too between court and dinner. Do you think that could work?”

“Sounds perfect,” Lord Skeletor said as he finally placed the paper down and stood up. “I’m going to go see the blacksmiths and give them my thoughts on the designs for the gate.”

“Excellent. I’ll join—"

“Why don’t you stay here while I talk to them, Emerald. Enjoy your breakfast and relax a bit until court.” Lord Skeletor interrupted before he finished off his tea and placed it back on its plate.

“But—"

“Don’t worry, I know when to meet Purity and I’ll make sure to go to the royal archives immediately afterwards. Copper Plate should have the books I asked for on hand-er-hoof by then, and then I’ll meet with the reconstruction team in… in…”

“The meeting room,” Emerald finished for him.

Lord Skeletor snapped his fingers as he pointed to Emerald. “Yes, that. I knew that, I was just… Testing if you knew. Anyway, just relax and enjoy your breakfast. Oh, but if you see Avid, remind him to sit with me on the reconstruction meeting. It would make planning the budget and payments a lot easier if he was there.”

“Of course, my lord,” Emerald said with a polite bow.

Lord Skeletor simply nodded back before he walked to the door, briefly bumping into Avid Value as the brown coated stallion walked into the dining hall. Emerald watched her lord trade a few words and pleasantries with Avid Value before Lord Skeletor departed with a polite goodbye.

“Good morning, Emerald,” Avid Value said as he took his seat at the table.

“Good morning, Avid, you seem rather chipper today,” Emerald observed.

“Of course, Lord Skeletor just thanked me for helping him with the Empire’s finances. It’s oddly nice to be thanked by him,” Avid Value explained before he turned to the maid who was taking Lord Skeletor’s empty tea cup away. “Can I get some toast and crystalberry juice?” Avid asked the maid who just nodded in response before she trotted away.

“Well, that’s wonderful to hear. Oh, before I forget, Lord Skeletor wanted you to attend the meeting with the reconstruction team in a few hours,” Emerald told him.

“Well, thanks for telling me. I’m glad to know that he finds my help useful. Hopefully, I can continue to prove myself useful to Lord Skeletor.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine. The rest of the council members have been impressed with your abilities so far. Even Crumb Catcher complimented your work.”

Avid Value rolled his eyes at that last comment. “Oh yes, I’m sure he’s praising me for knowing what the two sides of a bit are.”

“Oh, come now, I’m serious. He said that you were doing an admirable job.”

“You’re sure he said admirable, and not, ‘adequate’?” Avid Value asked with a skeptical and joking tone.

Emerald opened her mouth for a retort before she thought about Crumb Catcher’s exact words. Once she went over how the other council member phrased his compliment, she realized how it could have been indirectly taken as an insult.

“I thought so. I’m not sure he even knows the meaning of a compliment,” Avid Value said as his food arrived on a platinum platter.

“Why do you two hate each other anyway?” Emerald asked.

“‘Hate’ is a really strong word… I don’t know, I don’t necessarily like him, but it’s not like I want him dead. I just don’t like how he acts like he’s above everypony or how smug he acts,” Avid Value explained as he ate his breakfast.

“Well, shouldn’t you both set aside your differences?”

“If he holds out an olive branch, then I’ll accept it. Until then, nothing will change.”

“I suppose that will be the best I can hope for,” Emerald said as she returned to eating her own breakfast in silence before Avid Value spoke again.

“By the way Emerald, I… I just wanted to say ‘thank you’,” Avid Value told her as he put his toast down.

“For what?”

“For this,” Avid Value said as he gestured to the entirety of the dining hall. “For getting me a place on the council, for praising me for my work, for… For giving me a chance. I can’t thank you enough for that. I owe you so much.”

“It was a group decision between myself, Copper Plate, and Cannon Fodder. I’m not the only one who wanted you on the council.”

“I know, and I’ll thank them too, but I wanted to thank you first. Torch Wind always spoke highly of you, you know.”

“I’d hope so, I deserve it for staying awake during his lectures,” Emerald joked, eliciting a small chuckle from Avid Value.

“I’ll admit, not everypony could share his love of finances. Even I had trouble listening to him from time to time.”

“Really? You of all ponies almost fell asleep?” Emerald asked incredulously with a snarky yet playful smile.

“I couldn’t help it! It’s like he had a voice of silk, and it was so easy to be lulled to sleep when he started counting,” Avid Value defended.

“Ah yes, he could lull a crying foal to sleep just by counting bits. Oh, did he ever test to see if you were paying attention during his lectures?” Emerald enthusiastically asked.

“You mean when he’d go on tangents about selling dragon teeth to piranhas?” Avid Value rhetorically asked as he stifled a laugh.

“My favorite was when he’d talk about a trade agreement with the snow outside the Empire,” Emerald recalled fondly.

“Oh yeah!” Avid Value said as he straightened his posture and placed part of his mane over his left eye. “‘The broker agreement with the winter hasn’t yielded any results since they’re boycotting fire and they refused the gift basket of puppies and kittens. Our only hope is a prearranged marriage between Princess Amore and a snowpony.'” Avid Value said in a deep and suave voice as he attempted to do an impression of the old council member.

“Exactly! Oh, did he ever talk about the ‘emergency cake fund’ with you?”

“Yes! Oh my gosh, I couldn’t believe how much we had set aside for whenever Princess Celestia came to visit. Whenever I asked him about it, he’d always get this like, far off look in his eyes as he stared into the distance. It was kind of creepy the first few times, but when I realized that he was messing with me, I just decided to play along.”

“Yeah, Torch Wind was funny like that. If his cutie mark wasn’t a sack of bits, then it probably would have been a court jester’s hat,” Emerald joked.

“Yeah… Yeah, he was great… Hey, do you mind if I ask a stupid question?” He somberly asked, dropping the mirthful tone he had carried for most of their conversation.

“Depends on how ‘stupid’ it is, I suppose,” Emerald replied.

Avid Value remained quiet for a few moments as he mulled his question over inside his head, sitting silently as he glanced at his glass of crystalberry juice. “What were the other council members like? I never got the chance to talk with any of them like I have with you or Lord Skeletor. And Torch Wind wouldn’t talk about them much either. So… I was wondering if you could tell me about them?” Avid Value asked sheepishly.

Emerald was briefly dumbstruck by his unexpected question, and wasn’t able to properly comprehend it until his words subconsciously repeated in her mind. Flashes of the happy faces of her deceased friends came to her mind in rapid succession, melting into the terrified faces of their severed heads in a pile of corpses that reached the ceiling. After fighting to push those dark memories down, Emerald took in a deep breath to calm herself down.

The words of Lord Skeletor rang inside her head as she searched for a pleasant memory to grab and use as a shield against her living nightmares.

‘Let us take our love and think fondly of the lives that were lived, and not the ones that were lost.’

She held onto those words as if they were a life raft in a sea of darkness, repeating those words in a methodic tone so she could take her mind off of her sickening memories. After a few more moments of running from the horrible thoughts that haunted her, her mind refocused on the three council members who were no longer with them. She remembered Star’s competitive nature with Cannon Fodder, Dice’s enthusiasm over literature and history, and Torch Wind’s playful nature.

A small smile came to her muzzle as she remembered the good times they all spent together, moments that she cherished more than she ever had before. She held onto them tightly, forcing odd bits and pieces of her memory together to cobble together the times they spoke, laughed, and played together. Emerald’s eyes watered slightly before she took one last breath and used a napkin to dry her misty eyes.

When Emerald returned from the abyss of haunting memories, she looked up to see a concerned looking Avid Value. Both of his ears were pressed against his skull, and his body coiled into itself as he tried to shrink down. “I-I’m sorry, Emerald, I—" 

“No, it’s fine,” Emerald interrupted as she placed the napkin back down. “It’s a reasonable question and… and I’d actually like to answer it. So, who do you want to hear about first?”

“Um… Whatever your comfortable with, I guess,” Avid Value replied as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Well… There was Dice, the youngest on the council. He was a green ruva who couldn’t use his magic, but he never let that bother him. That colt had a heart of copper and a smile that could brighten even the darkest of days,” Emerald fondly recalled as she continued to happily talk about friends she would never see again, refusing to let her thoughts wander to the tragedy of their deaths as she recalled all of the wonderful moments they had together.

She had mourned their deaths in silence for three years during Sombra’s reign, and it was about time that she praised their lives verbally with a friend nearby. Even if it stung at times to recall the pleasant meals and activities that they would never share again, she could find solace in knowing that they had each lived happy lives before they died, and she was grateful to be a part of their lives.

Skeletor silently wandered down the halls of the Crystal Castle as he walked to the Alchemy tower, taking the scenic route to Purity Flame’s office as he went to meet with her. His eye-sockets briefly glanced at the new portraits of Princess Amore that littered the halls, ranging in various sizes and styles that depicted her as a goddess among ponies.

His attention was momentarily caught by a painting of Princess Amore where she was flying in the sky with the grace of an angel. Unlike the other paintings, this particular portrait was made by an artist named Pen Chaser, an orange stallion with a greying mane who had consistently asked for the opportunity to paint a portrait of Skeletor. While the idea of having a professional artist paint his portrait lightly tickled Skeletor’s ego, the reminder of whose face he would see at the end swiftly crushed any interest in having himself painted.

As he walked towards the Alchemy Tower, Skeletor’s thoughts went to his last meeting with the Alchemist Guild’s Master, Purity Flame. The thought of such small and admittedly adorable creatures being racist left a bad taste in his mouth, as if someone had taught a beaten puppy how to whimper a racist slur; it made him feel sad and disgusted at the same time. Though, wether he liked her or not didn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things. For now, she was one of the most capable alchemists and was one of the few reasons why the Empire had steel, so he would just have to grin and bear it.

If he was lucky, then maybe his first meeting with Purity Flame would have been the only one where she was... very open with her views. He just needed to go in, listen to what she wanted to tell him, and then immediately get out.

After turning the last corner on his scenic route to the Alchemy Tower, Lord Skeletor came face to face the the door to Purity Flame's office. It was a perfectly bland and unassuming door at a glance, but closer inspection would reveal the burn marks at the bottom of the door and discolored splotches around the area where the door knob rested. The door knob itself was also different from the other doors in the castle, being made of an oxidized copper that had turned into a light green color with its age.

Skeletor barely gave the oddity any consideration the first time around, but after his last meeting with Purity Flame, he suddenly found the door very interesting. It was a wonderful distraction that bought him seconds of time that he used to delay his inevitable meeting. Soon, Skeletor was forced to swallow his nerves and gently knock on the door before entering.

Once he was inside the room, Skeletor was able to see the usual clutter and mess that had been gently shoved into the nearby bookcase, with different volumes and texts being haphazardly placed on the shelves with stacks of loose papers stuck between book covers. Purity Flame was busy searching through her organized mess for a few moments before she finally took notice of her visitor, tearing herself away from her work as she went to greet Skeletor.

“Good to see you again, my lord,” Purity Flame said with a bow of her head.

“Good to see you too, Mrs. Flame. How are you doing this morning?”

“I’m doing wonderfully, my lord. I’m sorry that I scheduled this meeting on such short notice,” Purity Flame apologized as she took a seat at her desk.

“It’s quite alright, but I must admit that I’m rather curious. Did you want to talk about the expedition team to the Ruva Kingdom?” He asked as he took the chair opposite of her’s on the other side of the desk.

“No. Well, technically, I suppose? I finished running an experiment for General Cannon Fodder and wanted to meet with you to share my findings,” Purity Flame explained as she pulled out a vial of purple juice from her drawer. “I could only assume that you assigned it to him since he said it was, quote, ‘top secret’. Though, I’m rather confused as to why you wanted me to run experiments on watered down crystalberry juice,” she elaborated.

Skeletor's brain stopped for a few moments as her words sunk in. He nervously swallowed his fears as his fingers unconsciously tapped on his knee, giving his body something to do as he processed what he had just heard. He didn’t expect anyone to actually look at it thoroughly, especially after he made up the excuse of it not working if they did.

“Watered down crystalberry jam? That’s odd. Did Cannon Fodder tell you why he wanted you to look into it?” Skeletor asked as he cautiously glanced at the vile in her hooves, as if it would suddenly sprout lips and reveal all of Skeletor's lies.

“He wanted me to tell him what the ‘ingredients’ were. It’s rather amusing to think he wanted to know that, but I can’t help but feel like his request was… to put it lightly, odd. So, my lord, I was wondering why you wanted the general to bring it to me to analyze. I feel like my skills would have been better used in… well, anything really. I just don’t see the point in this.”

“…Well… I see that the enchantment I placed on my placebo worked perfectly!” Skeletor falsely cheered. “You see, Purity, Cannon Fodder gave you my magical elixir that helps fix mental issues such as depression and anxiety.”

“I did hear about that. But, if that were true then I—"

“You see, I also placed a protection enchantment on it as well,” Skeletor interrupted as he continued to ramble on, standing up from his seat to pace around the room as he continued to speak. “As I told the other council members, the ingredients must remain a secret, or else the medicine doesn’t work. So, I had an enchantment placed on them to turn them into watered down jelly if they’re not used for medical purposes.”

“Really? But how would the enchantment know to activate?” Purity Flame asked as she peered at the vile.

“Because, Purity, there's a time limit on it. If it's not used within a certain amount of time, then it turns into watered down jelly."

"A time limit enchantment? I suppose that makes sense. But why watered down jelly? Why not have it be broken down into just water?"

"Because... I prefer the taste of watered down jelly. Anyway, I’m thankful that you brought this to my attention, Purity. I need to go deal with this situation. I can't believe Cannon Fodder would do this, especially after I told them not to.”

“You're welcome, my lord. What do you plan to do now, my lord?”

“… I will handle the situation the way I see best, and that is all I will say. Is there anything else that you wanted to speak about, Purity?” Skeletor asked.

“Not that I can think of at the moment, my lord. I didn’t account for… such a forward answer. I thought that there was some larger reason for his request. To know that I inadvertently helped him go behind your back… I’m truly sorry, my lord,” Purity Flame apologized as she bowed.

“Relax, Purity, you simply did as you were ordered to. Once again, I’m thankful that you brought this to my attention,” Skeletor said as he took the vile off of Purity Flame’s desk. “This act of insubordination will not go unpunished. Oh, and Purity, I need a favor from you.”

“Of course, my lord, what do you need?”

“I need you to forget everything that we've just spoken about. This conversation, officially, never happened, no-one can know about my elixir’s second enchantment. Consider yourself lucky to be one of the very few to know the depths of my intellect,” Skeletor dramatically said as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

A hundred concerns raced through his mind as he walked away from Purity Flame’s office, worries about what Skeletor’s general was doing behind his back only served to fuel his paranoia. What else had Cannon Fodder done? What were the rest of the council members doing when he wasn't there? Did they know about it or did Cannon Fodder act alone. Most importantly of all though, was the question of why he did it. Skeletor didn't know what his general would gain from learning that 'placebo' was a fancy word for 'bullshit'.

Skeletor briefly wondered if Cannon Fodder had planned to blackmail him with that information, but quickly tossed that idea away in favor of his more gruesome and terrifying thoughts. He entertained the idea that the general had something more devious in mind, like exposing Skeletor's lies to the public and leading a revolution or perhaps even something worse. There were too many possibilities for Skeletor to think of, and Skeletor felt as if he was on the brink of a panic attack just imagining some of the worst case scenarios. A revolution led by the ponies he had lied to, each one armed with sharp weapons that would easily skewer his body.

As Skeletor tried to calm himself, he went looking for the one pony that he could turn to, someone he knew could help him. He desperately needed to speak with his Royal Spy Master, Crumb Catcher.

Skeletor’s heart pounded in his chest as he searched the hallways for any sign go his Royal Spy Master. His time roaming the halls of the Crystal Castle were filled with terrifying thoughts that would only stop whenever Skeletor took a moment to ask a random guard or maid if they had seen Crumb Catcher.

He did his best to keep his emotions composed as he talked to the guards and maids, usually by making a light-hearted joke with them about ‘catching up’ with Crumb Catcher. Sure, it was a terrible joke and he only got pity laughs, but it helped take his mind off of Cannon Fodder’s deception.

It took a few minutes to finally find Crumb Catcher, but when he did, he saw his Royal Spy Master talking to a maid who was hanging another painting of Princess Amore. Once Crumb Catcher noticed Skeletor was approaching them, he said something to the maid before nodding and trotting up to Skeletor so he could meet him half way.

“It is great to see you, Lord Skeletor,” Crumb Catcher said as he bowed to Skeletor.

“It’s good to see you too, Crumb Catcher. Listen, I need your help,” Skeletor said before he quickly glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone was close enough to hear them. He had no idea how many ponies were working with or for Cannon Fodder, and he didn’t intend to let it slip to any of them that he was catching on.

“Of course, your majesty. How may I help you?”

Skeletor kneeled down to get to the same head level as Crumb Catcher before he quietly spoke to the stallion. “As I understand, your job is to make sure that I stay alive, correct?” Skeletor asked in an almost inaudible tone.

“It could be simplified as much, yes,” Crumb Catcher replied in a hushed tone. “I assume you’re having problems?”

“Possibly. I’m officially ordering you to start an investigation into Cannon Fodder. Find out anything you can about him and report back to me if you find something suspicious,” Skeletor ordered.

“I can certainly do that, Lord Skeletor. Though, may I inquire as to why you have given me this task?”

“I… Have my suspicions about the general. He reportedly disregarded one of my orders and attempted to have an alchemist analyze my elixir. The enchantment on my elixir activated, turning it into watered down jelly. You remember what I said would happen if someone found out the ingredients, right?”

“If I recall correctly, you said it would cease to work.”

“Yes, which is why I put that enchantment on it to turn it into watery juice. Cannon Fodder disobeyed my orders, and I want to know why he did it.”

“If I find out anything, I’ll be sure to inform you, Lord Skeletor. You can rely on me,” Crumb Catcher promised before they broke off from their quiet conversation. “Is there anything else you require, my lord?”

Skeletor threw a brief look at the maid hanging the portrait. While her eyes and hooves were busy working, her ears were pointed towards Skeletor and Crumb Catcher, struggling to catch any bits of their conversation as she worked.

“How many ponies know about your job?” Skeletor asked quietly.

“I’d hope that anypony in the castle could recognize the head of the staff,” Crumb Catcher replied at a normal volume, signaling to Skeletor that the maid near them wasn’t one of the ponies who knew about his job as the Royal Spy Master. “Though there are a few commoners and maids who know me in my off hours.”

“Well, you might want to consider getting some guards as friends too. I have a feeling they could help a lot. Thank you for agreeing to clean the mess, if you find anything of value while you’re there, let me know. In the meantime, take care Crumb Catcher, I’ll see you at court later today.”

“I’ll be there. Rest assured, my lord, I’ll do my best to take care of the problem.”

“Thank you. Have a good day, Crumb Catcher.”

“You as well, my lord,” Crumb Catcher wished him as he trotted back to the maid he was helping.

Once Crumb Catcher returned to his second job, Skeletor turned to walk towards the meeting room. While Cannon Fodder took up a large portion of Skeletor's concern, he still had an Empire to maintain, and the meeting with the reconstruction team would be underway in a little over half an hour. He couldn't afford to let his work slip because he was worried about one pony planned to do, not while the Empire was still being rebuilt. For now, he'd leave that problem in Crumb Catcher's capable hooves, and hopefully his investigation into the general would prove fruitful.

Chapter 23. Deception and Paranoia.

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The chaotic frenzy of falling snow in the Frozen North nearly blinded Thorax and the two guards who were escorting him to some place called, “The Crystal Empire”. Thorax had no idea where they were actually going, and only learned the name of the Empire due to the idle chatter of the two guards as they lamented their dismissal from the expedition to another unknown place called the “Ruva” Kingdom.

Whenever one of the guards would take the opportunity to speak to Thorax, or rather, Thorite, he would give noncommittal and vague responses to appease their curiosity. Through their responses and questions, Thorax was able to find out that they were a group of earth ponies pretending to be something called a crystal pony, yet another thing that the changeling had never heard of before. As far as he was aware, the only races of ponies were alicorns, earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, and the elusive thestrals, so Thorax was fairly certain that they were just role-playing ponies who were holding a festival or something. Though, the fact that they chose to hold a large role-playing event in the Frozen North allowed a small seed of doubt in his own theories to be planted into his mind.

If there was an Empire in the Frozen North or another race of ponies, then Thorax would have assumed that somepony would have mentioned it at some point. Even during his time as a geography teacher for a class of ponies in Appleloosa, Thorax never read anything that alluded to there being any hospitable place in the Frozen North aside from Yakyakistan, and he was certain that Mrs. Pages’ lectures about species and races never included anything about “crystal” ponies.

Thorax was fairly certain that the two ponies were lying to him, and briefly debated how far he could get away from the two role playing ponies. While he could certainly fly for a mile or two in the frozen terrain, he’d have nowhere to go once he dropped his disguise and flew away. The only thing keeping him from taking that risk was the fact that they were heading to the source of love was, which meant that no matter what, Thorax would be going where the guards were regardless of being escorted or not. With no idea of what would happen if he stayed or galloped away, Thorax chose to continue to follow thee “crystal” ponies to the “Crystal Empire”.

After blindly trotting through the constant storm of snow, Thorax suddenly found himself on the other side of a large dome made of pure love. A clear blue sky hung overhead, piercing the clouds that hovered above the Empire so that the rays of the sun could shine down on them. The light of the sun reflected off of the disheveled crystal buildings and towers that were erected all around him, causing his eyes to wander the rooftops until his gaze was drawn to the streets themselves. At that moment, it became abundantly clear to the changeling that his entire view of the old armored guards was wrong. The Crystal Empire was real, they were real, and the love... It was intoxicating.

He stared in awe at the lively streets full of ponies walking by, each one talking casually or trading gossip without a care in the world, completely free of the paranoia that had gripped most places after the failed changeling invasion of Canterlot. Even Yakyakistan, a place that was much farther away than the Crystal Empire was, had heard the news about the shapeshifting race, causing them to become more cautious around each other.

In many ways, working as a bar tender helped allude suspicion towards Thorax since the yaks who came in quickly became too drunk to care or accuse him of being a shapeshifter. But even then, Thorax would get some dirty looks from the drunk patrons who believed that anyone who wasn’t them could have been a changeling.

It was odd for Thorax to see any creatures, especially ponies, who were just so carefree, almost as if they didn’t fear the threat of changelings at all. Thorax could still taste some trace amounts of fear and worry in the air, but it was much more diluted than the feelings of love and hope that was in the Empire. Back when Thorax was hitchhiking from Canterlot to the border of the Frozen North, Thorax would regularly gag on the toxic amounts of mistrust and terror that permeated the air.

The love around him was a desperate breath of fresh air for the emotion eating insect, filling his shrunken stomach almost instantly with the intense amounts of love in the air. Thorax unconsciously licked his shrunken down canines as he felt the thick amount of love in the air passively enter his body.

“You okay there, buddy?” One of the guards asked.

“Oh, uh, y-yeah. Just… Just happy to be back, I guess,” Thorax replied as he continued to salivate over the amount of love in the Empire.

“You and me both,” the other guard commented. “It’s kind of weird to think that it’s finally over, that he’s finally gone for good. It feels like a dream sometimes, doesn’t it?”

“Uh… Yeah, I’m sure glad that he’s gone,” Thorax said enthusiastically.

“Well, take care of yourself, Thorite. Me and Red Flag are gonna go to the Crystal Castle. You should go to Amethyst avenue and get something to eat,” the guard said before he and his partner trotted towards the enormous castle.

As they left, Thorax realized that they were heading towards the epicenter of love that he had sensed before. Thorax felt his mouth water his eyes traced the many towers of the Crystal Castle, looking for any hint of where the love was the most condensed.

At the base of the castle, Thorax could feel a large gathering of ponies exchanging immense amounts of love with each other, freely sharing it without any fear of being drained by a changeling infiltrator. A primal desire to take as much love as he could rose inside of Thorax. His stomach growled with enough force to wake a hibernating bear, causing him to wince in pain as he remembered how desperately hungry he was for love.

His eyes darted from one pony to the next as he looked for the best target to incapacitate and replace for a day or two before he put them back. All he would have to do is drink alcohol excessively while he was disguised and the actual pony he replaced would be convinced by their friends that any memory loss was an effect of “their” heavy drinking. He’d get the love he needed to not starve to death, and the pony he replaced would get a pat on the back for being a party animal.

It would be quick, easy, and relatively painless if he chose the correct target. As his eyes roamed the crowd for the perfect pony to impersonate, Thorax trotted towards the large source of love to passively absorb it from a distance. His secondary-tongue uncoiled from under his primary tongue, cleaning his canines with the serpentine like organ as it wrapped around the tips of his retracted fangs.

Everything inside of him screamed at him to just pounce on a pony and drain them emotionally. His nostrils flared and his mind buzzed with anticipation as he came closer to the castle, driving him closer to the breaking point of losing his composure and just pouncing on the next pony he saw. Thorax desperately fought against his primal instincts as he finally found a crowd of ponies surrounding the anomalous source of love. He struggled to keep his breathing under control as he maneuvered through the small crowd.

Short and shallow breaths allowed Thorax to breath in trace amounts of love magic, feeding off of the positive emotions in the ponies around him. Hints of fear and worry were peppered in the sea of positive emotions, but were so subtle that Thorax barely noticed them.

His eyes finally settled on the source of immense love once he got to the front of the crowd, a beautiful heart made of crystal that was spinning on a pedestal in the center of the plaza. Thorax’s disguise nearly faltered at the hypnotic sight of pure, crystalized, love spinning a few yards away from him. He quickly backed away from the heart in a moment of clarity, causing him to accidentally bump into the stallion behind him.

“Oh! S-sorry!” Thorax apologized before he trotted away from the large gathering of ponies.

The primal instincts inside of him screamed to absorb as much love as he could from the odd art piece, but his rational thoughts kept him from making an irreversible mistake. If he pounced on the strange crystal and absorbed the love in it in front of a large crowd of ponies, then he would have marked himself for death once his disguise fell. As much as he wanted a meal, he valued his life and safety above the painful hunger that he had felt since hatching.

He couldn’t allow himself to give in to his primal urges, so, Thorax decided to get away from the heart before he couldn’t resist the temptation any longer. As he trotted away from the small crowd of ponies, Thorax went over his plan to gather love to live. Though, as he reworked the plan to replace somepony in a more secluded part of the Empire, Thorax noticed that the distressing hunger that had persisted for his entire life had been slightly satiated.

While he was by no means full, he was far less hungry than he had been in months. In fact, he could hardly remember the last time he could call himself content with his hunger. Instead of making him feel happy, like all his dreams of finding great amounts of love had led him to believe in, he felt strangely numb to the new sensation.

“I’m… I’m not hungry?” He questioned as he began to pat his barrel with a hoof.

Once he had grasped how strange his predicament was for a changeling, a large feeling of worry and concern began to wash over him. He felt terrifyingly empty without his constant starvation, as if he had lost an integral part of who he was. All changelings were driven either by a need to survive or a need to protect the hive, the entire point of their lives was to eat and serve their queen.

Thorax had renounced his queen by galloping away to Yakyakistan, abandoning his many brothers and sisters as he looked for a new place to gather love. He had found a place where he could live in peace for the rest of his life, somewhere that he wasn’t always hungry, it was everything he had ever wanted in life.

And now, he had nothing else to really live for in his life. The constant struggle to keep himself fed was gone, he abandoned his hive, he had no goals or desires. He was in paradise without a purpose. As he briefly lamented over realizing how his dream left him without a real purpose in life, an odd thought struck him about how the other changelings would feel in his position and he suddenly realized how he hadn’t lost his purpose yet, not if he could bring the rest of the hive to the Crystal Empire.

“I have to tell the others!” Thorax exclaimed as he began to gallop down the streets.

His legs galloped as quickly as his thoughts, each step marked a new thought of how his plan would work. First, he’d need to go to the Bad-Lands in the south of Equestria to return to the hive, and then he would need to convince the queen that the Crystal Empire was a much better place to set up a hive, and then he’d have to desperately beg not to get beheaded for leaving the hive in the first place.

As his thoughts galloped faster than his own legs, Thorax failed to stop himself from galloping straight into a lemon-yellow coat and a mulberry-purple colored mane, sending them both tumbling to the ground after Thorax plowed right into him.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so, so, so, sorry!” Thorax profusely apologized as he got off of the stallion.

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” the yellow stallion said as he accepted Thorax’s hoof. “In a hurry to get to Amethyst Avenue for lunch?” He asked as he got up off of the ground.

“Uh, y-yeah. I skipped breakfast so—”

“You skipped breakfast?” The stallion interrupted in a surprised tone. “No wonder you’re in a hurry. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty for everypony. Say, I don’t think I’ve seen you on Amethyst avenue before actually. What’s your name?”

“Oh! I-I’m Thorite,” Thorax said as he held out a hoof to the stallion.

“Nice to meet you, Thorite. I’m Track Record, but you can just call me Track,” Track Record said as he shook “Thorite’s” hoof. “I run a little shop on Amethyst Avenue, but I don’t remember seeing you there. Do you help out at one of the other shops?”

“No, I uh… I guess I haven’t gotten to your shop yet. What’s it called?”

“Lardy Bread’s. It was named after… my mom.”

“Ah, yup. I was going to go there, but I never got around to it,” Thorax lied. “It’s a really nice-looking place by the way. It really makes it stand out.”

“Well, I just got lucky. It’s a pretty worn down, and there’s a good amount of wear and tear, but it’s better than what most ponies have after Sombra took over. Was your house able to survive?”

“Uh… N-no, it uh… fell down,” Thorax lied again as he began to piece together the Empire’s recent history. So far, he knew that somepony named Sombra was in charge recently or was still in charge, and he did something that destroyed most of the Crystal Empire.

“Ah, sorry to hear that. Are you staying with one of the nobles or at the Church of Faust on Sapphire street?”

“The church,” Thorax quickly replied. “It’s nice, though I do miss my old house. At least the clergy-mares are nice.”

“Wait, there are clergy-mares working there already?” Track Record asked. “I didn’t think Sombra let any of them live. I’m glad there’s still somepony to still spread the word of Faust.”

“Yeah, they were lucky,” Thorax commented idly as he filed away that tidbit of information. A church without clergy-mares was like a bakery without a baker, or a castle without a leader. Apparently, whoever “Sombra” was, they were responsible for more than just the badly damaged buildings.

Gathering information about the Empire was just as important, if not more-so, as telling the hive about the odd crystal centerpiece in the plaza.

“Hey, you said you owned Lardy Bread’s, right?” Thorax asked. “Are you heading over there now for the lunch rush?” 

“Oh my gosh, you’re right! Come on, I’ll give you some bread and a bit of jam to go with it.”

“Thanks! Oh, but I uh… Don’t have any bits to pay,” Thorax admitted as he remembered that he had lost his satchel somewhere in the wasteland of the Frozen North.

“Don’t worry, most ponies don’t have any. Besides, it’s lunch time… Have the other shops been charging you at lunch time?”

“Well, it’s lunch so I have to pay… Right?”

“Only if you’re getting more than you need. Everypony gets the same amount for breakfast, lunch, and dinner unless they manage to pay for extra or get food in-between. If somepony’s been charging you for lunch, then the guards should probably hear about that,” Track Record stated as he began trotting down the street with Thorax in tow.

“Oh! Yeah, that’s what I meant. I was paying for extra food with the bits I had saved up, and I only just ran out. I’m actually going to need to get a job soon to earn more.”

“Well, I heard that the royal guard is looking for volunteers. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get to meet with Lord Skeletor too!”

“Won’t I need training to be a guard?” Thorax asked as he also wondered who Lord “Skeleton” was. If Thorax had to guess, then he would assume that Lord Skeleton was the pony in charge of the Crystal Empire, though he had no idea if they were a crystal pony like everypony else or an alicorn like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“It’s not a real guard position, just a volunteer force that helps keep the law enforced until new guards can be trained. I was actually thinking about putting down my pin roller and pick up a spear to help out. My friend, Fresh Bake, could run my bakery for me while I’d be volunteering, so ponies would still get to eat,” Track Record explained as he continued to lead Thorax to Amethyst Avenue.

While Track Value continued to speak, Throax absorbed his words as if he were a sponge, taking in as much valuable information as he could. In only a matter sentences, Thorax was able to piece together a few parts of the Crystal Empire’s culture and practices. If he managed to ask the right questions, and feign his actual knowledge in return, then Thorax would be able to learn a decent number of things that could help in his new mission. As long as Thorax played the role of “Thorite” and didn’t make any contradicting statements, then he would be able to know everything about the Crystal Empire in a matter of days.

Skeletor yawned into the palm of his hand as he left the council meeting room after the other ponies had already left. His meeting with the construction team had went on for a little bit longer than what was intended, and Skeletor had barely clung to consciousness as the meeting progressed.

The construction team was making decent progress in the Crystal Empire’s reconstruction, and was working diligently to make sure the streets and houses were repaired efficiently and quickly. Unfortunately, many buildings were beyond repair and would need to be rebuilt from the ground up, so most of the team’s efforts were being put into the noble homes and the Church of Faust so ponies could take up residence in the large manners and the church while their own homes were either fixed or rebuilt entirely. Skeletor was immensely thankful for the talents of the construction team and openly applauded their work so far while also apologizing for not helping them.

He had made up the excuse that fixing the all the buildings in the Empire would take too heavy of a toll on his magical abilities, effectively leaving him bedridden for a few weeks. In reality however, he just didn’t want to accidentally make Picasso’s fantasy fun house an actual building in the Crystal Empire because of his subpar magic, so he left most of the actual construction work to the professionals while he offered his own services in lifting heavier rubble. If he had to estimate, Skeletor would assume that he could lift at least two times his own body weight, if not more, with his own muscles. Levitation magic however allowed him to lift even more than that, which in-turn made it much easier for him to help clean up the streets in his off hours.

After giving his excuse as to why he couldn't wave his hand and have the buildings magically fixed, the conversation quickly descended into the financial need for tools, materials, and other necessities like safety equipment. Skeletor allowed Avid Value to handle that side of the conversation since he had a better grasp of what they were saying than Skeletor did. Once that part of the meeting was finally finished, and an agreement was made to give the construction workers extended lunch breaks so they wouldn't have to pay for meals between lunch and dinner during their off hours, the meeting concluded with a plan to use any salvageable rubble for repairs and send a mining team to the crystal farms to gather materials to build with. Apparently, crystals quite literally grew out of the ground in the Frozen North.

Skeletor didn't question or care how it was possible for crystals to grow since questioning the laws of nature on the strange planet usually gave him a migraine and a severe case of terrible existentialism. He had enough on his plate to worry about without wondering how rocks grew out of the ground like vegetables.

Once the meeting was over, the other ponies were dismissed for an early lunch while Skeletor went over a few papers, trying desperately to understand the structure of pay and cost for the construction team. Just like his conversations with Avid Value, most of the information went right over Skeletor's head and simply became a jumbled mess of fractions and mathematical equations that threw him for a loop. After a few more minutes of looking over the confusing papers, Skeletor placed them back on the table and left to get lunch before he had to mentally prepare for court.

While he was walking towards dining hall for lunch, Skeletor's gaze lazily followed the maids who were trotting around cleaning and "beautifying" the halls of the castle. Every one of them worked diligently to recapture the hidden beauty of the Crystal Castle, hanging new portraits of Princess Amore and cleaning the vases full of brilliant orange crystals that radiated a literal sense of warmth that made the halls feel more comfortable to Skeletor and the crystal ponies. Skeletor suppressed another yawn before he lightly slapped himself in the jaw to wake himself up, and he silently reminded himself that he needed to take a nap after lunch so he could be fully awake for court.

His calm gaze soon hardened as he saw Colonel Kernel, General Cannon Fodder's temporary replacement and his possible ally, trotting towards him. Skeletor wore a neutral mask as Colonel Kernel approached, hiding the storm of emotions and paranoia Skeletor felt inside of himself. He wasn't sure how much he could still trust any of the guards after he found out about Cannon Fodders request to Purity Flame.

For a few moments, Skeletor wondered if he was being too paranoid about the whole situation. After all, Cannon Fodder didn't do anything illegal by asking Purity Flame to find out how placebos worked, but he had still gone behind Skeletor's back to do it. If Cannon Fodder was willing to disobey Skeletor's orders, then that spoke volumes about his character. He didn't trust Skeletor, and because of that, Skeletor couldn't trust his general.

Skeletor knew that he was being paranoid for doubting every guard just because Cannon Fodder went behind his back, but he preferred being paranoid rather than being oblivious and open to attack.

Colonel Kernel's steel cold expression never faltered as he approached Skeletor. The stallion's dark grey coat and dirty blond mane made him stand out against the more brightly colored ponies that lived in the Crystal Empire, giving him a certain air of intimidation that the other brightly colored equines couldn't properly capture. Skeletor did his best to match the colonel's attitude, dawning a regaler and more professional attitude as he spoke to Colonel Kernel.

"Good to see you today, colonel," Skeletor said to the battle-hardened veteran. "How are you doing?"

“I'm good sir, thank you. I’ve come to report that two of the guards sent on the expedition returned early today, sir,” Colonel Kernel said with a salute.

“What? Why? What happened? Are they all alright?” Skeletor asked in rapid succession before he internally chastised himself for letting his mask slip for a moment.

“As far as I’m aware, everypony is fine, sir. Red Flag and Cole were ordered to return from the expedition early. Apparently, somepony wandered out of the Empire to head to Yakyakistan and they had to bring them back to the Empire. General Cannon Fodder didn’t want to wait for them to catch back up, so the expedition team continued on without them.”

“And everyone is alright?”

“Yes, sir. Nopony was hurt.”

Skeletor released a sigh of relief as he was assured that everyone was fine. “Good. In that case, we should increase the number of patrols around the edge of the barrier to make sure no one does that again... What about the pony they returned with? Did they go to the infirmary?"

"I'm not certain, sir."

"I see... Go find the pony who left, make sure they're taken care of, find out why they left, and then report back to me later,” Skeletor commanded.

“But he already told us that he was going to Yakyakistan.”

“Right, and from what I’ve been told, Yakyakistan is a few weeks away from here. It's that right?” Skeletor asked.

“Yes sir.”

“And did he have weeks’ worth of food on him? Or any supplies for that matter? Even something as basic as a map, perhaps?”

“Uh... The guards trotting with him didn’t say if he did or not.”

“Then find them and ask. If he didn't have anything on him, then he was either lying to us, or he was desperate enough to risk starvation to get to Yakyakistan. If so, then why?” He rhetorically asked.

Skeletor wasn’t too keen on letting this stallion slip past them. If the mystery pony was involved in whatever Cannon Fodder was planning, then he wanted to know. And, if by some chance that he wasn’t working for Cannon Fodder, then Skeletor wanted to know why a pony would do something as suicidal as walk through a frozen wasteland with nothing on them. Could it have been that pony were attempting to commit suicide by trotting outside of the barrier? If so, then how many other ponies were attempting to commit suicide that way?

"Yes sir. I'll go find Red Flag and Cole and ask them. If not, I'll get a description of the pony and have guards sent out to look for them, sir," Colonel Kernel stated firmly before he turned to trot away.

As Colonel Kernel left to accomplish his task, Skeletor turned his attention back to the maids working around him, noticing a few ears that were pointed towards him as they worked. Skeletor suddenly found himself wondering how many of the ponies around him were working for Crumb Catcher too. Crumb Catcher had alluded to having his spies in the maid staff of the castle, but hadn't told Skeletor just how many of them were working directly under him. Was Crumb Catcher even loyal to him? Could he trust him?

Skeletor quickly shook those thoughts away as he continued to head towards the dining hall. It wouldn't do him any good to start worrying about one of the few ponies he knew he needed to trust. Though, just to be extra cautious, Skeletor decided that his paranoia and worries warranted a few hours’ worth of studying defensive magic that night. If there really was no one in the Empire that he could trust with his life, then he would just have to rely on himself.

Chapter 24. Loyalty is Rare for Royalty.

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Thunderous clangs of hammers striking hot steel and iron rang throughout the forge, only drowned out by occasional sound of steel being dipped into barrels of oil to quench the blades. After several days of experimenting with the strange metal, the blacksmiths had discovered how inefficient quenching steel in water was and began experimenting with any liquids they could get their hooves on. After three days of experimenting, and with the help of the Alchemist Guild, they discovered that the oil used for lamps and fire pits allowed the steel to cool more efficiently.

Sitting next to one of the many barrels of oil that the Empire’s forge had on hoof, was the best of all the blacksmiths in the forge, Rage Issues, a crystal pony of pure muscle and power that dwarfed even the largest of guards. His thick white coat had been trimmed to down to only a inch or so, allowing his skin to breath in the blazing inferno of the forge. What little remained of his golden mane and pristine white coat was buried under a thick layer of grime and dust that painted his body in ash. His hardened gaze never allowed any emotion other than contempt and anger to cross his face, two emotions that he very rarely felt during his recent freedom.

He sat on a stool designed for minotaurs, hunched over a large barrel filled with oil for the hot metal to cool off in. It was an uncomfortable position for most ponies to sit in, but looked almost natural for the hardened blacksmith, a testament to the years he spent training under a minotaur in Yakyakistan after moving there with his family as a foal. After a long life of living under the banner of the Yak Kingdom, Rage Issues eventually moved back to the Crystal Empire once he reached stallionhood, taking the many lessons he had learned from his mentor to an Empire that often looked down on him for his family’s decision to leave. Years of backhanded compliments from idiotic Yaks who claimed that he and his tutor were, "better than they expected" had forced Rage Issues to leave the Yak Kingdom and return to the Empire.

Of course, the "compliments" he had received from the Yaks had somehow managed to find their way to the Crystal Empire. Word of his family's choice to leave the Empire had spread far through the crystal pony kingdom, and thus he was once again faced with judgment from morons who thought his work was automatically inferior because he had been taught by a "bipedal cow."

Even though his eyes displayed a permanent scorn and resentment for the world that shunned him, and his muzzle never allowed his lips to curl upwards, the loud beating of his heart gave away the immense joy that he felt as he worked. Even as he pulled the cooled steel out of the barrel to inspect the blade with a scrutinizing eye, he couldn’t help but feel happy and prideful in his work. After three years of having his body work without his mind, forced to watch as his hooves made obvious mistakes when handling metal, and compelled to spend days or even weeks away from the forge, the freedom his lord gave him allowed him to work however he wanted once again. His artistic spirit began to flow as he and the other blacksmiths and artisans began working on Lord Skeletor’s steel coins, designing the perfect representation of their new leader into each one with pride.

Even with their new blades and armor, Rage Issues and his fellow blacksmiths took inspiration from their questionably undead lord and used a bone themed aesthetic into the pommels and guards of the swords. The first few designs of the new armor and weapons were questionable at best, but a perfect balance between the old and new design was soon found for the guard’s armor and weapons. If all went according to plan, the new guard armor would be distributed in by the end of the day and Lord Skeletor would be presented with his crown.

Rage spared a glance at the concealed room of the forge, hidden behind a heavy tarp where one of the gentler and well-trained blacksmiths were busy placing sapphires into Lord Skeletor’s crown. Since ruvas were the ponies who were usually taught how to crust jewelry and other types of metal with crystals, only a few crystal ponies in the Empire had a vague idea of how to encrust items with crystals. It had taken many days and nights to perfectly place the smaller crystals inside the crown, and it was nearly complete.

As his eyes lingered on the dark grey tarp that separated the lucky stallion from the rest of the blacksmiths, the door to the forge opened for one of the council members to trot in. The council member’s brown coat and coarse black mane and tail were one of the first things that drew Rage’s attention to the stallion. Unlike most of the crystal ponies in the Empire who had brightly colored coats and manes, the young council member had darker colors that were usually associated with the lower class of ponies.

The stallion wasn’t able to hold Rage’s attention for long however as he quickly brought his eyes back to the freshly made sword to look for any flaws as he cleaned it. He had already known why the youngest council member had come to the forge, it was blatantly apparent by the joy filled trot and the all too pleasant smile he wore on his muzzle. It was odd for Rage to see Avid Value so happy. Before "King" Sombra had taken over the Crystal Empire, Avid Value was the definition of a walking corpse. His half glazed eyes and disheveled fur told Rage of the countless hours Avid had spent working under the prior Royal Banker.

Before Lord Skeletor's rise to power, Rage Issues had only spoken to Avid Value once because of a misprint on the year put on a few hundred bits. During Lord Skeletor's reign however, Avid Value had come to the forge almost daily to check in on the progress of their lord's crown.

“Good morning Rage, how are you doing today?” Avid Value asked as he took a seat on a nearby stool.

“Fine. You?” Rage asked in turn as he continued to look over his work, running an old rag across the wet blade to remove any oil or grime.

“Wonderfully. Lord Skeletor should be waking up soon and I wanted to see how our, 'Project' is coming along.”

“Almost done,” Rage replied in a nearly monotone voice.

“Fantastic! I can’t wait to see the look on Lord Skeletor’s face, or should I say, ‘the look on his skull’? I mean, he doesn’t technically have a face so saying skull would be grammaticallycally correct. But would he be offended by that? I mean, he technically has a face but—"

“Stop talking,” Rage interrupted bluntly.

“Right, right. Rambling again, sorry,” Avid Value apologized as he chuckled nervously. “I’m just nervous about his gift. I mean, what if he doesn’t like rubies? Or what if we guessed the measurements wrong, he might be upset if that happens.”

“He won’t.”

“You’re right. It’d take more than that to upset him. Still, he may not like it.”

“He will.”

“But how can you be sure!?” Avid Value asked in an impatient voice.

Rage took his eyes away from the sword in his hooves to look at Avid Value with a single raised eyebrow, silently asking the stallion a thousand questions with his eyes alone. The smaller stallion swallowed nervously under Rage’s gaze as beads of sweat, either from the intense heat of the forge or his own growing worries, began to fall down Avid Value’s face.

“I-I’m not questioning the quality of your work, Rage. I’m sure that it’ll be beyond my expectation, I’m just not sure if it can meet Lord Skeletor’s. I mean, he’s from Faust’s garden for her sake!”

“You sure?”

“Positive. You heard what I said a few days ago. About the paper money and deities who know how to read and write, the many layers of heaven where leaders are voted for so they can represent their layer to Faust, the fact that he was from a place that was over the rainbow that can't be traveled to by flight or sailing?” Avid Value asked in one breath.

A faint memory of Avid Value going off on one of his tangents played in Rage’s mind, and he vaguely recalled Avid Value mentioning Lord Skeletor’s “secret”.

“A bit,” Rage replied with a shrug.

“Well, then you should know how high his standards are. We can’t have anything that’s even a fraction less than pure perfection.”

“Simplicity’s best.”

“That’s not always the case, Rage. Princess Amore always wore amazing robes and high-class jewelry that was made millennia before you or I were born. Lord Skeletor may wear this crown for as long as she wore her tiara. Maybe even longer since it’s made of steel.”

“Uh-huh,” Rage said as took one last cursory glance at the steel blade before he placed it in a barrel full of similar blades for the guard.

“So, how long until it’s ready?” Avid Value asked.

“Few hours.”

“Will it be ready for court though?” 

Rage simply shrugged as he turned back to the molten steel to begin pouring it into the mold. “Maybe.”

“It needs to be ready by then, Rage,” Avid Value complained. “It’s bad enough that he’s gone this long without a crown. If it takes any longer, he may think that we don’t care, and if that happens he may leave us, and then—"

Rage huffed tiredly as he reached for a pouch full of fresh mint flowers, a type of plant from the subterranean farms that helped blacksmiths breath in the usually smoky air and, as a bonus, it acted as a nice snack for the blacksmiths to eat whenever they missed lunch. Even though Rage hated the tangy smell of mint and the stinging sensation it usually left in his nose, it did help to keep it around for situations where Avid Value would panic.

“Breath,” Rage commanded as he shoved the pouch over Avid Value’s muzzle.

The young council member was startled by the pouch being shoved into his face, but complied after a few moments to take in several large gulps of air.

"Thanks," Avid Value said as he took the pouch off of his muzzle. "You're right. I'm worrying too much. I just... I want to make sure he'll be happy."

"He will."

"But—"

"No buts," Rage admonished as he hit the council member upside the head with a hoof while also making sure that it wouldn't be hard enough to actually hurt the stallion. "Trust me."

"I do... I... You're right, you're right," Avid Value admitted as he chuckled humorlessly. "Heh, if I had a bit every time I admitted that. So, a few hours, huh?"

"Yup."

"Alright. As long as he gets it today. Thanks for everything, Rage, I'll make sure to let Lord Skeletor know who made his gift. In the meantime, I have to get ready for breakfast with our lord. Is there anything else I need to know before I leave?"

"Armor's done."

"Really? That's wonderful, not only will he get a crown, but a new set of armor for his guards to wear. I'm sure he'll love it. At least I hope he does, I mean maybe we should postpone and—"

"Stop talking," Rage interrupted again with a heavy sigh.

"Right, you're right. Deep breaths, Avid. Everything's going to work out. Okay. Thank you, so much, Rage. Have a good day!” Avid Value said happily as he trotted out of the forge.

“Take care,” Rage told him as he left.

Once Avid Value was out the door, Rage returned to his work and began hitting the hot steel to properly shape it, doing his very best to craft another fine set of swords and spear tips for the royal guards.

The blissful smell of blueberries drifted to what remained of Skeletor's nose as he took a sip of his blueberry tea, a rare delicacy in the Empire that had proven to be less effective than his honeysuckle tea, but was still much tastier. A brief sense of alertness spiked through his mind as the flavors danced on his tongue, giving him a bit more energy to confront the day and chase away the grasp of sleep that still clung to his mind.

The day before, court had been extended by nearly an hour due to the amount of guards begging for forgiveness. Somehow, the stallion they were sent to look for literally vanished into thin air in an alley on Amethyst avenue, and the guards were kicking themselves senselessly for losing a crystal pony that could apparently do magic. It took Skeletor a good deal of time to convince the guards that he wasn't upset, although their news definitely didn’t do anything to ease his concerns.

There was only one magical pony in the Crystal Empire that Skeletor knew about, and he knew that invoking the dark stallion's name would only send the crystal ponies into a frenzied panic.

If Skeletor wasn't certain before, he definitely was at that moment. It became evidently clear to him that the pony was being possessed by Sombra's ghost, since there was no other reasonable way for a crystal pony to use magic. He was furious that Sombra would use one of the crystal ponies as a meat puppet but he was also very confused by Sombra's actions. Why would he possess a random stallion? Why would he have that stallion trot to Yakyakistan? And most concerning of all, why hadn't Sombra swapped to a new host once he was discovered? It would only make sense to jump out of “Thorite”, if that even was his real name, and possess one of the guards that were pursuing him.

It was yet another mystery and terrifying fear that would plague the confused human, causing him to lose hours of sleep for another night as he turned to his limited collection of books for answers. Information regarding ghosts, spirits, and specters was either vague, contradictory, or entirely fictional, which left Skeletor with absolutely no answers to his ghost problem.

At the very least, his concerns regarding his own guard were steadily decreasing with each passing second. After pestering Crumb Catcher with a hundred questions that could all be summed up to, "Am I going to be literally stabbed in the back by a guard?" Crumb Catcher reassured him that his small network of spies hadn't found out anything horribly nefarious regarding Cannon Fodder or the other guards. From what Crumb Catcher could gather so far, Cannon Fodder's trip to the Alchemy Tower was his only act of defiance against Skeletor.

Skeletor desperately grabbed onto that small bit of pleasant news, using it as one of the few good points of his day to calm his nerves. Even though it wasn't much, it was still something to distract him from the darker fears and worries that paraded in his mind, something to keep the nightmares at bay while he stole a few hours of sleep.

"Another busy night, my lord?" Emerald Secret asked from her seat at the dinning hall's table for royalty and council members.

"What gave it away?" Skeletor asked as he fought off a loud yawn.

"A few things, though your posture is certainly one of them. I'm not too sure it's good for your shoulders to slouch, my lord," Emerald observed as she ate her breakfast.

"Fair point," Skeletor said as he cracked his back, causing the vertebrae of his spine to pop loudly. A few ponies from nearby tables, including Emerald Secret, winced at the sound of his bones popping back into place, though Skeletor was too tired to notice their reactions. "Do we have a schedule for today set up?" He asked.

"Yes, my lord, I even took the liberty of leaving space open for a brief rest after lunch, though I would highly recommend that you try to get at least eight hours of sleep a night."

"Noted," Skeletor replied as he took a sip of his tea. "So, same as usual then? Council meeting, other meetings, lunch, court, and then a hopeful bath and dinner?” He summarized.

“Yes. Depending on what the other council members bring up during our morning meeting, the schedule for today shouldn’t change too much.”

“Speaking of the other council members, why is it that they’re rarely all here for breakfast?”

“Crumb Catcher is usually busy organizing the staff in the morning, Copper Plate is still watching the Heart spin with other ponies, and Colonel Kernel is over there,” Emerald told him as she pointed at a table at the far end of the room where the colonel was sitting with a small group of guards.

“Why isn’t he sitting over here?”

“He’s sitting with his friends right now. Would you like me to fetch him?”

“Nah, let him be. He looks like he’s having a good time anyway. So, what about Avid Value, what does he do in the mornings?”

“Well, I’m actually not too sure about that. He should be here soon though, so perhaps you could ask him.”

“Maybe,” Skeletor said with a shrug as he returned to his small breakfast. Aside from the small cup of tea that kept him from falling into the loving embrace of the sandman, or whatever the pony equivalent was, a warm piece of toast covered in crystalberry jam and a bowl of baby carrot slices were all he had for breakfast.

It was a slightly larger serving than most of the crystal ponies were able to get, and it was better than the meager amounts of food that the Empire was able to scrape together a few days ago. Crystal ponies were working tirelessly to either gather crops from the overgrown subterranean farms or trying to replant and fertilize the dead farms that hugged the outermost edge of the Crystal Empire. Skeletor had tried his best to aid the farmers and had successfully managed to use a few spells to help the crystal ponies in their efforts, however, his magic still wasn’t strong enough to make the plants grow in an instant. At best, he had sped up their growth by a few days, but a few days in the future didn’t help the Empire in the present.

His desperation to please the crystal ponies and his moral inclination to help them caused him to spend more sleepless nights pouring over magical spell books. His search for knowledge yielded almost nothing to him, and his efforts to help had given them very little in terms of profit.

At the very least, the Empire was getting by and it was slowly repairing the damage caused by Sombra. Skeletor focused solely on helping to repair the physical damage of the Empire and left the emotional and mental healing up to the professionals, such as the doctors and nurses who survived Sombra’s reign. While there were spells that could theoretically heal the mental scars Sombra left, Skeletor refused to try his hand at using mental magic on anyone for fear of accidentally lobotomizing them in the process.

As Skeletor tried to think of new ways to help the crystal ponies in the medical wing of the Crystal Castle, he failed to notice Avid Value trotting up to the table to join them until the small brown pony spoke up.

“Good morning your highness, Emerald,” Avid Value said as he took his seat.

“Good morning Avid, we were just talking about you,” Emerald told him.

“Heh… Uh, good things I hope?” Avid nervously asked before he stole a quick glance at Skeletor. His sudden shift in behavior from happy and pleasant to shy and worrying didn’t escape Skeletor, it was something that he had slowly grown accustom to when he spoke to the crystal ponies.

“When isn’t there something good to say about you?” Skeletor jokingly asked in turn. “We were just wondering what the council did in their spare time. Nothing more than idle chatter, really.”

Skeletor’s words appeared to ease Avid Value’s worry, allowing the stallion’s posture to relax as he nodded his head in satisfaction. As Avid Value gave his order to one of the castle’s servants, choosing to go with a simple slice of bread with jam and a glass of water, Skeletor’s thoughts briefly wandered back to his other council members. He was silently grateful to have someone around who actually knew what they were doing, since he barely understood the first thing about being a king or whatever he technically was.

Everyone in the Crystal Empire called him a “lord”, but he didn’t know if that was higher or lower than a king. Sombra was a king, although that title was self-imposed, and Princess Amore was a princess, even though she should have been an empress since she ran the Empire. And, while Skeletor ran the Crystal Empire, he didn’t really count as an Emperor since two of the three kingdoms in the Empire were gone.

So what the fuck am I?

After deciding to shelf that question for later, possibly indefinably if he could manage, Skeletor turned his attention back to Avid Value. “So Avid, how has the distribution of… bits? Yeah, how has that been going?”

“It’s going steadily, your highness. For now, ponies in essential jobs such as the medical professionals, bakers, cooks, reconstruction workers, guards, and farmers are being compensated for their work either with extra rationing or bits depending on their preference. The steel bits have started production and will be distributed soon, your highness.”

“That’s good… Is there any threat of running out of materials to make steel?” Skeletor asked.

“Not as of yet. A good deal of raw iron ore was mined during… his reign, and any of the armor he had built during his rule was melted down by the blacksmiths a few days ago, so we shouldn’t have to worry about that for now. Oh, and the new armor for the guards is done too. The court guards should be ready to display their new armor by later today during court.”

“Excellent. Uh, while we're on the note of armor would... Ah, never mind," Lord Skeletor dismissed as he looked back down at his breakfast.

"Is something wrong, my lord?" Emerald Secret asked.

"Well I... I was just wondering if it would be possible to commission a set of armor for myself. But, I mean, it's not a big issue, I can just stick with this."

"You... Want armor?" Avid Value asked in a stupefied tone.

"Well, it's uh... Expected for leaders in my land to wear armor. And while my current attire is suitable it leaves me feeling... exposed, so to speak," Skeletor explained.

In truth, while a set of armor would solve his clothing issue, it would also have had the bonus effect of preventing a sword from being run through his abdomen. At least until he managed to keep up a barrier spell for more than ten seconds, then he would be able to just throw up an invisible shield around himself whenever he wanted.

“I'm certain that can be arranged, your highness. And, since you mentioned your home, I was wondering if it would be possible for us to learn more about it? For example, like about your friend, Trevor?” Avid Value hesitantly asked with a nervous smile.

Trevor? Skeletor wondered as he searched his memories for anyone named Trevor. A few seconds of confusion soon gave way to realization as Skeletor remembered his conversation with Avid Value a while ago when he was telling the young stallion about his friend, Tuvar. He supposed that Trevor and Tuvar sounded similar enough to get confused, so Avid Value had probably forgotten his name or misheard it.

After shrugging off Avid Value’s little slip up, Skeletor rapped his fingers against the surface of the table, searching for any excuse not to reveal anything about his past.

“Well, I’d love to and uh… I uh... I can’t think of a good reason not to soooo I’ll… tell you a bit about my friend, Tuvar first. Maybe after a bit, I can talk more about my country too.”

"Oh, yes please! I'd love to learn more about your home, my lord!" Avid Value beamed.

“I’d love to hear it too if that’s alright, my lord,” Emerald Secret added on.

“O-of course! Um… Well, I guess the best way to start is how I met Tuvar at a… group meeting for fictional writer enthusiasts.”

“You were a writer?”

“In a vague sense of the word,” Skeletor replied with a nervous chuckle. "We uh... used aliases to publish short stories about uh... a young caravan of heroes that taught valuable life lessons to younger generations. I used the pen name, 'Demo-Man' while Tuvar used the name 'Two-Face' for his," Skeletor told the pair as he tried to make his mundane life on Earth sound more interesting than it really was.

As the lord of the Crystal Empire began embellishing his life’s story to the two council members, dozens of ears turned towards their table to catch anything and everything Lord Skeletor said. Faint whispers began to spread across the tables in the dining hall as ponies stole glances at Skeletor while straining their ears to steal any knowledge they could from Lord Skeletor.

Like many of the crystal ponies who lived within the Crystal Empire, the palace staff and guards barely knew anything about their strange leader. Lord Skeletor, appearing oblivious to the sudden interest directed towards his table, regained his council members, and many ponies with good hearing, about his exploits in his home country. He spoke passionately about his time writing stories about a group of adventurers who inspired songs and stories to be written about them, and how his writing eventually led him to meeting a good friend named “Two-Face.”

Apparently, he and his friend bonded over the tales of two adventurers who would sail the seas on a ship that voyaged through fiery seas of war, turmoil, and anger. Lord Skeletor and his friend took it upon themselves to sing the praises of the crusading heroes, writing down the tales of their heroic deeds for thousands to read and entertain the world with a blooming love story between the pair of heroes.

While Lord Skeletor captivated his secret audience with wonderful escapades and lessons of morality and truth, Colonel Kernel did his best to convince the other guards at his table to not eavesdrop on Lord Skeletor. It was an effort in futility for the new colonel as his words fell onto the ears of ponies who were too enraptured with the tale of the young heroes to listen to their colonel. After failing several times to convince the guards to stop listening to Lord Skeletor’s private conversation, Colonel Kernel dismissed himself from the table and trotted out of the room.

He could only pray to Faust that Lord Skeletor would either be lenient towards his eavesdropping subjects, or that he would remain oblivious to them for the duration of breakfast. Either way, it would be out of the colonels hooves, for the moment, he had more pressing concerns than the gossip circles that would erupt after breakfast. As one of the highest ranked guards in the Crystal Castle, Colonel Kernel had the honor of being one of the first guards to be outfitted with their new armor.

A small smile pulled at the edges of his muzzle as his stomach began to turn in on itself. The prospect of wearing armor made of the mystical metal known as, “steel” was both invigorating and nerve-wracking to the new colonel. He wondered how much heavier steel armor would be compared to his platinum and iron armor, and how much more he would need to clean and buffer his armor to get rid of any smudges or scratches. The question of how it would feel against his fur coat also briefly drifted through his mind as he unconsciously wiggled his withers in his current armor.

Though it wasn’t unbearably uncomfortable, it was certainly a size or so too big for the colonel. Colonel Kernel had considered brining the issue up to one of the blacksmiths before, but had always found a reason to avoid speaking to them due to one certain pony there, Rage issues.

A stallion of unparalleled strength that towered over most ponies, with a deep and booming voice that commanded respect from anypony who heard it, and a pony whose presence alone caused a shiver of fear to gallop down the colonel’s spine. He had hardly spoken to the stallion during his training under Lieutenant Bolt, and after his first meeting with the imposing blacksmith, he feared the day when he would need to talk to him again. The harsh glare Rage Issues shot at him would stick in his mind forever, a constant reminder of how unworthy he was to wear the armor of the royal guards.

Now, instead of having the tough stallion begrudgingly hoof him a set of hand me down armor to him, the imposing stallion would be hoofing him a set of custom armor that was made of the strongest armor in the Crystal Empire, and possibly in whole the world. He could only imagine the amount of contempt and hatred that would burn in Rage Issue’s eyes.

As Colonel Kernel suppressed another shiver of dread from causing his armor to shake, he nearly trotted right into Crumb Catcher after he turned a corner abruptly. After stumbling over his own hooves for a few moments, Colonel Kernel narrowly avoided cantering right into the higher council member.

“Oh! Sorry, Mr. Catcher, I didn’t see you there,” Colonel Kernel quickly apologized.

“It’s perfectly fine, colonel. I’m actually glad since this saves me time from tracking you down,” Crumb Catcher said as he dusted off his coat sleeve.

“Oh, was there something you needed?”

“Well, Lord Skeletor advised me to find some… ‘friends’ in the guard, so to speak, and I thought it would do me wonders if we got to know each other better. Do you mind if we trot and talk?”

“Um, sure. It’s uh… nice that you’re trying to find more friends, my dad usually said that—"

“Ah, yes, I’ve heard much about your father,” Crumb Catcher suddenly interrupted. “You have, or rather 'had' a noble father, Smell Feast, and a noble mother named Smooth Talk, whom apparently had a misfortunate accident involving a rickety chandelier coincidentally around the same time he met his second wife’s sister and hired her as a maid.

“During Princess Amore’s rule, he called in a favor to have you act as a trainee under Lieutenant Bolt, a skilled thestral guard who, in my personal opinion, was a decent lieutenant during his service to the crown. Though if there was one issue the lieutenant had, it was his insatiable lust and his desire buck anything that had a vagina. You should know, after all, it was your duty to make sure his room was cleaned up after his nightly romps,” Crumb Catcher rattled off without any pause.

The temporary member of the council could only stare at Crumb Catcher with wide eyes as he slowly processed what Crumb Catcher had said.

“How… How do you know that?”

“Because, colonel…” Crumb Catcher paused as his eyes dragged along the halls of the castle. It was only at that moment that Crumb Catcher noticed how barren the halls were and took note of how many guard posts were left vacant.

As Colonel Kernel looked at the surprisingly empty halls of the Crystal Castle, Crumb Catcher took the opportunity to get closer to the colonel and whisper into his ear.

“I’m the Royal Spy Master,” he admitted in a hushed whisper.

“Wait… Really? But I thought—"

“That I was just the ‘help’? That I was simply the butler? Well, I am, but I’m also the one who makes sure that Lord Skeletor is safe. But what’s more important, is that I make sure my friends are safe, and I’d like to think of you as a friend. You see, our lord’s paranoia has caused him a… lapse in judgment when it comes to his royal guard. He has this ridiculous notion that the guards might be against him.”

“Why would he think that?”

“In truth? Because General Cannon Fodder has been planning to stage a coup against Lord Skeletor and our lord found out about it,” Crumb Catcher said dismissively, as if he were talking about something mundane like a boring piece of gossip.

“H-how—"

“I’ve known for some time about the general’s plans to overthrow Lord Skeletor,” Crumb Catcher admitted with a snide grin. “In fact, I knew about it before Lord Skeletor managed to stumble upon the general’s dirty little secret. I was surprised it took him so long to catch on, it was a good thing I managed to… ‘convince’ Purity to reveal her findings to Lord Skeletor while conveniently forgetting to mention my involvement.”

“Then… W-wait. What do you mean by that?”

Crumb Catcher chuckled as his mischievous smile grew wider. “Well, I helped the general, of course,” he stated while grinning from eye to eye.

Colonel Kernel was completely dumbstruck by Crumb Catcher’s blunt reply. His heart began to beat faster as he tried to make sense of his situation. A council member, the Royal Spy Master no less, had just admitted to aiding another council member in a coup against Lord Skeletor.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Why? Because I need you, colonel. While I was content leaving you blissfully ignorant of everything going on, certain… ‘events’ have caused me to expand my inner circle. From what I’ve heard, there’s a magic user in the Empire that’s disguised as a crystal pony. There are very few ponies I know of who can use a disguise spell for as long as that ‘stallion’ did, and even fewer who can still use magic without altering their disguise.”

“Who?”

“Must I spell it out for you colonel? There was one pony who frequently flaunted her ability to disguise herself with magic, and it would only make sense for her cousins in Dream Valley to share that ability.”

“You… You don’t actually think that it’s—”

“The princesses, Princess Celestia and Luna?” Crumb Catcher rhetorically asked. “I’m not saying it’s for certain, but if I were a betting pony, I’d probably believe it full-heartedly. But I’m not a betting pony, and I hate being wrong. So, whether or not ‘Thorite’ was one of the princesses in disguise or not, I still need allies.

“So, colonel, I need to know one simple thing. When the time comes to seize power from Lord Skeletor, whose side will you stand on? Will you march alongside Lord Skeletor to the gallows, or shall you join us in a new era of peace and tranquility under the reign of the Crystal Empire’s true leaders?”

“I… I…”

“You don’t have to give me an answer now, colonel. Take your time to think it over,” Crumb Catcher said cheerfully as he patted Colonel Kernel on his withers. After a moment of patting him, Crumb Catcher pulled the other stallion in closely so he could whisper directly into his ear.

“Oh, and if you’re thinking of running to Lord Skeletor and telling him about our conversation, just know that it would end very poorly for you. I know how many guards love Lord Skeletor and how many despise him, and if I sold them out to Lord Skeletor in the hopes of avoiding his ire… Well, let’s just say that the body count would be substantial. And each and every one of them would be dead because. Of. You,” he threatened.

A familiar sense of fear washed over Colonel Kernel as he stood motionlessly. His heart pounded inside his chest, pressing against his ribcage before strangling itself to take up as little space as possible inside of him.

“Just some food for thought. Take care, colonel,” Crumb Catcher said as he trotted away from the colonel.

Colonel Kernel could only stand still as he watched Crumb Catcher disappear behind a pair or doors that sat a few yards away from him. A shuddered breath escaped him after he saw the door fully close, feeling the intense weight of his conversation with Crumb Catcher crash into him. Once his brain finally began to work properly, his breathing began to hasten as his legs started to buckle underneath him. With a few simple words, Crumb Catcher managed to deliver a terrifying ultimatum to the newest member of the council, causing his mind and body to react violently to the prospect of being stuck between choosing his new, and terrifying, lord or to side with the goddesses that governed Dream Valley.

"He... He... Oh buck," he muttered to himself before his eyes rolled into the back of his skull as he fell unconscious.

Chapter 25. Uneasy Lies The Head That Wears The Crown.

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The soft creaking of chains gently swaying broke the monotonous silence whenever a calm breeze came in through the window, causing the colorful flames to flicker as the breeze kissed the candlesticks. The shifting metal that hung overhead caused the shadows in the room to grow and shrink in a methodic manner as the chandelier gradually swayed with the breeze.

The darkness of the room was something most would call oppressive, filling the room with a black void that threatened to reveal untold horrors at a moment’s notice. Pure imagination and fear created monsters and demons that would lurk in the shadows, stalking their prey from the safety of darkness as they silently mocked anypony who would dare too imagine the untold horrors that existed outside of their knowledge.

However, one mare was unfazed by the non-existent threats that crawled in the recesses of her mind. Copper Plate, an elderly mare who had seen the worst of monsters rise to power in a little under a week, was too focused on the real monsters that laid on the pages of her books to worry about the manifestations of fear that took refuge in the shadows of uncertainty.

The monster of choice that haunted her thoughts at that moment was a demon that had existed nearly four hundred years before the foundation of the Crystal Empire. A demon that was half pony and half minotaur, a monster that had proclaimed itself to be the king of demons, a beast that had needed all three alicorns to defeat: Tirek.

She studied the artistic rendition of the demon intently, taking notes of any attributes that matched her new and mysterious lord. His flat face and upper body were eerily similar to the new lord of the Crystal Empire, to the point where she could almost imagine Tirek’s face slipping onto Lord Skeletor’s skull like a mask. His furless face and arms were also an odd similarity that drew her attention since the only creatures in Equestrian that didn’t have fur were those that had scales, with the exception of Tirek and Lord Skeletor.

Even Tirek’s brother, Scorpan, a simian like demon with leathery thestral wings and a lion’s head, had fur that covered his body with the exception of his hands and feet. Unlike his brother, the simian like demon was never captured and punished for the torment he caused during his brother’s rampage.

It was only after an intense battle that reshaped Equestria that the demon, Tirek, was finally banished to the only scrap of Tartarus that the alicorns had domain over, a prison for monsters that the immortals had faced during their initial rise to power over the pony tribes. Their small prison in Tartarus was the result of a great battle to capture a route to the afterlife, led by the crusading forces of Gusty the Great and her army of ruvas and unicorns a few hundred years before the tribes had begun their great disputes over the land.

The demonic monster had caused untold death and destruction with his rampage across Equestria, draining the magic from every pony he could find as he tore through Equestria. The knowledge that the blood red demon was locked away in the bowls of Tartarus brought a small sense of ease to Copper Plate’s mind as she read over his passage, but the slight feeling of dread never left her as she studied the picture of Tirek and his brother.

Even when she would immerse herself in her studies as she searched for any mention of a country called, “A-Mare-Ika” her concerns and worries would worm their way into the beloved pages of her books. It was only by chance that she stumbled on the passage of the two demons a few days before, and it was her insatiable curiosity that drove her back to the same passage. The concerning similarities between the two demons and her lord caused her mind to draw parallels between them. Her eyes traced the gentle brush strokes that created the image of the pair of demons, imagining the true terror that the duo would inspire in their victims as they stalked caravans of ponies that were trying to survive in Equestria. Whoever had painted the illustration of the monsters had gone unnamed by the books author, and Copper Plate couldn't help but wonder what type of pony was able to capture their likenesses.

In a strange way, the mystery of the painter reminded Copper Plate of Lord Skeletor's odd order to have painters sign their portraits, even going as far as to have the painters learn how to spell their own names to do it. At first, she didn't understand Lord Skeletor's incessant need to have the painters devote a piece of the portraits to their own names. But, after realizing that the pony who had depicted the terrifying demons was likely one of their many unnamed victims, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the stallion or mare who had witnessed untold horrors at the hands and claws of the demonic siblings.

As she briefly lamented over the unknown pony who had become lost to the pages of time, her eyes wandered back to the text that accompanied the image of the demons. Copper Plate re-read the same lines of Equestria’s history, almost reciting the lines from memory alone as she glanced at the familiar words of warning.

“Beware the descendants of death and destruction, feeding on the lives of the innocent as they spread chaos and fear,” Copper Plate read aloud.

She searched the pages for any mention of their origin, as if looking for some indisputable proof that Lord Skeletor wasn’t connected to the demons who plagued Equestria’s history. While she humored Avid Value’s belief that Lord Skeletor was a being born in Faust’s domain, she couldn’t completely believe his wild story. What use was there for “presidents” and “money” in heaven? To Copper Plate, they sounded more like inventions that were created to prevent chaos and anarchy, a system of control and power that stopped a land on the brink of despair from crumbling with rules upon rules that kept their world hidden from the prying eyes of mortals and divine deities.

No matter how she tried to view her lord's alleged words to Avid Value, the eldest member of the council returned to one conclusion. Lord Skeletor, the creature that had saved the Crystal Empire, restored the Crystal Heart, and enacted laws and plans to benefit the safety and security of the Crystal Empire was a demon that had managed to crawl out of Tartarus. And yet, almost in spite of the terrifying reality of having a demon be crowned king, Copper Plate felt... nothing.

She wasn't horrified or afraid, nor was she hopeful and cheerful about Lord Skeletor's reign; In fact, she was strangely unfazed by the revelation that she would serve a demon for the rest of her mortal life. It was exceedingly better than what she had been forced to do under King Sombra’s “rule”, and Lord Skeletor had accomplished his tasks decently enough for an inexperienced leader, so she felt no real reason to fear for her life or to sing his praises from the rooftops.

Despite her lack of fear for her own safety, she still felt a pang of worry for the other council members, specifically how the actions of the Royal Guard’s general would affect her new friend. Copper Plate believed that it would only be a matter of time until Cannon Fodder’s paranoia caused him to do something irreparably stupid once he returned from the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom.

She didn’t fear death, she knew that there was a realm for ponies to travel to once they passed on, Gusty the Great had proven that with her discovery of Tartarus. Copper Plate, much like the Gusty the Great herself, had been at points in her life where the thought of dying sooner in order to cross into sanctuary crossed her mind, especially when she was under the control of King Sombra. However, the rules of Faust prevented Gusty, and many other ponies by extent, from taking such a drastic step towards the end, for it was written by the divine weaver herself that sanctuary in her domain could only be obtained through living a life of preaching love and harmony, and to end one’s life early would reject the gift of peace she had given them in life. So, Copper Plate didn’t have to worry about where she would end up after she died, but she was concerned with how painful that death could be, especially for her friend, Emerald Secret.

Copper Plate hated to think about what would happen to her friend if General Cannon Fodder ever acted on his paranoia, and she feared what would happen to Emerald Secret if Lord Skeletor learned about the general’s plans. She did her best to suppress those dark thoughts by diving back in to the one place of refuge she had in the Empire, the words of her books.

As she browsed the pages of the book for any information relating to demons from Equestria’s past, either to learn more about Lord Skeletor or to distract her from her growing concerns, the door to the Royal Archives creaked open and announced the arrival of an unknown pony.

The hinges of the large doors screamed out in defiance against the visitor, demanding to stay in their original position. Untold years of being unused had left the hinges old and rusted, causing the pony on the other side of the door to struggle as they forced the doors to open.

“Hello?” Copper Plate called out to her unknown visitor.

“Copper?” Emerald Secret said from the entrance to the archives. “Oh good, I was hoping that I would find you here. Where are you?”

“Row eight,” Copper Plate replied as she closed the book and placed it back on its shelf.

She took care to carefully wrap the book back up in its chains, securely locking the book to its spot on the shelf to keep it safe. She used the week flames from the burning wax candles to check her work, making sure to check the strength of the chains before she turned her attention towards her guest.

“How can you see anything in here? It’s so dark,” Emerald complained as she trotted down the aisle of bookshelves.

“I don’t need much light to read, just enough to see the table in front of me,” Copper Plate explained. “Besides, candles are a fire hazard. I’d rather not risk having too many candles to light and remember to snuff out.”

“Well, a little light wouldn’t hurt, you probably wouldn’t strain your eyes as much if you had a few more lit candles.”

“Hmm. Maybe you’re right,” Copper Plate shrugged. “Then again, it’s a bit too much work for me to light all those candles on the chandelier by myself. So, what brings you here?”

“Well, Lord Skeletor was waiting in the council room for you and Colonel Kernel and—'

“Wait. Oh no, I’m late?!” Copper Plate panicked. “No, no, I have—'

“Calm down, Copper, everything is fine,” Emerald assured her. “While we were waiting for you and Colonel Kernel, one of the maids informed us that the colonel fell unconscious in the hallway. The meeting was dismissed and Lord Skeletor went to the medical wing to check on Colonel Kernel. I just came here to make sure you were alright.”

“Oh, really? What happened to the colt?”

“Apparently, he didn’t eat much at breakfast, electing to try on his armor before he filled himself up. The doctors said he just needed some more food and a little bit of rest. So, what book did you bury yourself in to lose track of time?” Emerald Secret asked with a jovial smile.

“It was a few books, actually. I started off looking at any books with geographical maps in them, and slowly worked my way towards Equestrian history and the involvement of the other nations.”

“And what was so interesting that you lost track of time?” Emerald inquired as she glanced at the rows of chained books.

“I’ve been looking for anything that could allude to Lord Skeletor’s origins,” Copper Plate admitted easily. “I’ve been trying to find any mention of ‘A-Mare-Ika’ to no avail.”

“Why were you looking for that?”

“Call it an ‘insatiable curiosity’. I suppose I just wanted to learn a bit more about him.”

“Funny, you should have been at breakfast if that’s the case. He told us a lovely story about meeting a friend after helping him write a book.”

“What? You’re joking, right?”

“Nope,” Emerald chirped happily. “He and his friend wrote books in their country under assumed names to tell the story of a young group of heroes. It was a pretty interesting tale, I especially enjoyed relationship that developed between the princess and the caravan’s leader. I really do wish you were there, it was quite the story to hear.”

“Are you kidding me? Of course, I’d miss a chance to learn something new about Lord Skeletor and his love for literature,” Copper Plate lamented as she heaved a heavy sigh. “Remind me not to miss breakfast with Lord Skeletor ever again.”

“I’ll be sure to do that. We could trot to the dining hall together after viewing the Crystal Heart in the morning,” she suggested. “It’d be nice to spend more time with you, I really enjoy our talks. In fact, now I can tell you all about what Lord Skeletor told us at breakfast.”

“Hmmm… You know, I’d love that. Don’t leave anything out, I want to know everything.”

“Alright, alright,” Emerald chuckled. “But only if we can talk somewhere more… well lit? We could go for a trot around the castle before lunch.”

"That sounds perfect, just help me put out the candles and we can go out," Copper Plate said as she trotted towards a stepping ladder.

After getting a good grip on the bars of the ladder with her teeth, the older mare began to pull it under the chandelier before her legs suddenly buckled underneath her and she winced in pain.

“Are you alright?” Emerald worryingly asked as she slowly helped Copper Plate up to her hooves.

“I-I-owww. It’s fine, I’m fine. I just pulled a muscle, that’s all,” Copper Plate said as she limped over to her chair with Emerald’s help.

“Maybe we should take you to the medical wing,” Emerald suggested as she glanced at Copper Plate’s raised hind leg.

“It’s not that serious. I probably just need some more potassium,” Copper Plate waved off, repressing the urge to visibly wince as she sat down. “Just give me a minute or two, and I’ll be trotting circles around the castle.”

“Are you sure, maybe—”

“I’ll be fine, Emerald. I just need to sit down for a bit. Why don't you tell me a little about what you heard at breakfast to pass the time, then we can trot around the castle,” Copper Plate pleadingly suggested as she adjusted her seating to make herself more comfortable.

“Well... Alright," Emerald relented before she gave Copper Plate a stern look. “But if you're not better in the next fifteen minutes, we're going to the medical wing, and that's final.”

“Don't worry, I'll be fine. Now, tell me what Lord Skeletor told you,” Copper Plate said as her tail swayed in anticipation.

Emerald sighed as she sat down on the floor of the Royal Archives. “Okay. Well, Lord Skeletor's story started with meeting an aspiring author named Tuvar in a community gathering for historians who primarily focused their research on a group of heroes that existed long before he was born...”

The hours after Skeletor’s visit to the infirmary to check in on Colonel Kernel passed far too quickly for the displaced man. After lightly chastising the half-conscious stallion for not taking better care of himself, Skeletor left Colonel Kernel so he could recover in peace with the intention of spending his time in the forge to see if he could order a custom set of armor from one of the Blacksmiths.

Avid Value had personally volunteered to deliver Skeletor's request to the Blacksmiths without any hesitation once Skeletor had made his intentions known to the other council members. It was odd to see the young council member act so eagerly about something that didn't relate to the Empire's finances, but Skeletor simply waved it off as Avid wanting to do something nice for him.

With nothing else to do in the few hours until lunch, Skeletor went to his room to practice his magic in private. It had taken nearly an hour for Skeletor to track down a specific spell that he had only glanced at before. Just like most of his spells, the protective barrier spell relied on an immense amount of emotional power and physical stamina. While a majority of magical shields usually used the caster's mental focus as a source of energy, Skeletor decided to use his emotions and strength as a power source instead. One too many levitation spells quickly taught Skeletor that spells relying on mental energy would leave him in a zombie like state while casting or would leave him with a raging headache afterwards. The strain of emotional and physical magic was, by comparison to him, a far less taxing and painful source of energy for his spells.

Skeletor stood in the center of his room with his Havoc Staff planted in the floor directly in front of him, allowing him to stare directly into the eye-sockets of the golden-horned ram skull. His gaze never faltered as he focused on converting his emotions into a source of power, draining him of his hope, love, and bravery. A vile sickness crawled through his soul as Skeletor forced more of his emotions to be sapped away by his scepter, causing the energetic hum of magical aura grew in intensity once the horns of the scepter began to glow a faint green color.

He could feel his emotions seeping out of his pours as he continued his spell, resisting the urge to vomit from the strain of the magic on his body, soul, and mind. His muscles strained to keep his arms leveled as he held the scepter in front of him, willing his altered emotions to form a physical wall around him. A vitriolic hatred filled the vacuum that his missing emotions left, causing his temper to rise as his spell continued to fail.

Flashes of his past failures played before Skeletor, reminding him of his many failed attempts to return home. Each memory caused his anger to rise until it came to an intense climax, resulting in a powerful explosion of emotions to erect a powerful shield to protect Skeletor from even the worst of magical attacks.

A solid green field of magical energy rose around the Lord of the Crystal Empire, tearing apart the pieces of his emotions and weaving them into a nearly indestructible barrier that could defend against the worst of calamities and weather the worst any apocalyptic event could throw at it. The scraps of Skeletor's emotional stability tore themselves apart to form a solid mass of raw magical power, creating a breath-taking representation of all his hope, joy, and love as they danced in front of his eye-sockets. Time slowed to a crawl as Skeletor saw the physical manifestation of his emotions dance around him, completely enraptured by the beautiful imagery that was hidden in the weaving emotions. The harsh hum of magical energy quickly transformed into an angelic melody that brought him a relieving sense of clarity.

The barrier that entombed him promised him a place of refuge and safety, an escape from the harsh reality of the world that existed outside of the magical shield, protecting him from any threat that could ever cause him physical harm. For the first time in weeks, Skeletor felt completely at ease.

His momentary relief from the cruel reality of the outside world was protected by the impenetrable barrier for a total of five seconds until it suddenly collapsed without warning.

Skeletor could only stare in disbelief as he watched his hard work vanish in the blink of an eye, crumbling under the weight of a gentle breeze that drifted in through his open window. In a fraction of a moment, his hard work and effort evaporated and left him completely defenseless.

As his mind began to accept the fact that he had failed yet again, his remaining emotions started to flood his soul with an indescribable fury that begged to be released from his body, filling the gaping hole that his missing emotions had left behind once they were taken for the spell. Anger and fear struggled for dominance in his body, smashing together in an unholy attempt to create a bastardization of his missing emotions. His fraying sanity was tormented by intense feelings of inadequacy and misery, feeding the fires of his rage as his latest failure finally settled in.

Skeletor's wilting sense of hope dried up and withered away as he stared into the mocking eye-sockets of the Havoc Staff. The instrument of his power, and the one item he had that remained from his previous life, silently ridiculed Skeletor with its indifference to his misery, causing the beaten down lord to lash out at the scepter.

“GOD DAMMNIT!” Skeletor exclaimed as he allowed himself to be swallowed by his rage and slammed the head of his scepter into his dresser, burying it deep into the top drawer once the skull effortlessly smashed through the top of the dresser.

“FUCK!” Skeletor shouted as he ripped the Havoc Staff out of the dresser before he threw it against the floor. “FUCKING HORSE SHIT ASS, PIECE OF MOTHERFUCK! FUCK THIS! FUCK THE WORLD! FUCK LIFE! FUCK MAGIC!” Skeletor screamed to the ceiling while he continued to vocalize his anger to the empty room, ending up in a trance of blind rage as his mouth began to work faster than his mind.

“Fucking shit! I bet Evil-Lyn didn’t have to put up with this inane training! NNNNNooooo. She got her fucking powers handed to her on a silver platter by that faceless fool of a father that dares to call himself the ruler of Zalesia! Why does the world strive to defy my desires?! It’s BULLSHIT! Magic should bend to my whim and submit to me, so why does it constantly try to make a fool out of me? ME?!

“I AM LORD SKELETOR, DAMNIT! I AM THE MASTER OF ALL EVIL, THE RIGHTFUL HEIR TO THE ETERNIAN THRONE! SO, SUBMIT TO ME! I DEMAND WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE, DAMN YOU! I DEMAND IT! I DEMAND… I…. I demand… I… Idema...” Skeletor’s voice grew weaker and more haggard as he fell to his knees, letting his muscles give out from under him after losing the feeling in his limbs.

The room began to spin for Skeletor as bright flashes of light appeared at the corner of his vision before the world around him fell deathly silent. His vision grew blurrier as tears welled up in his eye-sockets, blinding him during his few remaining moments of full consciousness as the remaining rational part of his mind began to panic.

Skeletor struggled to swallow gasps of air as he fell to the floor, desperately trying to breath as his body vehemently refused to cooperate. His lungs and throat burned as if he had just run a marathon, and his muscles begged for the sweet release of death, refusing his own desperate desire to live as they began to move against his will.

His muscles spasmed sporadically as he laid on the floor, twitching at random moments and slamming against the hard crystal floor. The last thing that Skeletor was able to notice before he blacked out was a flare of pain inside his mouth as his teeth clenched down on his tongue.

Total darkness enveloped his mind while he laid on the floor, allowing his aching body to rest once his muscles stopped twitching. Time became meaningless to Skeletor as he laid on the floor, minutes and hours becoming interwoven into an incoherent mess to the unconscious man. As quickly as his torment had begun, it was over in what he felt was only a few seconds, as if he had just taken a small nap on the floor of his room.

The only signs of his episode were his sore muscles and the pain in his tongue from when he had bitten it. His body still refused to listen to his demands, residing itself to remain planted on the cold floor of his room as his mind began to recuperate. The question of why he was on the floor briefly passed through his mind before a splitting headache derailed any attempts to question his position.

“Wha… Wha….” Skeletor’s voice was ragged as he tried to speak, only coming out as a grotesque wheeze between large gasps of breath.

His unnaturally twisted and mangled emotions returned to their normal state of equilibrium as Skeletor reclaimed some sense of clarity. The memories of what had happened stayed out of his grasp, dancing on the edge of his mind with the promise to come closer only to move farther away the more he tried to remember.

“What... What was I—”

An all too familiar feeling of a violent stab of pain was all he received for his efforts to recall what had happened to him, reminding him of the first few nights he had stayed in the Crystal Empire.

“Gah! Fuck! My head!.. Fuck, it feels like it’s going to explode,” Skeletor lamented as he once again attempted to push himself off the floor.

His movements were sluggish as he tried to get up, barely managing to move more than a few inches a second. With a great deal of effort, Skeletor managed to flip onto his back and sprawl out on the floor, allowing his limbs to be splayed haphazardly as he laid down.

The ragged rise and fall of his chest soon eased to a more methodic pace as he stared at the ceiling. Skeletor lightly winced as he angled his skull to get a better look out the window. From what Skeletor could tell, it was still light enough outside for it to be near when the council meeting was dismissed.

A few minutes passed as Skeletor lazily stared out the window, watching the distant hues of the shield change as the rays of the sun passed through the magical barrier that hung over the Crystal Empire. The faint memory of a barrier spell flashed in his mind as he marveled at the large shield, causing the sore lord of the Crystal Empire to glance at his bed where the spell book was still resting.

As he moved his skull to look at the bed, Skeletor noticed the splinters of wood that littered the floor in front of the dresser and saw that his scepter was tossed to the other side of the room. Skeletor’s gaze quickly flicked over to the bookshelf to make sure it was still intact before he released a sigh of relief. Whatever had happened thankfully hadn’t harmed any of the magical tomes that lined his shelves.

To think, he had only managed to read through two and a half books since his first night in the Empire. Skeletor had many books about magic thanks to Copper Plate, but even after several nights of foregoing sleep to read, Skeletor had only managed to get through a measly three books. So much information could fit into just three books, three colorful tomes that held the only possible hope of keeping him alive and finding a way back to earth.

“The spell… I… I was… testing out some spells, and then…Fuck, what happened then?” Skeletor wondered as he forced himself to sit upright. Once he was able to do so, albeit very shakily, Skeletor was thankful to see that the book laying on his bed had also been unharmed in the incident.

He recited several theories and breakdowns of magic from memory, searching for any new meaning in the verbal vomit of information for a clue as to what happened. Only a few ideas came to mind when he tried, and failed, to remember what happened. The most likely of his theories was that the spell had been too taxing and caused him to pass out. The second most likely theory was something that Skeletor didn’t want to humor in the slightest and outright refused to believe.

Was that a… Magic attack? No, no, I… I probably just needed some sleep. I haven’t gotten a good night’s rest for a while, so that’s probably it. The spell was too much and I fainted. Skeletor dismissed as he ignored the random spikes of pain in his limbs and the dull throbbing of his tongue.

A small lie was easier to accept than the truth that he had absolutely no memory of what happened, and it was easier for him to believe that he had just passed out instead of having a near brush with death. The thought that he had nearly died because of a botched spell was too much for Skeletor to accept, because if he did, he would be too worried to ever try to cast a spell like that again.

As Skeletor reassured himself that everything was fine, he slowly began the painful task of lifting himself back to his feet so he could continue on with his studies. His invisible eye-lids became increasingly heavy as he reached the bed, feeling the comforting embrace of the blanket tickle his skin as he sat down next to his book. As he fought against the urge to lay down in bed for the rest of the day, Skeletor opened the spell book to re-read the section he had left off at.

With so few hours in the day and so little time until his duties as a king would pull him away from his room, it would have been negligent of him to waste the small amount of time he had.

The gentle ticking of the clock on Avid Value’s desk struck him like a hammer with each passing second, hitting the youngest council member with the terrible reminder of how much time he had left before court would begin. A mixture of joyful anticipation and growing worry pushed against his small attempts to distract himself. Any attempts to pass the time by reorganizing his office, counting his bits, or even dusting his shelves were constantly halted or prolonged by a nagging sense of doubt ate away at his mind.

He was still incredibly unsure of how Lord Skeletor would react to his surprise, and the thought of pushing his gift off on to another day had crossed his mind quite a few times. Of course, he could only postpone the inevitable for so long.

Avid Value couldn’t bargain with time like he could with a pony. He couldn’t steal more of it, or do anything to prolong the inevitable, even his choice to sit and ignore the clock as an act of defiance against the harsh truth of time accomplished nothing. No matter what, time would continue to move forward in spite of what he wanted.

“Five more minutes, I’ll give him five more minutes.” He muttered under his breath, as if telling the empty walls of his home that this would be the last time he would say those three words.

Five minutes soon became ten, then thirty, and finally, it inevitably turned into another hour of silence. Once again, the reliable clock reminded him that he had stayed in his office instead of keeping his word and trotting over to the forge to speak with Rage Issues.

He had already used the excuse of delivering Lord Skeletor’s order for armor in order to pry for some information on how the crown was coming along, and any more attempts at prodding would have been too rude for his taste.

Just as clockwork was prone to do, the clock abided to the rules of time and announced the passing of another hour with a quiet chime, not caring how its announcement of the hour’s end would affect the stallion. Lunch would start in a little under an hour, and he would get one last chance to speak to Lord Skeletor before court would start later on.

His hoof anxiously tapped on the top of his desk as he briefly glanced at the clock, watching the hand of the clock chip away at the hours of the day. Avid nervously gnawed at his lip as he counted the seconds that passed, debating the pros and cons of checking in on Rage Issues in the forge.

Eventually, with no plan on how to approach the larger stallion, Avid swallowed his nerves and decided to trot to the forge. His calm and confident canter hid a worry of inadequacy and a deep concern for what the near future would hold. Avid resisted the urge to turn back to his office and wait until after lunch to approach Rage Issues by convincing himself that it was better to just get it out of the way and hope for the best.

His quick canter unfortunately devolved into a lame trot as he drew closer to the forge, feeling his stomach turn-in on itself while he trotted through the halls. Avid wore a reassuring smile on his face, hoping to trick himself into believing that everything would be perfectly fine as he nonchalantly greeted the few guards and maids that he passed by.

After taking the extra few seconds to complement each pony he passed in a vain attempt to but a few precious seconds of time before he reached the forge, Avid Value reluctantly turned the last corner he needed to, to trot to the forge, trotting with the reluctance of a pony that was heading towards the gallows with a fake welcoming smile plastered on his muzzle.

He soon stood in front of the doors to the forge, waiting for any excuse to turn back to his room to pop into in his mind. The last obstacle between him and Lord Skeletor’s gift was a large metal door that was only ever locked at the late hours of the night. With no shortage of trepidation and worry coursing through his veins, Avid Value took a calming breath before he pushed open the door to trot in.

The familiar hiss of hot metal being dipped into barrels of water or oil hit Avid’s ears as several hammers rang out in the forge. The smell of smoke and burning iron wafted through the air, creating a cloud of obnoxious fumes that caused Avid Value to cough as the exhaust from the furnaces tickled his throat.

The many stallions working in the forge barely glanced up from their work to look at Avid Value before they returned to the task of adjusting armor or building tools for the reconstruction team to use. Only Rage Issues, the hardest working of all the crystal ponies in the forge, ignored the sound of the door opening and the subsequent coughs that followed.

Rage Issues was far too busy refining the edge of a spear tip to notice the youngest council member, running the blade over a whetstone to sharpen the spear tip. He sat on his custom-made stool, hunched over a large workbench that was filled with various tools and implements for repairing or refining metal.

As the largest stallion in the forge continued to refine the point of the spear, Avid Value trotted up to Rage Issues with a large smile.

“Heeeey, Rage, so listen, I know that you’re probably really busy and you don’t have time, but—”

“It’s done,” Rage Issues bluntly interrupted as he briefly glanced up from his work.

“Wait, what?”

“Crown’s done.”

“Really? It’s finally done?”

“It is,” Rage Issues said as he hopped off of his stool to fetch a satchel off of a hook.

“Yes! Wait, you’re sure it’s done? I mean, maybe we should give it a few days? There’s probably more that needs to be done, right?”

“Nope.”

“But, maybe—”

“Quit worrying,” Rage Issues interrupted again as he shoved the satchel into Avid Value’s barrel. “Take it.”

Following Rage’s command, Avid Value held the old and weathered satchel in his hooves, feeling the surprisingly light weight of the crown that was nestled away inside of the bag. A moment of curiosity was all it took for Avid’s hoof to search the inside of the bag, feeling the cold metal and smooth rubies brush against the microscopic setae that covered the bottom of his front hooves.

His breath caught in his throat as he pulled the crown out of the satchel, marveling at the craftsmanship and effort that was put into creating Lord Skeletor’s gift. It was dark grey crown, surmounted with several spikes that had sapphires encrusted at the base of the crown’s headband, with the center piece of the crown being a ruby inside a snowflake made of bones. The satchel slipped from his hooves as Avid Value stared into the reflective gems that decorated the crown, completely forgetting about the piece of fabric once he grasped the crown with both of his fore hooves, falling onto his behind as he brought the crown closer to his eyes.

“It’s… It’s…”

“Good looking?” Rage Issues suggested as he picked up the satchel and hoofed it over to Avid Value.

“Yeah… Well, I… It’s so much more than that! Thank you, for everything, Rage,” Avid Value said as he tucked the crown back in the satchel.

“No problem.”

“I mean it, Rage, this is amazing. I was a bit worried—"

“Excuse you?” Rage Issues asked incredulously.

“Alright, alright, I was really worried. But seeing this in person, it…. It feels reassuring. I’m certain that he’ll love it. Thank you, Rage,” Avid Value said earnestly as he looked into Rage Issues eyes.

“… You’re welcome,” Rage Issues replied before he returned to his workbench.

“Take care Rage, I’ll see you later,” Avid Value called out as he happily trotted out of the Forge.

With only a few hours left until court would begin, Avid Value trotted to his room to hid the crown under his bed before he went to the dining hall.

The still and silent air of the dining hall was soon filled with quiet conversations as guards took their seats at the various tables for lunch, comparing their new armor to their old sets of armor over servings of crystalberry stew and bread.

While Avid Value waited patiently for the other council members to arrive and eat their meals with Lord Skeletor, he idly listened to the many conversations that drifted to his ears. There was nothing unexpected to be heard from the many guards’ conversations, reactions were a mix of confidence and awe to a subtle worry about the implications of the new bone themed design, worrying that the guard would be turned into some sort of death patrol to enforce Lord Skeletor’s reign.

Avid Value bit his tongue as he heard those inane conspiracy theories and ludicrous fears. He knew that soon, they would see Lord Skeletor the same way he saw their lord. There was a brief period of time, like them, where he was terrified of their seemingly undead lord. But, after witnessing their lord’s wise decisions and brilliant ideas firsthoof, he became a firm believer in Lord Skeletor’s greatness.

After Avid Value gave his order to one of the staff members, he was quickly joined by the other council members, sans Copper Plate who had been sent to the medical wing of the castle at the behest of Emerald Secret. The royal Advisor for Lord Skeletor didn’t delve into any details regarding the eldest council member, but made it known that Copper Plate would likely miss court due to an incident she had in the archives. The youngest council member sent his prayers to Faust for Copper Plate’s health, wishing her all the best as he ate with the other council members.

In a rare move from their lord, Lord Skeletor had requested to have his food sent to his room while he worked on a “secret project”. Avid Value greatly admired his lord's great efforts to help the Crystal Empire, and internally praised Lord Skeletor for whatever he was planning. No doubt, their lord was hard at work thinking of new ways to improve the Crystal Empire and help the crystal ponies who lived there.

Aside from Copper Plate’s absence and the odd way Colonel Kernel would glance around the dining hall, nothing of note occurred during lunch for the council members. With their bellies properly nourished with some of the Crystal Empire’s finest attempts at stew using jam and a few vegetables that were scrounged up from the subterranean farms, Avid Value excused himself from the table and quickly trotted back to his room to grab his satchel for court, preparing his words as he went over the best plan to present Lord Skeletor with his crown.

In almost the blink of an eye, the time between lunch and court completely vanished, and the call to duty urged Avid Value to quickly canter to the court room. The two guards standing at attention next to the throne room doors wore their new steel armor proudly, showing off an unparalleled confidence as they stared at the line of ponies that was beginning to form outside the throne room.

A pair of large metal crossbones were engraved into each guard’s breast plate, drawing any wandering eyes to the prominently placed rubies that were placed at the intersection of the bones, allowing the guards to mimic Lord Skeletor’s bone themed aesthetic. Aside from the new purple accents in their straps and the aforementioned decoration that was added to the breast plate, the only differences between the new and old guard armor was that theirs was darker than the old iron armor sets.

Once Avid Value had appraised the new sets of armor long enough, he trotted closer to the door and silently prompted one of the guards to open it for him.

The first thing Avid Value noticed when he trotted into the room was that Lord Skeletor was already seated on his throne, nursing a larger than average cup of tea in his hands with a teapot resting at the base of his throne next to his clawed feet. The naturally imposing height of his lord was only amplified by his higher position atop the amethyst stairs that led to his obsidian throne, framing him as an almost godlike figure who was closer to Faust than they were.

To his steadily reemerging worries and trepidations, Avid Value was the first council member to arrive to court, leaving him and his lord the only ones in the throne room.

“You’re here earlier than I expected,” Avid Value said, more-so to himself than to his lord.

Lord Skeletor placed his cup of tea down for a moment to look down upon the youngest council member, making Avid Value feel smaller than he already was.

“I guess I am. You could say I was… Thinking with portals. Nye-heh-heh,” Lord Skeletor joked before he quietly muttered to himself with a deep look of contemplation on his skull. “… Is that how I laugh?”

“Ah, uh… Very clever, your highness,” Avid Value lied after failing to find the humor in Lord Skeletor’s comment. “I see that you’re in a good mood.”

“There’s rarely a reason not to be,” Lord Skeletor replied as he poured himself another cup of tea, completely draining the teapot of its contents as a result.

“Well, I uh… Prepare to feel even better, because I-we, we, the rest of the council and I, thought that uh… You deserve a gift, well, not gift since you earned it and we just thought that you’d like it presented as a gift so I thought I’d call it a gift,” Avid Value stammered as all of his prepared statements became nothing but mush in his brain.

His lips and throat felt incredibly dry as he spoke to Lord Skeletor. Words poured out quicker than his mind could think, causing his steady panic to slowly rise and trip even more over his own words. The fear and worry that he had managed to shrug off earlier returned with a vengeance, mocking him with thoughts of how disappointed Lord Skeletor would be with him.

“So, it is with great pride and honor that I present your new crown,” Avid Value managed to finally say as he held the decorative crown in his fore hooves.

Avid Value focused his gaze solely on the crown that rested in his hooves, staring at the glistening sapphires with the intensity of a scolding father, silently begging for the best outcome to occur and for his highness to be happy. He stared at the crown with a fresh set of eyes, searching for any imperfections that may had been missed by the others so that he could apologize before Lord Skeletor accepted his gift.

As Avid Value was staring at the crown with a new scrutinizing gaze, measuring the quality and cut of each sapphire and engraving, an odd silence that caught the young treasurer’s attention.

He tore his eyes from the crown to look up at his highness who was staring dumbly at the piece of metal that rested in Avid Value’s hooves, watching the natural light of the sun’s rays reflect on the sapphires that decorated the crown. Lord Skeletor’s eye sockets were securely glued to the crown, not allowing his body or skull to display any sense of emotion as he focused on the symbol of his authority.

The silence that hung in the throne room began to stretch for an uncomfortable amount of time, causing Avid’s nervous fear to rise with each passing second.

“Um… Your highness?” Avid Value said, breaking Lord Skeletor out of his trance. “Do… Do you not like it?”

“N-No!” His highness nearly shouted as he suddenly shot out of his throne. “I-I mean, yes, er—no, I like it. I uh... I just… Um… I love it, I… I'll wear it right now!”

After Lord Skeletor made his declaration clear, he descended from the dais of throne to walk towards Avid Value, taking large strides from his throne to take what was rightfully owed to him. It only took less than a fraction of a minute for Lord Skeletor to stand in front of Avid Value, allowing the Lord of the Crystal Empire to look at the crown more intimately.

His hands hesitantly moved to the edges of the crown, grazing the metal and crystals with his fingers before he firmly grasped the sides of the crown with his palms. As he lifted his gift from Avid Value’s hooves, he took his time to admire the crown closely before he placed it on his skull, possibly giving the crown his own appraisal before he deemed it worthy of resting on his head.

Lord Skeletor’s jaw moved in an uneasy and almost unnatural way to stretch them into the shape of a smile, allowing his fangs to become more prominent as he held his head high and adopted the stance of royalty. He displayed a sense of power that demanded respect, and exuded an air of confidence that made him appear larger than he actually was.

“There, fits like a glove,” Lord Skeletor observed before walking over towards one of the walls to admire his reflection in the crystals. “Thank you, Avid. It really is a beautiful crown, I’ll be sure to thank the other council members too.”

Despite the words of praise that Lord Skeletor had given to his Royal Treasurer, Avid Value felt a familiar sense of nagging doubt poke at his mind. While his highness looked and sounded confident in his royal garb, there was something to it that felt unnatural to Avid Value about his highness, an uneasy feeling that he couldn't shake away.

Chapter 26. If Love Shall Conquer All.

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Deep within the bellowing snowstorm that plagued the Frozen North, hovering under the terrible clouds that hung in the skies, was a changing wind that carried the most influential of ponies in all of Equestria. Protected from the harsh elements by a blue magical barrier, inside a large and ornate carriage that was reserved for only royalty, were Princess Cadence and the recently crowned prince, Shining Armor.

The newlywed couple sat on velvet cushions made from the finest fabrics available, wrapped in a wool blanket that was crafted with cashmere from Zebrica. Their bodies were pressed together tightly, with Princess Cadence draping her large pink wings over her husband’s barrel, offering him additional warmth and affection as she snuggled up against him. Her muzzle dug into her sleeping husband’s cobalt colored mane, taking in the natural scent of her lover as he slept.

The gentle sapphire colored aura that surrounded Shinning Armor’s horn illuminated the dark interior of the carriage, giving the Princess of Love just enough light to see the golden ring that hung from his right ear, a tradition that he had adopted in honor of Cadence’s pegasus heritage. In turn, Cadence wore her engagement ring around the base of her horn, showing the acceptance of her assertion to alicornhood, and her devotion to her unicorn husband.

Her own horn glowed for a moment as she checked the magical barrier that her sleeping prince projected around the carriage and over the thestrals pulling their carriage. The oppressive snow that pelted the land below the clouds melted as they hit the magical barrier, allowing her to rest easy with the knowledge that her guards were still being protected from the elements. Once she was finished assuring their safety, Cadence returned her attention to her snoozing fiancé.

His large barrel shifted with each calm breath, gently raising Cadence’s wings with every intake. She felt his heart beating through her wings, sending a melody of emotions through her body as Cadence tried to match his peaceful tune. The princess of Love, and soon to be Empress of the Crystal Empire, tenderly nuzzled the nape of her husband’s neck while he slept, feeling his white fur tickle her snout as she did so.

As the carriage flew closer to the remains of the Crystal Empire, Cadence felt the love she shared with her husband become intertwined with the immense love that radiated from the abandoned empire. Even in the early hours of the morning, Cadence could feel the warmth of the love that she had only felt between citizens from Minotauria who had seen terrible battles from their recent revolution to overthrow the regime that had oppressed them. She could also feel the subtle traces of fear and hints of trauma and pain that ran deep through the Crystal Empire, a darkness that had plagued the minds of the creatures of Cattlevania when they fought, and failed, to succeed from Minotauria, fearful for the repentance that they would receive from their nation for daring to defy their democratically elected leaders.

Even though Cadence found it difficult to sympathize with the minotaurs who wished to continue the old and dark traditions of the Minotaurian nation, she could still understand the horrible sense of fear that they carried after they lost. Cadence had never thought that she would feel such immense and condensed fear again, or at the very least, she desperately hoped that she would never have to feel it again. And yet, almost as if reality chose to spit in her face, she was forced to feel the pressures of monstrous fears again in both Canterlot and from the Crystal Empire.

While her thoughts wandered to the terrible stallion that had caused the horrible anguish and terror that hung over the Empire, her husband stirred from his sleep and looked up at his wife, breaking her out of her thoughts with a delicate kiss placed on her muzzle.

“Good morning, sweetie,” Shinning Armor said as he yawned loudly.

“Morning, Shiny,” Cadence replied as she returned her husband’s affection by placing a kiss near his alabaster horn.

As Prince Shining Armor rubbed the crust from his eyes with a small levitation spell on the corner of the blanket, being mindful not to tug on the entire blanket, he simultaneously cast another spell to check on the strength of the shield just as Cadence had done a few minutes prior. The aqua colored aura that surrounded his horn glowed a bit brighter as he checked, unintentionally revealing the sleeping pile of thestrals who occupied the other end of the carriage with his magical light.

The resting group of guards shifted as the light of the prince’s horn shun against their eyelids, causing the sleeping ponies to adjust their large leathery wings to block the small amount of magical light from their faces. Their sleek grey furs and varying shades of dark blue and purple manes and tails allowed the sleeping thestrals to almost disappear into the shadows of the carriage, hiding them from the view of the royal couple as they waited for their shift to pull the carriage the rest of the way to the Crystal Empire. The soft mewls and muttered complaints from the tired ponies barely registered to Shining Armor, only managing to catch his attention due to the insistent whining of one of the higher pitched guards.

After checking on the stability of the shield that protected them from the terrible storms that plagued the Frozen North, Shining Armor dismissed the telekinesis spell on the blankets and the scanning spell, allowing the illumination around his horn to die down until it was barely glowing, earning him a few content sighs as the tired ponies slipped back into Princess Luna’s Dream Realm.

A subtle azure colored aura still surrounded the prince’s horn as he continued supplying the shield spell with magic, effortlessly protecting them from the storm. Cadence had offered to take over and place a shield around the carriage, though her husband insisted that it was his duty to protect her and the guards who would escort them through the Crystal Empire.

“So, how much longer until we get to the Crystal Empire?” Shining Armor asked as he nuzzled his wife.

“Not much longer, I think. I can feel the love radiating from the Crystal Empire. It’s… It’s amazing. I can’t believe that this is what Princess Amore felt every day of her life.”

“Believe it, cause you’re going to feel it every day too,” Shining Armor said as he took a moment to partially part the drawn curtains that covered the window, peaking at the blinding white light of the Frozen North.

“It feels so weird. I’m actually going to be a princess.”

“You already were one, Cady, at least I’m pretty sure you are. That horn is real, right?” Her husband joked as he mockingly glared at the aforementioned appendage, silently interrogating it with his hardened gaze.

“Oh, you know it’s real,” Cadence said as she illuminated her horn in her own cyan colored aura. Unseen by the sleeping passengers that shared the carriage, the newly crowned prince felt a presence tingle underneath the blanket that was draped over the loving couple.

“C-cadence~,” Shining Armor whined.

“What?” Cadence playfully asked as she tilted her head in mock confusion. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes. There’re other ponies in here.”

“So? They’re asleep,” the pink alicorn reasoned, taking a moment to kiss her husband under his jaw.

“Get a room,” one of the guards quietly complained as they rose from the pile of snoozing thestrals, causing the loving couple to immediately stop their playful actions as the stern and tired voice of General Camisole cut through the air.

“Sorry, General Camisole,” Shining Armor quickly apologized to the mare, becoming rigid at the sound of his old boss’ voice.

“Sorry, Cami,” Cadence apologized as she stifled a laugh at her husband’s formality.

“S’fine,” the general replied before she stifled a yawn. "If anything, apologize to Star Burst for giving her a wing boner. Makes cuddle puddles hard. Heh. Hard~.”

“I did not get a wing boner!” Star Burst quietly argued as she wiggled out of the pile. “See, as flexible as a rubber band,” she defended as she fluttered her dark indigo colored wings.

“Wow, how’d you do that? Did you think of grandma being shaved?” Camisole joked as she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Blegh. You’re disgusting, Cami,” Star Burst chastised as she cantered to the door. “I’m going to check with the fliers in the front, and see what our eta is.”

After opening the sliding door of the carriage fully, bathing the entire carriage in light and causing the still sleeping thestrals to loudly voice their complaints, Star Burst leapt from the open port and spread her wings wide to catch the wind under them, allowing her to glide towards the front of the carriage.

Thanks to the shield surrounding the carriage, the air around them was insulated and warm, protecting them from the harsh blizzard that swirled around them. Unfortunately for the groggy thestrals, the prince’s ability to protect them from the snowstorm didn’t extend to the blinging light that penetrated it.

As the freshly woken up thestrals began to untangle themselves from the pile an stretch their limbs, General Camisole trotted past the prince and princess to search the other side of the large carriage.

“Where’s the instant coffee?” Camisole asked as she moved the rug and rummaged inside the compartment that was built into the floor.

“Ran out after the last shift,” Shining Armor stated as he magically levitated a bag of tea and a small cup to himself. “There’s still—"

“If you suggest tea, then I’m liable to make you wear it,” Camisole half-heartedly threatened as she continued her useless search for military grade instantly made coffee.

“I’ll take some tea, Shiny,” Cadence said as she levitated a second cup out of the compartment.

Her husband easily complied, filling the cups with a small ration of water and heating it up with his magic.

“I don’t understand why you don’t like tea, Cami. It’s really good,” Cadence said as she blew on her freshly brewed beverage.

“You mean aside from the fact that it tastes like piss?” The mare rhetorically asked after abandoning her search for her preferred morning drink. “How about the fact that coffee is superior in literally every other way.”

“Have you ever even tried tea?” Shining Armor asked as the other thestrals trotted towards the compartment to dig out food and water.

“I don’t need to try toilet water to know it’s nasty. Same rule applies to that piss water you call ‘tea’.”

“Aw, come on Cami, you’ll never know unless you try,” Cadence said while levitating an empty cup to the general.

“I’ll also never know what dying feels like until it happens to me. No reason to suddenly jump out of the window with both of my wings tied down.”

“I could order you to do it.”

“Jump out with my wings tied? Sure. But if you mean that you could order me to drink tea, then I'd resign,” Camisole said as she returned to the spot where the sleeping pile of thestrals once laid, taking up the small indent that was left behind by one of the heavier guards who was relegated to the bottom of the pile.

As soon as the general laid down on the carpeted floor of the carriage, Lieutenant Star Burst flew in through the sliding door and quickly closed it behind herself. “Good news, we’re only an hour away from the Crystal Empire,” Star Burst announced to the members of the carriage.

“Just when I was getting ready for a nap too,” Camisole complained as she pulled her bag out of the corner and began to don her military uniform. The usual dark purple flecktarn and heavily padded cotton fabrics of the Night Guard had been exchanged for heavy fur coats that were bleached until they were as white as the snow, allowing the guards to blend into their environment and stay warm in the blistering cold.

“Way to uphold the stereotype, boss,” one of the guards muttered.

“Hey, don’t take that tone with me, mister! Sleep is very important for ponies like me,” Camisole argued.

“Whatever,” One of the larger thestral stallions with a crew cut mane said. “If you keep sleeping like you ‘normally’ do, then we’ll have to call you General Cat,” he attempted to joke.

Even though they were thousands of feet up in the air, surrounded by the bellowing winds of a blizzard that made life almost inhospitable for anything that wasn’t a pony, everypony in that carriage would have sworn that they heard the chirping of a cricket accompany the silence that filled the carriage. After waiting a few moments for at least a chuckle or a light snort, the large thestral stallion coughed awkwardly at the deafening silence before he began to explain his “joke”.

“You know, because cats spend two thirds of their life sleeping…” He explained.

“How do you know that?” Cadence asked.

“Because Crux Heart's the random trivia king,” one of the thestral guards answered.

“May his abundant useless knowledge help us all thrive,” Camisole added on as she tightened the straps on her padded vest. “Praise be to his annoying talking points and boring facts. Without him, how would we ever know that vital fact about cats? Truly, we would be completely helpless without his abundance of knowledge. Thank goodness for that little nugget of trivia, it'll surly come in handy at some point in the near future.”

“… Here’s a fun fact, the Crystal Empire doesn’t have coffee,” Crux Heart stated with a smug tone as he prepared a cup of tea for himself.

“… What?”

“Coffee was invented 2,000 years B.N.M by the Zebras when they negotiated with Minoutaria, and became popular in Equestria in 1,500 B.N.M. The Crystal Empire is 3,000 B.N.M. which means it’s 1,000 B.C, before coffee.”

“… Kill me. Just straight up, use a laser and zap my brain through my eye,” Camisole emotionlessly begged as she slowly resigned herself to a fate worse than death, a punishment only fit for the evilest of monsters to walk Equestrian soil: possible weeks without the nectar of gods that was simply known as coffee by mortal tongues and called “Wakey juice” by very tired immortal alicorns.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Cami,” Cadence lightly chastised.

“I already hate the Crystal Empire. If Princess Luna didn’t ask me to accompany you two, then I would still be in bed waiting for my night shift back in Canterlot, with a fresh cup of coffee waiting for me in my room. But noooo, I have to freeze my wings off in the only place on the entire planet that doesn't have a single coffee shop.”

“Aw, cheer up, General. It’s the home of our ancestors!” Crux Heart enthusiastically said. “We’ll be the first ponies to walk in the Empire in over a thousand years. Just imagine it, buildings made of solid crystal boulders, streets paved in luxurious jewels, and whole new races of ponies that were essentially extinct. We’ll get to meet real crystal ponies and ruvas, maybe even thestrals that existed over a thousand years ago who knew our ancestors! I can’t wait!”

“I still can’t believe that it’s actually real,” Star Burst said. “I always thought it was a foal’s tale, like Marelantis or Canada.”

“Actually, there’s a decent amount of proof that Marelantis was an actual continent. While the stories involving the alleged sunken city being made of salt rocks are most likely speculated fiction, the high amount of salt found in the Paladin Sea—" Crux Heart attempted to explain before his superior officer interrupted him.

“Blah, blah, blah. Nopony caaaares,” Camisole whined. “Tell me how to make coffee with the shit we’ll have in the Empire, or I’m demoting you to private.”

“You can’t do that, I’m the medic,” Crux Heart argued.

“I can. I’m the highest ranked officer in here, so nopony can argue with me.”

“Um… I’m a prince now, so technically, I outrank you,” Shining Armor pointed out.

“You married a princess. That’s cheating,” Camisole stated. The other thestrals in the carriage solemnly nodded in agreement with their general’s argument, leaving the prince with no one to defend his claim. “Crux, if you can’t tell me anything useful about coffee, then tell me something about the king. What’s his name, Sombrero or something, right?” Camisole asked.

Crux Heart shrugged. “It's Sombra actually, and I don't know much aside from the fact that he’s a ruva.”

“The buck is a ‘ruva’ anyway?”

“The only other magical race of ponies that isn’t a unicorn or an alicorn. They were largely considered a myth in Equestria, but since the Crystal Empire is real, that means that they’re real too. Their only visible distinction from unicorns were their curved horns, but it's believed that their midbrains were slightly larger—"

“Do they shoot lasers from their horn?”

“Well, yes, but—"

“Perfect,” she interrupted. “Shining, you’re in charge of shooting him on the spot when we get there. Princess Cadence, we would be honored if you could use your magic to protect any wounded guards in the fight. The rest of us will use hit and run tactics to weaken his defenses, and give Shining a chance to shoot this sucker between the eyes.”

“Shoot who?” Shining Armor asked.

“Sombra, duh. We’re all acting under the assumption that Sombra is just automatically gone, like somepony just waltzed in there and took care of the problem for us. Princess Luna personally tasked me with your safety, princess, and I take my orders seriously. Even if it costs my life, I’m going to make sure that the princess’ only niece is safe.”

“What about shiny?” Princess Cadence asked as her wing subtly squeezed tighter around Shining Armor’s barrel.

“He’s the only pony here with a shield spell strong enough to keep a changeling proof barrier over all of Canterlot for three days straight. I'm sure that he'll be able to protect himself. And, in the very, veeeeeeery, small chance that we need to protect him, then we will,” Camisole reassured her.

“She’s right Cadence, I can take care of myself. Besides, I’m sure we can take on a single rumba—”

“Ruva,” Crux Heart corrected.

“Right, a single ruva. If all goes according to plan, then the Empire will be liberated and you’ll be placed in charge. I mean, what’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“Oh sweet Luna, why do you insist on invoking Eris' name?” Camisole lamented as sighed into her hooves.

Love and affection filled the air of the Crystal Empire as ponies rose with the morning sun, each one taking a moment to bask in the warmth of the sky’s crown jewel as the organic tentacles of night began to crawl back over the horizon, revealing a bright blue sky behind the sheet of stars and darkness that hid it for the entirety of the night.

Smiling faces filled the streets as ponies trotted towards the food district, oblivious to the creature that stalked the decaying and abandoned buildings, watching them from the shadows of the Crystal Empire. In a flash of green fire, the monster was replaced with an average looking “crystal pony” with a green coat and a bright orange mane and tail, allowing him to leave the old worn-down building and trot to Amethyst avenue.

Nopony around the stallion knew what he was, a parasite that was born in darkness, a creature of folklore and nightmares that wasn’t anything more than a whisper during the early days of Equestria’s colonization, a changeling. In fact, nopony around him had even heard of a changeling if what he heard was to be believed.

The crystal ponies who lived in the Empire weren’t aware of the world outside their own borders, separated from the influence of the reunited alicorn sisters and unaware of what had happened in at least the past one thousand years since nopony ever acknowledged the night princess’ dark persona. The benefits of modern technology were also no-where to be found in the Crystal Empire which only added to Thorax’s growing confusion.

Too little information about the ponies had forced him to invent his own persona and take the initiative to search for somepony who would seek him as a romantic interest, using a disguise from his past that he had altered from an aged unicorn teacher to a young and spry crystal pony stallion with a single rose for his fake cutiemark. Using the new name, Thorn, Thorax was able to gather a great deal of information regarding the Crystal Empire.

One of the first things he learned was that a mysterious creature that had allegedly slain a king that had killed an alicorn, which was too far-fetched for Thorax to believe initially since all three alicorn princesses were still alive and well in Canterlot. After subtly prying for more information, he learned that the new king of the Crystal Empire was a creature called “Skeletor”. Aside from that, Thorax knew very little about the mysterious Empire.

Mystical claims about Lord Skeletor being a demon to an deity were too outlandish for the changeling drone to believe, especially when one pony mentioned that Lord Skeletor invented a metal stronger than enchanted iron called “Steal.” Thorax had entertained the idea of trotting into the castle during court to see the supposed demon, but the slight possibility that the creature could see what Thorax really looked like dissuaded him. The fact that the guards were still valiantly searching for his old persona, Thorite, was a testament to Lord Skeletor’s abilities, or at least of his great knowledge of who did and did not live in the Crystal Empire.

Thankfully, Thorax’s latest disguise provided him the perfect defense from Skeletor’s attention. Even if Lord Skeletor knew the name and face of every pony in the Empire, he had never stepped hoof, claw, or paw into any of the shops on amethyst avenue, allowing Thorax to hide among the many ponies who fed the hungry while also managing to eat some of their love as a result. In a dark way, the love and affection of hungry ponies was one of the most filling emotions Thorax had ever tasted.

The small smiles and genuine thanks that were given to him on a daily basis were a feast to the changeling, allowing him to sustain himself on the emotions of platonic love alone.

“Hey, Thorn! Glad you could make it early today,” Fresh Bake happily greeted as the disguised changeling trotted towards Lardy Bread’s Bakery. The guard’s inability to find “Thorite” there the first time they searched had allowed Thorax to take refuge in the last place they would have expected to look since his employer, Track Record, was given orders to report if he ever saw Thorite again.

“Oh, hey Fresh!” Thorax greeted the co-owner back. “Lovely day, isn’t it?”

The dark blue colored stallion with a black mane looked up at the dome that encased the Crystal Empire, admiring the magic that danced miles above their heads. “Yeah, it is a nice day,” Fresh Bake agreed while he held the door open for “Thorn.”

The interior of the bakery was nothing too different from the other shops on the street. The rose quartz floors and marble walls were as badly damaged as the other buildings, only kept together by the ambient crystal pony magic that the citizens of the Empire were channeling through their hooves from their midbrains, similar to how earth ponies harnessed their magic to grow crops and carve stone. The only difference from Lardy Bread’s and the other shops on Amethyst avenue were the colorful drapes that hung from the windows, a gift from a friend of Fresh Bake’s named Lacey.

Thorax hadn’t yet had the opportunity to meet Fresh Bake’s female friend, though he did plan to meet her soon to learn more about the mare. If his disguise was ever compromised and he needed to take the form of another pony, either Fresh Bake or Lacey would prove to be sufficient disguises, all he would need to do would be to cocoon one of them in his mucus and hide them away. For the time being, however, Thorax didn’t need to steal their identity so long as he played his cards right.

Once Thorax learned enough about the Crystal Empire and its defenses he planned to return to the hive in the Badlands and report his findings to Queen Chrysalis. He would be praised for his work and pardoned for abandoning the hive, returning as a hero to all of the changelings who once mocked him. The praise of his people and the recognition from his queen would allow him to live the rest of his life in blissful luxury.

The disguised changeling would often dream of the three words that every drone longed to hear from their queen, “You did adequately.”

Those words of approval were rarely heard in the hive, and only given to the most devoted and respectable of changelings. The only changeling that Thorax knew of who was praised by Queen Chrysalis was his brother, Pharynx, after the battle-hardened soldier defended the larva nursery from a tatzlwurm that burrowed into their territory. If it weren’t for the bravery of his brother, the dozens of changelings who sacrificed their lives that day, then the nursery would have been devoured by the tunnel digging behemoth.

Queen Chrysalis was so impressed with Pharynx that she even smiled at him, at least that was what most of the changelings told Thorax when they recounted the events to him. Thorax was certain that his queen would give him similar praises for his efforts to help the hive, allowing his aged and molted armor to decorate the hall of historical changelings who passed away as heroes of the hive, the highest honor any changeling could hope to receive.

As Thorax imagined the bright future that laid before him, allowing his hooves to unconsciously needle the dough on the table in the kitchen of the bakery, the sound of galloping hooves thundering against the streets outside drew his attention to a nearby window. Outside of the shop, droves of guards were rushing towards the southern side of the Crystal Empire, dressed in a mixture of normal crystal pony armor and a few new darker sets of armor that a Thorax didn’t recognize.

Track Record and Fresh Bake soon emerged out of the storage basement with a barrel of yeast balanced on their backs. “What’s all the commotion out there?” Fresh Bake asked as he and Track Record slowly lowered the wooden barrel.

“I don’t know,” Thorax replied as he peered out the window, looking in the direction the guards were galloping.

His employer, Track Record, soon joined Thorax at the window to stare at the galloping guards as Fresh Bake trotted to the door of the bakery. The sound of stampeding hooves became louder after the front door was opened, allowing the three to hear the guards shout orders to ponies as they galloped through the streets.

“Get indoors!” They ordered repeatedly, causing most of the ponies in the streets to canter into the nearest buildings. The few that decided to stay outside watching the guards were quickly escorted into shops by younger members of the guard.

A large amount of crystal ponies took refuge in Lardy Bread’s, quietly questioning what was happening as they trotted into the building. Track Record quickly tore himself away from the window to ease the ponies.

“Calm down everypony, I’m sure the guard has everything under control,” Track Record reassured them. “Everything is going to be fine. Let’s just have some breakfast and wait for whatever this is to blow over. Thorn, grab some bowls and help set up the tables… … Thorn?”

Track Record’s orders went unheard by Thorax as he focused on the skies, staring at a small spec in the sky that became gradually more detailed with each passing second. While the ponies who lived in the Empire relied on their eyes to see the foreign object, Thorax allowed the tip of his horn to poke through his mane and latched onto the magical signature that was emanating from it. He was wrapped in terror as the forbidding presence grew closer, feeling the immense power of a goddess he had only glanced at before the full invasion of Canterlot.

“Thorn… Thorn?” Track Record repeated. “Come on, Thorn, we’ll need all hooves if we want to feed these ponies.”

“I uh… Yeah, sure,” Thorax said as slowly trotted away from the window and retracted his horn.

After tearing himself from the window, Thorax picked up a stack of cups from the kitchen for drinking and discreetly glanced at his disguise in the mirror. To his relief, the teal eyes of a green colored crystal pony stared back at him, allowing him to hide away from the all-seeing eyes of alicorns. So long as Thorax wouldn’t cast a too powerful spell, or give the alicorn a reason to perform a scanning spell on him, then he could perfectly mimic the magical output of a below average earth pony, allowing his magical signature to blend into the sea of crystal ponies.

Still, the arrival of the Princess of ~~food~~ Love was a great concern for Thorax and the rest of the changeling species. He would need to report to his queen sooner than he anticipated and warn her of the new dangers that their paradise held within.

With the princess' intrusion on the only place of sanctuary for changelings to live and thrive in, Thorax discreetly left the bakery through the back door and made his way to the edge of the barrier.

The heavy hoof falls of guards carried a cautious warning that reached the ears of the citizens before the guard’s voices reached them. Panic leapt from one pony to another, spreading like a plague as the guards galloped through the streets towards the crystal pony palace, crying out orders to remain indoors and seek immediate shelter.

Ponies who tried to question the guards went largely ignored by the Empire’s first line of defense as they continued to deliver their warning without any hesitation. The once crowded streets of the Empire soon became desolate as Colonel Kernel and the guards made their way through the streets. The lingering fears of the position he held in the guard and Crumb Catcher's warnings about his allegiances were momentarily forgotten as he and the other guards took up defensive positions around the crystal pony palace, watching the unknown object fly closer to the Empire until it finally penetrated the barrier.

A sudden sense of dread filled their hearts as they watched the soaring object effortlessly pass through their greatest defenses. During the reign of Princess Amore, the barrier’s strength prevented anypony from flying through the shield unless they went through a specific entrance point. But, after the great atrocities that the crystal ponies faced under Sombra’s dictatorship, the newly reestablished barrier was only barely strong enough to keep the snow storm from burying the Empire.

Old guards and new volunteers alike were gathered around the jewel of the Crystal Pony Kingdom, waiting with baited breath as the strange object became more visible. From his position at the entrance of the crystal pony palace, Colonel Kernel could make out the odd appearance of a azure colored sphere that reminded him of the barrier that encompassed the Crystal Empire. The glossy appearance of the dome prevented him from getting clear details, though once it drew closer, the odd shield dissipated and revealed an exceptionally large metal carriage that was being pulled by a large number of armor-less thestrals in white fur fabrics.

The group of thestrals slowly descended to the pathway of the crystal pony palace, trotting down the cracked road that was paved for the elite who lived in the palace before Sombra’s rise to power. As they drew closer, their outfits and large carriage became more detailed.

Small squares that varied in light grey and white hues decorated the fur coats that the thestrals wore, which matched the patterns on the bowls on their heads. Another detail they noticed was that the thestrals wore yellow colored mirrors that covered their eyes, causing the Empire’s guards to share confused glances with each other. Despite having the strange blinders covering their eyes, the thestrals didn’t show any inability to maneuver around the pot holes and cracks that littered the pathway.

After getting over his initial confusion, Colonel Kernel trotted forward to halt the thestrals’ advance. “Stop right there, identify yourselves,” he ordered as he tried to muster a commanding tone of voice.

To his slight surprise, the odd looking thestrals easily complied with his order, stopping a few dozen yards away from the entrance of the crystal pony palace. After coming to a complete stop, the side of the metal carriage slid open, allowing an unbelievable presence to exit the strange vehicle. A larger than average pink unicorn trotted out of her carriage, wearing an expensive gown that glistened in the rays of the sunlight. Her mane slightly swayed in an unseen breeze, allowing the pale yellow, bright pink, and purple locks of her hair to become more prominent as they bounced in the air. At the base of her extravagantly long horn rested a beautiful golden tiara that was bejeweled in amethyst crystals, which gave the guards reason to consider her a possible noble from Dream Valley.

Before Colonel Kernel was able to voice any questions to the pink mare, a luxurious pair of large pink wings extended from her back causing the Empire's guards to share a gasp in awe at her display. Due to a subconscious desire that the guards couldn't control, they quickly bowed to the unknown alicorn as she descended from her strange carriage. Thousands of questions raced through his mind, but none of them touched his lips as he stuttered instead.

With a deep breath, the pink alicorn prepared herself to address the Empire's military and explain her reasons for arriving to their Empire. With a voice that was laced in silk and salt, the unfamiliar goddess spoke to the Empire's guards in an attempt to ease their minds.

“Greetings, faithful bastions of honor, tis a pleasure to make thine acquaintance. Forsooth, I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, princess of merriment and wonder, here to claim thy seat of obsidian and gold, for it doth be my birthright. T’would be favorable if thou could lead us inside thine castle of crystal, so that we may speaketh about the pleasures of our arrival and the deeds done by thine liberator. What say thou, stallions of armor and bravery?”

"..... Uh..." Was all that Colonel Kernel could say in response as he stared dumbly at the unknown princess. "Beg... Pardon?"

"Nary pardons behoved, my dearest warriors. Thou hath not beseeched us or shown any ill-will towards me and mineth company. We simply wisheth to deliver the Empire from disrepair and bring fourth the enchanting charm yond cometh from the depths of one's heart," the alicorn elaborated.

“… Why is she talking funny?” One of the guards quietly muttered to another.

“I think she hit her head,” a different guard replied.

“Um… Doth my phrasing pass by the ears of thine guards. Mayhaps we can repair this confusion and build a sense of trust that shall ease your spirits,” the princess stated. None of the guards could tell if that was a request or a demand of the strange princess, and decided to not address her odd mannerisms directly.

After allowing a few more moments of silence to awkwardly hang in the air, Colonel Kernel steadily rose to speak to the odd princess. He wasn't sure where the alicorn had come from, but he was almost certain that she must have had a basic understanding of Equish.

“…. Helllllo. I. Am. The coooooolonel,” he slowly explained before he gestured to the guards with his foreleg. “These. Are guuuuuards. They… Fight good. Who are they?” He asked as he pointed at the equally odd thestrals.

“Do… Do thou not speak old Equish?” The self-proclaimed princess asked.

“Old what?” Colonel Kernel simply parroted.

“Old Equish. Doesn't everypony here speak the old language? ” She asked with more normal phrasing.

“Um, princess, ” one of the male thestrals said after exiting the carriage with a small number of other thestrals behind him. Unlike the other thestrals in their clean white coats, the stallion had a bright red cross on the bowl that rested on his head. “Old Equish is actually from 5,400 B.N.M. and was replaced by our more modern understanding during the beginning of Equestria’s peace treaty with Yakyakistan. The yaks complained about that language being too… difficult to understand, so it was simplified around 4,000 B.N.M.”

“Really? Then why does Luna always talk like that?” The unnamed princess asked.

The guards' hearts leapt at the utterance of the princess of the night, causing Colonel Kernel to directly address the princess without any formalities. “Do you mean Princess Luna? Where is she? Are she and Princess Celestia alright? Did they send you? ” He quickly asked in succession. His bombardment of questions opened the gates for his fellow guards as they followed his lead and began to voice their own uncertainties and questions. Fears and concerns poured out of their muzzles, begging for answers that could provide some sense of reassurance to their lives.

“S-settle down, everypony. My aunts are completely fine,” she reassured them.

All of their questions pattered off into stunned silence as the princess’ words rang in their ears.

“... 'Aunts?' You... You're their relative? You’re their relative and they’re okay?” Colonel Kernel desperately asked.

“Yes, why would you think they—”

“They’re Okay!” Colonel Kernel shouted happily, causing the other guards to be lifted up into uproarious cheers of glee. “Uh, um, You two, no wait, you, you, and you two there, go spread the word to the citizens! Go! Go!” He hurriedly ordered his guards.

The chosen guards quickly galloped down the streets of the Crystal Empire, shouting the good news to the Empire at the top of their lungs with a feverish joy. After letting his happiness overtake him for a few brief moments, the colonel returned his attention to the new alicorn princess and bowed deeply.

“Thank you so much, your majesty. We've all just been worried for the princesses' safety. After we woke up and they were gone... Well, most of us feared the worst,” he shamefully admitted before a sense of happiness and pride drowned his sorrows in a sea of bliss and hope. “But, if they're alive like you said they were, then it would be amazing! I'm certain Lord Skeletor would want to meet you quickly. Come, your majesty, we need to escort you to the Crystal Castle right away.”

“Wait. Isn’t this the Crystal Castle?” She asked as she looked up at the towering palace.

“No, this is the crystal pony kingdom palace. That’s the Crystal Castle,” he replied as he pointed his hoof to the spires of crystals that rose from the heart of the Crystal Empire.

“Whoa… I thought that was just a monument... Kinda looks like the Prance Tower,” the princess quietly said to herself as an incredibly large white unicorn stallion joined her side.

“So, if I may ask, what brings you to the Crystal Empire. And uh, what’s your name, if you don’t mind me asking, your majesty.”

“Oh right, allow me to properly introduce myself and my associates. I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the distant descendant of Princess Amore, and I have come to lead the Crystal Empire into an era of peace and prosperity that will unify the Empire with the modern world and introduce you to today’s society.”

“… She’s still talking funny,” one of the younger guards observed.

Before Colonel Kernel had the opportunity to chastise the guard for possibly insulting the, admittedly odd, princess, a white unicorn stallion in a bright red suit jacket with golden epaulettes trotted forward to introduce himself.

“I’m Prince Shining Armor. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, soldier,” the white unicorn introduced. “Would you mind telling us why you thought the princesses’ weren't alright?”

“Because none of us knew where they were. I’m sure Lord Skeletor will want to hear about this. Come on, we’ll escort you and your… um… friends? Or, servants?” The colonel asked.

“We’re guards,” a petite thestral mare bickered.

“Guards, huh? Your... armor is… Really unique? Anyway, if it’s alright with you your majesty, we’ll escort you and your guards to the Crystal Castle.”

“Hold up there, buster,” the petite thesteral mare stated as she stepped to the front of the group. Simlarly to the stallion with the red cross on his bowl, the mare’s only distinctive feature was the silver colored crescent moon on her head-bowl. “First thing’s first. We need to deal with Sombra and we’ll need a plan.”

The Empire’s newer guards tensed at the mention of their deceased tyrant as flashes of his atrocities played in their minds. Thankfully, the memory of his death at the hands of Lord Skeletor was enough to set some of the guards at ease once they remembered that the demonic ruva had been brutally killed.

“What do you mean, ‘deal with’?” Colonel Kernel hesitantly asked.

“How to kill and/or capture him. So, where is he hiding and what’s he done since the Empire’s return?” The mare thestral questioned.

The guards of the Crystal Empire shared a brief glances between themselves, silently asking a myriad of questions that would go unanswered by any of them, with the most prevalent question being a very simple; “What?”

“Sombra’s been dead for a few weeks now. Lord Skeletor killed him,” one of the guards bluntly answered.

Their simple answer caused the white unicorn and alicorn to share a questioning glance before the newly arrived princess asked the inevitable question. “And… Who is ‘Lord’ Skeletor, exactly?”

“The lord of the Crystal Empire,” Colonel Kernel stated proudly. “He saved us from Sombra and revealed all of the terrible things that the tyrant kept secret from us for years. If it weren’t for Lord Skeletor… Well, I… I don’t want to think about that,” Colonel Kernel explained with a hint of unease. “Anyway, you’ll be able to meet him at the Crystal Castle. I’m sure that he would want to know about how the princesses are doing, and make an announcement to the Empire. Um… If you’d allow us to escort you, your majesty, we would be most grateful.”

“I would be honored to have you escort us, colonel,” the princess replied. “And, if it wouldn’t be too much to ask, I would appreciate it if you could tell us a little bit about how the Empire is fairing.”

“Of course. Well, it’s been getting better since Lord Skeletor took the throne from Sombra,“ the colonel began as he prepared to tell the tale of Sombra’s terrible rise to victory and his wonderful fall from power. For a brief moment, the nagging words of Crumb Cather's threat rang in the background of his mind, as if the phantoms of his fears were reminding him of those who wished to do Lord Skeletor harm. And, with those lingering fears and doubts formed the beginnings of an incredible plan, a plot of his own that would ensure the safety of the Crystal Empire and solidify Lord Skeletor's rule over the Empire.

As a pony who was chosen to protect the Empire in General Cannon Fodder's absence, Colonel Kernel would make it his mission to convince Princess Cadence of Lord Skeletor's great deeds so that she would bless his lord with her approval. While the colonel held no sway over the guards who despised Lord Skeletor, or the other Council members who may have been secretly plotting against their new lord, the words of an alicorn such as Princess Cadence could easily persuade the few who hated their lord to accept him.

Chapter 27. Questions for The Unknown Crown.

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A deafening stillness rang in General Camisole’s ears as she and the rest of her squad escorted the rightful heirs of the Crystal Empire to the Crystal Castle, allowing the hushed whispers of hidden ponies to waft along the wind as she and her group followed Colonel Kernel. Towers of crystals that had once been luxurious homes had become desolate from war and age, and streets that were rumored to be made of emeralds and other gems had become cracked and worn from the heavy snow of the Frozen North. But, worst of all, was the damage caused to the hearts of the ponies who called the fallen Empire their home.

She rarely met the eyes of fearful ponies who were peering through the cracks of their doors, or stealing quick glances from behind their improvised curtains. When her eyes would lock into theirs for even a brief moment, a pang of sorrow ate away at her insides as the crystal ponies flinched away from her gaze. Even if they couldn’t see her eyes thanks to her reflective goggles, they could still feel her gaze whenever it met their own.

Her ears easily caught the whispers of ponies who kept themselves hidden in their homes, listening to the quiet conversations that were being held behind closed doors.

“Are... Are those thestrals?”

“What’s on their eyes?”

“Are they Dream Valley’s guard?”

“Can those thestrals actually see with those things on?”

“Is that a new alicorn?” They would ask in quiet voices.

Those, and many other questions, fell into her ears as she surveyed her surroundings.

The old ruins of the Crystal Empire were truly a sight to behold. Even after being buried under three thousand years’ worth of snow, the Empire’s beauty and magnificence could still be compared to the most luxurious districts in Canterlot. The only detraction from the Empire’s beauty was the state of the ponies who resided in it.

Thin and frail looking ponies were in abundance, and a fearful skepticism was etched into each of their curious eyes. The guards who were escorting them were comparatively better with more lush coats and bright eyes filled with pride and honor that shined through their dark themed armor, it was something straight out of a history museum or a larping camp. The heavy metal armor that they wore reminded her of the armor that knights would wear in fantasy stories, where heroic ponies would battle vicious monsters to save a fair maiden or to liberate an enslaved colony. However, the memories of her childhood fantasy melted away whenever her eyes caught the bone themed accents that were designed in their armor.

The symbol of heroism and honor had been tainted with the skeletal accents, turning it into a symbol of fear and intimidation rather than a sign of safety and defense. And yet, despite the ominous designs that were etched into their sets of armor, the guards of the Crystal Empire each wore cheerful expressions on their faces.

Even their leader, Colonel Kernel, wore a brilliantly cheerful smile as he continued to recount the story of Sombra’s demise at the hooves of Skeletor.

“—And then, Lord Skeletor delicately laid the unconscious slaves that he had carried all the way to the Crystal Castle on the floor of the Throne Room, and confronted Sombra after knocking out a dozen more enslaved guards. Lord Skeletor used his own strength to effortlessly rip Sombra’s skull from his head and stabbed the bastard through the heart with his own horn, killing the wicked tyrant instantly. Afterwards, Lord Skeletor bashed his own head against Sombra’s skull and pulverized it until there was nothing left of the demonic ruva.

“As Sombra’s blood began to leak from his corpse and paint the floor, a secret passageway was opened up in the Throne Room that led to the highest tower in the Empire, where Sombra had hidden the Crystal Heart. It was then, that Lord Skeletor took three volunteers up the seemingly infinite stairs, so that they could return the Heart as he gazed at the Empire from its highest peak. After using all of his strength to remove the enchantments that kept the Crystal Heart locked in the tower, Lord Skeletor sent the three ponies back down the stairs to deliver the Heart as he passed out from fatigue a short while later.”

“And he did that all by himself,” Camisole asked is a clearly skeptical tone. “How could a pony do any of that?”

“Lord Skeletor isn’t a pony,” Colonel Kernel answered immediately. “He’s… Uh… I’m not too sure what he is, exactly.”

“Please, it’s obvious what he is,” one of the crystal pony guards interjected. “He’s a deity sent by Faust. The Royal Treasurer has been talking the guards’ ears off for days now about how Lord Skeletor told him that he was sent here by Faust to liberate the Crystal Empire.”

“You’ve been listening to Master Value preach too much,” another guard butted in. “It’s clear that Lord Skeletor was a minotaur that was cursed by Eris for making fun of her.”

“HA! Please, Lord Skeletor would never be stupid enough to mock the Goddess of Chaos. He’s a god like her, but he’s not a God of Chaos… Hm. Maybe the God of Death?”

“Really? That’s the best you can come up with? It’s clear that he’s a de—“

“Hey! Watch what you say about our Lord,” a crystal guard quickly chastised. “Point is, none of us know for certain what he is. And if we just keep guessin’, then we’re only gonna end up insultin’ him. ‘Specially if you’re dumb enough ta call him the ‘D’ word,” the crystal guard explained to the rest of the group.

“Alright, everypony, calm down, nopony here is insulting Skeletor,” Colonel Kernel gently commanded. “Remember who we’re escorting right now, let’s not act like a bunch of foals. Sorry about that, princess,” he apologized.

“It’s fine,” Princess Cadence dismissed easily. “But, if you wouldn’t mind, could you tell us a bit more about Lord Skeletor. Like, what species is he, or what species do you think he is?”

“Truthfully… I’m beginning to think that the rumors about him being from Faust’s Garden are true,” the colonel of the crystal guard admitted. “The most we know about him is that he was a traveling writer in a place called ‘A-Miracle’.”

“It wasn’t ‘A-Miricale,’ it was ‘A-Mare-Land’,” one of the larger Crystal Guards corrected.

“Yer both wrong, it’s ‘Amore-Can,’ Faust named a layer of her garden after Princess Amore when she died,” another guard argued.

Quiet murmurs of arguments about the proper pronunciation of a possibly made up land began to overtake the guards of the Crystal Empire as they debated which one of them was correct. While it was somewhat humorous to watch a group of grown guards bicker about how to say the name of Skeletor’s homeland, General Camisole paid them little attention as she went over the small hints of information that the colonel and his guards provided.

So far, the only clues given were that Skeletor was an ugly looking minotaur, or he was a god, the latter of which was completely ridiculous. The other three clues she had were that he possessed hands, was from a place that was made up, and that the guards were hesitant to call him something that began with the letter “D”.

Calling lycanthrope’s a “doggy” was an offensive slur that began with the letter “D,” so that could have also hinted as to what Skeletor was, though to General Camisole, that was even more unlikely than the god theory. Back before Princess Luna’s banishment, calling Lycanthrope’s “Diamond Dogs,” was an acceptable term. It was only a few years after her banishment that the word began to have a negative connotation when Lycanthropes were compared to their more docile counterparts, the normal house dog, causing them to be the only species on Terra to petition for changing their species’ name.

The name of his homeland was obviously made up, so that held little weight in her theories on what he was. Though, an interesting clue was hidden in his name, which was similar to the minotaurian naming style. After Prince Matador, who was famous for doing something with taxes or whatever, names ending in a hard “R” became extremely popular. Names like Moor, Bulldozor, Salvador, and so on became a large part of their culture, so Skeletor could have been a minotaur. Then again, that information was just a random bit of high school history that General Camisole barley remembered thanks to a nursery rhyme, so it wasn’t too sound of a theory.

As the general began to wrack her brain with different ideas and theories, their large group slowly approached the Crystal Castle. It was an architectural marvel that looked nearly alien in nature, with dozens of towers made of various types of crystals that looked as if they grew naturally to form the outer walls of the castle. The castle was mainly supported by three large curved pillars that kept the foundation of the Crystal Castle above most of the rooftops.

Underneath the three substantial pillars was a large open space, that was big enough for a fully-grown dragon to curl up and rest comfortably for a long hibernation. A large crowd of crystal ponies surrounded the Crystal Castle from all sides, gathering around the plaza beneath the castle as if they were waiting to watch Princess Celestia herself teleport into the center of their crowd.

“It looks like some ponies ignored the order to stay indoors,” one of the crystal guards stated.

“Topaz, Red Flag, Spear Head, and Blizzard Blanket, trot ahead and tell those ponies to clear a path to the door. Bitter Pill, and Ruby Whisper, get the guards up ahead to stand in formation to protect our guests,” Colonel Kernel quickly ordered.

“Why are there so many crystal ponies around the castle?” Camisole asked.

“They’re praising the Heart, right now,” the colonel replied easily.

“So the Crystal Heart was really found?” Princess Cadence asked. “Wow… So, we’ll be able to see it too?”

“Of course, your majesty. I’m sure we can spare a few minutes to watch the Heart. If we’re lucky, we might run into the Royal Advisor too.”

Just as the colonel promised, after having his guards sent ahead to help clear a path to the main entrance of the Crystal Castle, he allowed Princess Cadence to watch the Crystal Heart spin atop a pedestal that was placed in the center of the plaza. It was oddly hypnotic to watch a caricature of a heart made of large crystal slowly rotate, like watching the stars on a mobile gently spin above a foal’s crib.

General Camisole’s gaze soon drifted back to the crowd that surrounded them. Aside from the heavier coats and their glossier fur, the general could barely notice any differences between a crystal pony and a regular earth pony. Of course, admitting something like that aloud would have earned her the “privilege” of attending week long seminars in a room filled with idiots. However, even if she couldn’t say anything about the close similarities between earth ponies and crystal ponies, there was something that she could say aloud to her comrades, albeit in a very quiet whisper for fear of being heard by others.

“Hey, Crux,” Camisole whispered quietly to their team’s medic.

“What?”

“You’re the egghead on all things Crystal Empire related, right?”

“I’m not an egg—”

“And earlier, you said that there were ponies who were like unicorns, right?” She interrupted.

“Yeah, ruvas are a race of ponies that have been considered extinct ever since the Crystal Empire was lost to history. I can’t wait to meet one!”

“Well, you may have to wait for a lot longer than you imagined,” she told him as she stole another glance at the crowd of crystal ponies. “All I’ve seen are crystal ponies. No horns, no thestral wings, nothing, not even a hint of any other races. It’s just been crystal ponies, more crystal ponies, and shockingly enough, more crystal ponies. Where the buck are the ruvas and thestrals, aren’t they supposed to live here too?”

“That’s a good question… Maybe they just have a low population density? I’m sure we’ll get to meet other races soon enough,” he optimistically replied.

“… Wanna make a bet?”

“You’re not supposed to gamble with—”

“I bet a mango smoothie that we won’t see any ruvas today.”

“Why would you make that bet? We’re obviously going to see at least one today.”

“Call it a gut feeling. So, are you going to bet or not?”

“… Extra-large smoothie.”

“Deal,” General Camisole easily agreed before the two of them fell into silence with the rest of their group, watching the Crystal Heart lazily rotate on its pedestal in the center of the plaza.

The halls of the Crystal Castle were bustling with activity as maids and guards alike raced to each other to confirm the latest bit of gossip to hit the walls of the castle. Word had spread faster than mold in a forgotten alchemy lab that something was approaching the Crystal Empire, causing the guards to take up arms and prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Their worries and fears were instantly turned into a myriad of emotions once the word of the guards reached them. Beyond all odds, something unbelievable had happened to change any solidified fear into hopeful confusion and mystified wonder, an alicorn had come to the Crystal Empire.

The entrance to the Crystal Castle was blocked by a large group of maids who were stealing glances through the small crack of the door as other staff members and guards crowded nearby windows to get a good look at the plaza.

All of their eyes were glued to the pink coat of the unknown alicorn, watching her bath in the early morning light that illuminated her coat. Nopony in the guard or part of the castle’s staff dared to anything more than watch her, as if approaching her or calling out to her would cause her to fly away.

It didn’t take long for word of the alicorn’s arrival to reach the ears of Lord Skeletor’s Royal Advisor, causing her to gallop from the medical wing of the castle as quickly as her hooves could carry her. Word of mouth had spread from a select few guards to dozens of them, causing the message to become distorted and different with each quick retelling.

Several maids had quickly talked about the resurrection of Princess Amore, while other maids and guards began to spread contradicting remarks, such as the alicorn sisters returning from Dream Valley, and an unknown alicorn arriving at the entrance of the Crystal Castle. Emerald Secret didn’t stop her fast gallop to ask any questions about the various rumors that began to grow from silent whispers to joyous shouts of hope about the return of their princess, or the return of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

While she was galloping towards the nearest window facing the plaza, she held a small amount of hope that the alicorn in question would have been Princess Amore. Although Emerald Secret had seen the previous princess’ death with her own eyes, her heart refused to let go of the single thread of hope that one of her close friends was still alive, that her death at Sombra’s hooves had been nothing more than the tyrant’s cruel dark magic playing tricks on her mind.

But, to her silent dismay, when she finally reached a window close to the entrance of the Crystal Castle, the thread of hope that was wrapped around her heart was cut by the sight of the new alicorn.

Emerald Secret bitterly chastised herself for holding onto any fraction of hope that Princess Amore was alive. Seeing the unknown alicorn being flocked by a large number of thestrals in white fur coats caused something inside of Emerald Secret to break. The small, almost insignificant, sense of hope at seeing either princesses of Dream Valley return to the Crystal Empire shriveled away when she saw the pink alicorn in the plaza. It was as if the world had delivered her a firm message; that the others were dead, and that there was a desperate need for a young replacement who could shoulder the weight of royalty.

Still, the arrival of an unknown alicorn was truly a sight to behold. As a member of Princess Amore’s former council, Emerald Secret had the pleasure of meeting the other alicorns, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, on two occasions when they visited the Crystal Empire for diplomatic reasons, so Emerald was one of the few ponies who could claim that they had met all three alicorns in her life.

Having the opportunity to meet all three alicorns was legendary, meeting a fourth alicorn as well however was something that was so absurd that it couldn’t even be considered as fiction. For as long as the princesses lived, there had been hundreds, if not thousands, of rumors that there were more than just three alicorns in the world, but they had all amounted to nothing more than a fantasy dreamt up in the minds of young foals who wished to meet a princess in their young lives and be whisked away to a beautiful castle.

The crowd of guards and maids that blocked the front doors of the Crystal Castle quickly parted for Emerald Secret after she gave them a gentle cough. The guards were quick to reply to her gently implied command with a salute as they stepped aside to let her pass through the doors.

It was as if time had physically crawled to a halt once Emerald Secret descended the few steps that led to the main entrance of the Crystal Castle. She was the only pony moving in a crowd of frozen statues, trotting past over a dozen captivated eyes as she made her way to the focus of their attention. Delicate whispers wafted along every gentle breeze that blew through the plaza, creating an orchestra of quiet worry and excitement that caused Emerald to focus on her own steadily beating heart. It was as if she had stepped into an entirely different world, one where the warming gazes and conversations that usually filled the plaza had snapped under the tension of the unknown, and forced the world and time itself to stand completely still.

It faintly reminded Emerald of a dream she had long ago, where the blankets weighing down on her limbs caused her to desperately trudge through the thick air of her fanciful dream, a world of joy that forced an unknown and overwhelming presence to weigh down on her limbs. Even though there was nothing that physically weighed down her body or her legs, there was still a strange pressure that felt suffocating to her.

Colonel Kernel was the first pony to take notice of Emerald and acknowledge her, trotting away from the rest of his guards to greet the Royal Advisor.

“Ah! Hello Mrs. Secret,” Colonel Kernel greeted respectfully, catching the alicorn’s attention as he waved to his fellow council member. “This is Princess Cadenza, from… Well, I’m not sure where she’s from, but she says that Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are alive! Isn’t that great?”

Emerald’s eyes locked with the pink alicorn for a brief moment, causing the Royal Advisor to hesitate in her steps as she approached. Her vibrant lavender eyes outshined the amethyst gems that decorated her golden crown, as if her natural beauty was physically fighting against the ornate gems on her crown.

The green coated mare fell to her forelegs to bow in respect to Princess Cadenza. “Greetings, your majesty. I am Emerald Secret, Royal Advisor to the lord of the Crystal Empire, his highness Skeletor. I thank you for delivering such joyous news,” she said in a professional yet almost monotone tone of voice.

Perhaps it had been many sleepless nights where Princess Luna hadn’t made an appearance in their dreams, or the odd way the celestial bodies moved in the early mornings and late evenings, but a stubborn piece of her refused to full heartedly believe in the possibility of the other alicorns living. The small glimmer of hope that she held for seeing any of the princesses alive, had died when she saw the pink alicorn standing in the plaza.

When Emerald Secret rose from her bow, she was slightly surprised to see the princess return her gesture with a small curtsy of her own by putting her right forehoof in front of her left forehoof and lowering her head. “Thank you for greeting me, Mrs. Secret. Will your lord and any of your other government officials be greeting me in the plaza, as well?”

“I… I came down as soon as I heard the news. Avid Value and Crumb Catcher should be coming down here soon, but our lord is still sleeping,” Emerald Secret explained to the princess after remembering that she had completely forgotten to attend to Lord Skeletor when she heard the rumors spreading through the castle about the, as of then, unknown alicorn.

“Your majesty, if you don’t mind, I think it’s best that we escort you into the castle now,” Colonel Kernel told Princess Cadenza as his eyes flicked to the crowd of crystal ponies surrounding them. “I’m certain that Lord Skeletor and the other council members would be able to greet you more comfortably in the castle.”

“Then please, lead the way Mrs. Secret,” Princess Cadenza agreed.

With a final bow to the princess as a sign of respect, Emerald Secret turned to guide the princess and her party through the plaza, with Colonel Kernel soon trotting up to her side as they escorted the princess. The thestrals escorting Princess Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor formed a circle around the royal pair as they followed behind the two council members. Without much delay, the Crystal Guards that had brought them to the plaza began to take up the flanks of their group, watching the thestrals with a barley restrained sense of curiosity burning in their eyes.

The hushed conversations from the onlookers slowly grew louder as the large group moved towards the Crystal Castle’s main entrance. Although not a single whisper or quiet word reached Emerald Secret’s ears, she could easily guess what they were talking to each other about, since they were likely asking the same questions that weighed heavily on her mind. "Where did the new princess and her fiancé come from, why did they return to the Crystal Empire after it had been liberated, and why weren’t the alicorn sisters with them?"

With so many questions, and nopony who was brave enough to directly ask them, those questions stayed within the confides of their minds with their only hope of freedom being suppressed by the walls of their own lips refusing to move. The halls fell silent once the princess and the prince passed the threshold of the castle doors, each visible maid and servant quickly made themselves scarce as their entourage walked through the first hallway of the Crystal Castle, passing the many portraits of Princess Amore that lined the walls of the hall.

A low whistle was the only sound to break the sudden silence. When Emerald turned to see the one who took it upon themselves to break the silence that filled the halls, she saw Prince Shining Armor admiring the many portraits with a wandering gaze.

“Are those paintings of Princess Amore?” The white unicorn asked.

“They are,” Emerald answered. “Lord Skeletor believed that it would only be appropriate to pay tribute to Princess Amore by allowing her to live in the Crystal Castle in some form. Our lord has been offered to have his own portrait painted quite a few times, but each time he insisted on having another painting of Princess Amore made instead.”

“So, what kind of creature is Skeletor? Species wise, at least,” Shinning Armor asked.

“Lord Skeletor, is… he’s… uh… Actually, I don’t believe he’s ever disclosed that information.”

“What do you mean by that? Can’t you tell if he’s a yak or a dragon or some other creature?” Princess Cadenza asked in turn.

“Well he isn’t any of those either. Quite frankly, I don’t believe any of us have ever seen a being like Lord Skeletor. A few of the council members have given their own opinions, and while I shared those for a time, I’m… I’m not sure any of us were right about our assumptions. He’s an oddity, that’s for certain,” Emerald Secret lightly joked.

“The guards earlier claimed that he was a god of some kind sent by Faust. Did he tell any of you that, or is that just a rumor?”

“As far as I’m aware, it’s just a rumor that’s been heavily perpetuated by our Royal Treasurer.”

“Pretty decent rumor,” Colonel Kernel added in an almost inaudible mutter, before he decided to share his point more vocally with the others. “I mean, there aren’t many other explanations, if you ask me. And, it’d be nice if he really was from Faust’s Garden. I’d also feel less worried too…”

“I’m almost certain that there’s a more plausible explanation,” Emerald Secret disagreed. “If he was really a deity sent by Faust, then I believe he would have shared that information with the rest of us.”

“Well, Mr. Value said that Lord Skeletor confided in him, and said that he’s from a land that no creature could fly or swim to, a place that rested on the other side of the farthest and tallest rainbows, in a land where everypony is allowed to marry who they want in the afterlife.”

“But, Lord Skeletor didn’t directly say that he was from Faust’s Garden. His words could also allude to him being from somewhere far away on Terra, and not in Faust’s garden. Perhaps a high mountainous area far away from the Crystal Empire that pegasi and thestrals can’t easily fly to.”

“Like the Storm Lands?” Princess Cadenza asked.

“The ‘Storm Lands’?” Emerald repeated. “I’ve never heard of that place before. Is it somewhere in Dream Valley?”

“I don’t think so, I’ve never heard of a place called Dream Valley, what's it like?” The princess asked.

The abrupt question from Princess Cadenza nearly caused Emerald Secret to fall over her two front hooves once those words left her mouth. When Lord Skeletor had asked a similar question on his first day of ruling the Crystal Empire, it was only accepted as normal because it was obvious to many ponies that he wasn’t familiar with their land or customs. But, for an alleged relative of the two rulers of Dream Valley, it was a sincere cause for worry and doubt.

“You… You don’t know where Dream Valley is?” Emerald Secret asked, hoping that she had somehow managed to mishear the pink alicorn.

“No, is it a place in the Crystal Empire?” The princess asked, unaware of the weight that her words carried.

The crystal guards escorting the princess and her entourage threw uneasy glances at her horn and wings, as if to confirm for a fact that they were looking at an alicorn princess. It was understandably odd for an alicorn who claimed to be related to the princesses of Dream Valley to not know where the kingdom her relatives ruled was, or what the name of their kingdom was for that matter. Even a foal born in the most secluded part of the Crystal Empire would have been taught about the Empire’s relationship with Dream Valley. Asking a question like, “where is Dream Valley,” was almost comparable to asking what color the sky was.

For Emerald, it had felt as if something stranger than a bipedal creature with a skull for a face entered the castle; she believed that an imposter princess had strode into their Empire. And with that sudden revelation, came a storm of worry that swept her away from her rocky carriage ride of emotions and threw her into a hurricane of confusion.

The sudden change in the atmosphere didn’t go unnoticed by the questionable princess either, as she too appeared to be swept away by the heavy winds of distrust and unease. “Um, did I say something wrong?” She tentatively asked, weathering the fog of doubt that hung heavy in the air.

“… Of course not, your highness, you… did nothing wrong,” Emerald Secret attempted to assure her, as she continued to lead everypony to Lord Skeletor’s bedchambers to awaken her lord.

A foreboding unease filled the stale air of the rancid smelling cave that sat above the dark clouds that littered the sky. The corpses of those who dared to pursue justice and honor filled the once deep pits that were laid at the mouth of the cave, becoming nothing more but stepping stones for other adventurers who were doomed to the same tragic fate.

The stench of death and absolute despair had become a permanent fixture in the ominous cave, a testament to the evil entities that had made the mountain their own twisted castle of agony. If one were to listen closely enough, they would most likely swear that the souls of the dead lingered in the hellscape above the clouds, cursing the monsters that had torn them to shreds with vile magic and brute strength. To the monsters that had willingly made that place their own personal palace, it was a methodic tune that sedated their vicious bloodlust.

A wide variety of monsters sought refuge in the large mountain, wild beasts, undead soldiers, the scourge of society, and demons that plagued the minds of the innocent all gathered under one horrific tyrant. It wasn’t a sense of loyalty or companionship that made the monsters seek out the demon who claimed the mountain as his castle, but a sense of fear for what would happen if they hadn’t aligned themselves with the demon.

And yet, despite the horrors and abominations of science and magic that took up arms to defend their castle, one hero without any hint of fear. For others, such an expedition would be nothing less than suicide, but for the defender of the innocent and hero of legend, it was an average Saturday afternoon.

Like a blinding light that pierced through the darkness, the Herculean hero of all, the shield against evil, and the most powerful man in the universe crossed the threshold of the mountain's mouth.

The Goliath of a man with golden hair emerged from the shadows, drawing his mighty blade from his sheath as he prepared for his battle with the master of all evil. The legendary hero, He-Man, had prepared himself both mentally and physically for his confrontation with the ruler of Snake Mountain. While he could easily dispatch many foes with his pinky toe alone, there were still those who had the power to defeat the hero of Eternia, and if the hero would ever fall in battle, the secrets of the universe would be laid bare to the most wicked monsters that lived in Eternia.

As the mighty warrior took careful note of his surroundings, preparing for a sudden ambush at any moment, a large cage fell from the ceiling of the cavern, instantly trapping the hero behind the strongest metal bars on Eternia. Even with his power sword and incredible strength, there was almost no chance of the hero being able to break through the enchanted cage.

“Nye-Ha, Adam! I’ve caught you!” The master of all evil in Eternia gloated as he emerged from the shadows.

“Hey, no fair!” The grown man whined as he desperately pulled at the bars of his cage. “This isn’t how you play hide and seek!”

“Oh, we were playing Hide and Seek? Well… Tell that to the tickle monster!” He threatened as he began to charge at the cage. Before the Master of Evil could unleash his vicious tickle attack on the defenseless guardian of peace, a loud bang broke through the fragile existence of the odd scene that had been created in Skeletor’s warped mind.

As Skeletor, the proclaimed Lord of the Crystal Empire, and not the perverted tickler of buff men in hairy underwear, left the realm of sleep to join those who had decided to start a productive and early day, the vivid scene his mind painted began to melt into a confused mess of forgettable darkness.

“Hmmm…” Skeletor groaned while sitting up from his bed. The beautiful call from his mattress to return to the realm of dreams had nearly caused the blue skinned king to lie back down. Unfortunately, the call of nature decided that it was the perfect moment to remind Skeletor that he couldn’t live in his comfortable bed forever.

“Apologies for entering your room without your express permission, my lord,” Emerald Secret apologized as she trotted into his room. Suddenly, like a puberty-stricken teenager who had forgotten to dispose of his used tissues, Skeletor had come to realize that his room was still a hap hazardous mess from all of his experiments and busy nights of studying.

“Emerald? W-what are you doing in here?” Skeletor asked as he pulled the blankets of his bed closer to his body. The idea of standing right in front of the mess he had created in a vain hope to hide his shame briefly crossed his mind, but was instantly chased when he realized he couldn’t block a broken mirror wardrobe, a partially burnt bookshelf, over a dozen books that had also been badly damaged, and a pillar of ice in the corner that hadn’t melted since he used it to put out a fire he started.

“Soooo… Everything alright, Emerald?” Asked Skeletor as he decided to ignore the mess and pretend like everything was normal.

“It’s… Complicated, my lord. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor have arrived, and would like to seek an audience with you.”

“Oh, princess and…” Skeletor trailed off as he slowly rose up from his bed to stare at his Royal Advisor. “I’m… I’m sorry Emerald, could you repeat that?”

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor are here.”

“What!?” Skeletor exclaimed as he stumbled out of the safety of his covers. “There’s actual royalty here? Like right now?! Here to see me?!”

“Yes, my lord, they’re waiting to meet with you, but—”

“Fuck! I-I’m not prepared for this! Shit, I don’t have pants, or a shirt, I can’t go meet royalty dressed like this!” Skeletor claimed as he began to frantically open the drawers of his dresser.

“Why not?” Emerald Secret asked in earnest.

“Why not? WHY NOT?! Look at me Emerald, what do you see?” Skeletor rhetorically asked as he rushed over to his bed and began to use his bedding to make a makeshift robe around his waist.

“… A kind king?”

“I look like a freak! Dammit, they’re going to see me and call me a monster, and then they’re going to do... Do something, and then the Crystal Empire will be fucked over, and then it’ll be my fault and I’ll—” Skeletor continued to ramble on as Emerald Secret stared at him with wide eyes.

“My lord, please calm yourself. Everything will be fine… Hopefully,” Emerald tried to reason as her lord frantically searched the room for more articles of cloth to cover his body.

“Fine?! Emerald this is legitimate royalty here. Anything I say or do wrong could end up sending the Empire to war with another kingdom. Alright, uh… Stall them! Give them a tour of the castle or something and bring them to the throne room in thirty minutes. I need to find Colonel Kernel and Crumb Catcher immediately.”

“Why? Wouldn’t it be better to meet with them now?”

“I can’t do that, not now, not yet. I-I need, I need to uh… Just, I need to make a good impression on them. Just, go talk to them for a bit, show them a few paintings of Princess Amore, maybe get them something to eat, do whatever, but do not let them in the Throne Room until uh… until thirty minutes from now. They’ll see the Empire is in good hands, they’ll talk to some ponies, and then they’ll meet… me.

“They’ll uh… They’ll meet me and uh, we’ll chat, or whatever it is rulers do. Just, just talk to them for me, Emerald. Talk about how nice the Empire is, how you’re feeling, just talk to them and make them feel comfortable. Please, I need you, Emerald. Just, please help me,” he practically begged.

“V-very well, my lord. I just thought I should tell you that… Some of us have concerns about their claim to being royalty.”

“Do they have crowns on their heads?”

“Yes.”

“Do they have guards with them, too?”

“Oddly dressed guards, but I do believe they’re still guards.”

“Then that sounds like royalty to me. Find out which kingdom they’re from and treat them hospitably. I’d rather treat them well and be wrong about their status than do something to upset them if they are royalty. Learn what you can and bring them to the throne room in half an hour,” Skeletor ordered as he fastened one of his blankets into a makeshift skirt, only to rip it off of himself a few moments later in aggregation.

“… I will make sure that everything goes well, my lord. Rest assured, nothing will go wr—"

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Skeletor commanded. “Just… Go and make a good impression on them. Find out as much as you can from them, and make them feel at ease.”

“As you wish, my lord. I'll take care of everything."

“Thank you, Emerald. I wasssss… Um… I wasn't worried, or, I mean I’m not worried. They should just know the strength of the Empire, and that the tyrant, Sombra, wasn’t strong enough to completely crush the Crystal Empire’s hope. They need to know that the ponies are happy and things are good, and there’s no reason to try to make us an enemy or unnecessarily intervene in any way, like starting a revolution, but that's completely crazy. I mean, who would follow them into a revolution to overthrow and behead me?..” He rambled with an award smile on his jaws.

“… Of course, my lord. I don’t think they hold any ill-will towards the Empire. I’m certain that they’ll be happy to meet you, my lord… I hope,” she said as she opened the door to leave Skeletor.

Left with his own thoughts and sudden worries. Royalty … Royalty, why is there royalty here? Wait… No one outside the Empire should know that Sombra isn’t in control of the Empire anymore… The last pair of royalty that came here either died or barely escaped death at his hooves, so no one should be stupid enough to come here unless…

“Fuck… No, no, that’s not possible. That’d be stupid, there’s no way they came here intending to meet Sombra… But what if they were?” Skeletor wondered to himself as he opened the drawer of his dresser to retrieve his new crown.

“If they came here to meet with him… If he had secret supporters outside the Empire, like corrupt nobility or royalty from other kingdoms… That’s what he meant about Grogar, isn’t it? Fuck, I thought he was just talking out of his ass… If this, Gorgar guy is royalty, then he might have an entire kingdom… No, he might have an actual Empire. And who’s to say he’s the only one,” Skeletor realized as he stared into the gems that decorated his crown.

“DAMN YOU, SOMBRA!” Skeletor shouted in rage as he tossed his crown at his bed. “Fine! I’ll deal with whatever mess you left for me, you incompetent incorporeal imbecile!”

Similar to the many other times Skeletor threatened the spirit of the Empire’s last tyrant, he received no response from the deceased ruva. Though, unlike the other times he had threatened to banish Sombra’s spirit or do something similar, Skeletor could have sworn that he felt a disgusting sense of mirth from beyond the veil of life. Even if Somrba’s lingering ghost didn’t openly gloat about Skeletor’s shortcomings and failures, the silence from the empty room haunted him more than any vexing words that could have passed Sombra’s lips.

After taking a moment to collect his crown and his staff, the Lord of the Crystal Empire opened a portal to the throne room with the crown of the Crystal Empire resting firmly on his skull. The crown that he had hated no less than a day before had become one of his greatest weapons for the upcoming meeting with Sombra's possible supporters, showing the royal pair that the Empire was no longer under Sombra's subjugation. As much as Skeletor would have loved to send them back home with their tails literally between their legs, he had to approach this with a level of diplomacy and respect for the royal couple, or else the Empire would likely find itself at war with whatever kingdom the prince and princess hailed from.

"Guards, find Crumb Catcher and Avid Value, and relay my orders to them," Skeletor ordered the guards once he sat on his throne. "Tell them to prepare suitable gifts for Prince Armored and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza in no less than fifteen minutes, and to then come immediately to the throne room. We must prepare for this... meeting."

With his orders delivered, the two royal guards departed to convey his words to the Royal Spy Master and the Royal Treasurer. Skeletor could only hope that whatever his Council members prepared would be enough to preemptively placate the royal couple and convey his "willingness" to have good relations with them. And, if by chance they hadn't supported the tyrant then giving them gifts and speaking with them would prove profitable for the Empire in the long run. In the end, all Skeletor could do was count down the minutes as he waited for one of the most difficult tasks in all his life to come trotting through the throne room's doors. Either he would succeed in gaining the approval of the foreign prince and princess, or... he and the Empire would suffer.

May whatever twisted god of this world have mercy on us all, he silently prayed.

Chapter 28. Information and Trust are a Sword and Shield.

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The Princess of Love stared into what she had always expected to be a nearly perfect reflection of herself, only to find the differences between the expectations of who she was going to become and who she was.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or as she preferred, Princess Cadence, examined every brush stroke and paint blotch on the portrait of her ancestor. Princess Cadence had always wondered what her ancestor looked like, but because all the remaining paintings and history books related to Princess Amore had been sealed away to prevent any creature from braving the storm of the Frozen North to pillage the Crystal Empire, she had never had the chance to see or read anything about the secret third princess. But now, history was laid bare before her, and she was finally able to see the mare who built an Empire based on the most powerful emotion in all of the universe.

But, now that she was in the epicenter of the love filled Empire, all Princess Cadence could feel was subdued optimism and a prevalent sense of worry radiating off of the crystal ponies who had escorted her and her husband, along with their small group of thesteral guards, into the Crystal Castle. The love radiating through the walls of the Crystal Castle was tainted by a stain of fear and distrust, a majority of which was pointed directly at her. Being a pony who was usually revered by thousands, the Princess of Love wasn’t used to sensing ponies who felt unease and discomfort towards her, and could only choose to ignore them.

At first, their apprehension towards her was insignificantly small, buried under mountains of hope and joy that filled their spirits and minds. But, after one sentence, all of their glee and hopefulness had soured, turning into an ocean of mistrust and dread. She wasn’t certain how not knowing where “Dream Valley” was cause for alarm, but apparently, she had broken a terrible taboo by not knowing the geography of a place that was lost to time for over a thousand years.

Not that I’m bitter or anything. She bitterly thought. Princess Cadence had already made a fool of herself when she attempted to mimic her aunt’s speech, but to make matters worse she somehow earned their ire with one simple question.

For a short moment, she had wondered if they would have reacted the same way if she had been Princess Amore. However, Princess Cadence had known better than to compare herself to others, and chased away her negative thoughts with a little sound she had been taught when she was a foal, and eventually taught when she was a foal-sitter. Princess Cadence knew that she would never be Princess Amore, but she would be cursed if she didn’t try her hardest to be the best version of herself that she could be.

Once she was done looking at the painting of her ancestor, Cadence trotted back to inform the castle’s Royal Advisor that she was ready to continue their tour.

“Now, ahead of us is the dining hall, where the palace’s staff and guard eat their meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Would you like to have something to eat while we wait for your meeting with Lord Skeletor, your majesty?” Emerald Secret asked with a well practiced smile.

“That sounds lovely, Mrs. Secret. Is there any chance Lord Skeletor would be willing to join us as well?” She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

Despite having a chance to meet with a well-known princess, at least by modern standards, Skeletor had refused and stated that they would meet at a time and place of his choosing. While such a demand would be normal for royalty, she knew that Skeletor wasn’t a real member of any royal family, he was a creature who had claimed to kill Sombra and that was all. Skeletor wasn’t a king or a hero, he was simply a liar with a silver tongue that had managed to find himself on a throne.

The claim that he had slain Sombra with his hands had been too ludicrous to believe, it was about as likely as the goddess of chaos singing about love and harmony. What was more, was that the description that the guards had given to her was far too strange to be true.

The rumors about him insulting Eris didn’t sound too farfetched at that moment when the guards described him to her, though the more plausible answer for their description of Skeletor was illusionary magic. Illusions for changing a creature’s appearance weren’t too uncommon for unicorns, some even used it to hide their horns so they could perform tricks while disguising themselves as average earth ponies or pegasi.

Illusion spells were also heavily used by home invaders and thieves who could make themselves practically invisible, leading many mages to work hundreds of hours to create security measures against illusion spells and other types of tricky magic. While those countermeasures weren’t effective at revealing changelings, they were still good enough to prevent criminals from using magic to teleport into other ponies’ homes and robbing them blind with an invisibility spell.

Compared to the security of a modern-day house in a town like Ponyville, the security for the Crystal Castle, and the Empire as a whole, was sufficiently lacking. A single unicorn would be able to rob the Crystal Empire blind if they managed to teleport into the Empire’s vault. The most defensive spell she had seen in the castle so far had been nothing more than an average sound muffling spell that could have been easily dispelled by a dog whistle or some other high pitch noise.

“Lord” Skeletor was not a demon, not a hero, and he was certainly no king. To Cadence, he was nothing more than a pitiful liar who stole the credit from the creature who had actually succeeded in dethroning King Sombra.

“I’m sorry, your majesty, but that’s unlikely,” Emerald answered. “You’ll be able to see his lordship in due time.”

“Of course, I look forward to it. By the way, could you tell me more about Lord Skeletor as we trot? I’d like to know about how great he is,” she forced out with sweet words. “Maybe you could tell me about any laws he passed during his rule. I’d like to know what kind of leader he is before I meet him.”

In truth, she only wanted to make sure that she could fix any problems Skeletor created during his temporary reign, seeing as how the Empire would belong to her and Shining Armor after their meeting.

After the invasion of Canterlot from the changeling swarm and her imprisonment inside the deep labyrinths underneath the mountain that Canterlot rested on, Cadence spent a great deal of her time studying and learning as much as she could about illusionary spells. Similarly to the sound muffling spell that he had placed on his door, any illusionary spell he had used could easily be broken with an above average flash spell. The sudden blinding light would cause everyone’s vision to reset, allowing them to see the pony hiding inside his fake monster. And, if it were a stronger illusion spell, she would need to cast a quick dizziness spell so that the unicorn or ruva's focus on their fake appearance would falter, once again allowing their true identity to be exposed.

Once he was exposed as a fraud and manipulator, Cadence and Shining Armor would be able to take the reins of the Crystal Empire and turn it back into the bastion of love that it had been millennia ago.

“Certainly, your highness. I suppose it would only be right to discuss the holiday he created.”

A holiday all about that egotist, no doubt. He probably called it something like Saint Skeletor D—

“He decided that the day of the Crystal Fair each year would become Amore Memory Day,” Emerald began to explain as several of Cadence’s expectations of Skeletor were broken. “Although it wasn’t his first act as lord, it was one of his most impactful. Not even a day later, he decided to pass a law allowing marriage between gay ponies.”

“He passed a law that made it so ponies had to be happy if they wanted to get married?”

“Not happy, your highness, ‘gay’. Apparently, that word has different connotation where Lord Skeletor is from, and is used to describe two ponies of the same gender being as intimate as married couples. After the Crystal Fair and the celebration of Amore Memory Day, he proclaimed to the Empire that the laws preventing marriages between two stallions or two mares was a plot devised by Sombra. According to Skeletor, Sombra had taken the form of a deity sent by Faust and lied to our princess, claiming that laws against gay marriage were a judgment passed by our benevolent goddess.”

“Really? Interesting…” Cadence said as she began to listen more carefully to Emerald’s words.

She wasn’t ignorant to think that her ancestor was the perfect princess that did no wrong. It was a different time for Princess Amore, and she had been working off of a flawed understanding of magic just like most ponies were in those days. Many ponies did things that, if done in the modern day, would have been heavily frowned upon or even attacked. But they lived in a different time, where the prying eyes of future generations held no influence or sway over their decisions.

Instead of telling the Empire the truth, that Princess Amore had flaws and believed in a misguided understanding of magic, Skeletor chose to create an elaborate lie that would paint Princess Amore as a virtuous saint who was deceived by a Timberwolf against tree bark. She wasn’t sure how praising her ancestor helped Skeletor, but she was certain that there had to have been a self-serving reason behind his deceit.

“He and Copper Plate, our Master of the Archives, poured over the marriage laws for quite some time and agreed to rescind and keep a few laws,” Emerald continued as she led Cadence and her group to the dining hall.

“Has he passed any… controversial or questionable laws during his rule? You’re his Royal Advisor, have you had to put your hoof down at any time?”

“I’m not at liberty to question or undermine any of Lord Skeletor’s decisions, my role is simply to advise him if I believe something should be done differently. While he and Copper Plate were looking at our laws, he relied on her input to come to any final decision.”

“So, Copper Plate advised him at that time. Is there a chance I could speak with them today as well?” 

“That could be arranged if you’re willing to take a detour to the medical ward of the castle. She had an accident and has been relieved of her royal duties until she can make a full recovery.”

“Oh, was she hurt?”

“Yes, but she'll be better soon. There was a problem with her back leg and she’s been told to rest it, I’m not entirely sure when she’ll be able to return to her duties but I'm certain that she would appreciate meeting with you. That reminds me, your majesty, I’ve been meaning to ask you something, if that’s alright with you.”

“By all means, ask,” Cadence replied.

“Thank you, your majesty. I was just curious about how long do your and his majesty plan to stay in the Crystal Empire. I’m sure all of the other crystal ponies in the Empire are eager to know too, so would you mind telling us how long you’ll grace us with your presence?”

Forever. Cadence thought to herself, purposefully keeping that answer from the Royal Advisor until she exposed Lord Skeletor as a lying unicorn or ruva.

“We’re planning to stay here for some time. Once my husband and I meet with Lord Skeletor, we’ll be able to discuss our living arrangements. Also, I noticed that you also only mentioned that the crystal ponies would like to know how long we’ll be staying. Wouldn’t the thestrals and ruvas in the Empire also like to know as well?” She asked.

The moment her question passed her lips, Cadence could feel an immense sense of sadness wafting off of Emerald and the crystal pony guards escorting her.

“There are no more ruvas or thestrals in the Crystal Empire, the only ones who survived are those who managed to escape and find refuge in Dream Valley,” Emerald explained in a somber tone before she wore a gentle and hopeful smile on her muzzle to deliver some thread of hope that could guide her through the darkness of her pain. “But, I’m certain that those who managed to flee will return to the Empire soon, just as your escorts have.”

Cadence glanced at her guards for a brief moment with confusion written plainly on her face before an immediate and worrying answer came to her mind. With how often Lord Skeletor had lied to her future subjects, it wasn’t odd to think that he had told them a terrible lie that would crush their spirits. She could only pray to Faust that Skeletor hadn’t kept the truth from them when he arrived in the Empire.

“Emerald, I know this may be an odd question… But what year do you think it is right now?”

A high-pitched beep rang in Star Burst’s ear as she stealthily snuck through the castle corridors, sticking to the shadows whenever she was presented the opportunity to hide herself in the corners of the tall ceilings.

Thanks to a small enchantment placed on her body armor, the thestral was able to slip away from their tour guide and use a special magic enchantment detection device to search the castle for any of Sombra’s remaining evil enchantments. The device, a small rectangular box made of plastic and fiber glass that hung around her neck by a loose string, was a modified bomb spell detector.

Instead of being used to detect high amounts of time related enchantments and explosive spells, such as compacted fireworks spells and so on, the device around her neck had been calibrated to search for large sources of dark magic.

The device was designed to release high frequency beeps that only thestrals and lycanthropes could hear, and the high-pitched beeps would become more intense the closer it came to a source of powerful dark magic. Star Burst wasn’t completely sure how the device could tell if a spell or enchantment was powered either by a unicorn midbrain or the shards of others’ souls, but she knew that it worked and that was all that mattered.

General Camisole had eloquently surmised Star’s mission as, “magic with second brain: good, magic with souls: bad, listen for irritating beeps, and get rid of bad magic."

The still unnamed device was designed to search for any spells or enchantments powered by souls since Sombra had primarily used dark magic during his reign over the Crystal Empire. It only made sense that whatever ancient item was preventing Princess Luna from entering the dreams of the ponies who lived in the Empire had to have been powered by dark magic. Once the artifact was properly disposed of, Princess Luna would be able to frolic through their dreams with ease and use her special talents with therapeutic magical spells to ease their minds and help their spirits heal. Everypony would celebrate, they'd probably sing a song, and then Star Burst would diligently wait for her next assignment with the silent hope that she could earn a promotion that she could rub in Camisole’s muzzle.

With that plan set firmly in her mind, Star Burst continued to listen to the small device as she flew through the halls of the luxurious castle. Her white flectan fur coat and the subsequent notice-me-not enchantment placed on it allowed the thestral guard to navigate the halls without much issue. The only problem was when the device led her to a pair of large doors that were being guarded by a pair of crystal pony guards.

The oversized doors were far too large and heavy for her to discreetly open by herself, and the fact that she had little to no idea what laid behind them made her hesitant to tempt fate by trying to sneak past the guards. Still, the device around her neck had led her to that obstacle for a reason, so she would have to get through those doors eventually.

After diving through an open window that she had passed by earlier, she gently glided around the castle walls in the hopes of finding a way into the room behind the stationed guards. If it turned out that the only way to get into the room was through the guarded doors, then it would be a simple matter of reporting it back to the princess later once she dethroned Skeletor and gained complete control of the small Empire. At that point, there would be no need for secretly sneaking through the castle, which would have actually been a little disappointing for her since this would likely be the only time she could use her skills of espionage to sneak into a castle.

How many mares can say they snuck into a castle and got rewarded for it? She gleefully thought to herself as she successfully managed to find a window into the room that the device had led her to.

With no curtains to hide behind or any windows high enough to perch on safely, Star Burst gently hovered outside the window by lightly flapping her wings as she looked inside. Her eyes barely peeked over the ledge of the large windows as she peered into the room.

The first thing that her eyes latched onto was the, for lack of a better word at that moment, thing that was perched on the throne. It was as if the pages of a foal’s book parted at the spine to allow a fictional monster to wrench itself free from its paper prison to enter reality. It was both furless and scale-less with only a navy-blue cloak and several armored plates to cover it’s sensitive and naked blue skin. The creature’s face had been completely torn off, leaving only the remnants of a primate like skull to serve as the monster’s head.

It didn’t take Star Burst too long, once she got over her initial shock, to realize that she was staring at Lord Skeletor.

The image she painted in her mind at the guard’s words paled in comparison to the creature she saw at that moment. A being that could only exist in the borders of Eris’ fraying sanity had managed to claim the Crystal Empire’s throne as its own and deceived the crystal ponies into believing that it was a real monster.

Star Burst took some comfort in the knowledge that the thing sitting on the crystal throne was nothing more than an illusion created by a unicorn. Unfortunately, the fact that there was an illusion that radiated dark magic meant that the unicorn who was controlling it was powerful enough to keep up the illusion while keeping themselves hidden, possibly using an invisibility spell and silencer spell to conceal themselves.

The slowly rising pitch of the device around Star Burst’s neck forced her to lower the volume for a moment as she silently observed the illusion. She found it incredibly strange for the unicorn caster to keep up the illusion inside the barren throne room. Whoever the caster was, they were talented enough to keep their illusion animate even in its idle state on the throne. Most unicorn illusionists would take the opportunity to only show a stationary image that didn’t require them to focus on animating their puppet, but the illusion that occupied the throne was animated with great detail. The fabric that covered its body fell naturally into place and didn’t sink into the illusion’s skin, the steady rise and fall of the illusion’s shoulders perfectly mimicked the steady breathing of a real creature, and the unicorn had even taken the initiative to create a fake shadow for the creature.

She could see how the unicorn had so thoroughly deceived the crystal ponies into thinking that their creation was a real monster, but she couldn’t understand why they went through such great efforts to deceive the crystal ponies. Why pretend to be an otherworldly monster when they could claim all the fame and glory of Sombra’s defeat as a unicorn? Why go through the effort of maintaining an illusion in an empty room? And, most confusing of all, why use dark magic to create the illusion when they could rely on their own magic without tearing apart pieces of their own, or others’, souls.

Her silent questions were stopped for a moment as the sound of screeching hinges drew her attention to the throne room doors. She watched as two guards trotted into the throne room and took note that their armor didn’t bear the skeletal themed accents that adorned the armor of the guards outside the throne room or the ones that escorted Star Burst and her company to the castle. Instead, their armor was a deep purple color that was bare of any noticeable decorations.

The guards both bowed before the illusion, prompting the fake monster to acknowledge their presence as it stared down at them.

“Have you delivered my orders?” The illusion asked the two guards.

“Yes, Lord Skeletor. Crumb Catcher and Avid Value should be here after they’ve completed their task,” one of the guards answered.

“Perfect. We must be prepared to receive the prince and princess when they come to meet with me. I’m sure the’ll be quite surprised by what we’ve prepared for them. I thank you both for your diligent work.”

“It’s an honor to serve you, Lord Skeletor,” the two guards stated in unison.

 “Uh, yes, I appreciate your loyalty to the Empire’s wellbeing. Anyway, I’m going to leave for a moment, make sure no one comes in here without my express permission,” he ordered.

The two guards nodded in acknowledgement to the illusion’s demands before they took their positions at the throne room doors. For a moment, Star Burst thought to leave and report back to Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor about what she had seen, but the slowly rising pitch of the dark magic detecting device gave her a brief pause. Her eyes were glued onto the illusion as it pulled out a scepter that had been hidden from her view earlier. A deep green color ensnared the ram skull on the scepter and released a spike in dark magic to create an oval orange portal in the middle of the throne room.

The portal’s sudden appearance caused the device around her neck to scream out in agony at the rising levels of dark magic in the throne room, which in turn caused Star Burst to release a pain filled howl as the device stabbed her ears with a horrific screech. Her loud cry echoed through the walls of the throne room, instantly catching the attention of the two guards and the illusionary monster. The moment her eyes locked with the monster, she felt his magical aura latch onto her like a vicious predator before he violently pulled her into the throne room.

The device screamed with all it’s power as his telekinetic grip wrapped around her body, ensnaring her in too much dark magic that the device threatened to deafen her with its high-pitched whine. She could barely notice the aura around her body tighten as the pain in her ears began to flare with enough force to make her head spin.

Before she knew it, her muzzle was only a foot away from the skeletal face of the Empire’s biggest liar.

“Who are you?!” The illusion demanded as the device continued to assault her ears. Skeletor’s voice barely rose above the high pitch that only Star Burst could hear.

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as the device continued to torment her, but once she felt the magical aura surrounding her body fade, her hooves instantly flew to the device around her neck and tore it off before she smashed it against the crystal floor. As the ringing in her ears slowly died down, she could swear that she heard something that sounded like, “cards offender,” but in hindsight was probably “guards, apprehend her.”

Without much delay, the guards who had been standing watch at the doors were pinning her to the floor. Star Burst struggled to free herself from the combined weight of two guards in heavy armor, but her efforts to push them off were in vain, she had been left completely defenseless after the onslaught of noise attacked her ears. Her vision was still blurred by the splitting headache that tore through her skull and the ringing in her ears refused to let her mind recuperate.

“… What is this?…” She heard Skeletor ask over the ringing in her ears. Her vision was blurred by the tears that struggled to spill from her eyes, but she could see that the illusion was holding the remains of the device in its clawed hand.

Star didn’t piece together the implications of what she saw immediately but, after a few moments of allowing her mind to process what she had witnessed, a daunting thought appeared in the back of her mind. What should have been an illusion, an intangible mess of colors with no real mass, was holding a solid object without any visible telekinesis around it.

“What the buck?” She muttered.

The safety of her previous assumptions slowly cracked under the weight of her newfound fears until the comfortable space she had built inside her mind shattered before the demonic creature. She had felt a certain sense of security when she thought her opponent was a unicorn that was well versed in illusionary magic, but any sense of superiority or confidence that she had was buried under a flood of realization and worry.

The skull headed monster slowly knelt down to meet her eye. The dark pits of his eye sockets became more prominent as the eyes hidden in the shadows of his skull peered into her own. The fangs of his upper jaw became more prominent, as if they had been filed down to become sharp blades that could tear into her flesh. At that moment, Star Burst greatly feared for her life.

She watched as the edges of his jaw shifted ever-so-slightly to act as a makeshift pair of lips, forming shapes for his words to be carried out of his skull. “Who are you?”

Star Burst briefly struggled to decide if she should answer the monster or not, her mind was alit with furious fears and panicked questions that gnawed at her sense of rationality. Too many questions and doubts flew through her mind as she eyed the broken tracker in his hand, a hand that could lash out and wrap around her throat at a moment’s notice.

While she studied every detail of his appearance to fuel the nightmares that would later plague her mind, one of the guards grew impatient with her long pause of silence and began to make his agitation known. “Answer our lord, criminal!” The guard demanded.

She felt the hooves of the guard dig deeper into the membrane of her pinned wing, grinding it between his armored hoof and the hard crystal floor. A hiss of pain escaped through her clenched teeth as she endured the guard’s attempts to force her to comply with the monster.

Star Burst resisted the heavy urge to tell the stallion to shove something unpleasant up his behind, and was greatly surprised that her silence was rewarded by the intervention of the demonic creature.

“Hey, hey! Stop that, she’s already pinned down, there’s no need to begin hurting her,” Skeletor chastised.

“I-I’m sorry my lord,” the guard apologized as he shifted his weight off of Star Burst’s wing.

Skeletor gave the guard a silent nod before he turned his attention back to Star Burst to begin his interrogation. “Now, ma’am, I would appreciate it if you told me who you were and what you’re doing here.”

Star Burst briefly hesitated before she answered him, weighing the options of her words and actions on her tongue.

“Lieutenant Star Burst of the lunar guards, my comrades and I were being led through a tour of the castle when I accidentally got separated. I flew around the castle to stretch my wings for a bit when I passed by that window,” Star said, with a tilt of her head towards the aforementioned window.

“So, that explains how you got here. But that doesn’t explain this thing,” Skeletor stated as he gently shook the remains of the shattered device in his hand. “What is this, and where did you get it?”

“… That’s a new type of compass.”

“Bullshit. You expect me to believe that? If that’s it, then why did you smash it, because it wasn’t pointing north? I’m not an idiot, so don’t treat me like one. Now, what is this, and where did you get it?”

“… It’s a magic detection device set to track certain traces of magic, and it was hurting my ears too much. It’s just a standard issue piece of equipment for members of the Equestrian guard.”

“Standard issue, Nye-heh? Really? To have something so… advanced while the Empire is still struggling to make paper… Interesting… Let her stand. I want to get a better look at her, ‘standard issued’ equipment,” he ordered the guards who were restraining her.

With an impressive speed, Star Burst soon found herself back on her hooves with the two guards pressing into her sides to restrict her wings. In spite of this, she gave her wings an experimental nudge to see if there was any chance of still escaping, but their heavy armor-plated barrels prevented her gaining more than a few hairs of an inch.

Skeletor took his time as he circled her and the pair of guards, silently drinking in everything that his eye sockets latched onto. Star Burst felt the hairs of her ears stand on edge as Skeletor’s gaze traveled across her body, as if he was measuring up a stalk of corn at a market stand. His words were carefully measured as he spoke, and held a hint of disbelief and mild humor that hid the great curiosity that raged in his mind.

“I’ve seen these ‘standard issue’ items before, camouflaged body armor, bullet proof helmets, snow goggles, and plastic. Even this smashed magic tracker, thing, could be considered a glorified Geiger counter. I’ve seen them, touched them, and used most of them before, and I know that these can only be made by someone not of your… Kingdom. So tell me, who was the person that designed this compass and your body armor?”

Per Son? What the buck is a Per, and why does he think a Per’s son made my equipment? She wondered.

As she thought about how to answer his odd question, the monster drew closer to her and crouched to down until his skull was only a foot away from her own muzzle. “There’s a human in your kingdom, isn’t there?” Skeletor demanded. “If there’s a human out there, I wish to know about them. So, what do you know about them?”

“I’m not at liberty to confirm or deny if there’s a human in our kingdom,” Star replied as she silently wondered how the son of a “Per” was related to a “human.”

“… Fair enough,” Skeletor openly scoffed as he rose back up to pace around the thesteral guard once more. “I’ll simply ask your prince and princess later. If there is a human in your kingdom, I will find a way to speak with him or her.”

Feeling tempted to dig for any information she could sink her teeth into, Star Burst decided to turn the tables of their interrogation and ask Skeletor a question so that she could both buy time for herself and gather intelligence for Equestria’s princesses.

“Does it have anything to do with ‘A-Mare-ial’?” Star asked, using the name of his alleged home to pry for more details about what he was after.

“America,” Skeletor instantly corrected. “… You know about America… Then, you must have a human in your kingdom. What are they like, did they say anything about how they got to your kingdom?”

“That information isn’t privy to the public, sir. Not even I know,” she lied once more. With each second that passed in their conversation, the demonic creature would unknowingly reveal something useful for Star Burst to take note of.

“Then tell me something that is ‘privy’. How long have they been in your kingdom, how old are they, tell me something,” he demanded as he once again stopped in front of her. 

“They’ve been in Equestria for several months now and I’m not sure how old they are.”

“…Alright. What other inventions has that person shared with you?”

“Once again, I’m not at liberty to divulge information that—”

“Enough, I get it, ‘It’s classified’ or whatever. Can you at least tell me their name?” He asked, keeping his voice more neutral than he had during his previous questions.

It only took Star Burst a second to think of a name that worked for several species despite their race, gender, or position. If she were anywhere else, perhaps she would have slightly struggled to find a name that matched her criteria, but it was hard to forget the most common name among all species when she was literally surrounded by it.

“Crystal,” she finally answered, choosing a vague name that could work for anything from a pet puppy to an exotic dragon, and it was also a name that could be given to either colts or fillies.

“Crystal…” Skeletor quietly repeated before he turned away from the thestral guard to sit on the large obsidian throne. “Crystal, Crystal, Crystal… Well, I can’t wait to meet with her then. Hopefully, she and I can find a solution to our shared… problem. Now, your prince and princess, why have they come to the Empire completely unannounced?”

“They came here to… Make sure Sombra was dealt with.”

“So, they aren’t his acquaintances?”

“Buck no,” she said without any restraint. “Why would you even say that?”

“Because, ma’am, I’m just trying to piece together this odd puzzle before me. Two ponies from another kingdom came to the Empire without an army, without any warning, and without knowing that Sombra was already dead. I… Just wanted to assure myself that we could all get along. I’ve even gone through the efforts of preparing gifts for your prince and princess so that we could begin to form good relationships between the Crystal Empire and your kingdom. Speaking of which, would you be so kind as to tell me where they hail from?”

Star Burst resisted the desire to blurt out a question, and ask Skeletor if he had never heard of Princess Cadence or Prince Shining Armor before. Anypony, heck, any creature would know that they were from Canterlot, only the most ill-informed shut-in wouldn’t know about them. She couldn’t help but wonder is he really didn’t know who they were or if he was simply acting like a naive fool to lower her guard?

“They’re from Canterlot, the capital of Equestria,” she answered.

“… Canterlot… Canter… Oh, sweet Jesus,” he muttered as he pinched the space between his eye-sockets. “And here I thought, Amethyst avenue and Sapphire square were bad puns… Well, pun names aside, you said that they came from… ‘Canterlot’ to make sure that Sombra is dead, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s wonderful. Since you accidentally lost your group, you should wait here for your prince and princess to arrive. I’m sure they’ll be elated to know that you’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty to leave a favorable impression of them to me before I even met them. So, won’t you stay here and wait patiently for them?”

It didn’t take even a moment for Star Burst to see through his thinly veiled words. Essentially, she was forced into a precarious situation where any attempt to escape would reflect on how he would react to Princess Cadence and Prince Armor when they arrived. Though she didn’t really care what the questionably undead monster thought of them, she did feel compelled to oblige his offer, and hopefully find a way to learn more about him in the short time she had before the others would arrive at the throne room. Her conversation with him had already revealed more than he could have imagined, and in a situation where one is faced with the unknown, knowledge would always be a great tool to combat the risks of possible surprises.

“Thank you for the offer, sir, I’ll gladly accept it.”

“Excellent. Guards, release her and return to your posts at the door. My head of staff and royal treasurer should join us shortly, so I hope you won’t mind indulging in a few more questions over tea, Lieutenant Burst. I'd love to hear more about the person residing in your wonderful kingdom."

"Of course, sir, but I can only tell you so much," Star Burst agreed as she prepared for a silent battle of information and deceitful words.

Chapter 29. Kings Don't Cry.

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One of the greatest ways to ruin a nice meal is by leaving the bitter taste of reality in another pony’s mouth.

The sweet flavors and delicate aromas that filled Emerald’s pallet in the dining hall had turned into nothing more than a simple mindless distraction to keep her mouth busy as she digested Princess Cadenza's earlier words. It had taken a great deal of convincing on the princess’ part for Emerald to truly believe her words, to believe that the world she once knew was no more. She and the crystal guards still held hints of doubt in their minds, holding onto hopeful thought that what Princess Cadenza revealed was nothing more than a cruel lie. However, to believe that an alicorn would ever lie was like believing that Eris was the physical manifestation of Faust, or that the gates of Tartarus were tied together with a loose piece of string. It wasn’t unthinkable, but it was still too terrifying of a thought to entertain.

Their choices were to either believe that an alicorn would actively lie to them for no apparent reason, or that they had truly leapt through time and traveled far off into the future. Neither option was held any sense of comfort in it, and each held their own hidden layers of darkness.

A tense silence filled the dining hall as the guards and maids who were already eating before they arrived stare at Princess Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor, completely unburdened by the dark truth that plagued the minds of those who escorted them to the dining hall.

Colonel Kernel had barely touched his serving when it arrived, and only chose to stare at the bubbles that slowly rose from his stew as it grew colder. Princess Cadenza and Prince Armor also held their own bitter sorrow as they ate, taking the silence that had built up at their table to retreat into their own minds. Emerald’s had briefly thought of asking them more questions, or at least warning the two that it was considered rude to lift table ware with telekinesis since it was considered rude in the Empire, but she tossed aside those thoughts as she retreated into her own mind.

She had felt many forms of pain during the years of her enslavement under Sombra, and over those years Emerald had begun to find ways to categorize and, for lack of better words, hide some of the more disturbing and dark memories that formed the groundwork of her nightmares. The pain inside of her wasn’t anything new, but it was still mortifyingly interesting how it felt similar to the other moments of immense pain in her life. It wasn’t like the numb pain that ate away at her mind whenever her thoughts drifted towards her deceased family, nor was it like the pain that forced her lifeless eyes to fill her pillow with tears after Sombra had done something unspeakable, instead, it was reminiscent of the pain she felt when her father left their family.

As a foal born out of wedlock, the laws allowed her parents to divorce since they never proved that they had the capability to produce another foal, making it easy for her father to spend the rest of his short life with his mistress. It was a bitter sense of betrayal that tore away at her heart, a feeling of regret, loss, and sorrow that built up a mountain of mixed emotions. At the peak of that large mountain rested a burning anger that was too far and always out of her reach, a desire to scream and shout, to grab the rage that steadily rose inside her and do something with it, a need to act. But, it would always be an effort in futility to grab those emotions since the climb up was filled with turmoil and sorrow. Instead, she chose to quietly sit in her own mind, and allow her thoughts to run without any restraint, and bury herself in the sea of confusion and bitterness.

Once Emerald resigned herself to the anguish that filled her, sinking deeper into the misery of her memories and thoughts, a polite cough from Princess Cadenza drew her attention towards her. The smile on her muzzle was more hesitant than when she had arrived in the Empire, and her mask of happiness was slowly slipping with each passing second, revealing the guilt and worry that laced her brow.

“Um, sooo… Does anypony want to talk about it?” Princess Cadenza asked, as her eyes drifted from Emerald to Colonel Kernel and then the rest of his guards. “I know that it’s a lot for everypoony here, but I think it would do some good to talk about this for a bit.”

Emerald caught several guards at the table exchanging glances as they thought of how to answer her. The princess’ proposal was a simple gesture of goodwill, a way to break the silence with the intention of providing some semblance of emotional support to them. It was a nice offer, but it wasn’t something Emerald felt comfortable accepting.

Not many ponies would feel comfortable talking about their thoughts and problems with a stranger, even if that stranger was a member of royalty. Emerald had only allowed Copper Plate to listen to her inner thoughts, and that was only after days of the older mare being stubborn in her resolve to help. There was no incentive for her to share her issues with the princess in front of everypony else at their table, and she doubted that anypony else felt inclined to either.

The princess waited patiently for one of them to speak their minds, but their clear hesitance to share anything made it obvious that it was an effort in futility. Once again, the sound of quiet conversations from the other tables began to bury the silence that had been built around their table. Most of the conversations Emerald overheard were theories and thoughts about Princess Cadenza, while others spoke about their thoughts on Lord Skeletor’s absence from breakfast. While there were some days where Lord Skeletor chose to skip his morning meal in favor of looking over the papers written by Copper Plate, abstaining from a meal with a foreign representative was something that was unheard of.

If the prince or princess had any complaints about Lord Skeletor’s absence from the dining hall, they didn’t choose to voice them to anypony, not that Emerald would have cared if they did. She had more important things on her mind than how they felt.

As she continued to think about the thousands of years that passed by without the Empire, Colonel Kernel stood up from his seat and excused himself by saying, “I need to go read.”

Once Colonel Kernel had trotted out of earshot, Prince Shining Armor raised his fore hoof to his muzzle and gently coughed as he tried to create a conversation topic. “My sister reads to compose herself too.”

“The colonel is only partially literate, your majesty. Saying that he needs to read is just a polite way to say that he needs to relieve himself,” Emerald informed him as she continued to eat her Skeletor stew. While it wasn’t the official name, it was commonly referred to as Skeletor stew by the guards and castle staff, since warm crystalberry jam stew didn’t roll off the tongue quiet as well.

“Oh… Um… Is it normal for ponies here to not be able to read?”

“Yes. Lord Skeletor had been planning to increase the literacy rate in the Empire by finding a new method for producing more paper. General Cannon Fodder and a few guards were tasked with trotting to the remains of the Ruva Kingdom to search for medicine and anything that could help with paper production,” Emerald explained plainly with very little emotion in her words.

“There are ponies out there in the storm?!” Shinning Armor asked in horror. “Why would Skeletor make them do that?”

“Lord Skeletor,” Emerald said, emphasizing his title to the prince once more. “Debated this decision with the other members of the council. While the medicine he introduced to the medical ward was able to help some patients, it hasn't been enough for ponies in more critical states. The expedition to the Ruva Kingdom was for the benefit of the Empire, and it was a decision that was reached by having the majority of the council agree to it.”

“You said he introduced a medicine, right? What is it?” General Camisole asked before the prince could say anything more on the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom.

“He called them ‘Placebos’. According to Lord Skeletor, the potion he brewed can only be effective if the one taking it both believes it can work and doesn’t know the ingredients,” Emerald explained. “A few ponies in the medical ward have been singing praises about his medicine, but it’s not effective for physical injuries like broken bones or scars. Which is why the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom was necessary,” she tacked on at the end, feeling the need to emphasize the importance of the expedition.

The Empire’s guests all stayed relatively silent as they shared several looks with each other, as if their eyes alone could speak a thousand words without any misunderstandings.

“And he really called them, ‘Placebos,’ right?” Princess Cadenza asked.

“Yes, that’s what he called them. He asked us if we had ever heard of a placebo before, and after affirming that we didn’t, he went on to explain how it was a type of medicine that relied on faith,” Emerald clarified. “He’s refilled our supply of Placebos several times already, but he’s explained that it’s not a terrifically effective medicine and has warned us to not allow the patients to rely solely on his concoction.”

“I see…” Princess Cadenza said simply as she stared at the food in her bowl.

“I think we’re going to have to have a long talk with Skeletor when we meet him,” Prince Armor commented, as if it were an afterthought to his wife’s words.

Emerald refrained from correcting him again about her lord’s title, and instead chose to continue eating her meal undisturbed. She didn’t know why they seemingly had an issue with the potions Lord Skeletor brewed, but she wasn’t concerned enough to question it. She was certain that once Princess Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor received their chance to speak with Lord Skeletor that he would be able to clear any misconceptions they had about his leadership.

She trusted her lord to know what to do, or at least how to subtly stumble to a good outcome. Either way, she had confidence in Lord Skeletor’s abilities and natural talents. In his relatively short reign, he had single hoofidly defeated Sombra, a feat that neither of the Alicorn sisters could claim, introduced a new type of metal, invented a medical potion, personally helped with the cleanup of the Crystal Empire, and created a holiday that would give the Crystal Heart a larger amount of love than usual. If he could do that, then there was no reason to doubt in his abilities to form a friendly relationship with Princess Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor.

Afterwards, he'd do something else that would add onto his list of accomplishments, causing all of his previous achievements to pale in comparison as he continued to lead the Empire. She was confident that her lord wouldn't disappoint her.

If Skeletor were asked to describe how he felt on the throne of the Crystal Empire, he would definitely say he felt "diffident."

He had never heard of that word back on his homeworld, and he was somewhat certain that it was a word that only existed on Terra, like how schadenfreude was a word that only existed in Germany. But all the same, he felt diffident after everything he learned. The chuckle that escaped his jaw held no joy or mirth as he contemplated his own thoughts on the throne. It was a disbelieving laugh at the absurdity of his life and the things that continued to pile onto him.

He was a normal human, trapped in the body of a fictional cartoon villain from the eighties, trapped in a crumbling Empire made of crystals that had ponies living in it, who in turn were trapped inside a pocket of time that held them prisoner for around three thousand years. To top things off, he was now the ruler of the world’s largest target surrounded by a world of nations with better soldiers, weapons, and overall firepower, all of whom would instantly pounce on the news of a broken Empire made out of money that was run by an incompetent idiot.

“Nye-heh-heh… Jesus… Fucking Christ…” He said as another chuckle left his nonexistent throat.

The threat of a guillotine paled greatly in comparison to a world that would sooner put him on a dissection table than an electric chair. He struggled to find something to hold onto, some kind of silver lining in the dark clouds that hung over his head, something to alleviate the weight on his mind as he thought about the world outside the Empire’s barrier.

Skeletor was joined in his silent thoughts by Avid Value and Crumb Catcher, who were both given an abridged version of Star Burst’s knowledge when they arrived with their gifts. The platinum tea set prepared by Avid Value was laid to the side of his seat while the box that contained Crumb Catcher’s gift was pressed tightly against his barrel as he hugged it on his seat cushion. Even the two guards who were in the throne room were still restraining the intruder showed signs of distraught over the idea of being sent through time. The only one who wasn’t really affected by their revelation was the one who delivered it to them, Star Burst.

She sat in the middle of the throne room with the two guards still holding her in place, staring up at Skeletor and the two council members as everyone silently dealt with the many things that weighed on their minds.

Avid Value was the first one to let his lips speak the words that swam in his mind. “This can’t be true, right?” He asked with a hint of hope lingering on the last word.

Skeletor threw a glance at the quiet thestral mare before turning his attention to Avid. He not only shared Avid’s skepticism, but he also held a large amount of distrust towards the mare. When she had first arrived in the throne room, Skeletor immediately assumed that she was an assassin of some sort that came to kill him and mentally prepared a few spells to incapacitate her at a moment’s notice. Though, truth be told, he didn’t feel too confident about his chances against an actual assassin. Which was why he felt relieved to have the two guards at his beck and call, restraining the mare so that he wouldn’t be suddenly stabbed.

However, aside from breaking a magic detector thing, all she had done was talk about Canterlot and the world outside the Empire. Skeletor had asked if the lieutenant had any proof of her rank or her story about the Empire’s displacement, to which she produced her military ID complete with the current year of her enrollment in the army. So, either what she had come prepared with the world’s most insane story about being a lieutenant who came to deliver news about the Empire being sent through time in case she got caught, or she had been actually telling the truth. Unfortunately, neither option brought any peace to his thoughts.

“It would be odd for her to lie about something like this. There are a thousand more believable lies that she could tell us, and it would be too strange for her to choose ‘time travel’ as one of them. Not to mention the card she gave me earlier. May I see it again, lieutenant?” Skeletor asked Star Burst.

“Yes sir,” she affirmed.

Once again, the lieutenant took out her ID and slid it across the throne room floor. Using what he had learned from his magical studies, Skeletor used his telekinetic power to bring the plastic card to his sockets to verify it for the third or fourth time. Issued date: 7047 November 14, 2^nd Lieutenant rank, and what looked like a bar code made of rainbow stripes and glitter on the side. There was also a small picture of her face with a black silhouette of a star that was partially obscured by a grey cloud, which he had to guess was her cutie mark. It was clear as day that both of them weren't drawings or portraits, but instead photographs that must have been taken with a camera, adding on another piece of evidence that the Empire wasn't in the year that it left.

“… First and foremost, we need to discuss how we plan to share this revelation with the rest of the council,” Skeletor announced before sending the card back to the lieutenant with his levitation magic. “We can’t keep this from everyone forever. News of the Empire’s reappearance will spread, and the modern world will come to our door step sooner than we could possibly imagine.

“Secondly… We must speak with Princess Cadenza and Prince Armor immediately. Avid, go find Emerald and tell her to bring them here as soon as possible, my previous orders to her are to be considered null. Crumb Catcher, gather the guards and all of your ‘friends’. We’re going to need as many ponies in here as we can fit,” he ordered.

It took a few moments for his words to register with Crumb Catcher, but once they had, the blue coated stallion quickly went to carry out Skeletor’s orders. The Royal Spy Master was in such a hurry, that he had accidentally forgotten to leave behind whatever present he prepared for the prince and princess, though that didn’t concern Skeletor too much. He doubted that any gifts they could provide would interest them anyway.

Avid Value rose to follow after Crumb Catcher, but was quickly stopped by Skeletor before he could even leave the dais. “Wait for a moment, Avid. There’s one more thing that I need to do.”

Skeletor’s eye sockets soon fell on Star Burst, whose eyes darted away from him once she noticed that he was looking at her.

“Lieutenant Burst, while I have no authority to order you, I would like to make a request. If you accept, then I can give you permission to leave the throne room and return to your other guards.”

“What kind of request?” She asked after a few seconds of deliberation.

“I would like you to return to your group with Avid Value and insist to have a gag order put in place so information about the Empire’s displacement will not spread. I want to avoid a mass panic and, if possible, ease the populace into accepting their leap through time.”

Star Burst didn’t answer immediately, though that was too be expected. Since she wasn’t the highest-ranking member of the guards who came with her, it wasn’t in her abilities to demand a muzzle order or to order her comrades to tell everyone with a working set of ears. He simply wanted her to suggest it, and possibly offer at least some semblance of an argument to her superiors if possible.

“… I’ll see what I can do,” she finally answered.

Once she agreed to Skeletor’s proposal, Avid Value rose from his cushioned seat to leave the throne room with Star Burst following closely behind him with the two guards escorting her, leaving Skeletor alone in the throne room with his own thoughts. Skeletor slowly removed the crown from his head to give it a passing glance, admiring the effort that had gone into it with halfhearted enthusiasm.

“… ‘uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.’ Hmph. Whoever wrote that should get a fucking medal” Skeletor muttered under his breath before he laid the crown down next to the base of the throne.

With a heavy sigh, Skeletor rose from the throne to walk to one of the throne room’s windows. The window he chose was the same one he stared out of when he had first arrived to the Crystal Empire, back when he believed that everything around him was a horrific illusion. The streets of the Empire were livelier than when he had first arrived, and he couldn’t help but let a small prideful smile stretch across his jaw, knowing that he was partially responsible for their recovery from Sombra’s reign.

Skeletor had never felt as if he earned or deserved the power the crystal ponies bestowed upon him, but he couldn’t deny that a small part of him felt warm at the thought of how much faith they placed in him. If someone had offered him the opportunity to relinquish the throne the day after his crowning, Skeletor would have greedily leapt at the opportunity without a second thought. However, that was when he didn’t know anyone.

There were a good number of ponies who grew on him, those who showed him a brand of kindness that he hadn’t received in his life on Earth. And how did he plan to repay this kindness? By leaving the Empire without a word, abandoning them without a shred of guilt weighing on his concourse. Sure, he had promised to himself that he would either wait for a suitable replacement or deal with Sombra’s lingering spirit first, but they were hollow words. If a portal back to his world had opened up at any moment, he wouldn’t have thought twice about leaving the crystal ponies to their own devices.

He had never considered what the ponies of the Empire meant to him, but after taking his time to reflect on all of the things that had happened to him since he was taken from Earth, he began to realize how much he cared for them. Skeletor wasn’t sure when his lingering fear of the quadrupedal aliens turned into affection, but when he realized it he started to feel a chill of shame fall over him.

Had he ever earnestly thanked any of them for his position? As much as he worried about being beheaded, the truth was that he should have realistically been killed on the spot in the throne room that day. And yet, they chose to look past his monstrous appearance, and praised him for everything he did. They choose him as their leader, they accepted him, and all he did in return was silently curse his fate as if it was worse than death. How would they have reacted if his plan to open a portal to Earth actually succeeded? Would he have even cared?

Skeletor felt both ashamed and conflicted as he allowed his mind to wander. He had a home to return to, but in a way, the Crystal Empire had become his home as well. While he wouldn't call any of them his family, he felt compelled to call them something more than his friends. They were all his saviors, and he never showed them a hint of earnest gratitude. Sure, he had helped them, but that was only because of his obligation to the crown that they bestowed upon him. He only helped them out of his own self-interest, and the one decision where we chose to do something that didn't align with his self-preservation was just because he felt appalled about their views regarding marriage. Who the hell was he to judge them for their beliefs?

Even then, they still accepted his decision even though it went against their ideology. He was a selfish bastard who lied to them so that the Empire could fit his own image, but they still praised him and he had never properly thanked them for it. And if this meeting with the prince and princess didn't go well, he would probably never get the chance to sincerely thank any of them ever again.

He had no idea how advanced the world outside the Empire was, but he was certain that even the poorest kingdom on the planet could be a threat to the citizens of the Empire. And, with a human living inside the Canterlot Kingdom, it wouldn't have been a stretch to assume that her knowledge could have made them the most powerful kingdom on the planet. If Skeletor had explained the basic concept of a gun and what went into it to an alchemist in the Empire, then he could rest easy knowing that they wouldn't be able to recreate a modern gun until hundreds of years had passed. But, with over three thousand years of innovations in science and magic, a kingdom like Canterlot could possibly make one in only a dozen years at most. He could only silently pray that if Crystal had either purposefully or accidentally shared knowledge of weapons from Earth, that he could find a way to prevent the kingdom to the south from aiming their weapons at the Empire.

The hour had finally arrived. In a few minutes, Cadence and Shining Armor were going to meet Skeletor for the first, and possibly last, time. The feelings eager anticipation and fearful reluctance struggled for domination inside Cadence’s heart as she and the others made their way towards the throne room of the Crystal Castle.

Her earlier bravado and self-confidence had shied away from the surface of her mask after Lieutenant Star Burt informed her and Shinning that Skeletor wasn’t an illusion, and that he was most likely a demon that had escaped from Tartarus. For a brief moment, Cadence had contemplated sending a letter to her aunts by magic fire for them to prepare the Elements of Harmony. However, she felt that she needed to handle this situation alone, with Shining Armor at her side. How would history look at them if she decided to fly off with her tail between her legs so that her aunts could solve the problem for her?

She had already prepared herself to face off against Sombra without her aunt’s assistance, so she was confident that she could still defeat the demon alone all the same. Of course, she didn’t plan to fly into the throne room shooting lethal magical attacks left and right. First, she would try diplomacy, and when that would inevitably fail then she’d break out all of the lethal spells she had at her disposal. Although, there has a sliver of hope that they could settle this without any violence.

Lieutenant Star Burst had labeled him as a demon, but she also made sure to note that he seemed to prefer words over physical violence. While she was held captive, Skeletor could have unleashed any number of spells on the defenseless mare to make her speak, but instead he only relied on his words to interrogate her. He also didn’t prepare any spells like a compulsive truth spell or a liar’s bane spell, so he either didn’t know them or he didn’t feel that it was necessary to use them.

There was also the matter of the few things that he had done before Cadence and her husband even knew that the Empire returned. As far as she could tell, none of the crystal ponies in the Empire were under the influence of dark magic and they all had great praises to sing about their allegedly kind-hearted lord. There were still a few things that painted him in a negative light for Cadence, such as when he lied about the effectiveness of his Placebos.

She was surprised that he was arrogant enough to not even call them by a different name, and disgusted to know that he was actively lying to the sick and injured crystal ponies. However, while it could be considered morally wrong, it wasn’t illegal or explicitly evil, and it definitely wasn’t enough to condemn him to the depths of Tartarus without a trial. Even if he was a demon, that wasn’t enough of a reason to ship him off to the underworld. History had already proven that, like any creature on the planet, they were capable of great acts or wicked deeds. Of course, that didn’t mean that demons were widely accepted by society, especially after her aunt Luna had been possessed by a demonic spirit.

Skeletor was an issue that she needed to solve immediately. If he did something evil, then she could take care of the situation easily, sit atop the throne, and rule the Crystal Empire side by side with her husband. But, in the off chance that he was compliant with their demands, there would be no shortage of complications. For the moment, Cadence didn’t bother with worrying about what would or wouldn’t happen. What mattered most at that moment was meeting Skeletor and see how things would follow.

The guards standing at their posts outside the throne room threw up a quick salute to her and her husband before they proceeded to open the large doors that separated them and Skeletor.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shinning Armor have arrived!” One of the crystal guards bellowed before several more guards blew their double belled flugelhorns.

Thanks to the many mental notes she was able to take earlier, Cadence wasn’t caught off guard by Skeletor’s skull headed face or his hairless body. His appearance was slightly different than what she imagined, but it wasn’t much of a concern to her.

However, while his odd appearance wasn’t able to catch her off her hooves she was startled by the emotions wafting off of his body. Cadence felt sick as she observed the malformed amalgamation of emotions in him rise and fall to the surface of his body.

The fear that flashed in his sockets was a marriage of anger and sorrow that danced with paranoia and anxiety to form something horrific. The hints of joy she could see in him were a similar mess of distorted love and fragmented pride, and each emotion was stretched thin to hide the underlying emotions that were buried deeper within him, hidden under the surface of his calm facade.

Cadence also noticed that there were still some emotions that were slowly growing inside of him, similar to the new emotional experiences of a foal. She had personally witnessed many foals going through the phases of their basic emotions, growing and learning with each day that passed. Cadence couldn’t help but to be reminded of those memories as she watched those emotions slowly overtake the bastardized patchwork of feelings that filled him.

During her many years of studying magic and the emotional spectrum of feelings present in most creatures on Terra, Cadence had seen a wide variety of negative emotions. The burning passion of rage, the tender embrace of familial love, the sickening chill of dread, the nauseous feeling of paranoia, and on very rare occasions, the disturbing bitterness of murderous intent. But compared to everything she had even witnessed before, Skeletor’s emotional aura was outright horrific.

Only one word came to her mind as she watched his emotions shift and change with every passing second. All she could think was that Skeletor was a monster.

Cadence didn’t allow the sickening bile in her stomach to rise more than it had, and hid her disgust with a gentle smile. It had taken a great deal of effort on her part to not teleport out of the room to vomit. In the end, however, she was forced to actively fight against her subconscious ability to see the emotional spectrum of creatures so that she wouldn’t have to stare at the unharmonious mass of tangled emotions that swelled inside of Skeletor.

As she slowly tried to collect her thoughts and ease the tension that rose in her stomach, Skeletor greeted the royal couple from the comfort of his throne. “Your highnesses, I welcome you both to the Crystal Empire, and I thank you both for taking the time to be the first kingdom to greet the Empire back to the world. I am Skeletor, Lord of the Crystal Empire.”

After making sure that words would be the only thing that left her throat, Cadence answered his introduction with her own. “Greetings, Lord Skeletor. I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadence for short.”

“And I’m Prince Shining Armor. Thank you for treating our guards with hospitality after she was separated from the group.”

“It was the least I could do, your highness. Speaking of your lieutenant, did she convey my concerns regarding… You know what,” he said, allowing his gaze to flick over to the brown coated stallion who had led Star Burst back to them. “Your lieutenant has already informed me of the Empire’s issues… As well as the guest living in your kingdom,” he hinted.

Cadence nodded her head along in acknowledgement, pretending that they had something called a “human” named Crystal living inside the borders of Canterlot and that it was somehow responsible for Equestria’s technology. She would be sure to send a letter to her aunts later on to ask them if they had ever heard of a human before and, if possible, if they knew where to get one.

“That’s correct, Lord Skeletor. As you’ve been informed, any information regarding Crystal is considered to be highly confidential,” she fibbed.

“Yes, yes, I’ve been made aware of that, and I’d like to discuss this more with you in the future. However, before we continue, I have one question that I need to get out of the way," Skeletor announced as he leaned forward in his throne.

“I’ve debated how to dance around this issue for quite a while now, but I couldn’t see any other way to speak to you other than being direct. I believe that you and your husband have come to the Empire for a reason, and if it’s within my power, I can attempt to provide you with whatever your heart desire. For the sake of the Empire’s prosperity and the peace of our castles, I would like to form an alliance between the Crystal Empire and the Canterlot Kingdom.”

Silence fell over the throne room after Skeletor had spoken. Many ponies traded cautious glances as they waited for either Cadence or Shining Armor to answer Skeletor. Princess Cadence didn’t envision that this discussion would be brought up so swiftly, in fact she believed that he would have tried to avoid the topic if possible. However, he had plucked the apple from the tree, and there was no way to put it back on the branch.

Despite being caught off guard for a moment by his words, Cadence calmly composed herself and prepared her answer. Her voice was the embodiment of calm as she spoke, not allowing a single word to betray her intentions as she gave the demon her proposal.

“As I'm sure you’ve been made aware, I am the descendant of Princess Amore, and I am the rightful heir to the throne. I not only hold my ancestor’s name, but I bare the mark of the Crystal Heart, and I have attained ascension through my actions and efforts to spread love through Equestria. As such, I would like to discuss the possibility of abdicating the throne and allowing me to lead the Empire.

“I would allow you to still hold a position of high authority in the Crystal Empire that would in no means impede your current power. I would even be willing to give you leadership over one of the three kingdoms that make up the Crystal Empire, and allow you a position on—”

“No!” A single voice raged loudly. A booming command from the smallest and youngest pony on Skeletor’s council, Avid Value. All eyes turned to the Royal Treasurer as he stood defiantly against Princess Cadence’s proposition.

“Lord Skeletor is our Emperor, our lord, and our only king. He was the one who saved us, who healed us when we were sick, he was the one who found the Crystal Heart, he was the one who exposed Sombra’s true wickedness, and he’s the one who legalized relationships between two stallions or two mares! Not to mention, he was sent here on a divine quest from Faust herself to deliver us from evil and save us from the eternal winter outside the barrier. Without him, we’d all either still be imprisoned in our own bodies, or we’d be dead!

“You might be an Alicorn, princess, but he’s a deity sent by Faust! He purposefully chose a horrific body to test our willingness to accept Faust’s blessings, and he sacrificed his comfortable position amongst famous writers to help us. Meanwhile, you come here and dare to demand a crown you didn’t earn. You think the blacksmiths and I designed that crown for any creature but him? Ha! He’s the Lord of the Crystal Empire,” Avid Value boldly proclaimed.

“Um, now Avid, let’s not—”

“Avid’s right!” One of the guards shouted. “Lord Skeletor is the only ruler we need!”

“Wait, but—”

“He showed mercy to those two mares when they were caught in the mines!” Another pony yelled, causing an uproar of voices to rise in volume to praise their lord.

“Lord Skeletor had the doctors give medicine for my sister in the sick ward for her nightmares!”

“He ripped off Sombra’s head and paraded it around the castle!”

“His majesty let my cousin leave the guard willingly without any punishment!”

“He helped clear the rubble!”

“He made a holiday for all the ponies who died!”

“Lord Skeletor gave us hope!”

“He found the Crystal Heart!”

“He let us sing the anthem!”

Many crystal ponies joined in the chorus of arguments against Princess Cadence, causing the room to fill with praises of his accomplishments. Cadence’s eyes darted from one angry face to another as her heart began to race.

Her breath began to quicken as she hesitantly stepped back from her spot in the throne room. She was the Princess of Love, the pony almost everypony praised and acknowledged as a princess, she had never been the center of a crowd’s direct anger and disapproval. It was a hailstorm of rage that hit her with each loud praise, causing the princess to falter as she hesitantly stepped back from the center of the throne room. Before she knew it, her husband had quickly glued herself to his side with the lunar guards moving in to form a shield around them.

Panic and gripped her mind tightly as their shouts rose in volume, until one voice rose above the rest in a demand for everyone’s attention.

“SHUT UP!” Skeletor roared violently. “This is a discussion between me and the royal family members of the Canterlot kingdom! I will not tolerate any more outbursts!”

“But, you—”

“Not now, Avid!” Skeletor ordered. “Just… Just give me a moment, Avid. I need to choose my words wisely…”

All attention was focused solely on Skeletor as he slowly breathed. It was as though the room had only existed for his whims. Skeletor had made it clear that he was in control, and that everypony else was only there because he allowed them to be. If he wished it, he could have ordered everypony to leave and not a soul would hesitate to follow his orders.

“… You want me to abdicate the throne, correct?” He asked with an unnervingly calm voice.

The tension in the throne room had risen to a new height, as if a single word would cause a small war to erupt in the throne room. And to Cadence, it very might as well have.

After a few moments of composing herself, Cadence found the courage to finally speak to Skeletor.

“Yes. I want us to resolve this peacefully.”

The throne room remained shrouded in silence as the alicorn princess and demonic lord gazed into each other’s eyes. She could see past the conflicting emotions that swarmed inside his eye sockets, and stared deeply into the abyss that hid in his sockets until the cold stare of his soul matched her gaze. And in turn, it felt as though Skeletor was staring into her soul as well.

Skeletor steadily descended for the dais of his throne to walk towards the royal couple, reaching them in a matter of moments with his long strides. Cadence felt her husband’s barrel press tightly into hers, but her eyes only remained locked with Skeletor’s as he approached.

When the demonic monster was only a few feet away from them before he abruptly stopped. Slowly, Skeletor raised his arms to remove the crown from his head and lowered himself to one knee before Princess Cadence. His arms were stretched out to her, holding the crown to her as he stared at the floor.

With a somber voice that still commanded respect from the crystal ponies, Skeletor spoke to the prince and princess.

“Your majesties, I, Lord Skeletor, being of sound mind and body, do herby relinquish command of the Crystal Empire. May the crystal ponies find never-ending happiness under your new reign,” he announced.

“My… My lord?” Emerald murmured under her breath.

“What?” The blue stallion next to the dais asked in awe.

Time seemed to stand on the edge of life, balancing in that moment at his words. It took a moment for Skeletor’s words to finally register with Cadence as she stared at the crown in his lightly trembling hands.

Despite her desires to end this as quickly as she could, Cadence couldn’t help but utter a single word as she stared into her reflection in the crown’s bright sapphires.

“Why?” She asked in a breathless voice, quiet enough to almost go unheard if it weren’t for the heavy silence that filled the throne room.

Skeletor refused to look up at her face as he spoke, remaining on one knee with his hands outstretched to the prince and princess.

“Under different circumstances, I wouldn’t be as trusting with you or your kingdom. I know nothing about you and I have no reason to believe that you have the Empire’s best intentions at heart. I can’t even trust your claim to being Princess Amore’s distant descendant. However, the world outside the Empire knows you, and you know it. I am nothing more than a stranger to these lands, and I don’t believe I can guide the crystal ponies through it.

“I know you all see me as a good person, but I am not a good leader. The ponies of the Crystal Empire need someone with experience, someone who will get the support of others so that the Empire can be rebuilt and so that the citizens can receive the help they desperately need,” he told the princess before he raised his skull to look at the many ponies who listened to his words.

“They can help rebuild the Empire so that it can regain its former glory. They can bring doctors with medical knowledge that can contest with miracles, and bring supplies that could save lives that are on the verge of death. The world outside the Empire’s borders is vastly different than any of you remember, and they can guide you through it.

“I won’t lie, there will be hardships and challenges you won’t even be able to imagine. New forms of economy, a new system of etiquette, a vastly different system of agriculture, and things that will sound almost mythical when you hear of them. They know this world better than I do, and they’ll be able to lead you into the new era that surrounds the Empire. They’ll help you all...

“… Being your leader has meant more to me than I ever realized. You all took me in, and you gave me a home. You’ve helped me so much.”

Tears began to leak from Skeletor’s sockets as he spoke to the crystal ponies.

“I… I never wished to be your king. But I’m so happy that I was… You… You’ve all helped me so much… I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better leader. I’m sorry that I was selfish. And I’m sorry that I never thanked any of you for what you've done,” he apologized as he used the corner of his cloak to wipe away the tears that ran down his cheek bones.

“I don’t know what I would have done without any of you… Thank you all… I will never forget this… ALL HAIL PRINCESS CADENZA AND PRINCE ARMOR!” He exclaimed as he threw one of his fists into the air.

The echo of his words bounced off the walls of the throne room and rang out through the windows, leaving the room to return to its loud silence as he stood there with his fist in the air.

“… All hail Princess Cadenza and Prince Armor!” The blue stallion shouted.

“H-hail Princess Cadence and Shining Armor!” A guard added on.

Soon, many of the ponies gathered began to chant their praises for Cadence and her husband until Emerald Secret and Avid Value were the last to join in. All the while, Skeletor stared at a single crystal in the walls, refusing to meet anypony's gaze as he led them in the cheer for the Empire's new rulers.

Chapter 30: Pink Pony Princess Problems.

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The howling wind of the Frozen North buried the pain filled moans of several complaining soldiers as they nursed their minor wounds.

After passing through the barrier that gave them refuge from the onslaught of snow outside the Empire, the guards’ laminations and complaints turned into enthused sighs of relief at the thought of finally returning home.

The injured guards had complained for days about their difficulties getting to the Ruva Kingdom. The once safe and well-known paths between the kingdoms had been covered in a sheet of snow and ice, hiding them from the guards who used to regularly trek to the close kingdom. Their path held new hidden dangers, such as the rabid animal that they were forced to fight.

The guards who traversed the snow to get to the Ruva Kingdom had only known the North to be a barren wasteland with no means to provide life outside the Empire’s borders. So, they were all surprised to see a mostly hairless wolf prowling around their campsite one night

Luckily, their armor and positioned wagons proved to be a great challenge for the beast, allowing them to fend it off with only a few minor injuries. The blistering cold snow that coated their coats was pressed against the bruises and bandaged cuts to ease the pain that gnawed at their legs and barrels afterwards.

Later on, they were forced to attack another hairless wolf, but unlike the last time, this predator had brought a pack alongside it. None of the guard’s lives were lost in their fight against the vicious wolves, but they did have to sacrifice a great deal of their provisions in an attempt to flee from the apparent growing number of wolves.

With many more injured guards and a more limited supply of rations, General Cannon Fodder gave the order for his guards to return to the Crystal Empire. The general felt bitter about their early return to the Empire, having completely failed to subtly probe any of his guards on their opinions of the demon that sat on Princess Amore’s throne. It was times such as these that made him remember how the previous Royal Spy Master, Star Shine, had always been the one to make up for Cannon Fodder’s shortcomings. Unlike the previous Royal Spy Master, Star Shine was a thesteral mare who had kept her identity as the Royal Spy Master hidden by taking the position of a lieutenant in the guard.

While many Spy Masters in the past had taken the position of Head of Staff to hide their true profession, Star Shine instead chose to keep her position as the Royal Spy Master while still being part of the guard. She was a mare who had understood the importance of the guard, that they were more than decorations strung about the castle. Although it had taken some time for Cannon Fodder to truly respect the winged mare, he did eventually see her for who she really was.

In return for him being as stubborn as a diamond dog, Star Shine decided that it was necessary to take the old dog out of his comfort zone every once in a while. Cannon had never thought that he would grow so close to her the first time they met, but as time went on and she gently prodded him with a few well-meaning jokes and snide remarks, they developed a friendship that he genuinely cherished.

Cannon Fodder found himself reminiscing in his memories for too long, and actively wiped the small smile off of his muzzle. It wasn’t a time to be thinking about his old friend, it was time to think about the future and the Spy Master who he had formed an uneasy alliance with. He had advised Cannon on who to select for the mission in an attempt to form bonds with likeminded guards and convert those who didn’t feel strongly about the demon one way or the other. Unfortunately, it appeared that everypony in his expedition team were strongly in favor of Skeletor’s leadership.

He liked to believe that nopony had caught on to his strong disdain towards Skeletor, but he was almost certain that they had. Star Shine had made it evident to Cannon Fodder on multiple occasions that his ears were easy to read, and that he couldn’t pass off a lie even if his dinner depended on it. It was a fact that she had proven many times when he was forced to share his meal with the lieutenant. She would always place a bet on their meals whenever the guards were being served ripe tangerine related meals, or anytime they were served banana centric dishes.

Stop thinking about her. Cannon Fodder reprimanded himself.

Once again, Cannon Fodder forced his thoughts to return to the mission at hoof. With no allies on his side after the expedition, Cannon Fodder would have to try his luck at finding a few sympathetic ponies in the guard to help his plot to dethrone the demon.

As he contemplated a few plans to get rid of Skeletor, ranging from betraying Crumb Catcher to teaming up with the back-eared stallion, Cannon Fodder led his guards to the edge of a large crowd that surrounded the Crystal Castle. The General of the guard was briefly taken aback by the swarm of ponies that blocked their path to the castle, not expecting to see so many ponies when the sun had barely risen.

He was about to pull aside a random pony to ask what was going on when a faintly familiar voice called out to him.

“Hey, General Cotton Fade!” A pony with a bright mustard coat yelled.

Turning to the new voice, Cannon Fodder unfortunately met the eyes of the stallion he had met on the day Skeletor had first arrived in the Crystal Empire. Track Record was sporting a lavender vest that he hadn’t worn on the days he had come to court, and his usually messy purple mane had been slightly brushed, but whatever effort he had put into it didn’t remain as a light breeze returned it to its usual mess.

“My name is General Cannon Fodder, civilian,” he replied curtly. Out of all the ponies in the Empire, Track Record was among the very few who praised Skeletor as if he were a clergy mare sining the praises of Faust. His fanatic support of Skeletor was only outmatched by Avid Value, and Cannon Fodder was thankful that the council member and the baker would be unlikely to ever meet outside of court. “What’s the announcement today?”

“Not sure. Last night, the guards announced that Lord Skeletor would be making an announcement early in the morning. I think it has something to do with the rumor floating around,” Track Record answered enthusiastically.

“What rumor?”

“Well, word around the mines is that there’s a new Alicorn up and about, and that she brought a few thestrals and a unicorn with her to the castle. I tried to catch a look at them, but I couldn’t see over everyponys' heads. Though, Fresh Bake swore up and down on his hooves that he saw her.”

“Alicorn? You mean Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?” Cannon Fodder asked with hope leaning on his words.

“Nah, I don’t think so. Rumor has it that it’s a new Alicorn with a pink coat who brought a bunch of thestrals wrapped in weird white blankets. Anyway, where’ve you been?”

“I can’t openly share that information, civilian.”

Track Record rolled his eyes at Cannon Fodder’s response. “Alright, keep your secrets. Least you could do is try to call me by my name.”

“The guard does not make idle chatter with civilians,” Cannon Fodder said as he turned his attention to the crowd before him. His options were to either have his guard and their wagons trudge through the crowd, or wait until they were dispersed so that Cannon Fodder and the others could trot to the castle unperturbed.

“… Soooo, I got a new shop by the way, moved over to Amethyst avenue. You can come over anytime you like,” Track Record commented idly as he attempted to strike up a conversation. “Maybe you could bring Emerald with you and we could reminisce about Lord Skeletor’s first day.”

“The Royal Advisor doesn’t have time to mingle with civilians,” Cannon Fodder answered as the thought of forcing his way through the crowd slowly became more appealing.

“Oh, yeah. I bet she’d be busy with work and all that. Speaking of which, do you or she ever take vacations or anything? Maybe you could both come over then,” Track Record offered.

“What she does with her allowed vacation time is her own business,” he replied as he briefly mused about using Track Record as a plow to part the crowd.

“Fair enough, you don’t want me near your marefriend, I get it.”

Cannon Fodder was about to deny his claim when the barring wail of flugelhorns announced Skeletor’s entrance onto the balcony. Seeing the demon instantly dampened his already low mood. Skeletor carried himself just as Sombra had whenever he trotted through the Empire, acting as if he was above everypony in the world. Cannon Fodder hated the confidence that Skeletor portrayed, acting as if the only one who could ever humble him was Faust herself.

Skeletor took a moment to look at the crowd below him, as if he were a giant staring at all of the little insects that littered his dying garden. And yet, the monster still managed to speak sweet words as he hid his true motives behind the limited expressions of his skull.

“Crystal ponies of the Empire! Thank you for joining me on this wonderful morning,” he shouted to the crowd.

Cannon Fodder caught Skeletor briefly glancing behind himself before he continued to speak. It was at that moment that he noticed that none of the council members were on the balcony with him, causing a tinge of fear to crawl up Cannon’s barrel. His thoughts immediately flew to Emerald, one of the few living ponies he could still call a friend. He worried about what the bipedal demon could have done in the short amount of time that the general was indisposed of. Before his thoughts could focus on the missing mare, Skeletor continued his speech to the Empire.

“It is with great pride, that I can announce the beginning of a new wave of prosperity for the Crystal Empire. This will be the first of many changes, and the first step to raising the Empire to the heights of its glory. The world will watch in awe as you move forward, working to take back what the old tyrant had taken from you. They will see that nothing can keep the Empire down. Whether it be a never-ending snowstorm, or the malicious whims of an egotistical tyrant, the Empire will prevail!

“And now, we shall make history… As many of you know, an unknown alicorn, a white unicorn, and a small number of thestrals entered the Crystal Empire. What some of you may not know, is that they came to deliver us wonderful news! First and foremost, I would like to proudly declare that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are alive and well!”

The general’s ears were assaulted by cheers and joy filled applause, but unlike the times where he felt sickened by the praise the crystal ponies raised for Skeletor, he felt genuinely happy. He had practically thrown away any shred of hope for hearing of the princesses surviving. The smile that found itself on his muzzle was immediately wiped away as he remembered just who was delivering the news of their survival.

He hadn’t trusted the demon’s words once so far, and it would take more than a small speech to convince him that Skeletor was being honest. If they really were alive then would he have really shouted it with such glee to the ponies. It was almost as if he didn’t think that they would immediately fly over and banish him to Tartarus the second they saw him.

“Yes, today is indeed a day of celebration! Now, you may all allow your heavy thoughts regarding the diarchs to settle, and embrace the comfort of knowing that they have survived. I understand that you’ve all been greatly concerned about them since the first sun rise of your liberation, but rest assured, the princesses are both alive and well.

“Not only that, but they have seen fit to bestow a great blessing to the Empire, one that shall allow you all to pave a path towards a brighter future. When scholars look back on this day, they will see the first step in a long journey of technological advancement and leaps in education.

“No longer shall the Empire need to fear the great unknown, instead you will have greater knowledge of it than any of your ancestors and use it to make the Empire thrive. The kingdoms of the world will marvel at the Empires innovation under the new reign of Princess Cadenza and Prince Armor!” He joyously announced.

Without any hesitation, the crowd erupted into boisterous cheers, with only a few ponies falling silent as they followed his words and not his enthusiastic voice. Slowly, realization began to take hold of a great number of cheering ponies as the revelation of his words finally sunk in. Lord Skeletor was abdicating his throne.

For a moment, Cannon Fodder wondered if he had heard Skeletor correctly, but a brief glance at his guards and Track Record’s stunned face quickly confirmed that he had heard him. He looked back up at the demon of the Empire, watching him with a weary gaze as he listened closely to the rest of Skeletor’s speech.

“You have all suffered the plagues of the past, and under the Empire’s new leaders, you will not only embrace the comforts of the present, but you shall rise above your limitations and kiss the face of the future! Ponies of the Empire, rejoice and be merry as you take the first steps in history! May your days be blessed under their reign!” He finished.

The cheers that followed weren’t as bold as they were previously. Confusion and doubt wrapped around their minds as they stamped their hooves and cheered in the plaza of the Crystal Castle. Cannon Fodder was gripped in an uncertainty that made him question everything that he knew and heard.

Even as he watched the demon walk away from the balcony and return to the halls of the Crystal Castle, Cannon Fodder couldn’t pry his eyes away from the vacant balcony. He could only mutter a single sentence at the revelation that he was freed from the reign of the new demon.

“… What the buck happened while I was gone?”

Guards and maids frantically trotted through the halls of the Crystal Castle, racing to return to their positions before they could be seen by the new royal couple and their guards.

The peace that usually filled the Castle had turned into a chaotic frenzy of ponies rushing to gossip and share theories under their breaths as they tried to make sense of what had happened to their lord. In the span of a day, their home had been hoofed over to a group of strangers while their old leader had locked himself away with his council as they prepared the necessary procedures to abdicate the throne.

Hushed rumors began to float from mouths to ears about what had happened. Some claimed that Faust herself had spoken through Lord Skeletor, while others believed that Lord Skeletor was forced by the new alicorn princess to relinquish his claim to the throne. Rumors and questions rested on the lips of each guard and maid in the halls of the Crystal Castle and would always fall deathly silent whenever the sound of thestral wings would alert them to their new leaders’ approach.

As Cadence trotted through the halls of the illustrious castle, she caught the tail hairs of rumors that were whispered just out of ear shot. She trudged through the thick clouds of anxiety that flooded the halls, ignoring the awkward glances of the guards and the upsetting words that passed through the maids’ muzzles. She had heard worse from the snob nobles of Canterlot when she was appointed as Princess Celestia’s personal student, but the words that she heard from the crystal ponies, her subjects, stung like a cold blade that pierced her barrel.

She didn’t understand why they would always look at her with resistant eyes, or why they felt chills crawl down their legs whenever she took a moment to speak to them. She was an alicorn, a pony who had earned her place in the world through her hard work and compassion. However, the ponies of the Crystal Empire seemed to only see her as an outsider, a stranger who had trotted into their home without permission.

Cadence felt a dull ache begin to build up in her head as she was escorted to the council room by her husband and her aunt’s thestral guards. Her husband and their temporary guards wore masks of granite as they trotted alongside her, hiding their emotions from the many ponies of the Crystal Castle. There was a silent rage and resentment that had been slowly growing in her husband, which she attempted to quell by wearing her own mask to hide the nausea and pain she felt from the quiet conversations that occasionally fluttered to her ears. Unfortunately, the plastered smile she wore was stretched thin by the constant assault of worried gazes.

She briefly wondered if Princess Luna had felt the same way when she returned from her banishment to the moon. Alone, in a place where nopony knew her but still held contempt for her in spite of her position as an alicorn. Because of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s many magical enchantments and seals on their royal garbs, Cadence had never had the opportunity to see what either of their emotions had looked like. But, after a day of being in an Empire where the only ones who trusted her were her husband and their guards, Cadence felt like she could slightly understand her aunt better.

As she allowed her thoughts to drift and form plans to spend more time with her returned aunt, Cadence and her escorts came to the hallway that led to the council room. The room had two hallways leading to it, with a pair of thestral guards standing at attention on each end of the hallway to allow for ample security. With so few ponies in the Empire who fully supported her and Shining’s rise to power, Shining Armor had advised to rely solely on their thestral guard for the time being until more guards from Canterlot could arrive.

General Camisole and Lieutenant Star Burst had been positioned directly outside the pair of double doors to the council room, allowing each of the thestrals to use their above average hearing to covertly listen to the ponies and creature that were sitting on the other side of those great doors. Shining Armor and General Camisole had been insistent on having somepony on hoof to keep a close ear on Skeletor to see what he would do, and Cadence found it hard to disagree with their decision. It was difficult for her to just accept his decision to hand over the throne so willingly, and she couldn't chase away the nagging paranoia that ate away at her mind whenever her thoughts would drift to the demonic looking lord of the Empire.

She felt the walls of her skull slowly compress on her brain whenever she remembered his imposing figure. Her breath would become shallow, and her withers would begin to ache with each fresh memory of Skeletor, especially when she would picture his emotions. His unnatural and mangled emotions left a haunting memory inside of Cadence's heart, causing her to feel sick whenever she allowed her mind to linger on the short memory of her first meeting with Skeletor. It had taken her some time, but she was able to recognize his tattered emotions as the byproduct of dark magic. While most ponies allowed magic to natural flow from their mid-brain, there were those who dove into other forms of magic, ones that tore apart at the soul of other ponies to feed their magic. Unlike those unicorns and rare earth ponies, Skeletor had apparently used his own soul to fuel his spells.

She didn't feel justified calling him a monster, but Cadence also wasn't enthused to label him as a good creature. She could only imagine what type of creature would willingly rip themselves apart to cast spells and what they would be willing to do to gain more magical power.

“Report,” Shining ordered as he and Cadence trotted up to the pair of guards.

“They’ve been pretty quiet,” Camisole answered. “Avid’s the only one talking his muzzle about how…” Camisole trailed off as her and Star Burst’s ears suddenly shot backwards to face the doors. Only a second ticked by before Camisole answered everyone’s silent question.

“Big guy’s speaking, he hasn’t said a word since the announcement,” Camisole reported.

After stealing a glance around them to make sure no crystal ponies were nearby, Cadence casted a quick spell to eavesdrop on their conversation. Soon, the sounds of the room’s interior began to fill her ears, allowing her to listen to them as Shining Armor prepared a similar spell. She was surprised by the lack of security in the meeting room. There were no enchantments or wards to prevent spells from allowing others to eavesdrop, and there was nothing in place to warn anypony of spells being casted in a certain vicinity to the room.

To Cadence, it almost felt akin to listening to Twilight’s mutterings whenever she hid herself in her book fort when she was a foal. However, she wasn’t dealing with a bickering foal at that moment, she was laying down her plan to negotiate with a demonic creature that had the Empire wrapped around his clawed fingers. In a way, the lack of spells to prevent her and Shining Armor from listening made her feel uneasy, as if she had willingly stuck her hoof into a manticore’s maw.

“… couldn’t fight them, Avid…” Skeletor spoke quietly as Cadence caught the last of his words.

“What do you mean?” The young council member asked.

“… I couldn’t do anything else, Avid. The world is… It’s different. Without their protection, the Empire would become the target of every kingdom on the planet. If I had denied them the crown at that moment, then there would have been a war. The weapons and armor of your time are like toys to the other kingdoms. I don’t doubt that they have weapons comparable to my home, considering that they have a human working for their kingdom… For all I know… They might even have an atom bomb,” Lord Skeletor said with a bitter chuckle. “Nye-heh-heh-heh… We… We would have been decimated. Nye-heh-heeh-heh. Oh, fuck me…”

His hollow laugh rung inside Cadence’s mind, causing her to slightly recoil at the tingling sensation that his voice left behind.

“I couldn’t do that to you… To any of you. If I had acted impulsively, then… I don’t know what would have happened… No, that’s a lie. I know what would happen. And I don’t want to be the cause of it. I’m sorry to all of you. I’m sorry…”

Emerald was the next to speak after a short stint of silence, using her words to uplift the sullen demon and offer a different opinion.

“… My lord, are… Are you sure this is wise? I mean, perhaps we could convince them that… That you should remain our lord?”

“Emerald, we don’t have another choice. Maybe if I was smarter or had a better grasp of politics, I could do more but… I don’t… They’ll… They’ll do good. They’ll do better than me, at least.”

“My lord—”

“I’m not your ‘lord’, Emerald,” Skeletor interrupted. “I’m… I don’t know what I am now. My decision on this is final. When they arrive, I’ll be signing off my rights to the throne… And hopefully, they’ll be able to receive aid from their kingdom in the south.

“I don’t know if history will curse me or praise me for my cowardice. But I can only hope that they can help the Empire in ways I can’t… I’ve never been fit to be your leader or your lord, and… And I just hope that… That you can forgive me. I’m sorry… I need a minute,” Skeletor finished as his footsteps drew closer to the doors.

Cadence and Shining Armor were quick to dispel any magic they casted, allowing the couple to give off the illusion that nothing was amiss. With a quick nod of her head, Cadence silently commanded Camisole to announce their presence and open the doors.

“Now announcing the arrival of Princess Cadenza and Prince Armor!” She shouted before she and Star Burst opened the pair of doors for Shining Armor and Cadence.

The first thing Cadence’s eyes caught was a staff with a golden horned ram’s skull was strapped to Skeletor’s back.

Cadence remembered that Emerald mentioned the morbid decoration when Shining Armor had asked for her to retell the story of how Skeletor killed Sombra. She allowed Emerald’s description of the staff to slip from her mind after that, causing Cadence to be caught off guard by the sickening staff. She was no stranger to seeing corpses, especially since the dragons would often furnish their homes with the remains of their ancestors as a way to honor them. However, the thing she saw on his back felt no different than a disturbing trophy for him to carry around.

Once she pried her eyes away from the new decoration on his back, Cadence saw a familiar sea of warped and skewered emotions waft off of Skeletor as he wiped away any trace of tears that were left on his skull. In an instant, Cadence dispelled her ability to see his twisted and gnarled emotions to save herself from having to look at them for even a moment longer.

When Cadence was able to safely look at him again, she noticed that, unlike their first meeting, Skeletor’s skull was covered by a navy-blue hood that obscured his skull with deep shadows. The crown that he had given them was sitting on top of the council table, waiting for her to take it once more and officially accept it as hers.

“Ah, apologies, Princess Cadenza and Prince Armor, I seem to be a bit under the weather,” he apologized after rubbing the back of his forearm against his eye sockets.

“It’s fine Skeletor. And please, feel free to call me Princess Cadence,” she offered.

Skeletor only nodded in response as he stepped aside to allow Cadence and her husband to enter the council room. Cadence took her seat at the head of the table, claiming the only free chair for herself as Shining Armor stood next to her.

She chose to ignore the incredulous stare of the Royal Treasurer and the surprised looks from the Royal Advisor and the temporary Head of the Guard. Cadence knew that she had taken Skeletor’s seat at the table and decided that she would be the one leading the meeting. The only ones who appeared to be unaffected by her decision to take the head seat were the Head of Staff and the Master of the Royal Archives, who both wore impassive expressions as they looked at Princess Cadence.

“I apologize for not having a seat prepared for both of you, your majesties,” Skeletor said with a small bow. “It was a failure on my part to not be better prepared.”

“It's fine, Skeletor,” she reassured him politely. Without much delay, Cadence summoned a pair of small throw pillows from their carriage for Shinning Armor and Skeletor to sit on. Skeletor was quick to take his seat at the opposite end of the table while Shining Armor elected to sit next to his wife.

“Thank you, your majesty,” Skeletor said before he turned to the oldest mare in the room. “Copper, would you do us the honor of officially announcing the meeting.”

“Of course,” she replied before she pulled out a book from her satchel and turned to the cleanest page. Next, she dipped one of her quills into an already prepared ink pot and began to record their meeting. “… Today marks the last council meeting of Lord Skeletor, and the first of their majesties, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor. Lord Skeletor has verbally recognized Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s right to rule, and by extension has recognized Prince Shining Armor as the Princess’ co-ruler. All council members, with the exception of General Cannon Fodder, are present and willing to act as witnesses to Lord Skeletor’s abdication of the Crystal Empire’s throne. In return, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza has promised to aid the Empire in its time of need and has declared that Lord Skeletor will be given a position of power in recognition of his efforts for the Empire.

“It should be noted that this is the first time in the Crystal Empire’s history that a leader holding the power of a crown, whether it be the crown of a kingdom or the Empire itself, has willingly chosen to abdicate the throne. Lord Skeletor has asked for a short moment to speak with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor alone, which has been recognized by a majority vote of the council. All recordings of today’s events will resume after Lord Skeletor has spoken with the Crystal Empire’s new princess and prince,” she finished before looking back towards Skeletor.

“My lord, the council will now give you time to impart your wisdom to the future heirs of the Crystal Empire… May I say, it has been a privilege to serve under you,” Copper Plate said with a small bow of her head.

“Thank you, Copper Plate,” Skeletor replied as he returned the gesture to the aging mare. “And I wish to extend the same gratitude to each of you as well. If you could all be so kind as to offer us a moment alone, then I would greatly appreciate it.”

Without even asking for Cadence’s approval, the council members rose from their seats and trotted out the doors to wait in the hallway.

She felt nervous at the prospect of being left alone with her husband and Skeletor in the council room. The sick pit in her stomach began to grow larger as she watched the hairs of their tails retreat to the hallway, leaving her and Shining Armor with a creature that neither of them really understood. Neither Camisole nor Star Burst had mentioned hearing Skeletor prepare the council before she arrived, so whatever he had planned was done outside of the council room, possibly sometime after he had handed the crown to her the day before. It was a deliberate move on Skeletor's part, possibly to solidify the fact to Cadence and her husband that he was the one in charge. Her orders meant nothing to the loyal council members, and any arguments she would raise against him would doubtlessly go unheard by them. Even after the documents would be signed, Cadence doubted that she could rely on the council members for assistance, it had been made perfectly clear where their allegiances laid.

As Cadence allowed her mind to dance with paranoid thoughts about his motives, Skeletor rested his hands on the table, interlocking his fingers as he shifted himself and the pillow closer to the edge of the table. He glanced at the small stack of papers that sat next to the crown, reading scraps of sentences before he spoke.

“… Before I sign these papers with the council present, there are several things that I want to speak to you and Prince Armor about. What I’m about to say will sound impossible, but I implore that you believe me. It will be imperative to keep this between ourselves for the time being, your majesties.”

“My husband and I will decide whether to share any information or not after you tell us,” Cadence answered immediately. From the corner of her eye, she could see Shining Armor nod in agreement with her demand, allowing them to reestablish their power to Skeletor. She refused to be caught off guard once more, intentionally or otherwise, by the former "lord" of the Empire. She suppressed the lingering fear that haunted her, replacing it with a subdued sense of anger that gave her a false sense of bravery.

“I suppose that’s fair, and I doubt you’ll wish for this to become common knowledge anyway… For several weeks now, I’ve been keeping a major secret from everyone in the Empire. Sombra is still alive,” Skeletor revealed.

“I thought you killed him,” Shining Armor stated firmly. “Isn't that what you've told everypony else?” He gently accused.

“Well, yes, I did. I killed Sombra and then everyone in the Empire heard about it,” Skeletor answered as he shifted his seat back from the table. “At least, I technically did. The problem is, he didn’t stay dead. I noticed that the mirror in my room was… For want of a better word, ‘broken', so to speak. After placing a spell on it to see if I could ‘fix’ it, I saw Sombra’s spirit. He taunted me, claiming that something called a Grogin or otherwise would come to collect a debt. Later on, I received a report of an unknown crystal pony being found a day’s walk outside of the barrier without any food or supplies on them. I thought it was odd that they would attempt to face the storm without anything to help them, so I had the guards search for them, only for the pony to suddenly disappear with a teleportation spell. I believe that Sombra has used some form of necromancy to take the body of a dead crystal pony outside the barrier, and then walked back in with it.”

“Necromancy…” Cadence whispered under her breath. “That’s… How do you even know that word? Necromancy is a forbidden section of knowledge, nopony should even know what that word sounds like,” she asked with a wavering resolve in her voice.

In hindsight, a demon knowing about Necromancy wasn’t too far-fetched of an idea. But his casual use of the horrible word had caused her to feel a spike of anger. It gave her an excuse to vent her subdued frustrations. She was angry at the ponies who judged her as a tyrant, she was hurt by the maids who had alluded to the idea that she had hypnotized Skeletor, and she wanted nothing more than an excuse to force down her wallowing fears and embrace the strength that her rising anger offered.

“I just know it from back home. It was prominent in a lot of fictional stories,” Skeletor answered quickly. "I've never done it before, I just know what it is," he reassured them.

With a great deal of effort on her part, Cadence restrained her suddenly aggressive emotions and attempted to calm herself down. As far as her guards could tell, Skeletor didn’t appear to be at fault for the rumors or the crystal ponies’ feelings towards her. A small and selfish part of her wished that she could blame it all on him, but she knew better. Her volatile emotions had just blinded her for a brief moment because of the sudden amount of stress on her mind, and she wouldn’t allow for that to happen again.

For all she knew, Skeletor wanted her to get angry. He wanted to play the victim and act like he was giving in to the big bad courtyard bully. Telling her that Sombra was still alive could have been nothing more than a ploy to make her look like a paranoid princess chasing ghost stories. However, there was also a faint possibility that he was being honest, which would hold horrible implications for the Empire’s well-being.

“Why don’t you want the council members to know?” She asked. Cadence didn't allow her worries to take back control of her emotion and instead decided to face Skeletor like a leader. Her expression became hardened as she spoke to him, not allowing a moment of hesitation to enter her mind. As the Empire's princess, Cadence couldn't have the luxury of making mistakes or being a fearful filly in front of him.

“I thought about telling them, but I never felt like I could. For now, they’re happy believing that Sombra has been killed, and if they found out… I admit that I know little about magic, but I do understand that the Crystal Heart is powered by the positive emotions of the crystal ponies. If they were to learn of his return, mass panic would crush any hope they had, and I believe the barrier over the Empire would fall. It’s the same reason why I wished to keep the Empire’s displacement a secret for the time being,” Skeletor elaborated.

Cadence mildly hated how she couldn’t argue against Skeletor’s well put point. She couldn’t decide if she should completely trust him at the moment, but she also couldn’t ignore his arguments. If rumors began to spread that Sombra had returned and possessed a crystal pony, it wouldn’t be long until the barrier was threatened by the sudden increase in negative emotions.

On one hoof, if Sombra was alive then it was Cadence’s job to get rid of him, and if she succeeded all of the ponies in the Empire would recognize her and Shining Armor as their protectors. However, if she was just being led by the nose to chase butterflies, then the Empire would see her as a paranoid princess who didn’t put faith in Skeletor’s attempt on Sombra’s life. Everything Skeletor had done so far had served as a double-edged sword for Cadence.

By handing over the crown to her, Skeletor painted himself as a virtuous saint and, either directly or inadvertently, portrayed Cadence as a demanding princess who took it by force. His polite attitude and his apologies had both helped and hindered her, his speech served to fuel the flames of the spreading rumors while he only spoke about his support for her, and he had finally given her the chance to make herself look like the fool by telling her about Sombra. If he was alive and Cadence ignored Skeletor’s warnings, then the demon could rush to the crystal ponies and tell them about how she didn’t heed his words. Alternatively, if Cadence followed his words only to find nothing then he could refute any of her claims that he lied to her and tell the crystal ponies that she was trying to slander him.

“… Why are you so willing to help us?” Cadence finally asked. She refused to play any games for the crown or the Empire’s love, and she was determined to find out if Skeletor’s words were truthful or filled with vicious lies.

“Because it’ll help them,” Skeletor answered to which Cadence shook her head in disagreement.

“That wasn’t what I meant, let me rephrase the question. Why were you so willing to hand over your crown? You said that you couldn’t trust my claim about being Princess Amore’s distant descendant, but you still decided to kneel to me and hand me the crown,” She elaborated.

“Ah, well, there are two reasons, your majesty. Firstly, I never felt comfortable with the power they thrusted upon me. I was always worried that I’d do something to hurt them, or cause them to rise up in anger against me,” Skeletor explained without a hint of humor in his voice.

Does… Does he not know that they practically worship him? She wondered. With so many ponies fawning over him as if he were an alicorn, there was almost no way that any of them would have plotted against him. He was revered by them, idolized, and placed on a pedestal that made him look like a deity. And yet, he expected her to believe that he was worried about a coup? Once again, Cadence struggled to decide if his words were genuine or if he was putting up an act to make her lower her guard around him.

“You can also give them things I can’t, your majesty,” Skeletor continued. “You have medicine and medical knowledge that could save hundreds, if not thousands of lives. And, considering that the crystal ponies were from an era when diseases and bacteria were different, there are many unknown diseases that could do great harm to them today. Something simple to you, like a common cold or a bad case of the chicken pow could be deadly to them. But, with your doctors and your resources, we can prevent that.

“Also… Aside from the medical knowledge of your kingdom, there is… Your military knowledge. I’m afraid of it, your highness. I’m fearful for the ponies who live here. The world has had three thousand years to advance, while the Empire has only grown weaker with time. I only know a few parlor tricks of magic, while your country is filled with people who have studied it since they were young. And, with a human living in your kingdom, I can only imagine how long it would take for you to have something akin to a tank or a gun. And God forbid if she told you the basic principles of an Atom Bomb…

“War with your kingdom wouldn’t be a real war. It would be suicide. Even if I wasn’t averse to the thought of ruling a kingdom, I would still have no choice but to succumb to your wishes and abdicate the throne. It was the only way this could have ended. And if I had to do it again, I would,” Skeletor promised.

Cadence allowed Skeletor’s words to properly sink in as she silently contemplated them. First and foremost was his stance on the possibility of modern diseases being deadly to the crystal ponies. She would need to gather the thestral guards immediately and make sure that none of them had so much as a sniffle. She would need to import a large number of doctors and nurses from Equestria, along with an extensive amount of medicines and medical spells. That would cost a substantial number of bits, but with the Empire’s vault then money wouldn’t be an issue. The real issue lied in Skeletor’s largest concern.

The thought hadn’t crossed her mind that other nations and kingdoms would take advantage of the Empire’s lack of modern equipment and technology, and in hindsight it was a legitimate concern. The Dragon Empire and the Griffon Kingdom would have definitely seen it as an opportunity to amass more wealth. The Crystal Empire would also be an easy target for sky pirates, but the constant storm above them would have offered some protection from those criminals.

The advancement of magic had also been previously proven to be leagues above older standards of magic when six ponies managed to defeat Nightmare Moon. During Nightmare Moon's own time, it would have taken an army’s worth of unicorns to even hope to defeat her but, due to the wonders of modern magic, all it took was six mares who had no previous military training.

Even if Sombra were still alive and in his own body when Cadence arrived, his spells and techniques would have been outdated by a few thousand years. If Nightmare Moon couldn’t beat the combined knowledge of a thousand years of magical advancements, then what hope would a tyrant from three thousand years ago have? The more Cadence thought on it, the more she began to wonder about Skeletor’s own abilities.

The prophecy of the spell that sealed the Empire’s citizens claimed that it would take a being of great magic potential to bring the Empire back, but when the advancement of magic was considered, she couldn’t help but think of what would have happened if she had just gotten to the Empire before Skeletor. Would the spell that held the Empire deem her as strong enough to release Sombra and his slaves, or would it have just as easily accepted somepony like Blueblood to defeat Sombra? Then what did that say about Skeletor? Was he an all-powerful god of magic like Eris, or was he a creature with a relatively average amount of magical knowledge and power?

She would be lying if she said that she wasn’t a bit jealous of Skeletor at that moment. The only reason for his fame among the crystal ponies was because he wandered to the Empire and the spell that held them saw that he had a bit more power than a ruva from three thousand years ago. If she had taken the initiative to at least look at the Empire, then the spell would have released them all and she would be able to defeat Sombra with a simple wave of her horn. However, she couldn’t let her mind linger on “ifs” and theories, and she couldn’t allow herself to fall victim to bitter jealousy either. What mattered was that the Empire was now rightfully under her and Shinning Armor’s command.

However, there was still one thing that needed to be addressed first and foremost, a glaring issue that needed to be dealt with if Cadence wanted to have her focus rest solely on the Empire. What to do with the demonic creature that had just handed her the throne.

She didn’t make it a habit to lie to others, but when she had offered to give him a position of power in the Empire, that was a slight lie. In truth, she didn’t expect everything to run as smoothly as it had, and she was completely unprepared with how to deal with the skull headed creature that sat with them. It would have been easy to banish him if he was blatantly evil, but not all villains gave long monologues and not all virtuous spirits sang sweet melodies. In time, she would find out who Skeletor exactly was, but for the moment, she would make sure to keep an eye on him to see what he would unknowingly reveal.

“Thank you for your answer, Skeletor. Now, unless you have anything else you’d like to say, I want to address one more thing. What do you plan to do now?”

Skeletor took his time to search for the right words that he wished to speak. Cadence could only imagine the many thoughts that flew through his mind. Would he be content with a position as a noble? Would he demand one of the three kingdoms of the Empire to be hoofed over to him? Or, would he leverage this opportunity to continue his silent and slanderous campaign against her and Shining Armor?

“Well, if possible, I’d like to continue studying magic and helping the crystal ponies. Unless…” He paused as he tapped his finger against the table, killing the seconds that passed in silent suspense until he found his voice once more. “I’m not sure if this is a state secret or anything but… Has your kingdom, uh…. Been looking into a method for sending Crystal back home? You know, like or portal or something? Maybe a magic word?”

A small well-practiced smile worked its way to her muzzle as he listened to his request. Even if she had no idea what his motives were or if he was genuinely good, she did know the object of his desire. One of the large reasons that Skeletor was acting cooperative, or at least pretending to be, was because he believed that a human female named Crystal had taken up residence in Canterlot.

The Empire was still in the process of moving on from Skeletor’s reign, and it was clear to the princess that there were still ponies who were loyal to him in the Crystal Empire. If she had allowed their lie to be discarded so soon, then he could easily use the ponies who remained loyal to him to take back control of the Crystal Empire. She would tell him the truth one day once the Empire was firmly tucked under her wing, but until then she would have to continue the lie that Lieutenant Burst had built for them.

Cadence reassured herself that even if Skeletor was a genuinely nice creature, and had learned about their deceit, that they would at least have the measures necessary to send him back home. If he was a demon born in the deeper parts of Tartarus that rested below the prison for the damned villains of Equestria’s past like Tirek, the Smooze, and the Siren Sisters, then it would be a simple matter of trotting to the borders of the prison and give him supplies for the rest of his journey. At worst, it could turn out that Skeletor was from an uncharted island or perhaps a secret underground colony, and even then, it wouldn’t be too laborious of a task to send him home.

“Yes, but progress has been going slow. It might help if you tell us more about how you came to the Empire,” she lied. She couldn't outright say something like, "Do you know where America is?" without raising some suspicion from him. As far as he was aware, 'Crystal' had already told them about America and where it was. Their lie hinged on revealing as little as possible while taking as much as they could from him to build up their lie if need be.

“Alright… Well, I don’t know how Crystal got here, but for me, I fainted and woke up in the frozen tundra outside the barrier. I wasn’t doing anything too special when it happened, I was just buying a prop from a stand at comic con when I suddenly woke up without a face. At first, I thought that everything was a dream, but after a bit, I realized it wasn’t. For a while, I thought that Sombra summoned me here for one reason or another, but when I confronted him about it, he denied it. So far, the only clue that I’ve had was that he was the first pony I saw here, and that’s it,” Skeletor explained.

“What’s comic con?” Shining Armor decided to ask.

“It’s an event where people who like comics, games, and certain tv shows come together to buy and sell things, such as props like my staff,” Skeletor said as he pointed at the morbid staff that was strapped to his back. “The one that I had had broken when I got there, and then I saw this one at a stand for ten dollars. I knew I wasn’t going to wear my Skeletor costume again, but I thought that I might as well buy the staff and maybe resell it and my costume later.”

“… You were wearing a costume of yourself?” Cadence asked in disbelief. She had met a great deal of egotistical creatures from a number of species and races, but she had never met a creature that had decided that dressing up in their own clothes could be considered a “costume.”

“Oh, no, no. Sorry, I-I see how that can be confusing. ’Skeletor’ is a fictional character from… a certain form of children’s entertainment that may or may not exist here. I went dressed up as him and, well, you know the rest,” he explained, causing more questions to rise up from the royal couple.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Shining Armor interjected. “… You’re saying that you’re just playing dress up?… So, why are you pretending to be a fictional character? Why would you keep pretending to be a fictional character after… everything that's happened?”

“It’s not so much as I’m playing ‘dress up’ as… The costume pretty much became me? I honestly don’t know what happened. One minute, I was at a comic convention, and the next, I’m in a frozen wasteland without my face. I was wondering if something similar happened to Crystal or if this was just a problem that affected me.”

Cadence felt her brain stop working as she replayed his words in her head. It seemed like every time she had felt comfortable with the knowledge she had, “Skeletor” would do something to violently rip her away from her comfort to thrust her into a seemingly bleak and confusing reality.

If she were to take his words at face value, then that would mean that Sombra was killed by a role-player in a costume. Granted, his costume was actually living flesh and blood, but the point still stood. Sombra, a tyrannical leader who killed an alicorn and battled to a standstill with two other alicorns, was killed by a LARPer. The entire Empire was worshiping a creature that was role-playing, and she had been made a fool of by an obscure fictional character. She was worried, if not terrified, that she was being manipulated and deceived by a creature in a Nightmare Night costume.

“So… What’s your actual name, then?” Cadence asked with a strained smile. She had been brought to her wits end by his latest reveal, and she quietly wondered if she could take that secret to her grave and prevent anypony from knowing that she was forced to negotiate politics with a role-playing demonic creature. Once again, the fears that she held slowly began to fade even more as she continued moving on the train ride of emotions that Skeletor had led her through.

“I uh… May possibly have… forgotten it,” Skeletor answered sheepishly as he avoided meeting Cadence’s slowly twitching eyes.

“I see,” Cadence replied simply. “Well, is there anything else you’d like to tell us before you hand over control of the Empire?”

“Well, um… Firstly, there’s the concern of the Empire’s royal vault,” Skeletor said as he hopefully turned the conversation towards something that wouldn’t cause Cadence to have a migraine. “… The Empire is facing a financial decline. I was able to resolve the issue by introducing steel, but I’m not certain how long it will keep the Empire afloat. If possible, I’d like to discuss the possibility of trading steel and selling it to the Canterlot Kingdom so that our financial situation could be solved.”

“And why is the Empire in a state of financial ruin?” She asked with a controlled and happy tone of voice as she still tried to suppress any remaining bitterness from learning that her rival for the throne was a Faust abandoned LARPer.

“Oh, I assumed Emerald Secret or one of the others caught you up to speed, your majesty. During Sombra’s reign he nearly emptied the vault of all its more valuable material, such as copper, and used it for his own desires. I believe that he also used it to pay some dragons for their services, but I may be misremembering that.”

“Well, are there any bits in the vault that have the year’s date engraved into them?” Cadence asked as she prepared a simple plan to help the Empire.

“I believe so, yes.”

“Then it should be easy to sell them outside the Empire to collectors. So long as we don’t suddenly flood the market with bits from the vault then we should be able to slowly amass a decent amount of bits. You also mentioned something stealing? I should let you know that I won’t allow you to steal from the ponies of the Empire,” she promised.

“Not stealing, your majesty. I would never think of robbing the crystal ponies, or anyone really,” he explained. “I meant steel, with two e’s. It’s a type of metal from my home that’s lighter and stronger than iron. If you wish, I-er-I mean the council, can prepare a meeting with the head alchemist and blacksmith to tell you more about it. If the Empire is able to secure a means of income from outside the Frozen North, then we can use that money to rebuild the Empire and invest in medicine and necessary supplies for the citizens.”

“… And you claim that the Empire is the only source of ’steel’ in the world?” Cadence asked, allowing both doubt and hope to balance precariously on Skeletor’s words.

“So long as Crystal doesn’t know how to do it, then yes,” he reassured her. “Now, before we call the council members back in, may I ask one last favor?”

“That’s fine, Skeletor. I can allow a reasonable favor for you since you’ve been so helpful.”

“My thanks, your majesty,” Skeletor said as he bowed. Once again, she couldn’t help but think that his politeness was nothing more than a thinly veiled facade. If she were to believe everything he told her, then that would mean that he was a creature wearing a magic costume that turned him into a demonic creature, teleported him to the Empire, and gave him enough power to technically kill Sombra but not outright defeat him.

“I haven’t really told the other council members about my home planet, so… Could we keep this a private matter for now?” He asked

Cadence almost allowed the most important word of that sentence to go unheard as she played with her thoughts. However, when her brain recognized the key word in his final request to her and Shining Armor. It echoed in her mind like the dying sound of thunder, trailing off inside of her as the seconds slowly passed.

Planet.

Realization struck her like a furious dragon. The creature he talked about, the human, was an alien life form from another planet. His planet. And Cadence had just promised the only known alien in Equestria’s history that they were already looking for a way to send him back to a planet that existed Faust knows were.

For a short moment, Cadence's sanity slipped from its pedestal and nearly shattered as she began to slowly allow that information to settle in her mind. She also idly wondered if she had slighted Eris in a previous life.

Chapter 31. Perfection Is Not a Virtue.

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History was made in only a moment as Lord Skeletor signed his name on a dotted line across from the new prince and princess’ names.

Copper Plate looked ancient parchment paper in her hooves, feeling the texture of the document rub against the frogs of her hooves as she reread the exact wording of the paper. She gave the royal couple’s names a scrutinizing glance before her eyes wandered over to the section of the sheet that was reserved for her former lord.

Lord Skeletor’s signature was sloppy compared the princess and prince, and just like every other document he had signed during his reign, the parchment was free of his surname. Copper Plate had to admit, she was somewhat disheartened to see that he hadn’t signed the paper with his full signature. It would be the last official royal document that he would sign, and the last that she would authorize.

With a hidden reluctance, Copper Plate placed the paper down and authorized it with the seal that had been made for Lord Skeletor’s reign. When she removed it from the paper, the ink visage of their lord stared back at her. Since using Princess Amore’s seal would have been considered as taboo, the blacksmiths had quickly made a metal seal of Lord Skeletor’s skull for Copper Plate to use whenever she authorized his signature. She had always intended on having it replaced with something that wasn’t cobbled together in less than a day, but she never found the time to do it. Copper Plate allowed herself to look at the seal for a few more moments until she had to announce the end of Lord Skeletor’s reign.

“With this, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor are officially our new ruling diarchs,” Copper Plate announced to the assembled council members before she turned to their new leaders and bowed down, signaling for the other council members to join her in showing their fealty.

While her eyes were closed, she could hear the magical chime of either Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or Prince Shining Armor’s horn as the crown replaced the tiara that decorated the princess’ head.

“Thank you, my ponies, you may now rise,” Princess Mi Amore Cadenza commanded.

When she rose, Copper Plate noticed that her former lord had also joined the council members in bowing to her. While the council members had lowered their heads to the floor to swear fealty to her, Lord Skeletor sat himself on one knee with his skull hovering next to it. His left hand rested on the higher knee while his other hand was firmly planted on the floor of the council room, a pose similar to the one that Emerald had described to her when he offered Princess Mi Amore Cadenza the crown.

As Princess Cadence made a vow to the council to use her power to defend the Empire, or something along those lines, Copper Plate allowed her thoughts to wander to random moments in her life. She caught glimpses of memories where happily told Princess Amore about her progress as the first Head of the Royal Archives. She remembered the pleasant smile Princess Amore always wore, even as Copper Plate and Torch Wind would talk endlessly about historical text and the intricacies of bits.

Her thoughts drifted to the countless nights she fell asleep in the archive and the many mornings that followed where she found a blanket covering her when she woke up. She also briefly remembered the many horrible days and months that followed after her retirement from the council, when Sombra killed the princess and most of the council members. She remembered the hours she spent silently wishing for death, and the few seconds of hope that sprouted when she saw the alicorn diarchs of Dream Valley come to liberate them.

She also remembered the first time she met Lord Skeletor, when he was lying unconscious on a bed in the medical ward of the castle. She nearly chuckled at the faint feeling of fear that she remembered when she saw him there, and she couldn’t help but let a smile cross her muzzle while she looked back on that time. It was almost hard to believe that there was a time that she was fearful of Lord Skeletor. Granted, he was a creature that she had never seen before, but that didn’t make it any less funny in hindsight.

A delicate memory of her speaking with Emerald soon leapt to the forefront of her mind as she ruminated on the past. She’d be lying if she said that she even saw a hint of her own personality in the younger mare. Emerald was quiet, subtle with her views, and didn’t really speak unless spoken to, and while Copper Plate was like that at one point in her youth, she was also still wildly different all the same. The only thing they actually shared in common was their grief, which led Copper Plate to holding out her hoof to the pained mare.

Their relationship had grown significantly over the course of Lord Skeletor’s rule. Copper Plate had abandoned the role of the lonely mare to the one who held out a hoof to others, just as Princess Amore had done for her in the past. With the experiences that her life had offered her, Copper Plate was able to help Emerald Secret try to overcome the nightmares that still haunted her and had guided her down the path of recovery by simply listening to the mare’s problems and fears.

Copper Plate hadn’t chased all of the monsters away from Emerald’s past, and she would probably never see the day that Emerald reached the end of her journey to healing, but that didn’t make any of the time they shared worth less. She knew that one day, Emerald would find her way through the darkness that still stuck to her memories, but she still lamented that she wouldn’t be there when Emerald had fully healed.

By the time Princess Cadence had finished her relatively short speech to the council, the dull ache in Copper Plate’s hind leg began to flare, reminding the elderly mare that the final moments of her life in the castle were drawing near. Copper Plate sat in her seat at the council table without any complaints, taking the seat that was going to be filled by another pony someday soon.

Skeletor stared at the cushion he was offered instead of sitting on it, causing a majority of the council members to turn their attention away from the royal couple.

“Um… Well, if… If I’m done here, then I should leave you all to your business,” Skeletor said as he excused himself from the table.

Technically speaking, he didn’t have the authority to sit in on a meeting unless he was the ruler or a council member, with the only exception being when a guard needed to urgently tell them something or when Princess Celestia or Princess Luna were asked by Princess Amore to sit in on a council meeting.

As much as she and a few other council members wished to protest his decision to leave the council room, they couldn’t speak out and ask him to remain.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor, I… I look forward to seeing an era of prosperity come from your reign,” Skeletor told the royal pair before he walked to the entrance of the council room, not even sparing a final glance to the council members as the door closed behind him.

None of the council members dared to speak after Skeletor left, choosing instead to fall into silence before they turned their attention to their new rulers. With a slightly awkward flutter of her wings, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza straightened her posture and spoke with her council.

“I would like to take a moment to thank you all for everything you’ve done to help the Empire after it returned. I know that there will be a lot of issues ahead of us, but I trust that we can all trot through them together and resolve any issues that are still affecting the Empire or any that will come with time. Now, Emerald, I understand that you were Skeletor’s Royal Advisor, correct?” She asked in spite of already knowing the answer.

“Yes, my… My princess,” Emerald answered, clearly falling back on her habit of replying with “my lord” whenever Skeletor would ask her a question. “I was the Royal Advisor for both Princess Amore and Lord Skeletor, and I can now proudly say that I am your Royal Advisor, my princess.”

“Thank you, Emerald, though I’d like to point out that you’ll also be acting as Shining Armor’s advisor as well,” the princess informed her, causing the council members to glance at the white unicorn she brought with her.

Copper Plate was aware that Princess Amore had a fair number of lovers over her nearly immortal life, giving concubines the title of prince if she felt a deep connection with them. However, it was more an honorary title than one that carried any real weight. Everypony in the Empire silently knew that the pony who really held any power was the princess, but they would still acknowledge her lover with the title of prince to satiate her preferred concubine.

Adding Shining Armor’s name to the royal decree that handed the throne to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was only a courtesy given to the prince in her eyes. But, from what her princess said, it almost sounded like she expected her lover to be involved in political affairs.

None of the council members bothered to question her decision while the unicorn was at her side, so the issue was temporarily shoved to the side as Emerald nodded in acknowledgment. “Yes, my princess.”

“Good. Now, as the Royal Advisor, do you have any problems that should be brought to our attention?”

“Well, before you arrived, Lord Skeletor was attempting to find a new source of medical knowledge for the doctors so that they could treat patients better.”

“Right I remember that. Speaking of which, I want whatever ‘placebos’ he’s made to be removed,” the princess suddenly ordered.

Her command was met with shocked silence that was eventually shattered by Avid Value’s shout.

“What!?” Avid Value demanded. “Why would you want to do that? The Empire is already low on medicine, why would you want to get rid of the only medicine we have an abundance of?”

“Calm yourself, Mr. Value,” Crumb Catcher ordered.

“Calm down? She wants to take away the medicine that Lord Skeletor made! How can I calm down knowing that we’re supposed to stop giving them medicine?” Avid Value asked the large blue coated stallion.

Instead of following their usual back and forth argument, Crumb Catcher turned his attention to the princess. “Your majesty, may I enquire as to why you wish to remove that medicine in particular.”

“Because I don’t know what he put in it,” the princess explained. “Placebos aren’t a new concept that he invented. It’s a method of tricking the brain into believing that something will affect you when it shouldn’t. I’ve heard of them being used as a method of torture in the Griffon Kingdom and as a snake oil in Equestria. Placebos don’t offer any real medical treatment and, at worst, can cause more harm than good.”

“So, you’re saying that Lord Skeletor is trying to hurt us?” Avid accused.

“Be mindful of your words Mr. Value,” Crumb Catcher cut in, preventing the prince from rising to the princess’ defense by interjecting on their behalf. “Her majesty is simply informing us of the possible dangers of his ‘medicine.’ We could prove whether they’re harmful or not easily enough. I’ll collect a vile of it and have it studied by Purity Flame. The alchemists should be able to discern what the contents are and we’ll have an answer soon,” he reasoned.

“But Lord Skeletor said—”

“He said a lot of things, Mr. Value,” Crumb Catcher interrupted again, rising from his seat to stare down at the smaller stallion. “If I recall correctly, you’ve claimed that he told you that his home was located in Faust’s Garden, and that he found proof that Sombra had manipulated Princess Amore into passing laws against relationships between two mares or two stallions. I’ve seen proof of neither thus far, and I assume nopony else he has as well,” Crumb Catcher asked as his eyes silently surveyed each council member until they stopped at Emerald Secret.

“Mrs. Secret, have you ever seen the journal that he claimed held undeniable proof of Sombra’s alleged deeds?”

“… From what I was told, Lord Skeletor eradicated the evidence in a fit of rage,” she passively explained, neither directly confirming nor denying Crumb Catcher’s question.

“And once again, all we have is his word to trust,” Crumb Catcher explained before turning back to the royal couple. “However, your majesty, I don’t wish to come to a conclusion without more evidence. Your majesty, would you please explain what exactly a placebo is? From what you’ve said thus far, you seem to be familiar with it.”

“Well, simply put, Placebos are a parlor trick. Say I give a pony a spoon of sour apple juice and I tell them it’s poison. If I kept reinforcing this idea, and brought along other ponies who agreed with me, the one who drank the apple juice will begin to feel sick and start to create symptoms over time that hurt them. I’ve heard about it being used as a method of torture in the Griffon Kingdom, where they’ll feed prisoners different things and tell them that their meals were laced with poisons,” she explained.

“I see. So, I assume that the ‘cure’ needed to counteract that would just be somepony convincing the other that what they ate actually wasn’t poison? If so, then it could be argued that the Placebos that have been provided to the Medical Ward have done their job,” Crumb Catcher gently argued. Before the princess could argue any further, Crumb Catcher continued on as if she had confirmed his view.

“I propose that, for the time being, we temporarily suspend the use of Placebos, at least until we can have a trusted alchemist, such as Purity Flame, examine it. Then, I believe we will all be prepared and well equipped to conclude. All in favor?”

“Aye,” Colonel Kernel answered after receiving an odd look from the Royal Spy Master.

“Aye,” Avid value huffed, seemingly annoyed that he actually agreed with Crumb Catcher.

“Aye,” Copper Plate added on, allowing a majority rule to pass. If she wanted, Princess Cadence could attempt to overturn the decision and outright ban it without any regard for her council. However, if she was smart, which Copper Plate prayed she was, then she’d see how going against a majority council vote would reflect on her.

“Aye,” Emerald Secret surprisingly finished. Copper Plate had intended to agree so that Emerald wouldn’t have to vote, allowing her to not be forced into choosing to side with the council or with their new princess. However, it seemed like the green mare had decided to show the princess that every council member was, at least partially, against her decision to remove Placebos permanently.

In some regards, the medicine Skeletor provided was partially effective for ponies who were trying to battle nightmares and deep feelings of sorrow, and Skeletor had made sure to tell them that it shouldn’t have been considered as a method of treatment for physical wounds or actual illnesses. She remembered that, while she was in the Medical Ward for her pulled muscle, she was only prescribed a small dosage of Skeletor’s concoction to ease the pain which she had completely believed at the time. While it definitely didn’t get rid of the pain, it had done its job of tricking her into believing that the pain was becoming more manageable. So, ever if it couldn’t regrow limbs or cure a cold, Copper Plate felt like it still technically did its job.

With the majority of the council moving in favor of Crumb Catcher’s suggestion, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza reluctantly nodded her head to allow the motion to pass with her hesitant approval.

“Very well. Onto the next issue then,” the princess ordered as she went around the table to learn how the Empire was faring after Sombra’s tyranny.

Once again, Copper Plate decided to ruminate on her plans for a future without herself on the council and how she would go about bringing up the matter of her retirement to Emerald and the others. It would probably be best to give the princess ample warning that she would need to find a new Master of the Archives. The problem was that she wasn’t sure how to tell her friend that she would be leaving the castle permanently.

The meeting had dragged on for far too long in Avid Value's opinion. Each question raised by the princess only served to strengthen his dislike of her as she continued to question Lord Skeletor's choices again and again. She would find faults with most of his decisions within seconds, and wouldn't give any praise for his deeds and actions. When the meeting was finally adjourned, the judgmental tone and accusations tossed by the Empire's new princess lead Avid Value to trotting towards the one door he had always avoided in the Crystal Castle.

There was a burning question that raged in Avid’s mind above all others. Lord Skeletor had told his council why he abdicated the throne, and made an argument that was logically sound, but there was still one thing Avid wished to know.

For some reason, the halls between the council room and Lord Skeletor’s personal chambers felt like they had been extended. It wasn’t as if a hundred miles suddenly existed between the two rooms, it was more like he had simply forgotten the layout of the halls. The gaps between the hung portraits of Princess Mi Amore seemed to widen, the patrol of guards appeared to be hugging the walls more closely than they usually would, and the ceiling of the hall felt like it had risen by several feet.

In reality, there wasn’t a single difference in the halls from the day before to the present, but it still seemed almost alien to him. He felt like a stranger walking through a familiar room, one that he had only visited in his memories after not seeing it for years.

Approaching the door with the hesitation of a foal peeking into their closet at night, Avid Value slowly brought his hoof up to the door and knocked on it.

As he waited, he took note of absent guard post next to the royal bedroom. Since Lord Skeletor had never complained, General Cannon Fodder argued that it was alright to not have anypony guarding his door. Although Avid Value strongly disagreed with the general, his plan to have a guard posted at the door was rejected by Cannon Fodder and Crumb Catcher with Copper Plate only voting along with them because Lord Skeletor had never brought it up. However, Avid Value believed that she had only voted to prevent the table from being consumed in a loud argument at breakfast before Lord Skeletor arrived that morning.

Avid Value silently lamented the mistreatment of their lord. Not only was he denied royal services like a full patrol of guards and meals that were fit for a king, but he had also been denied a crown for far too long. After only having a crown for a few days, Lord Skeletor was forced to relinquish it to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her concubine, abdicating the throne to prevent a possible war with the unworthy princess and her kingdom to the south.

Before Avid Value could delve into the depths of his bitter hatred of the new princess, Lord Skeletor opened the door and greeted Avid with a welcoming smile.

“Ah, Avid, great to see you. Would you like to come in?” He asked, holding the door wider as he invited the stallion. “I hope you don’t mind the mess. I was just cleaning up when you arrived.”

“You’re cleaning?” He asked reflexively. As he trotted into the room, passing the threshold that he never imagined he would cross, he glanced around the room to see what Lord Skeletor was doing.

The first thing he noticed was the broken mirror that was attached to his wardrobe. Remains of the mirror lined the edges of its wooden canvas, holding them in place

The pillar of ice in the corner of the room almost went unnoticed by Avid, but once he saw Lord Skeletor walking towards it, he refused to take his eyes off of the strange addition. At the base of the frozen pillar was a pile of red cloaks that stood as tall as an average pony. It had hints of scorch marks licking the top of the pile, raising more than a few questions for Avid as he studied the pile of burned fabric.

Avid’s attention was only taken away from the pillar when a gentle breeze fluttered in through the shattered window. The drawn curtains helped to hide the gaping hole in the wall, but failed to prevent the cold air of the Frozen North from drifting into the room.

As Avid tore his eyes away from the broken window to look at the rest of the room, his eyes landed on the scorched shelves of the bookcase that stood in the room. From a passing glance, none of the books looked terrible, but it quickly became clear to Avid that the ones on the scorched area were misshaped and oddly colored. When Avid turned his attention back to Lord Skeletor, the rightful Lord of the Empire was casting a small flame spell on the horns of his staff to slowly melt the pillar of ice.

Avid was completely perplexed by the state of Lord Skeletor’s room. Had Crumb Catcher forbade anypony from cleaning his room? Was this why Lord Skeletor abdicated the throne, because he hated how he was mistreated by his subjects? Was he upset with how unjustly he was treated?

At least a dozen gut wrenching and worrying questions filled his mind at the moment, almost burying the single question he had on his mind when he began trotting to Lord Skeletor’s room. However, Avid managed to cling to that one important question and decided to use his new revelation about Lord Skeletor’s treatment to fuel his resolve.

Swallowing the last bit of hesitation that held him back, Avid decided to address Lord Skeletor and press him for an answer, one that would solidify Avid’s resolve to help Lord Skeletor reclaim the throne if he desired.

“Lord Skeletor—“

“Up, up, up. None of that, Avid. I’m not the ‘lord’, it’s… It’s just Skeletor now,” Lord Skeletor lightly admonished as he turned his back to the council member to face the large pillar of ice. “I hope you don’t mind that I clean while we talk, do you?”

“Um, of course not, lo… Skeletor,” he said, flinching after he abandoned the title that his lord had chosen. “I just… Why is there a pillar of ice?” He asked instead. He silently cursed himself for the sudden question, regretting that he had missed the opportunity to ask his lord the real question.

“Ah, a uh… Little magical mishap. I thought it would melt over time, but magically created ice seems to be pretty resilient against time. I’m trying to melt it slowly since I don’t want to accidentally engulf the room in flames… again,” he explained.

It only took a moment for Avid to understand what he meant. Clearly, Lord Skeletor was attempting to limit his immense magic and had accidentally released too much of his divine powers. He remembered that Lord Skeletor had once explained that his great powers would be too much, like using the heat of the sun to warm a cup of tea. Still, immense power or not, cleaning up the royal bedchambers was a duty for the maids, not for the Lord of the Crystal Empire.

“I see. So, you’ve been cleaning up your room?”

“Well, I figured that I might as well since Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor might want it. Oh, that reminds me, I don’t know who to talk to about my new room. Do I still have a room at the castle or…” He trailed off, leaving a terrifying implication unspoken as he focused on his spell.

Avid couldn’t believe that Lord Skeletor was already prepared for that stuffy princess to kick him out of his room. In hindsight, it made perfect sense that the entitled alicorn would demand the gravel under his feet and the air in his lungs. With that final push, Avid once again found the courage to ask the most important question on his mind.

“Skeletor, how do… How do you feel about all of this?” He asked nervously.

A small portion of him was begging the lord to declare how upset he was. He wanted Lord Skeletor to incite unity in the ponies of the Empire to rise up and demand his crown and throne back. All it would take was a single word, and Avid would devote himself fully to Lord Skeletor, as would many others.

As Avid waited with baited breath for Lord Skeletor to rise and claim his resolve for the Empire, his lord suddenly shrunk in on himself. His broad and imposing physique curled his arms closer to his body, and his head instinctively lowered as if cringing at a loud noise. When Skeletor finally spoke, all Avid could hear were words of defeat and sorrow.

“… I’m not sure how I feel, in all honesty,” Lord Skeletor revealed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but… I thought I’d be ecstatic to be off of that throne. Again, don’t get me wrong, you, the council members, the crystal ponies, you’ve all done so much for me. If it weren’t for you I… I would have probably died… I’m thankful for everything you’ve done for me, Avid. But, I never wanted to be the leader.”

At that moment, Avid lost any sense of direction he carried for their conversation. He had assumed that Lord Skeletor would have been biting at the bits to retake the Empire from Princess Amore, that he would lead them to a new era of prosperity after defeating them. Avid didn’t expect Lord Skeletor to be so unwilling to fight for the crown, let alone that he would even consider being happy about it.

“Did you really hate being our leader that much?” Avid quietly asked. He hadn’t meant to let those words pass through his lips, but once they had he didn’t try to retract them. Lord Skeletor hesitated to answer, possibly wracking his mind with hopeful answers to his loyal council member’s question.

“It’s not that I hated it, Avid. I… I was afraid of doing something wrong,” he admitted.

“What do you mean? What did you ever do wrong? You killed Sombra, you found the Crystal Heart, you let us celebrate a new holiday for Princess Amore, you made steel and solved the financial crisis, and you passed a law to allow gay marriage after you singlehoofedly found out about how Sombra lied to Princess Amore. What could you have done wrong?” He pleaded.

Once again, Lord Skeletor chose to remain silent. His jaw opened and closed several times as he struggled to speak, until he firmly closed it and moved away from the pillar of ice. He strode over to his royal bed and sat on the edge, resting his arms on his knees to lean forward as he spoke. Similarly, to when he abdicated the throne to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Lord Skeletor refused to initially meet Avid’s eyes. His words came out slowly and morosely, a far-cry from the powerful and well-prepared speeches that Avid was more used to hearing from the skull headed lord.

“… Long ago, in a place near my homelands, there was a queen who had been told of a horrible tragedy that befell her kingdom. The citizens of her kingdom were starving, and none of the farmers were able to grow wheat for bread. When this issue was brought to her attention, she said, ‘Let them eat cake,’” Lord Skeletor summarized.

Avid wasn’t sure why Lord Skeletor was telling him a story about the queen, but he felt obligated to listen regardless of his confusion. The Royal Treasurer lowered himself to his haunches to sit down as Lord Skeletor regaled him with the tale of the cake loving queen, devoting each syllable to memory as he listened to his words.

“I’m not sure how much longer she lived after that, but I can tell you how she died. Because of her inadequacy and stupidity as a leader, the people of France rose up against her and placed her in a guillotine. Ever since I heard that story, I wondered just how stupid she could have been to suggest giving them cake when they were suffering. But now, I think I understand why she said that.

“Her lifestyle was different. She didn’t know about the people of her kingdom, how they survived, what work they did, or how they felt towards her. She was still stupid, but… She was just really naive too. Now, I find myself in a place that I don’t understand, in a land where the gap between myself and the ponies of the Empire is bigger than the one that existed between Marie Antoinette and her subjects. I was always terrified that I’d say my own equivalent of ‘let them eat cake,’ or that I would make a decision that would cause the crystal ponies to rise up and carry me off to the gallows.

“Looking back on it… I was really scared and stupid. Needless to say, I felt worried that each moment would have been my last. Do you rmember when we talked about paper money?”

“Of course, lor-er-Of course, Skeletor,” Avid replied. “I thought it was a really interesting concept.”

“Yes, but as you pointed out, it was also impractical,” Lord Skeletor stated firmly. “If I had chosen to ignore your words that day… I’m so lucky that you said that, Avid. I’m so thankful for everything you’ve all done for me.”

Avid noticed Lord Skeletor’s shoulders begin to shake as he turned away, pressing a hand against his eye sockets as his cheek bones began to dampen. Lord Skeletor allowed himself to give a bitter chuckle as he used his hood to dry his sockets. “Look at me, I’m crying about something so… Sorry.”

Avid waited for a few moments as Lord Skeletor composed himself. Almost a minute of silence passed before Lord Skeletor finally spoke again, and even then, there was still a slight tremble to his voice.

“I don’t know how to feel, Avid. I should be happy. I’m free of my royal duties, the Empire will thrive, everyone will get everything they need and… And I’m crying as if I have a right to be regretful.

“This was the only way I could help you all. And it was the only way to save myself… I’m a coward, Avid. I hate to admit this, but… I was really worried about my quick decision to pass the law regarding gay marriage. As soon as I declared it to the Empire, I realized how terrible everything could go. In my blind passion, I passed a law without considering the gap in species, culture, and belief that existed between myself and everyone else.

“That law will be one of the few decisions I don’t think I’ll ever regret, but I’m still capable of seeing how stupid it was to just pass that law without at least talking to the council. And I still haven’t learned anything. I gave her that crown without talking with you or any of the council members. I should have demanded time to speak with my council, asked for more evidence to back up her claims, I should have done something... But I didn’t.

“I saw an opportunity to help myself and to help the Empire and I grabbed it. I didn’t even bother to ask for proof about her relation to Princess Amore. Aside from the Crystal Heart cutie mark on her flank and her wings and horn, I have nothing to confirm that she’s who she says she is. And now I can’t do anything except hope that she was telling the truth and… And hope that she and Prince Shining Armor will help you all… I’m sorry, Avid,” he apologized solemnly.

The two sat in silence as Avid digested his words. His conflicting and inflamed emotions begged for Avid to do something to express his wildly shifting emotions. There were so many things he wanted to express, but the words never came to him.

“… So, you thought you had to be perfect?” Avid Value finally asked, to which Skeletor, no longer the great Lord of the Empire, nodded.

“Isn’t that what a leader is supposed to be?” Skeletor asked in turn.

Avid looked at Skeletor as if he had suddenly proclaimed that he was Eris. There were a lot of things a leader should be, and Avid had once believed that being perfect was among them. However, Skeletor had shown him how foolish such a concept was, and it didn’t seem like Skeletor had realized it yet. So, in retaliation for hearing Skeletor say something so stupid, Avid blurted out a question that had haunted his thoughts on more than one occasion.

“Why do you have teats?”

During his days of serving Skeletor, Avid had seen a large variety of expressions cross Skeletor’s surprisingly malleable skull, but the look of pure confusion on his face was something that had been a very interesting sight. Skeletor had been completely caught off guard by the sudden, and possibly rude, remark, causing him to stumble over his words as he tried to make sense of Avid’s question.

“I’m… I’m sorry, what?”

“Teats, why do you have them?” Avid Value asked again, waving a hoof at the prominently exposed protrusion on his chest. “Why don’t you have fur? Why do you stand on two legs? How do you eat with a skull for a head?” He continued.

“Um… I uh. What? I'm sorry. Weren’t we talking about, uh, leadership and everything?”

“We were, and this is the point. Skeletor, you are clearly not perfect,” Avid Value admitted, both to himself and to the creature he still idolized. “For the longest time, I thought that those physical imperfections on purpose, and maybe they are. But the point is, none of us cared. A lot of ponies put you on the throne thinking you’d be a tyrannical monster. Before I met you, I thought you’d be an evil monster. But you weren’t, you were just… Normal, I guess. It was like, you could do all of these amazing things, but you never acted like you were above us. And I… I respected that. And then when you passed the law that allowed ponies to be gay, my respect turned into near worship.

“When I told you about how I thought it was impractical to use paper currency, you listened. You didn’t demand that I follow your orders, and you didn’t berate me for offering a different view. You weren’t a perfect leader, I can see that a bit more clearly now. But you also weren’t a horrible one either. I… I think you need to have a bit more confidence in yourself, Skeletor,” Avid advised as he stood up from the floor.

“… Thank you, Avid… I think I needed to hear that,” Skeletor said in earnest as he sat up from his bed. “Well… I don’t suppose you have time to… Talk a bit more?” Skeletor asked with a hint of hope dancing around his words. “I uh… Well, if you can anyway.”

“Of course, Skeletor. Would you like me to help you clean while we talk?” Avid asked as he trotted up to Skeletor’s side to look at the partially melted pillar of ice.

“I'll be fine,” Skeletor dismissed as he reignited the golden horns of his scepter. “Though, I would like your help later on for finding a new room.”

“Well, there are a few rooms in the castle that are just being used as storage right now,” Avid pointed out as he began to fall into a comfortable conversation with the once seemingly infallible Lord of the Empire. His earlier conversation with Skeletor had opened his eyes to many things, and while it would be hard to admit to himself that Skeletor wasn’t the creature he thought he was, Avid was confident that he would enjoy finding out who Skeletor really was.

Chapter 32. A Princess' Predicament.

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Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,
I’ve attempted to start this letter over a dozen times now and I’ll try for this one to be my last. First and foremost, the Empire is in desperate need of medical supplies at the moment. It was brought to my attention that the immune systems of the crystal ponies may be incredibly weak when compared to a modern pony. Because of this, I fear that brining more guards to reform the Empire would cause a greater risk to the citizens of the Empire. I would like to formally request for a small number of well-trained doctors and nurses to be sent to the Crystal Empire with vaccines for modern illnesses, pills and spell for building up immune strength, and possibly a team of specialists who are well versed in mental manipulation spells.
Also, I regret to tell you that the Empire is also facing a financial decline. We’ve begun a plan to restabalize the Crystal Empire by exporting a new type of metal called steel, and we plan to also export the remaining vault bits to private collectors and museum owners to rebuild the Empire’s finances.
Finally, there is one prevalent issue in the Crystal Empire that has caused me inadvertently made it difficult for myself and Shining Armor to be accepted by the crystal ponies as their new prince and princess. Before we were able to arrive, a demonic creature that called himself “Skeletor” killed Sombra and claimed the throne of the Crystal Empire. After we crossed the barrier over the Empire and went to the Crystal Castle, Skeletor abdicated the throne and told us that Sombra’s spirit is still roaming the Empire, and has possessed one of my subjects. I don’t know how much credence to put in his words, but as of now, I cannot afford to allow this warning to go unheeded. There’s still much I don’t know about him, so I won’t go into too much detail about his claims, just that he says that he’s from another planet and is looking for an alien creature called a “Human.” I’ll update you with more information about him as I uncover it.
Sincerely, Princess Cadence
P.S. Aunt Luna, I’d really like to talk with you personally. We’re still trying to find the enchantment that is preventing you from entering the dreams of ponies in the Empire, so could you possibly come here sometime soon? I also have a few personal matters that I'd like to talk about as well, if you have the time.

The parchment paper that delivered the warning of her adoptive niece was abandoned next to the leg of a desk. Nearby, a chair was overturned and resting on the floor where it pointed towards a pile of dark blankets on the bed that were quivering.

Princess Luna, the most dreadful monster in all of Equestria, shivered in fear as she hid from the world. She was buried under a pile of blankets like a foal, acting as if the thin sheets of cotton and wool would offer her some form of divine protection from the inevitable.

Flashes of memories played across her mind as she felt the shadow of the newest demon in Equestria crawl over her, watching her as if she was its prey. The name of the demon rang in her mind like a large bell, crashing into her soul each time his name echoed in her mind. It taunted her with his inevitable arrival, with the promise that he would come and take everything away from her once more just like the Nightmare had.

She was haunted by memories of the past and fears of tomorrow at the same time, cowering in fear as she tried to forget about the silver tongue that had verbally lashed her for a thousand years on the moon. Luna needed to forget them, to move on and not think about what she had done with the demon that possessed her.

She had gotten better. Luna had reconnected with her sister, found friendships that would last lifetimes, and she found herself falling in love once more. It wasn’t the sick and perverted abomination that Nightmare had tricked her into thinking was love, it was different. She felt like she was completed, that they helped each other grow and experience new things. It was completely different than what she had felt for the past nine hundred years.

In a sick and twisted way, she learned to love her captor. She yearned for the insults that made her break down in tears, she begged for the Nightmare to twist the knife that was buried in her back, she needed to suffer at the hooves of the demon. And, when she was freed from her prison on the moon, her mind and body had become completely devoted to the demonic parasite.

Luna allowed herself to become a puppet of flesh for her abuser to play with, a doll for the Nightmare to use as a tool of death and despair. Then, against all odds, she was freed of the demon by six young mares that represented each of the remaining tribes of ponies. Of course, being hit with the full power of the Elements of Harmony hadn’t fixed everything immediately. That honor had gone to her therapist and all the ponies who helped her stave off the memories of the Nightmare.

It was only because of them that Luna felt like she could embrace Celestia’s affection, that she could hold her head up high and act as a princess, and that she could find the courage to court a pony who had helped her through most of her journey.

She wondered how easily the demon could undo her work, how long until she fell for his honey-suckled words and turned back into a monster? Worse yet, she feared what would happen if the demon didn’t try to sway her.

Would they honestly believe that a weak hearted fool like her would be able to resist the demon? Would her sister and the Elements believe she had fallen back to her old ways and began colluding with the monster? Would they banish her back to the moon, or would they just kill her outright? She refused to even imagine how the one she loved would react.

Luna’s breaths suddenly began to grow shorter as she allowed her fears to overwhelm her. Her head felt lighter than it usually did, and her tongue began to taste like she had kissed a balloon full of helium. Her eyes suddenly began to strain in the darkness of her covers, searching each fold in her blanket as she waited for something to slip through her defenses and snatch her away, leaving everypony to suspect that she had abandoned her duties as a princess to frolic with a demon. The scenes in her mind became more violent with each breath, flares of phantom pains shot through her body, and the world around her slowly grew hazy as she thought about all of the pain she was bound to cause.

After quickly recognizing the symptoms of her latest episode, Luna realized that she was having another anxiety attack. With a quick flash of her horn, Luna teleported herself to the bathroom that was connected to her room and tore open the cabinet to search through her assortment of medications and self-care products. After finding the object of her salvation, she took a pair of pills out of the bottle and laid them on her tongue before placing her head under the faucet of the sink to wash them down. She didn’t bother to waste any time grabbing a clean glass and filing it, or making sure that she took the pills one at a time, she just needed to take her medications as quickly as possible.

After swallowing the pills and turning off the faucet, Luna sat on the floor of her bathroom and waited for the pills to take effect. She knew that her medication was only supposed to be taken in the mornings, and that it would take at least an hour for the desired results to be seen, but she didn’t care. Just knowing that the medicine was inside of her was enough to steadily calm her. Luna allowed her thoughts to return to the many blissful moments she experienced since returning to Equestria, filling her head with soothing memories of her friends and family.

She silently muttered a mantra under her breath, reminding herself of who she was and where she was. She was a princess, she was loved by others and she loved them. She was a princess, she was safe and she could be happy.

She didn’t believe that anypony would trust her.

She was a princess, she was loved by others and she loved them. She was a princess, she was safe and she could be happy.

She wanted to just forget about it.

She was loved by others and she loved them. She was a princess, she was safe and she could be happy.

She wanted to move on with her life.

She was safe and she could be happy.

She wanted to cry.

A demon had disturbed her family once again.

Princess Celestia, the mare with far too many titles in her humble opinion, idly thought of adding “Demon banisher,” to that list as she sat in her office chair re-reading the letter her niece had sent with her spare dragon fire matchsticks. Her eyes lingered on the name of the creature Cadence met, allowing her gaze to drift to the words that followed after his moniker.

The demon in the Empire had, allegedly, killed Sombra’s body but failed to stop him from possessing an innocent crystal pony after his soul left his corpse. Those few sentences didn’t hold as much of her attention as the small hoofnote that was shoved in between the explanation of Sombra’s death and subsequent revival. For some reason that the princess didn’t know, Skeletor had abdicated the throne to her niece, willingly at that. Cadence didn’t mention much about what led to that development, but considering that her report didn’t contain any details of a fight or any injuries then it was probably more peaceful than she imagined. Still, Celestia wouldn’t trust the words of a demon so easily.

She had trusted demons in the past, and she would regret that for the rest of her life. She stupidly trusted the arrogant demon that called itself The Nightmare to help Luna with her duties as the princess of the night. If only Princess Celestia knew, if only she attempted to spend more time with her sister and listened to her instead of allowing her to make “friends” with a prideful demon that wouldn’t even reveal its real name. Her personal experiences with Scorpan had tainted her view of demons, allowing her to believe that there was a good deal of demonic entities that weren’t shackled to the beliefs of their ancestors. Scorpan was the exception to that rule, and the only exception she expected to ever meet.

Princess Celestia had tried to make peace with demons, even after she was forced to banish the Nightmare and her sister to the moon. She tried to see the good in them, she tried to talk with them, have tea with them, she tried to understand them. But, each experience only served to disprove Scorpan’s words time and time again. After seven hundred years of searching desperately for a single demon that could hold up to the standard that Scorpan had set, she gave up on actively trying to find a nice demon. If she couldn’t find another genuinely kind-hearted demon in the four thousand, five hundred, and thirty-eight hideous and deplorable demons she met that migrated from Tartarus after the Nightmare, then she doubted she would ever find such a creature.

Never-the-less, there was a marginally small possibility that Skeletor would be the second exception to that rule, and she would be remised if she didn’t try to find the truth in her old friend’s words. She had told herself it would be the "last time" she would try for over three hundred years, and she didn't believe that Skeletor would be her "last time" either. There would always be that small seed of hope that Scorpan planted in her mind, waiting to bloom with proof that not every demon from Tartarus was a wicked monster.

After taking a few moments to tell herself that everything was under control, Princess Celestia prepared two letters to send. One would go to her, inquiring about Skeletor and confirming that she would send well trained doctors to the Empire as soon as she could allow. The other however, would go to a certain purple mare in a small town called Ponyville. If Skeletor should prove himself to be as horrible as the many other demons she met with after her sister’s banishment, then he just wouldn’t remain as an issue for much longer.

With both notes written, she sent them off to her niece and student before moving away from her desk. Above all else, Celestia wanted to check on her sister and see how she was doing. She had seen Dr. Ear’s notes about Luna’s wellbeing, and she knew that the sudden appearance of a demon would do nothing to help her state of mind. Celestia had already failed once by ignoring her sister, and she vehemently refused to fail her again in that regard. She would do anything to help her sister, even if it meant battling all of the forces of Tartarus itself to bring Luna peace of mind.

While the princesses of the modern age were dealing with a possible new threat, and the many ponies of a forgotten Empire fretted about their new leader, an old stallion with a crimson coat focused solely on the dethroned demon who still walked through the halls of the castle.

General Cannon Fodder seethed in silent anger in the bowls of the Crystal Castle, hidden from the eyes of the world inside a damp dungeon cell. The bars that stood in front of Cannon Fodder looked more different than he would have imagined. He had spent his fair share of time working the dungeon shift when he was still a green horned guard and he had always been too disgusted with the ponies behind the bars to pay too much attention to the cells.

Being on the other side of the bars allowed him to see how different they were for the prisoners that he used to guard. The walls of the cell didn’t form a perfect square and shrank the farther back they went. In the far-right corner was a chamber pot that was chained to the wall, and a small cot that felt harder than the stone beneath his hooves. The metal on the bars were covered in a thick coat of rust that ate away at them, rotting the iron from the inside and tearing away at the bolts that held the bars in place. If it wasn’t for the shackle that held onto his neck, Cannon Fodder would have taken the chance to buck the old bars down and gallop to the council room.

With his plans of escape being nothing more than a fantasy, Cannon Fodder allowed his eyes to drift back to the five guards who forcefully “escorted” him to the dungeon when he trotted to the entrance of the Crystal Castle. His demands to be released were ignored, and any attempts to order them were only met with stern silence.

The general thrashed about as they carried him off, struggling against the iron chains that bound his legs together for a short period of time. Cannon Fodder briefly worried that the demon had found out about his attempt at regicide or that Crumb Catcher had failed at his own attempts and blamed Cannon Fodder. Either way, the crimson colored stallion was fairly certain that he was going to be unfairly executed by the demonic monster.

Each of the guards were fairly young and wore the old armor of the Empire, refusing to don the steel bastardization of their armor that Skeletor created. Since they weren’t visibly loyal to the demonic beast, Cannon Fodder could only assume that the guards that detained him were ordered by somepony who had been a thorn in Cannon’s cutie mark for too long.

It took hours for his suspicions to be confirmed, and he wasn’t any happier knowing who had placed him in a cell.

His scowl grew as he peered through the darkness and saw the familiar black tailcoat and light blue fur of the large stallion that Cannon Fodder had slowly grown to hate. Crumb Catcher, undeterred by Cannon’s vicious glare, trotted to the bars of the general’s cell with a delighted smile on his muzzle.

“Good evening, General Fodder. I apologize for making you wait so long, but the life of a Spy Master is quite a busy one,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

The Spy Master, then glanced to the silent guards who stood nearby before he waved his hoof slightly in the air. “You may leave us. I’ll fetch you when I need you services again, just make sure that nopony comes down for the moment,” Crumb Catcher ordered.

As he turned back to face the imprisoned stallion, he wasn’t surprised to see Cannon Fodder lunge at him, only to choke on the iron chains that were locked to the metal collar around his throat. Despite nearly strangling himself, his rationality didn’t stop his rage from driving him to struggle against the chains that were holding him down like a wild animal.

“General Fodder, would you please—”

“Shut the buck up you traitor!” Cannon interrupted. “Get his Faust Abandoned chain off my neck right now, or I’m going to peel your flank like a potato!”

“… Charming,” Crumb Catcher replied in a droll tone. “Gen—”

“I swear up and down to Faust, you had better let me out of here right bucking now! If you think my guards are just going to sit idly by, then you’re dreaming of grey rainbows! They’ll find out and—”

“Open up your eyes, general! They already know!” Crumb Catcher interrupted, planting his forelegs against the bars as he stood up on his hind legs. “Faust Abandoned, do you ever shut up? You have no power here, not even your title of general carries any weight of authority right now, and I’m only taking time out of my schedule, to give you a warning. And how do you repay me? By nagging my ear off and ordering me as if I was an actual butler.

“Don’t you dare order me, because I know what I need to do and what I should do. What I should do is tell Mi Amore Cadenza that the general of the guard returned and acted hysterically, so I had no choice but to send him to the Medical ward where he had an accident. I should have taken your guards aside, had them create a story about your demise outside the barrier, and scattered your ashes over the farms. I should tell them all that you committed suicide after your plans at regicide were exposed. But I won’t. Instead, I’m wasting my precious time attempting to convince a stubborn stallion that he shouldn’t do something insanely stupid,” he berated.

Cannon Fodder had taken Crumb Catcher’s tirade as a small break to catch his breath before he shot back at the well-dressed stallion.

“Something stupid? Says the pony locking up his accomplice. As soon as the princess hears about this, she’ll have your head.”

Crumb Catcher only sighed in annoyance as he lowered himself back to all four legs. “General Fodder, did you not just listen to a word I said? Your position means nothing to the guards or her, Mi Amore Cadenza has no reason to give your words any thought. The fact remains that you attempted to start a coup against Skeletor when he still held power. All it would take is a few words and I could convince Mi Amore Cadenza that you would attempt to usurp her power as well.”

“What?! I would never try to hurt an alicorn!”

“True, but she won’t know that. Besides, even if she believed you were loyal to her, I could still convince her that you would pose a significant threat to Skeletor if you were released.”

“And why would you do that? You need me to help kill that demon!” Cannon Fodder reasoned. Once again, Crumb Catcher gave him a look that reminded the general of a father being quietly disappointed in their colt for saying something stupid.

“That’s where you’re wrong General Fodder,” Crumb Catcher began to explain. “Firstly, I don’t need you. I’ve successfully taken hold of whatever sway your position offered, I’ve made sure to enforce myself as the leader over Colonel Kernel, and I’ve divided the guard so that it could better suit my needs. Also, as a second note, I don’t plan on killing Skeletor any time soon.”

Cannon Fodder’s words died in his throat for a moment as he stared at the large stallion on the other side of the bars. After he quickly replayed the words in his head, Cannon Fodder yelled at the Royal Spy Master to demand an answer.

“What? Why in the name of Amore wouldn’t you want to kill him?!”

“Because current circumstances won’t allow it, General Fodder. For the moment, Skeletor remains out of my reach and even the reach of the princess. If something or, in your case, somepony was to threaten or possibly even kill him then that would only hurt the Empire. The princess and her consort would be blamed, the Empire would fall to ruin from conflict that arose within, and I doubt the barrier would last for even a moment in the face of a revolution.

“To say that things have changed since our initial arrangement would be a gross understatement. When we made an agreement, a good number of guards and ponies were still against him. Ponies thought he would wear their fur, horde their stolen souls, and perhaps even eat their young. Of course, opinions of him were slowly changing and ponies began favoring him, so much so that he was becoming deified by the Empire’s subjects. Then, his ‘selfless’ decision to hoof over the crown to an alicorn pushed most of the remaining non-believers to see him in a grander light.

“There are still those who hate him, fear him, and those who praise our new princess. But, they are far too few in number to be of much use to me. I worry that, should I allow you to trot out of this dungeon cell, you’ll single hoofidly ignite a civil war in the Crystal Empire. And I cannot allow that to happen, General Fodder.

“When we first joined forces, I thought that Skeletor’s life would end at the gallows. I envisioned an Empire where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna fully unified the races and absorbed the Empire into their kingdom. I had grand dreams of an Empire that was under the leadership of the diarchs of Dream Valley.

“However, none of that came to pass. Instead of having the solar or lunar diarch as our princess, we’ve been told by a new alicorn that she is entitled to the crown because of her blood and her ascension. For now, I’m biding my time to see how she acts, and if she proves to be better for the Empire, then and only then will I decide on whether I will support the princess or not. If she fails to gain the love and admiration of the crystal ponies, then I’ll simply need to placate them by placing Skeletor back on the throne.”

“You’d… You’d actually put that demon back on the throne?”

“For a while, at least. I doubt that either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would be pleased to know that a demon stole their cousin’s Empire. I also doubt they’d be happy to hear how their ‘niece’ has been treated,” Crumb Catcher added with a more somber tone. “I’m not an idiot like you, General Fodder. While I may not like the idea, I’m not completely adverse to supporting Skeletor if the need arises. In fact, I was prepared to do at least that much ever since I met with Purity Flame.”

“What does that mean?” Cannon Fodder asked.

The smile on Crumb Catcher’s muzzle only grew at the general’s inquiry. A soft chuckle passed his lips as he looked down at Cannon Fodder, savoring the confusion plastered on Cannon’s face.

“Some time after you left, Skeletor learned of our, or rather your, attempts to discover the secret behind his placebos. However, that was all that he learned thanks to my… Growing relationship with Purity Flame. Having the Master Alchemist on my side would serve my purposes greatly, and I couldn’t convince her to align to my ideas or threaten her, so I chose a new method of gaining allies. I expanded my views and approached her as a believer in ‘Faust’s Skull Torn Champion’,” Crumb Catcher couldn’t help but to lightly chuckle at the title. “It’s such a silly little name, but they’re a very interesting group of ponies.”

“You joined his bucking cult?!” Cannon Fodder demanded with rage filling his lungs.

“I would hardly call it a cult. Still, I can see the potential in allowing them to grow into one, it would certainly serve me nicely to have more tools at my disposal,” he thought aloud.

“… You’re a sick bucking monster,” Cannon Fodder observed. “They’re a bunch of crazy bucking cultist, but they’re still ponies. How can you talk about them like they’re a bunch of objects?” 

“The same way you can speak of murder without feeling a trace of pain, because we do what we must for the Empire,” Crumb Catcher stated, dropping any of hiss earlier bravado and superiority as he continued to speak. “You may not believe me, General Fodder, but I truly want what is best for myself and the Empire. Whether having Skeletor on the throne would be for the best, or having him meet an unfortunate demise would help is still unknown, so, I’m choosing not to hit the ore vein too hard for the moment.

“Unfortunately, I can’t trust that you’ll have as light of a touch as I do. I worry that, if given the opportunity, you will destroy everything I’ve worked to build. That said, however, I’m willing to give you a chance to prove that you can see past your misguided anger. I’ll give you some time to reflect on what I’ve said. If you can convince me that you won't step out of line, when I return, then I'll see to it that you're returned to your position. However, if you fail to live up to my standards, then I will be forced to take matters into my own hooves. I’ll see to it that you have nicer accommodations for the moment, General Fodder, but I can’t allow you to trot through the Empire freely… I hope you can understand why I’m doing this,” Crumb Catcher stated before turning to trot away from the only prisoner in the Crystal Castle’s dungeon.

Despite the rage that burned inside him, Cannon Fodder bit his tongue and held back any shouts or demands. Instead, he only seethed in his own bitterness as the guards from earlier returned to their posts. Eventually, the anger inside of him boiled over and he let loose a cry of outrage to the stallion who wouldn’t hear it, to the demon who would be oblivious to it, and the world that would ignore it.

“BUCK YOU!”

Chapter 33. The More Things Change.

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The bellowing winds of the Frozen North roared as the sun rose over the horizon. Untamed clouds sent a flurry of snow spiraling through the air, carried on violent gales that that raced through the tundra that surrounded an ancient bastion of magic. The Crystal Empire, what little of it remained, stood strong against the fierce storm with a magical barrier that protected all of the ponies inside from the raging tempest.

Not a single soul in the Empire noticed the barrier begin to wilt against the storm.

The fierce storm outside of the barrier was almost completely forgotten by the ponies of the Empire as they focused on their daily lives.

Finding comfort in a familiar routine was a luxury that had vanished in the recent years of the Crystal Empire. Only the time allowed for sleeping and eating could have been considered relaxing under Sombra’s tyranny. The rest of their days were filled with various tasks, moving about on a whim as their bodies carried them throughout the Empire. They were prisoners trapped in their own flesh, forced to follow the orders of their tyrant as they pleaded for a moment of freedom.

Many ponies abandoned their prayers for mercy, falling to the will of Sombra and seeking refuge in their own fantasies. When faith and hope were gone, dashed away by the sudden disappearance of the Princesses they worshipped, their forgotten prayers were answered in the unexpected arrival of a strange creature, one whose first official order was to free them of the chains that were placed on their minds. They were free to live their lives, free to shed tears of sadness and joy, free to move on and remember those they had lost.

Taking a moment of stillness to forget about the pains of their past was a blessing for the crystal ponies. Some spent precious minutes watching the sun and moon rise and fall, usually choosing to ignore the nagging questions about their strange ascension and descent. Others chose to spend the early hours of the day by gathering at the base of the Crystal Castle to watch the Heart slowly rotate on its pedestal.

The steady movement of the Crystal Heart sang a lullaby for all of the senses, wrapping the crystal ponies in a blanket of comfort that would occasionally beckon them to return to the realm of dreams. Among the ponies who usually struggled not to answer the call of their heavy eye lids was an elderly mare with lavender fur and a pair of thick brim glasses, named Copper Plate. She sat on her haunches, careful to not aggravate the muscles in her hind legs as she did so, and waited in patience for her friend to arrive.

She sat a good distance away from the crowd, allowing herself and Emerald Secret to have their own area to speak. While there weren’t any rules stating that you had to be silent while watching the Heart, it was a non-spoken agreement that the serene stillness of the air should only be swayed by the faintly rhythmic pulsing of the Heart.

Copper Plate basked in the quiet serenity with her friend, forgetting the problems that plagued her in the past and threatened to emerge in the future. She lost herself in a calming trance as the seconds melted away and was only brought back to her lucid thoughts when she heard the clop of hooves growing closer.

Emerald Secret exchanged a wordless pleasantry with a slight nod of her head as she sat down next to Copper Plate, joining her in a silent moment of leisure that they often shared.

When emerald finally spoke, it was a low voice that wouldn’t disturb anypony else who was basking in the aura of the Crystal Heart.

“How did you sleep last night, Copper?”

“Fine. I managed to sleep on my bed and not my desk,” Copper Plate light joked as she looked away from the Heart to speak with her friend. “I’m guessing you didn’t though?”

“What would make you think that?” Emerald asked.

“Because not many ponies ask that question unless they want to talk about their own night, or they’re desperate for a conversation starter.”

“Well, it could be that I just wanted to know how you slept with everything going on.”

“That’s true. So, how’d you sleep last night?” Copper Plate asked. Emerald’s answer wasn’t immediate but it was still what Copper Plate expected to hear.

“Terrible,” Emerald grumbled, “I haven’t lost that much sleep in weeks, not since the Crystal Fair at least.”

“Was it nightmares?”

“No, I was just restless,” she answered. “Everything was just so… quick! Granted, it was a tad slower than our last change in power, but it was still too quick. The thought of Skeletor abdicating the throne never passed my mind before, and… It caught me off guard. I can already imagine what court will be like today, and I’m definitely not looking forward to it,” she bemoaned as her shoulders fell lower to carry the weight on her mind. “Just how are you staying so calm with all of this going on?”

“Because I’m too old to care,” Copper Plate replied easily. “I think I stopped worrying around the same time a creature with a skull for a head asked me for a basic history lesson.”

“… I’m not sure if I envy your ability to not care or if I’m worried by it.”

“Meh, you’ll know what it’s like when you get to my age. Believe it or not, being too old to worry is an actual symptom of aging. But, I know what you mean, a lot of things are changing and it’s all a little worrying. All we can do is wait and hope for the best, it’s what I did for Skeletor and it’s what I’ll do for the new princess.”

“I suppose there really isn’t much else we can do,” Emerald relented with a tired sigh. “At the very least, though, we can try to guide the princess’ decisions a bit. I’m planning on putting a vote forward regarding her sudden ban on Placebos, and I’m fairly certain I can connive Crumb Catcher to join us. So, we should have a majority in the meeting, and we may be able to sway the princess’ opinion in regards to Skeletor’s ‘fake’ medicine. I trust that you’ll vote with use?” Emerald asked in a playful tone.

While Emerald’s question wasn’t exactly a literal one, since the Royal Advisor had already assumed that Copper Plate would vote alongside her, it did open the door to a problem that had been bothering Copper Plate since Skeletor’s abdication.

With a warm smile and a heavy heart, Copper Plate prepared herself to tell Emerald about her own plans. “Of course, so long as the vote is soon. But… You should probably know that I’m not going to be on the council much longer. I’ll be resigning from my position as Head of the Royal Archives, soon,” she revealed.

The sharp stab of silence that separated them wasn’t as enjoyable as the relaxing ambiance that they had shared moments before. The still air had turned uncomfortable quiet and was only shattered by a single question that barely passed through Emerald’s lips.

“… What?”

“I’m resigning. If I don’t, then I’d be the first pony in history to serve on three councils for three different leaders… I just told you I’m too old to worry. Well, I’m also too old to keep going. It’s time for somepony new to move into the position,” Copper Plate admitted solemnly.

She briefly remembered all of the little humorous jabs that Process Mi Amore would make about Copper’s age, how she was too young to work on the council when she first joined them. Those playful jokes turned to prods about her having wrinkles when she didn’t, and the princess swearing that she could see grey hairs in her fur when there weren’t any. Then, one day, the jokes about her age stopped. Copper Plate hadn’t noticed at the time, but she was getting older, her fur was losing its luster and her mane had begun to turn an ugly shade of grey. Copper Plate had always dismissed her age before, but the truth was that she was getting older, older than any council member in recorded history in fact.

How could she have not noticed it before? Her youth had slipped away from her, turning into the dripping wet wax on a candle that had burned for too long.

Her body suddenly felt heavier as she admitted, both to herself and to Emerald, that she was too old to continue serving as a council member. “I’m not planning on leaving tomorrow, mind you, I still have some work to do before I can retire. First thing I’ll need to do is find a replacement and mentor them properly.”

“But… But what will you do then?”

“I think I’ll find a decent home to share with a few ponies. I heard that Duke Diamond’s estate is nice. It’s a bit far for my tastes, but it’s still standing, which is more than I ca say for the other fiefs and estates. Oh, and I also heard that Duke Diamond was an avid reader of poetry, so I could probably find his collection if I’m lucky,” Copper Plate added on.

“… I don’t suppose that there’s anything I can say to convince you otherwise, is there?” Emerald asked with a hint of dying hope hanging on her words.

“I’m sorry, Emerald, but I’m not sure there is. It’ll be fine though, I trust you and the other council members can take care of everything. Hopefully, Cannon will have his head on straight when he comes back too.”

Silence one again fell over the pair, like a wave that soon retreat back to the Crystal Heart when one of them spoke again. When Emerald finally found the words she wanted to say, she pushed back the still air that had descended upon them.

“… I’ll miss you…”

“I know, Emerald. I’ll miss you too,” Copper replied. “I also wanted to just say, ‘thanks.’ You helped me out a lot, Emerald.”

“I did? How?” 

“You kept me from losing my mind. With how often Avid and Crumb get at each other’s scruffs, I was worried that I’d go deaf or lose my voice from shouting,” she joked. “Spending time with you, forgetting about work, it all helps. So, thanks for keeping this old mare company, and for being my friend. I think we both really needed a friend after what happened,” she admitted.

Copper Plate never liked to talk about her enslavement under Sombra’s command, it was an torment that she would take to her grave, and she knew that Emerald had her own personal demons that she didn’t like to talk about either. They were both forced to do and witness things that could never be said aloud, carrying the burden of their memories for the rest of their lives. But, that didn’t mean they had to be alone while they carried that weight. Copper Plate saw the pain in Emerald’s smile drain a little each day, and her own unspoken pain fell away little by little as they days passed by.

“You’ve helped me a lot too, Copper. Thank you, for everything.”

“You’re welcome… You mean a lot to me, Emerald. I’m happy I got to be your friend,” Copper Plate finished as she slowly stood up to her legs. Needle pricks danced inside her muscles as she moved off of her haunches, causing her to wince slightly at the uncomfortable feeling.

“… I’ll meet up with you to keep looking at the Heart bright and early if you’re free,” she promised before she trotted away from Emerald.

The calm silence in the plaza suddenly felt louder to her as she left.

The world was a miserable and confusing place that offered no joy, at least none that Colonel Kernel could find.

He suppressed a yawn as he fought a losing battle with his heavy eye-lids. Sleep was an evasive mistress that promised him relaxation but only delivered nightmares. He cursed every decision that led him to becoming a colonel in the Empire’s military, from his father’s pride to his own cowardice, each one was painted with a slew of colorful curses that danced around the memory of Crumb Catcher’s threat. Kernel was drowning in a sea of deception, betrayal, and confusion that threatened to never give him a moment of peace.

While Crumb Catcher hadn’t directly approached Kernel after their previous “discussion”, Kernel could still feel the Spy Master’s eyes watch him from the shadows. He didn’t know when Crumb Catcher would enact his own plans to betray Lord Skeletor, but Kernel understood that, once Crumb Catcher decided to toss their previous lord away, he would be forced to either stand by Lord Skeletor’s side or abandon him. He would either live as a coward or die as an idiot.

As his tired body continued to move through the halls of the Crystal Castle, the familiar sound of hairless skin stepping on crystal rang in his ears. The colonel’s muscles suddenly tensed as the last whispers of his tired mind were chased away by an instinctual need to appear professional in front of Lord Skeletor.

As usual, Lord Skeletor stood as an imposing pillar of strength, gliding through the air like a force of nature rather than a mortal being. Even without his throne or crown, he was a powerful being whose very presence demanded the upmost respect, as if the world itself should naturally bow down at his sheer power. It was hard for Kernel to believe the rumors that Lord Skeletor had actually cried when Princess Mi Amore Cadenza used her magic to forcefully make him bow to her, but it had to be the truth.

After returning from his personal “duties”, Emerald Secret ordered him to find Copper Plate for the meeting, but when he and the Head of the Archives finally arrived, the meeting had ended and Lord Skeletor had been dethroned. He heard dozens of stories ranging from a benign lord giving Princess Amore’s long-lost daughter her title, to rumors of an imposter whose magic rivaled his and threatened to destroy all of the Empire if she was displeased. In the end, Crumb Catcher chose to believe in his fear and cling to his optimism, hoping beyond hope that his fears were simply misguided.

While his emotions shaped between dread and hope, he greeted Lord Skeletor with a tight expression that hid his anxiety and worry.

 “Good morning, your highness.”

“Ah, good morning, Colonel Kernel… Are you alright?”

“I’m fine sir,” he lied.

Lord Skeletor’s impassive gaze swept across Kernel’s face for a moment before he lightly nodded. “Well, alright. I was just about to go on a walk outside the castle, so if everything’s alright I’ll be going now,” he finished as he began to step around Kernel, only for the colonel’s body to suddenly block his path in a moment of worry.

“Wait. Don’t you need a guard?” He asked. Colonel Kernel wasn’t certain when Crumb Catcher would choose to strike, but leaving the castle without a single guard in tow sounded like far too good of a time for the Royal Spy Master to make his move.

Lord Skeletor seemed to deliberate Kernel’s words for only a moment before he answered Kernel’s question with his own. “… Would I really need one?”

Colonel Kernel eyes visibly widened as he felt any thought of an argument die in his mind as he looked at the towering form of Lord Skeletor. What would an alleged deity like Lord Skeletor need a mortal guard for? For Lord Skeletor, a guard would have just been a decoration at his side as he walked through the streets of the Crystal Empire.

Before he could attempt to apologize to Lord Skeletor for his earlier remark, Lord Skeletor stepped back slightly and looked down at Colonel Kernel with an unreadable expression.

“… If I need a guard or escort, then do you think you could recommend someone? If you’re not busy, that is,” Lord Skeletor asked.

Despite Kernel’s position in the guard, he didn’t actually know any ponies who he was certain weren’t under Crumb Catcher’s hoof. The only pony Kernel really trusted was… himself.

“I can do it,” the colonel said almost instantly. He wasn’t sure why he decided to blurt out something like that, but the idea of leaving Lord Skeletor in the hooves of the other guards didn’t sit well with Kernel. On one hoof, he didn’t want to betray Lord Skeletor and allow him to fall into a possible trap, but he also didn’t want to gain Crumb Catcher’s ire either. He and the Empire owed Lord Skeletor their lives, but at the same time, he didn’t want to actually lose his life to defend Lord Skeletor.

It was easy for him to take an oath to defend Princess Amore when he joined the guard because the idea of somepony actively rising against her was a fantasy that even Eris couldn’t create. But it happened all the same, and Kernel didn’t doubt that the same thing could happen to Lord Skeletor. Was he really willing to die for another creature, to risk his own life for another?

It wasn’t that he didn’t feel capable of defending Lord Skeletor with his life, it was just that he was too scared to actually lose it. He knew that he was a coward, and a large part of him didn’t really care if he was, so long as his cowardice kept him alive.

Lord Skeletor, remaining completely unaware of the conflicting thoughts that haunted thee colonel, stared at the grey coated stallion for a moment before he nodded in agreement.

“Alright, well thank you for offering to help me, Colonel Kernel.”

“Of course, sir. Please, lead the way and I’ll follow,” Colonel Kernel said as he stepped aside to let Lord Skeletor pass.

As the colonel trotted alongside Lord Skeletor, he felt his rising concerns threaten to boil over as he matched Lord Skeletor’s pace. He wasn’t sure how Crumb Catcher would react to knowing that Kernel had volunteered to guard Lord Skeletor, but he did know one thing.

Whether he liked it or not, he would eventually be forced to choose between his loyalty to Lord Skeletor or to the ruling crown of the Empire, to live or possibly die.

Skeletor was a bit worried about having Colonel Kernel escort him.

The hardened veteran of the guard looked a tad constipated when they talked, and he seemed rather irritable too. Though, the latter was probably because Skeletor had decided to leave the Castle without a guard. Skeletor could understand that leaving without a guard might have been an issue, especially considering that Skeletor could have gotten lost without a proper escort. Or, maybe it was customary for guests to be escorted by guards when leaving the castle. Either way, Skeletor didn’t really mind the company, he just needed to get out of the castle and escape the mind-numbing boredom of being stuck inside all day with nothing to do.

The second day of Skeletor’s life away from the throne began without any fanfare. It was by no means normal, so much had changed in the span of three days, but at the same time nothing really felt “new” to him.

He didn’t wake up with soul crushing regret, and he didn’t feel uncomfortable in his new room either. In an odd way, it felt abnormally normal, as if he couldn’t be bothered with anything like regret. It was almost like a dream, like he was just walking into a place prepared by his imagination. Then, as the morning began to ware on, he realized that he had nothing to do.

Without a schedule to follow, he was technically free to do whatever he wanted. Before he learned about Crystal, he might have decided to spend his free day experimenting with magic and seeing if he could open a portal back home. But, according to the princess, smarter ponies in Canterlot were already on the case, and would have definitely made more progress than a bumbling idiot whose magical knowledge capped at the first Harry Potter book. Besides, testing experimental spells was a really good way to either hurt himself or break something on accident, so he wasn’t too enthused on trying a new spell that could kill him or force him out of the castle.

Reading had become more of a chore than a leisure, especially considering that each and every book was an irreplaceable item, so he didn’t think about going to the Royal Archives and convincing Copper Plate to move the heavy chains off of a book or two just because he was bored. He had already explored the Crystal Castle the day prior with Avid, the only interesting thing he remembered from their impromptu tour was when he saw the entrance to the Crystal Castle. It was strange for Skeletor to remember that the castle actually had a front door. He hadn’t stepped foot outside of the castle much after the Crystal Fair, and whenever he had it was usually to visit the farms underneath the Empire or to lift something heavy that the crystal ponies couldn’t. It was a pretty strange and concerning day when he lifted a boulder like it was an overweight bag of trash.

Aside from that, Skeletor had spent his days inside the castle, walking between his room, the throne room, the Alchemy Tower, the Medical Wing of the castle, and his private bath. After all of the paperwork, speeches, and politics, it was about time for Skeletor to actually enjoy his time and explore whatever the magical Empire had to offer.

He was sure that he didn’t need permission or anything to do something as simple as going for a walk, but Colonel Kernel had clearly known better. Judging from the reaction on the colonel’s face when Skeletor asked if he needed a guard, Colonel Kernel was clearly upset at the thought of Skeletor going outside without a guard.

Skeletor would have assumed that Colonel Kernel had something better to do than be a tour guide/bodyguard for Skeletor, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth and turn away one of the few ponies he actually knew personally. Their walk through the halls and the entrance of the castle was mostly quiet, and turned dreadfully silent once they both stepped over the threshold of the Crystal Castle’s entrance.

Skeletor froze as he felt the eye of dozens of crystal ponies turn to him. The radiance of the Crystal Heart went ignored as the many gathered ponies gawked and smothered him with their stares.

… Why are there so many ponies here? He wondered, as his gaze flicked over the crowd of ponies. It didn’t take long for him to remember that Emerald had told him about her daily routine of watching the Crystal Heart rotate on its pedestal. Skeletor had always pictured it as a handful of ponies who gathered around the Heart like a crumb-circle, but he was clearly wrong in that assumption.

After allowing their eerie silence to drag on for far too long, Skeletor cleared his non-existent throat and waved to the small crowd. “Good morning, carry on with… what you were doing,” he said as he and Colonel Kernel made their way through closest arch and attempted to slip away from the quiet crowd.

As Skeletor tried to hurriedly put a good amount of distance between himself and the crowd, a mare’s voice rang out behind him. “Please wait!”

Skeletor, through some twisted force of nature, stopped at the mare’s call and resisted the urge to curse under his breath. He wore a professional smile to hide his inclining anxiety and turned to the sound of galloping hooves, as the unsure hoof beats of many other ponies followed after her.

Skeletor was immediately shocked to see the cream coated mare. He didn’t expect to see a familiar face outside of the Crystal Castle, let alone that mare in particular. She had been nothing more than a small thought that drifted in his memories, and seeing her again ignited a slew of emotions inside of him.

“Dilly Dally?” Skeletor asked under his breath as the cream coated farmer slowed her gallop to a trot.

“Y-you remember me, Lord Skeletor?” She asked.

It would be hard to forget the face of a person, or pony, that thought they would die. Dilly Dally and Strike Iron were two mares who thought that they would die for their feelings, and they both cried when they believed that Skeletor was going to personally hand down their un-just punishment. He never thought that he’d see either of the mares after he freed them and lied to the Empire, but she was right in front of him, alive and well.

Of course, he didn’t want the crystal ponies nearby to know that, and Strike Iron had begged to not let their secret out to the Empire for fear of the repercussions, so he gave a fairly reasonable and quickly improvised lie.

“Yes, I’m well aware of your and the other farmers’ struggles in the caverns. I would be remised if I didn’t remember the names of the ponies who keep this wonderful Empire prosperous. You should be proud of your efforts, miss Dally,” Skeletor praised. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Oh, um… Lord Skeletor—”

“Just Skeletor, now,” he corrected. He didn’t want to give anyone the impression that he was encouraging others to use his old title, lest someone take it as an attack against the crown’s position.

“T-then… Skeletor, we… I… What’s going on, now? We all heard your announcement, but a lot of us are still confused. Who is that alicorn that came, why did she have thesterals with her, a-and why are you no longer the lord, is everything alright, will—” She asked, as her questions began to become more rapid.

“Hey, hey, calm down. Breath, Dilly Dally, everything is alright, take a moment to relax,” Skeletor consoled as he lowered himself to one knee and made a calming gesture with his hands. “Just take a few breaths and calm down, everything is fine, trust me.”

Skeletor felt flashes of his memory replay was Dilly Dally’s breathing slowed to a crawl. It reminded him far too much of when he first met the horrified mare, it made him feel sick to have someone look at him with such terrified eyes, as if he were a real monster. Thankfully, he had some experience when it came to reassuring scared animals back home thanks to Evelyn and her friend Raqquill. He was by no means the animal whisperer that Raqquill was, but he still knew a few tricks.

He couldn’t loom over her, so he kneeled down to her level, gave her a good berth between themselves so she would feel more at ease, and he made sure that his voice didn’t come off as too aggressive. Of course, there were a few liberties added since Dilly Dally wasn’t a scared dog, she was a sentient talking pony in a frozen crystal wonderland, so in a way, it was a bit worse than approaching a fearful dog.

“In, and out, deep breaths, just like I taught you,” Skeletor guided, mimicking thee mare’s own breathing as she steadied herself. After he had finished instructing her, Skeletor turned his attention to the crowd of engrossed ponies. He felt their eyes touch every part of his body as they stared at him inn silence, causing his own anxiety and worries creep around his mind. “Dilly, how are you alright now?” He asked.

“Yes, my lord, I’m… I’m better now.”

“Good. Now, let me tell you and everyone here that there is nothing to worry about,” Skeletor reassured before he rose to address Dilly Dally and the gathering of ponies who followed closely behind her.

“Princess Cadence is Princess Amore’s long-lost niece. She was sent here by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to liberate the Empire, only to find that it was already liberated. As Princess Amore’s heir, she and her husband have a rightful claim to the throne. I abdicated it knowing that they would be able to help you all and form a stronger connection with the other kingdoms south of the Empire. I’m sorry if I was being a bit too vague during my final announcement, and I hope that I was able to quell any lingering concerns. From what I know, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor will be making an announcement of their own during court later today, and if you have any questions then you can attend court and bring them up then.

“Now, as much as I would love to stay and speak with you all, I… Have official business to attend to,” he lied. He wasn’t about to tell them that he was just going on a walk and that he didn’t want to talk to anyone else. “Official business” gave him an unofficial reason to enjoy himself without worrying about maintaining whatever slightly positive image he held.

“Official business?” Colonel Kernel asked.

Damnit, I forgot he was there, Skeletor internally cursed. The colonel probably wasn’t happy with Skeletor pretending that he still held any power over the Empire without his title, or that he was either lying to the colonel or the many gathered ponies. Either way, he was caught between two lies and didn’t want to piss off either a large crowd or a colonel by telling one or the other the truth.

“Yes! I… It’s part of abdicating the throne. Of course, this has never happened before and there are a few things that are different between our cultures. When I told you that I was going for a walk, it was because it’s part of my culture,” he lied. Not the best lie, in his opinion, but enough to quell any questions. “It’s a way of saying goodbye to the throne and hello to a new life. Even if I’m no longer a lord, I am still a citizen of the Empire,” I hope. I Really don’t want to get deported into the snow storm outside, “And as such, it is only right that I become more familiar with the Empire as a citizen and not as who I used to be.”

“So, you willfully abdicated the throne?” Dilly Dally asked.

“Yes,” Skeletor replied easily. “I believed, and still believe, that it is in the Empire’s best interests. Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor already have a strong bond with the other kingdoms, and I know that we can all look forward to a prosperous era of peace under their reign,” he stated firmly. “Now, if you have anymore questions, then I’d recommend holding onto them so that you can ask Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor later during court. Thank you all, and have a wonderful day.”

With that, he quickly turned away from the crowd and began walking through the streets of the Crystal Empire. Colonel Kernel’s hoofs struck the ground loudly as he galloped to Skeletor’s side after his sudden departure.

“Please tell me that they’re not following us,” Skeletor whispered quietly to the colonel, who raised his eyebrow before glancing behind himself.

“Um… They’re not following us,” Colonel Kernel informed him. Unfortunately, the sound of hesitant hoofbeats behind them told Skeletor a different story.

“I’m guessing you’ve never heard of a figure of speech, have you?”

“Beg pardon?” Colonel Kernel asked.

“Never-mind,” Skeletor said as he silently hoped that he wouldn’t have a growing crowd of ponies follow him all day.

In hindsight, leaving with only a single guard was probably a really dumb decision.

“Well, I’ve never been on an actual tour group before. Do you know any fun places to look at?” Skeletor asked jokingly as he plastered a smile to his skull and prayed for a simple day.

As the old Lord of the Crystal Empire mingled in the streets of the Crystal Empire, the future princess prepared for the first evening of court to arrive.

Cadence was no stranger to court proceedings, she had sat on many of them with Princess Celestia and she had offered her own input on a situation on more than one occasion. She easily assumed that she was perfectly prepared to deliver her judgment on their concerns and pleas after spending a good deal of time catching up on the biggest issues that the Empire was facing.

She spent a great deal of time going over every document Skeletor signed, rechecking every decree that was recorded, and reviewing every single record that Copper Plate had on Skeletor, from his schedule to his speeches, she failed to find anything that could justify most of her negative assumptions. For a moment, she thought that her assumptions had been proven when Copper Plate mentioned that she had disagreed with Skeletor’s stance on trial by combat.

The princess felt reassured in her assumptions about Skeletor, only for the Head of the Archives to reveal that Skeletor was against the concept and had passed a rule stating that all trials by combat would be non-lethal and that killing a pony in a duel would be considered a crime.

At most, the only debatably bad thing she could find about the demonic looking creature was his decision to implement placebos in the medical ward. So, Cadence was left to stew in her own thoughts as she prepared to have her first evening of court in the Crystal Empire.

The sun had just begun its slow descent at lunch when Cadence re-read a few of Copper Plate’s written records on Skeletor. Among the elder mare’s written reports were notes regarding his battle with King Sombra. Only four ponies had witnessed the confrontation, and since one of them was turned into a pinata, that left the recorded testimony of only Emerald Secret, General Cannon Fodder, and a civilian named Track Record.

Each report confirmed that Sombra was beaten to death, removed from the castle, and then burned to ashes. For some reason, the report specifically mentioned that his ashes, “wouldn’t touch the farms,” which Cadence didn’t quite understand. Needless to say, everypony in the Empire was sure that Sombra was dead, everypony except Skeletor of course. If Sombra was truly still alive then Cadence had a very large issue on her hooves.

Of course, there was the still the possibility that Skeletor had lied to her. It was more comforting for her to believe that Sombra was actually dead and that Skeletor only wanted to sow seeds of fear into her mind as she chased the shadows of clouds.

She sighed as she wilted into her chair. She felt the weight of her thoughts press against the base of her skull as she continued her preparations for court, which was only an hour away. There was an unshakable sense of fear that she couldn’t pry from her mind as she waited for court. Cadence knew above everything else that she still had an hour before court would begin, but she still felt uncertain about when it would start. In Canterlot, Princess Celestia would always hold court meetings early in the day before lunch, whereas the Empire appeared to prefer hosting court after lunch.

It was like waking up to the first day of summer break and worrying that she was late for school. It was a nagging feeling that flew in her mind like a blind nat, bumping against her thoughts every-so-often to remind her that it was there.

A light knock at her bedroom door was thankfully enough to swat away at those pesky worries.

“Yes?” Cadence called out.

“Princess, it’s General Camisole. May I have permission to enter?”

“Yes, Cami,” Cadence answered.

The general of Luna’s Night Guard entered without delay and quickly closed the door behind her. “I swear, the layout of this place is worse than Canterlot,” she grumbled before stifling a yawn. “And I still can’t find any coffee. I hate this place.”

“I’ll be sure to ask for Princess Celestia to ship over some coffee at her earliest convenience then. I’d rather not have my guards fall asleep on duty. Speaking of which, what’s the status of the other guards?”

“Star Burst should be tailing Skeletor right now, and Crux Heart is in the Alchemy Tower with the alchemists to see what’s inside Skeletor’s placebo thingies. The other guards are either carrying out your orders to collect the placebos, or gathering intelligence,” Camisole rattled off as she took a seat on the floor. “I just came back after reviewing a report from Glass Wing, and I’ve got some… Bad news and worse news, honestly. Oh, and I have what you wanted, so I guess that’s good news,” she ended enthusiastically as she pulled a large stack of papers out of her satchel.

Cadence accepted the papers and grabbed them with her magic, pulling the many documents to her side as she skimmed through them.

“Well, this is good, at least. What about the bad news?”

“It’s about what Sombra did. When we arrived in the Empire, I noticed that there weren’t any thestrals or rumbas—”

“Ruvas,” Cadence corrected.

“—In the streets. I thought that it was weird, so I made a bet with Crux that we wouldn’t see any for the whole day. Turns out, we’re never going to see them, period. During Sombra’s reign, he reportedly drove his own race to extinction, and any of the thestrals that escaped died close to three thousand years ago.”

“I see… I wish I could say I was surprised. I already knew because Emerald told me, but part of me was hoping that there would be at least a few survivors. I’m sorry that I didn’t think to bring it up with the guards,” she apologized as she thought about the idea of an entire race of ponies going extinct.

“Then do you know about the foals too?” Camisole asked.

“Foals? No, I haven’t heard anything about foals.”

“Well, that’s because there aren’t any. No fillies, colts, or anypony young enough to have a fresh Cutie mark.”

“… That’s impossible,” Cadence decided firmly. She knew that Sombra was evil, but even evil had limitations.

“It’s true. Nopony I asked would go into great detail about it, but from what I was able to gather… They were hunted down and killed. They mentioned something about a pit, but I wasn’t able to pry anything else.”

“Sweet Celestia… I… I…” Cadence stuttered as she felt the bile in her stomach threaten to climb out of her.

A colorful flash of light traveled down her horn as she prepared several self-medicating spells to fight against the sick feeling inside of her. She took a deep breath as she calmed her stomach and mind, counting the seconds that passed between each inhale and exhale. Cadence pushed past the illusive horrors that her mind conjured, ignoring the tapestry of death that was laid over her thoughts, and hardened her resolve to help the ponies of her Empire.

She had already sent a request to her aunts for a good number of unicorn neurologists to come to the Empire, but it would still take time for them to arrive. Cadence briefly considered using her own magic to ease the minds of her subjects, but she tossed that idea aside. Using mental healing spells without properly understanding the mind was a dangerous gamble, and she refused to hurt her ponies or give them promises that she couldn’t immediately deliver. She and the Empire would just have to wait for her aunts to send aid to the Empire.

“Alright. Thank you, Cami. Could you go find Shining and make sure that he’s ready for court? I just need to write a letter quickly and then I’ll be heading to the Throne room.”

“Yes, your highness,” She obliged with a quick salute before she trotted out of the room.

With her temporary general gone, Cadence turned her attention to the stack of papers that she had set aside, and added it to the many other papers that she already had on hoof.

A complete collection of Skeletor’s life in the Empire sat in her hooves, holding secrets and theories that could change everything she knew about the demonic creature. As she leafed through the collection of pages, her eyes caught the foreign word that convinced Skeletor to abdicate the throne; “human”.

A part of her wanted to believe that Skeletor had been honest with her, that he was a simple creature who was only looking for a way home. However, those thoughts held dark implications that Cadence didn’t want to entertain. If was telling the truth, then it was likely that Sombra’s spirit still roamed the castle, that there was a world where the secrets of necromancy we’re laid bare for all to know, and that she had lied to an innocent creature and given him a false sense of hope.

There was still the possibility that Skeletor had simply lied to her and was planning to manipulate her with a lullaby of fictional monsters that she would chase to the edge of the world. Her aunt Celestia had taught her that demons were tricky creatures, but she would also sing praises about Scorpan whenever Cadence would ask about Celestia’s old friend. Skeletor would either become Cadence’s strongest ally, or he would become her greatest enemy, and she refused to be manipulated by any creature.

With an exhausted groan, Cadence summoned a fresh piece of paper and a quill, along with an emerald matchstick to send the papers off to her aunts.

“Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, as you requested, I’ve compiled a list of everything we currently know about Skeletor. Below this letter is every law passed by him personally, a transcription of his recorded speeches, and several contradicting stories and theories revolving around him, including a more detailed description of the conversation Shinning and I had with him yesterday. I would like to also speak to you with matters regarding the mental state of the Empire’s citizens… I have just learned something that I think will require more specialized neurologists to be sent to the Empire,” she explained as she began taking the first steps to help the Empire heal.

While help wouldn’t arrive immediately, it would eventually come, and the Empire would change for the better. The horrors of their history would eventually be forgotten and buried as the ponies of the Empire looked towards a brighter future.

Chapter 34. Sin By Silence.

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A familiar and bothersome friend found Shinning Armor as he struggled to sleep next to his wife. The ghost of his anger prodded him with taunts as he tossed and turned, berating him for failing to help his wife in her desperate time of need.

Amidst the occasional pangs of guilt and self-deprivation, rang loud bells of annoyances that slowly grew into a song of looming rage. With a tired sigh, Shining Armor abandoned his attempts at sleep to reminisce on where his peaceful days had run off to.

The life of royalty was something that Shining Armor had never expected to receive, even with his betrothal to a princess. He had always believed that he would remain Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot, serving his country faithfully as his wife worked close by to handle the political strife’s of nobility. He never believed that the title of prince meant anything more than his position as a guard, it was only a colorful decoration that he received for falling in love with a beautiful mare. So long as Princess Celestia and Luna would reign over Equestria, his title would hold as much weight as Blueblood’s, if not less than Blue’s title.

However, his life as not only the Captain of the Royal Guard, but also his position as a guard as a whole was forcefully stripped away when it was revealed that the Crystal Empire had returned. Without any training or warning, Shining Armor’s title was given an actual purpose, and he would serve faithfully as a leader alongside his loving wife.

It was difficult to hide his emotions from a mare like his wife, but years of practice controlling his temper “issues” had given him an edge on concealing his feelings. Any regret and loss he felt was replaced by a burning desire to help his wife, to silently watch her work as he learned more about his position until a day would come where he could stand on equal hoofing and help her lead the Empire into a prosperous age.

Unfortunately, that burning desire was soon overwhelmed by a fury that he could only silence by biting his tongue. Shinning Armor yearned to feel the burn of his shouts plaster the walls of his throat, to defend his wife and shove anypony who would dare to make her cry.

Her tears could easily ignite his blood, and awaken the beast that he had spent years suppressing with her help. She hid her pain far too well, taking their distrusting glances and hushed whispers in stride as she moved ahead with a determination that only made Shining Armor admire her more.

The first day of Cadence’s rightful reign had possibly been the worst day of Shinning’s life, second only to the day of his wedding when he found out that his wife had been replaced for three days and that he was only a feather tip away from marrying an anorexic bug monster.

Shinning Armor’s short comings had made themselves more apparent with each passing minute that he sat in court. Most of the questions and concerns raised during court were reasonable, such as what they should expect going forward, would relationships between two mares and stallions still be permitted, and if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were still alive and well in Dream Valley. Cadence, heeding her council’s warnings, omitted any mentions of the Empire’s displacement whenever she talked about her adoptive aunts, and reassured them that they were both fine.

Court proceeded without many issues. It passed by in a blur of motion, with only a few questions sticking to his fresh thoughts. While nothing had gone terribly wrong, he did absolutely nothing to help aside from nod and grunt every-so-often. The rest of the day didn’t fare any better. While Cadence worked tirelessly to make sure the Empire was safe and that her position as princess was cemented, he trotted through the halls without any real plan.

Cadence and Shining Armor retired to their room in Celestia’s suite to end the day. His thoughts swam in the darkest recesses of his mind even in the comfort of their room, taunting him with every growing failure he faced as an ignorant prince.

All he could offer to his wife, a mare who now had the weight of an entire Empire resting on her back, was a pony to hug and quietly lament to. In a way, Shining Armor was nothing more than a pillow. The old Captain of the Royal Guard had become a more incompetent prince than the one Blueblood portrayed.

With that bitter thought, Shinning Armor joined Cadence in bed as they waited for the next day to arrive. Shining was unable to fall asleep as the weight of his own ineptitude began to eat away at his mind as the hours of the night began to leave him in the waking world. His anger towards himself and the Empire itself began to fester inside of him as he laid in bed. After nearly an hour of staring into the darkness of his eyelids, he eventually left their bed to prepare a letter.

If he was going to help his wife and the Empire, then he would need guidance from another prince, specifically, a certain fake prince.

The night was still fresh as Crux Heart trotted through the halls of the castle. His eyes trailed across the lit torches that were hung on the walls, watching the flames flicker in the gentle breeze that would occasionally pass through the halls.

Occasionally, Crux Heart would take an extra moment of his time to appreciate the various paintings that decorated the walls between the torches. While a majority of them depicted Princess Amore in various poses and acts, a rare few of the portraits depicted the Crystal Heart and the Crystal Castle. He admired the fine details that kissed the canvas, losing himself in the brush strokes that used old Equestrian art styles to create a loving reflection of the world. If he had the proper time to enjoy the many paintings that hung on the walls, then he might have noticed that there was a distinctive lack of portraits depicting Skeletor.

However, due to his current duties, Crux Heart couldn’t spare more than a few fleeting moments to look at the portraits or commend the dazzling architecture of the Crystal Castle.

He wandered the halls with nothing more than his memory to guide him, following the path that Star Burst had shown him after her reconnaissance of the castle. As he drew closer to his objective, a cacophony of coughing fits and groans became more prevalent with each step.

The restless patients of the castle’s Medical wing guided Crux Heart with their non-verbal pleas, begging for relief from their various ailments and pains. While the medicine he brought was originally only intended to be used for the other guards who came to the Empire, Crux Heart believed that he could make better use of it by using his limited supplies sparingly in the medical ward.

When he finally arrived at the two familiar doors he pushed past them quietly, as to not disturb any ponies who were actually able to get some rest during the night.

The medical wing of the Crystal Castle was a battlefield. Every bed had been occupied by a pony, and several makeshift beds had been erected and laid in any place that was able to fit them. The ceiling, in contrast to the morbid scene that was laid before him, was a tapestry of different crystals, each carved and placed to create a series of beautiful images depicting nature.

It was as if the room found a special and disturbing balance between pretty and sickening. He was reminded of the colorful hospital rooms for young ponies and how they would usually be decorated in popular book illustrations and rainbows. He hadn’t thought much of it when he was a colt, but looking at the scene before him ignited a faint feeling of fear that tickled his mind when he was younger.

As his mind wandered to trickling memories of his youth, he quickly dug into his satchel and covered his muzzle with an herbal mask.

His eyes traveled across the many beds and hanging curtains, searching for anypony who needed immediate assistance. He trotted into the room slowly, surveying the ward with a wandering gaze as he passed by several beds. When he thought of simply trotting up to one of the coughing patients to see if they were awake, a tangled mess of black sheets appeared to spring to life next to Crux Heart, causing him to release a startled yelp as he instinctively moved away from the living shadow.

“Quiet! Most of the patients are sleeping!” The black figure reprimanded.

Crux Heart stared in stunned silence at the stallion. If Skeletor was a monster that leapt from the pages of a foal’s tale, then the doctor was a relic that trotted off of the pages of a history book.

The stallion was covered mane to hoof in a black robe with a dark wooden mask that bore a striking resemblance a large parrot. The mask clearly wasn’t made for the doctor, as it had an opening for a horn slot that had been covered with a wrapping bandage, which was similarly applied to any cracks that were running along the beak of the mask. The tinted glass of the mask's eyes didn't show a hint of the doctor's face and the black robe concealed his hooves in a blanket of darkness, allowing the doctor to work in anonymity and in safety.

“What are you doing here? This area is restricted!” The doctor quietly told him as he stepped closer to Crux Heart.

“S-sorry, I-I’m a medic and—”

“A what?” The doctor interrupted as he circled Crux Heart.

“A-well it’s like a type of doctor and—”

“You’re a doctor?” 

“Well yes, bu—”

“Are you here to help patients?”

“Th—”

“Perfect. Quickly, follow me this way,” the doctor ordered without hesitation, leaving a very bewildered thestral sitting in the middle of the ward as he glided away like a shadow. “What are you doing? Get up! I need all the capable hooves I can find, now come!” He quietly ordered.

“I-duh-bu-ye-yes sir!”

“Keep your voice down!” The doctor reprimanded.

“Sorry…”

Without another word, the cloaked pony led Crux Heart out of the medical ward and into a personal office. There were several cots set up inside the office, each occupied by slumbering mares and stallions who looked like they were teetering on the edge of death.

“Sweet Celestia. What happened to them?” Crux Heart asked.

“They’re overworked. Now come along, I need to get you dressed properly,” the doctor explained as he threw open a dresser to reveal dozens of slightly modified physician uniforms with covered horn holes and wing slots that were stitched closed. “Here, this should be fine.”

The doctor plucked the uniform off of the rack and practically shoved it into Crux’s barrel before he silently trotted off with Crux Heart in tow. “While I would love to have you on as an empiric, I’m afraid I’ll need you to get your hooves somewhat scuffled. The opium is kept here, the bandages are here, all of our surgery instruments are here, and over there is where we keep our thread and needles,” the doctor pointed as he trotted through the office.

Crux Heart quickly tore off his satchel and other clothes to throw on part of the old physician uniform, struggling to trot and change as he switched between using his fore hooves.

“I’ll start you off with a simple task. Just check each bed’s chamber pot and empty it in that container over there. The maids should be able to take it away in the morning and take it outside the barrier.”

“Well, actually I was wondering if I could help examine the patients, see—”

“Yes, yes, you’ll be busy helping patients later. If those chamber pots are allowed to overfill then that will be disastrous for the other patients, now go! I need to distribute placebos to several patients and then move onto the others,” the doctor stated firmly as he trotted off to another room.

“Placebos? Wait, weren’t you ordered to stop using them?” Crux Heart asked.

The doctor turned quickly as he prepared to berate Crux Heart for his question, only to stop and take a moment to properly look at Crux Heart.

“Oh… Oh you’re a thestral aren’t you… You’re one of those thestrals,” he seethed. “You and the Princess’ other thestrals are the reason why I’m working on five minutes of sleep for the past eight hours. I can’t believe I almost allowed you to work on my patients. Out! Get out! Go! We don’t need you here!” The doctor demanded as he pushed Crux Heart away.

“Wait, I just want to help!” Crux Heart quietly argued.

“You can help by staying out of our way! I don’t need somepony around who will… Who will…”

The doctor trailed off as he hesitantly backed away from Crux Heart. He visibly shook in fear as he looked around at the other patients, whipping his head around as if he were an actual parrot.

“You… You won’t tell her, will you? Please, there are many patients here that I need to help, and his medicine has been a great boon to us! Please, please don’t tell anypony that we’re not following the princess’ order, I beg you!” He pleaded desperately as he grabbed onto Crux’s cloak. “Y-you can’t tell anypony, t-they’ll take away everything we have, and then I won’t be able to treat our patients, and-an-and I-I just need some time, please! I’ll, I’ll comply with the Princess’ order, but I can’t do it now. Please, you have to understand! Please don’t tell them, I just need more time!”

Cruz Heart wilted at the doctor’s pleas as his duty to the princess struggled with his desire to help the ponies in the medical ward. He looked down at the emotionless mask that stared at him, feeling pity for the stallion who was clinging to his robe like it was a life vest.

“I… But the princess—”

“I know! I know, and I’ll do it. I’ll get rid of it all, but I just need time. Please, I-I just need a week, just one week and I’ll get rid of whatever remains. Please, it’s all some of the patients have!”

“Bu… I… Oh, Celestia Damnit, I won’t tell them, alright?” He yielded.

“R-really? I… I-I, we just need some more time and… and I, we… Thank you!” The doctor exclaimed as he suddenly wrapped his forelegs around Crux Heart.

A symbol of death among the modern ponies was hugging him like a scared foal. It was, for lack of a better term, very weird.

After a near minute of repeatedly thanking Crux Heart, the stallion pushed himself away from the hug and took a few calming breaths. “Thank you again, mr… I apologize, but I don’t even know your name.”

“Crux Heart.”

“Crux Heart? A fine name. I am Doctor Spoon Sugar, the… The head of the doctor association in the castle. I… I want to thank you again for understanding. I promise, I’ll get rid of the placebos, but we need them right now.”

“Why? Didn’t uh… The butler? That’s the stallion, right?”

“Crumb Catcher?”

“Yeah, didn’t he tell you why the placebos were being confiscated?” Crux Heart asked as he readjusted his physician uniform.

“He did, but we neither care or truly believe it. I know very little about magical medicine, but I trust that Lord Skeletor wouldn’t lead us astray by giving us false promises. Besides, even if he did lie, his creation works.

“Lord Skeletor promised us that General Cannon Fodder would return soon with medicine from the Ruva Kingdom. I want to believe him, but we can’t afford to wait much longer, especially since the princess decided to cut off our hooves by taking away the placebos Lord Skeletor provided us. I gave Crumb Catcher most of what we had, but it would have been insane to give her all of it! Some patients can’t sleep without it, and others are getting better because of it. Even if everything Crumb Catcher told us was true, the patients don’t know.

“It’s a rather ingenious idea, tricking the body into believing that it’s repairing itself and healing faster. And I can’t argue with the results. Lord Skeletor explained what it could and couldn’t help with and warned us to not rely on it too much, but… We’re working with less medicine each day. We started giving out placebos like they were free snowflakes. Many patients have become reliant on it, and I can’t take it away from them without at least offering an alternative… I hope you can understand, we’re doing the best we can to help but… Sometimes, it’s just not enough,” He explained mournfully.

“… It’s really that bad?” Crux Heart asked as he looked over at the many beds. It was one thing to read about the history of Eequestria’s medicine, but to see it first hoof was something else entirely.

“I’m afraid it is. The others and myself have been working tirelessly to make sure everything is fine. Due to Lord Skeletor’s concerns about suicide, many of us have been working days to not just treat ponies, but to also calm their minds. There’s too many patients and not enough of us, let alone enough medicine… Thank you again, Crux Heart.”

“Of course, doctor. I, uh, I actually have some medicine that you might be able to use,” Crux Heart reassured him as he pulled a box of medical supplies out of his satchel.

It certainly wasn’t enough for the number of ponies who were present in the ward, and Crux Heart internally chastised himself for only brining the equivalent of an expensive first aid kit with him, but Doctor Spoon Sugar looked at it as if it were a fireplace on a cold winter night.

“I… Thank you, Crux Heart, I… I… How… How do you open it?” The doctor asked as he struggled with the clasps.

  “Oh, sorry, let me get that for you. I only brought one tonight, but… I think they wouldn’t notice if a few more went missing,” Crux Heart reasoned as he passed the open box back to the doctor who inspected it with unrestricted curiosity and joy.

“You would really do that for us? I don’t know what to say other than thank you, so… Thank you! Thank you so much, Doctor Heart,” the doctor cried as Crux Heart suddenly found himself in a one-sided hug. Thankfully for the thestral, the doctor relinquished his grip around the stallion’s neck and quickly returned to inspecting Crux Heart’s gift.

“I must admit, I’m unfamiliar with a few of these strange bottles, but with your help, I believe the patients of this ward may have a real chance. Thank you again, Doctor Heart. Now, we have not a moment to lose. Follow me, Doctor Heart, we have patients to help and very little time to do so,” the doctor ordered with a hope filled tone as he quietly trotted away.

“Of course, doctor,” Crux Heart agreed easily. While he knew that General Camisole would probably approve of his work if he had just told her, that would have meant having more guards present who could expose the already weak ponies to new diseases and illnesses. And now, he had another secret to keep from his commanding officers and his prince and princess, one that would potentially risk his career if it came to light. He would actively defy the orders of an alicorn princess, a sin against his code as a guard for the royal family of Equestria.

The early rays of the morning soaked the Empire in light as the sun rose over the horizon.

The sun called to the sleeping creatures of the world to rise from their beds, stirring them from a deep slumber that painted worlds of creativity and horror alike. Among these resting creatures was a stranger from parts unknown, Skeletor, a monstrous being that looked like a nightmare given life.

He laid in his bed quietly with his hollow eye sockets pointing towards a wall, never revealing if he was asleep or awake. If it weren’t for the steady rise and fall of his chest, his silent observer probably would have mistaken him for an actual corpse. Occasionally, he would mumble about an evil violin or a grey colored skull before he would shift his weight and turn on his side. Other than those few instances, Skeletor almost perfectly resembled a slowly rotting carcass.

Star Burst, a lieutenant of the Lunar Guard, and a mare tasked with keeping an eye on her new charge, clung to the shadows of Skeletor’s room as he slept. Her eyes and ears focused solely on the former lord of the Crystal Empire, watching him from the safety of the darkness that his new room provided. Stacks of crates and wooden barrels, filled with crystals of various shapes, sizes, and colors, created a labyrinth of shadows for the thestral guard to hide in. Her white fur armor was cast aside for a sleek black padded vest that hugged her barrel, giving her the advantage of stealth and security as she prowled inside the demon’s den.

She hid in a nook between a few crates that were clustered together, concealing her from the stream of light that flowed in through the windows of his room. Even if the sun had risen to its peak in the sky, Skeletor would never be able to see the lunar guard that was hiding inside his room. At least, that’s what Star Burst had hoped for.

In truth, every second inside his room was a small torment for the lieutenant. The fear that lightly griped her mind when she first snuck into his room turned into quiet paranoia that promised a swift end when she was inevitably caught. These concerns were something that Star Burst had become quite familiar with on a few missions, especially those that involved her working with others who lurked in the shadows alongside her. Any small mistake, like the idiotic blunder she made outside the throne room’s windows, would betray her hiding place and potentially end her life and the life of her fellow guards.

Her current mission wasn’t one that just endangered her own life, or her fellow guards, but potentially the lives of everypony in the Crystal Empire. She couldn’t afford to have Skeletor find out that he was being monitored.

Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor could, if they were smart, plead ignorance to their guard’s actions and pin the order solely on General Camisole. Camisole and Star Burst would both be able to hold their heads high and take the fall, but that would only be if Star Burst was caught, a fear that was subtly growing with each passing minute.

Thankfully, when Skeletor was finally roused from his slumber, the demonic creature was blissfully ignorant of his hidden observer. He slowly lifted himself from the bed and shambled towards a crate that held a small fraying twig. He shambled around the room as he brushed his teeth, dragging his around as if he were a limp puppet as he threw his body forward.

After briefly averting her gaze when Skeletor took out a chamber pot, she and the other guards had already learned about the Empire’s lack of plumbing much to Camisole’s chargin, she subtly left her hiding place as Skeletor grabbed his tribal staff and threw on his cloak to leave.

She activated the enchantment that was placed on her armor before she slipped through the top of the door as he closed it, allowing her to go unnoticed as she followed Skeletor. The only indication of her presence to the demon was a gentle breeze that kissed the back of his hood, prompting him to look behind himself for only a moment before shrugging it off and walking down the hall.

Thanks to a rechargeable camouflage enchantment that the prince placed on her uniform, Star Burst was able to do her job more efficiently. Of course, while the enchantment was a great boon to her tasks, it wasn’t a professional enchantment. Small hints like her still visible shadow and the light shimmer that brushed against the air around Star Burst would reveal her if anypony noticed. So, Star Burst silently glided in near the ceiling, avoiding the light that protruded from the windows or torches that lit the halls.

As she followed Skeletor in secret, the once lord of the Empire gave small greetings to the occasionally passing guard on patrol and several maids who were busy at work cleaning another room. He had stopped several times to question his own direction before he finally found a familiar path and walked without any hesitation in his steps. After making his way through the halls, Skeletor soon entered the Crystal Castle’s main dining hall.

The hushed and idle conversation that leaked through the doors moments before fell silent as Skeletor pushed open the door, drawing the attention of everypony inside as the old squeaky hinges of the door announced his presence. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were already seated at the royal table with the council when Skeletor arrived, and joined in the collective gawking that everypony else had initiated.

Skeletor, either too tired to care or too used to seeing reactions like this, simply exchanged a silent greeting with a wave of his hand before he walked towards a table that was filled with crystal guards. He took a seat next to Colonel Kernel, throwing himself to the whims of gravity as he plopped into the small seat.

“Good morning, sir,” the grey stallion greeted. “It’s good to see you in the dining hall again.”

“Well, thank you for inviting me to your table, yesterday,” Skeletor said with a suppressed yawn.

The voices of the other tables soon returned to their hushed whispers and gossip as Star Burst focused solely on Skeletor’s table. Similarly, to the blue skinned demon, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor were both being watched by a pair of thestral guards who exchanged a low whistle greeting with Star Burst.

“It’s an honor to have you here, sire,” one of the other guards said as gave a nod of his head. “To be honest, a lot of us weren’t sure if you’d come in since you didn’t join us for dinner the night before, or anything yesterday.”

“Well I… Had a light meal outside the castle,” Skeletor answered as a maid trotted to their table with a serving for their prior lord. “Thank you.”

“Sire, do ya mind if I ask a question?” Another guard asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Skeletor said between sips of water.

Star Burst took a moment to fish out a bar of granola, strawberries, and pineapple crisps from her vest as they ate, taking small nibbles from her breakfast as she listened closely to their conversation.

“One of my friends outside of the guard said you were from the isle of Lost Angels in the Holy Woods. What’s it like there?” The guard asked, eliciting a quiet snort from the skull headed demon.

“Nye-heh. I believe your friend misheard me. I’m from Los Angeles, near Hollywood. Well, I was born there, anyway, I moved away when I was really young. I’ve never been back there since then, but I always did want to see it one day… I think I might try going there when I go back home,” Skeletor mused with a somberly wistful tone.

“Back home?” Colonel Kernel asked. “Are… Are you going to leave?”

“Well, yes I—”

“Is it because of the throne?” One of the guards asked, seemingly shocked by their own words as they tumbled out of their muzzle. There was no anger, pain, or any emotion in the guard’s question, just a deathly monotone voice that seemed to shatter the noise of the dining hall.

There was a sudden lull in the conversations around as ears began to point towards Skeletor’s table. Star Burst could swear that she heard the deafening scream of pure silence as everypony within earshot took note of the guard’s question.

“Um, no, no, it has nothing to do with that,” Skeletor assured.

“Then you’re not leaving because of the princess?” Another guard asked. Similarly, to his compatriot, his voice didn’t carry a hint of emotion when he spoke. Without warning, emotion returned to the guard as he quickly blinked and continued on with his line of questioning. “Then why are you leaving? Is it because something happened?”

“N-no, it’s not that,” Skeletor corrected. “It has nothing to do with Princess Cadence or Prince Shining Armor. I… I’m just a little home sick is all,” Skeletor promised as he quickly deescalated what could have potentially been a prime moment to capitalize on the guards’ wavering loyalty.

Star Burst felt her muscles ease at his words. Skeletor had clearly passed an opportunity to thrown the royal couple under the carriage, but that was only for the moment. Star Burst would reserve any judgement on the demon until she had solid proof on where his allegiances laid.

“You’re sick?” Colonel Kernel added on as Star Burst slunk back into the shadows in the highest corner of the ceiling.

The conversations at the other tables returned to their usual tempo, disguising their own attempts to listen as idle chatter about mundane things like the snow, crystals, and several quiet muttered mentions of a torn skull. Star Burst ignored most of the ponies in favor of listening to the demon and the guards at the table.

“What? Oh, no, not sick literally. I just… I just really miss my home. I love the Crystal Empire, believe me. It’s… There’s no place like this where I’m from, there aren’t towers of crystals or amazing guards like you guys,” Skeletor praised with a small toast of his goblet. “And don’t even get me started on how beautiful everything is. This is like a dream, a slice of heaven that fell down to earth. But it’s… It’s not really my home.

“My friends and family are all back home, probably worried sick about me, and I can only imagine that Panthor has been bawling her eyes out. Beast Man is definitely taking good care of her, so she’ll be fine without me… I’m sure they’ll all be happy to see me again.”

“Then… When are you leaving?” Colonel Kernel asked.

“It’ll be quite some time until I can go home. It’s a long and difficult journey, so I need the princess’ help. I’m not going to suddenly up and disappear tomorrow.”

“Well, do you think you could bring Beast Man and your panther to the Empire some day?”

“Beast Man?” Skeletor parroted. “What’s that?”

“You mentioned that a creature was watching after your panther,” Colonel Kernel told him. “Do you think you could bring them to the Empire to visit sometime after you go back home?”

Skeletor seemingly froze at the question, with a look of serious contemplation etched on his skull as he rapped his finger against the table.

“Ah, right, right. Now I remember, yeah, Beast Man is Raz’s nickname. I can’t believe I almost forgot about that. Sorry, I’ve got a little bit of fog on the brain right now, still waking up,” Skeletor explained as he stopped his finger short of the table, as if being held back by a small invisible shield that repelled him. “I think I might have come up with that nickname. Nye-Heh, he’s quite the animal lover. I’m sure he’d love coming to the Empire, though I imagine that Panthor would be a little frazzled from the trip. It may take a while, though… I’m a pretty long way away from home, and all that… Well, enough about that. Colonel, do you have anything interesting to talk about?”

“Oh! Well, no, not really.”

“Aw come on, I know that mare was looking at you yesterday,” Skeletor pressed on as he leaned against the table. “Have you thought about going outside and seeing if you could find her.”

Star Burst perked a brow at Skeletor’s sudden deflection. She could have easily presumed that Skeletor simply didn’t want to talk about his home, but that idea was immediately tossed aside. Whenever somepony would ask him about “America” he would give somewhat vague answers but still answers all the same. For some reason, Skeletor was oddly hesitant to speak about both the distance of his alleged homeland and the creatures he knew there.

Truths and lies often mingled in his words, weaving an incomplete story that held nothing more than interesting words and key phrases to string his audience along. Star Burst could easily see past his crumbling facade, especially when he wasn’t prepared to tell a lie or a half truth at the drop of a satchel, but she still found herself wondering if his obvious attempts at lying were just another mask to hide his true intentions. As the saying went, the Noble of an estate will often overlook the boring court jester.

“Do you already have a mare who caught your fancy? Or perhaps a stallion, I don’t judge,” Skeletor asked, pushing on the question in a jovial tone as he started to drink from his goblet.

“No, sir. I can’t say I ever have. Have you ever dated anyone, sir?” Colonel Kernel asked, prompting a guard at the table to add their two bits.

“Oh yeah, what was your harem like?”

Skeletor nearly chocked on his drink at the sudden question, hacking violently as he pounded his fist against his chest several times. The guards suddenly tensed as his eruptive display, flinching with each loud cough that rang out. Colonel Kernel and several other guards nearly leapt out of their seats, possibly to aid Skeletor in some way, before he raised his free hand to give them a silent command to be still.

“Koof. Wh… What?” Skeletor asked as he regained his breath.

“Well, da word in da mines is that ya had a busy ‘celebration’ after caving Sombra’s skull in. Ya were nowhere ta be seen for a whole day afterwards, an everypony heard ya scream like a Windigo about buckin’,” a green coated guard answered as he and the others took their seats once more. Several of them met the eyes of ponies at other tables, giving them each a voiceless reassurance that everything seemed to be fine.

“Well, I can assure you I was not doing… that. I… Was recovering from my battle with Sombra. And what do you mean by, ‘bucking’?…. Please tell me that doesn’t mean sex,” Skeletor added on with a deadpan tone in his voice.

“Um… It doesn’t?” Colonel Kernel hesitantly answered.

“Fucking pony puns,” Skeletor muttered with a shake of his skull, clearly unconvinced by the colonel’s compliant lie. “Anyway, I wasn’t doing anything like that. In fact, I wasn’t doing much of anything aside from sleeping for a whole day.”

“King Sombra really hit you that hard? From what I heard, you wiped the floor with him in seconds.”

“Well, Nye-Heh, it was a bit longer than that, I think. Besides, it’s not like I slipped on the stairs or anything, so how else could I have gotten hurt? Nye-hehe-he-heh…. heh. Anyway, I don’t have a harem or anything close to it, nye-heh, I can’t believe some ponies actually thought I had one.”

“Really? Seems like something that anypony could believe, it’s pretty common for royalty to at least have a few concubines. Heck, even the pink princess over there has one next ta her,” the green coated guard stated as he stole a glance at the royal table. Skeletor’s gaze appeared to follow that of the other guards as they all looked over at Prince Shining Armor.

“Wait, I thought he was a prince,” Skeletor said as he looked back at the guards for conformation.

“He could technically be one,” Colonel Kernel voiced. “A few of Princess Amore’s concubines held the title of prince, but they were usually stallions of high merit. Being a ‘prince’ isn’t really the same thing as being the princess, it’s just a way of saying that he’s worthy of giving and accepting love to the princess.”

“Huh. It’s not even past eight and I’ve already learned something new. The more you know.”

“Yeah, hey, back to the original topic. Ya really don’t have a harem?” The most boisterous guard resumed.

“Yes, I can confidently say that I have never, nor will ever, have a harem. I couldn’t even handle one relationship back home, there’s no way I could trust myself in a relationship with more than one person,” Skeletor stated firmly with a light touch of humor.

“Did you not have a special somepony back home, sir?” Colonel Kernel asked as Skeletor finished his drink.

“No, I was never really focused on being committed to a relationship. Even if I was, there wasn’t anyone who really caught my attention, every… evvv….” Skeletor trailed off, leaving his thoughts to die on the edge of his throat as he stared off into space.

The guards, who were quick to catch Skeletor’s derailing thought, attempted to bring Skeletor back to the conversation with a light tap on his shoulder, instantly freeing the skull faced demon from his spell bound state.

“Sir, are you alright?” Colonel Kernel asked.

“Ah, y-yes, yes of course I’m fine, I’m completely fine, absolutely fine, definitely,” he unconvincingly promised as he rose from his seat. “I just remembered that I… needed to go somewhere to do something, something really important that I can’t be late for. Sorry to dine and dash like this, I’m sure we can call continue talking tomorrow,” Skeletor quickly apologized as he moved out of the table, unknowingly dragging his stealthy shadow away from her hastily finished breakfast as he nearly stormed out of the dining hall.

He didn’t hold the same confident posture that he usually carried, instead adopting a stiff stance while he walked through the halls. His pace increased drastically, stopping just short of a hurried jog as his breathing rapidly increased. Skeletor’s fingers brushed against the ridges of his skull as he quietly repeated a single word.

“Evelyn… Lyn… Lyn, Lyn, Lyn…” He muttered as he stomped towards his room.

Chapter 35. Distant Memories in a Distant Castle.

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Skeletor’s skull decorated the tip of a spear that was suddenly being thrust through the demon’s brain.

A sword quickly tore through his chest from behind, causing rivers of black tar to spill from his fresh wounds. His skull was crushed under the heavy hoofs of crystal guards, his jaw clattered to the ground as a guard bucked it off his face, chains wrapped around his invisible neck to strangle him to death, and a volley of arrows logged themselves into his eye sockets.

Behind each violent scene was not a single stallion, it was an army of guards who were loyal to the crown, to the Empire, and to the ponies who called it home. Cannon Fodder only found hollow joy in his musing thoughts, watching his ideal fantasies play inside his mind as he stared at a barren wall.

Cannon Fodder escaped the confines of his cell within his mind, rising with the guards to defend the new rumored princess and finally remove the monster that threatened them all. He imagined Crumb Catcher trotting away in a set of heavy chains, forced to spend his days in the same dungeon cell that he locked Cannon Fodder away in. Cannon Fodder saw himself standing along his brothers and sisters of the Empire, rising up against the clever tyrant who would inevitably kill them all.

These thoughts grew in intensity as memories began to fight for dominance over his imagination. The black blood of the demon turned silver as his blue skin was hidden by a hide of tan fur that turned into a momentary memory of Princess Amore’s corpse. He buried the memory under more scenes of Skeletor’s demise, adding details and ideas that would buy precious seconds of bliss, moments where his memories faded away and he could look forward.

Unfortunately for the general, memories were a pesky thing, and they often found the most inconvenient of times to come back. Sombra’s reign was etched too deep into Cannon’s mind, causing the physical and mental scars of his enslavement to flare as he searched for refuge from his memories. He thought of his life as a colt, the pride he felt when he passed the entrance exam to be a guard, the love he felt as he rose through the ranks, a warm meal that he shared with his mother on a rare day where he didn’t have to work.

Pleasant and fond memories floated around, torn from their rest as Cannon Fodder struggled to hide the memories of his enslavement and distract himself with something more pleasant. The cell he was locked in gave him too much time to be alone with his thoughts, an ordeal that he used to solve by throwing himself into his work and planning his moves against Skeletor.

Moving away from his idle thoughts, the general rose to his hooves and paced around his cell. Just as Crumb Catcher promised, his new prison was a fair bit nicer than the one he fell asleep in earlier. The new cell he woke up in was furnished similarly to his bedroom, spartan but comfortable and functional. A bed and a chamber pot were all he really needed, but the traitor, Crumb Catcher, had found it necessary to also provide a small hanging mirror, an extra blanket, and a rather large pillow.

The cell was also lit fairly well, allowing Cannon Fodder to see himself perfectly in the hanging mirror. His fur was mattered and unkempt, his mane a flurry of hair that had grown too long, and the most daring thing he saw was his own Cutie mark.

He turned his head to glare at the white flag that adorned his flank, a symbol of weakness that was forced onto the general of the Crystal Guard. Cannon Fodder had done well to keep it hidden, to never part from his armor or allow anypony to see the embarrassing mark that marred his fur.

A white flag, an admission of defeat that stuck to his side like moss growing on stone. The memory of earning his cutie mark had been long forgotten, buried in a sea of plight and self-pity that drove him to follow in his family’s hoof-prints. The end of the path he paved for himself, to honor his family’s legacy, wasn’t bathed in glory and hope but in the blood of his princess and the sins of his failure.

Once more, his new path and ambition had ended, much more abruptly than before, and had condemned him to a possible death. Cannon Fodder refused to bend to Crumb Catcher’s will and align himself to a demon, he would sooner jump into one of Sombra’f foul death pits than ever side with a monster.

Tearing himself away from the mirror, Cannon Fodder descended into his own imagination, a place of refuge from the cruelty of the world around him. However, before he could delve into the depths of his mind, a voice called out to him, beckoning him to turn back to the mirror.

“General~. General, I need you,” the familiar voice called.

With great trepidation, the general turned to greet his reflection, only to gaze into the emerald eyes of his princess, the goddess he failed to serve.

Princess Amore, the alicorn who brought love and life to the frigid northern empire gazed down at him with a warm smile, one that outshone any portrait that hung inside the castle. It held silent promises of forgiveness, of unspoken hope that would wash away the sins of his failures, and of words he only dreamed to hear.

“Princess… Princess!” Cannon Fodder called out as he raced to the mirror and pressed his hooves against the wall.

He looked into the mirror, hoping to find the princess of the Crystal Empire looking back at him.

Only his reflection stared back, looking with desperation and sorrow as his eyes traced the edges on the ornate mirror. He searched for only a moment, casting a hopeful glance at the rest of his cell before he closed his eyes and laid down on the bare floor.

It was nothing more than a delusion, a fantasy of his own mind from the isolation and guilt, disappearing just as quickly as she arrived.

With nothing but his dwindling sanity to accompany him, Cannon Fodder trotted through the lanes of his memories, seeking a blissful escape in his thoughts once more.

Skeletor was impulsive at the worst of times.

They drove him to make rash decisions, both good and bad. His impulses pushed him to pass laws that would legalize gay relationships, a decision that, in hindsight, could have ended very poorly and only worked due to a few well placed lies and no authority to oppose him. His impulses also pushed him to throw away a throne without another thought, lie to hundreds of ponies about the nature of his “medicine”, and leap at the chance to use magic without any hesitation, which in turn led him to another impulsive decision.

Skeletor quickly threw open the door to his new room and laid on his stomach to reach under his bed, brushing past the small chamber pot to retrieve one of several mangled books that he stole from his old room. Like a child hiding their shame underneath their bed, Skeletor kept the proof of his failures stowed away in his cloak when he changed rooms, allowing his criminal acts to go unnoticed.

After learning about the value of paper and books in the Empire, Skeletor hid the mangled tomes to avoid any fallout, especially after Avid confirmed that desecrating books was worthy of a death sentence. Luckily, no one on the council challenged Skeletor’s abrupt repeal of that law, and it had unwittingly worked in his own favor. However, just because it wasn’t worthy of a death sentence, didn’t mean that he could avoid punishment if anyone found out about his deeds.

Once he grabbed a particular book out from his, admirably childish, hiding place, Skeletor leafed through the pages to find his own handwriting. His makeshift journal held small notes about certain spells, warnings of particular spells to never attempt again, and brief glimpses of his recorded past.

“ ‘If Evelyn was here, she’d probably be able to win the crystal ponies over with a smile and a few ear scritches….’” He quoted as his finger trailed across the dried ink. “… That’s it? Where’s the rest, damnit? There has to be more,” Skeletor pleaded as he tore through the pages and searched for even a glimmer of her name.

His eye-sockets traveled across days, glancing at quickly sketched schedules and notes before one page gave him a pause.

“… ‘I told Avid about Trevor and his relationship with Bedar’,” Skeletor read with growing hesitation as his eyes continued to move across the page. “… ’I didn’t… I didn’t go too much into detail about Tuvar, but… But I…’. No… No, no, no, no, no.”

Skeletor flipped ahead several pages, hoping to find some other recordings or brief mentions of his past before finally reaching the last entry of his private journal. His last entry was nearly a week old, a simple note that reminded him about a meeting with Purity Flame, followed by a forgotten promise to write more later.

He circled through his entries once more, stopping at a page of his past as his gaze lingered on two dreadfully unfamiliar names.

“I… I-I miswrote it, I must have,” Skeletor lied as he continued to silently read the passage. “No, no, no, his name is Tuvar. Yeah, Tuvar and Baddrah…. Right?” Skeletor wondered as he continued flipping through the pages.

Despite already knowing how little information his shoddy journal held, Skeletor still desperately searched for some reassurance that he was fine. What started off as a simple search for answers about Evelyn had led to a much darker realization.

His own thoughts were slipping away.

He had wrongly assumed that his fractured thoughts had only affected his memories of his name and face, but it was a fool’s hope. The truth was that whatever had affected his memories before was getting worse.

Skeletor combed his fingers through the wrinkles of his hood as he began to pace around his room. The book lightly bounced in his hand as he tried to call on his memories, searching for any noticeable discrepancies that could have gone unnoticed.

He felt momentarily comforted when he vividly remembered his family and home, but felt a pang of fear when his thoughts went to Evelyn and his friends. He remembered Tuvar and Baddrah as vividly as he remembered his brothers, Stephen and Randor.

Skeletor’s steps faltered at the casual memory of his family. The world around Skeletor grew unnervingly silent as his stomach began to turn on itself. He stared into the reflective walls of crystal with an empty gaze as an unsteady hand brought the book back to his eyes. With nauseating dread, Skeletor combed through the book once more to go over earlier entries.

He couldn’t find a single mention of his younger half-brother; Stephen.

Skeletor could remember his youngest brother better than he could remember his old face, the young red head was so vivid in his memories that Skeletor could swear he heard Stephen just outside his room.

Skeletor released a shaky breath as closed the book, feeling a new weight fall on him as his legs began to tremble. The former lord steadied himself on a crate of gems. A ringing sound grew in intensity as Skeletor felt his strength drain from his body. His vision grew darker as his breathing became faster, growing sharper and quicker with each second that passed.

Tears fell to the floor without any restraint, flowing freely as his body slowly gave into the forces of gravity and crumbled to the floor. He felt his stomach struggle to not crawl up his throat, it was only by a marginal miracle that he didn’t paint the floor in vomit.

Guttural sobs scratched the walls of his throat as laid on the floor, his arms wrapping around himself without a thought as he cried. A wordless scream erupted from his throat when a familiar pain began to flare in his skull.

He didn’t remember trying to think about his face or name, but amidst the chaos of his thoughts, there weren’t many places to hide from those pain-filled memories. He writhed in agony as his cries grew louder, dragging his thoughts away from the rest of his torment to distract him with an onslaught of stabbing pain.

He never noticed the door flying open for a petite thestral to escape the sound of his shrill screams.

While monsters and traitors felt their own thoughts turn against them, an alicorn stewed in her weary misery with a fake smile.

She listened tentatively to her council, once again going over each law and proposal passed by the mysterious demon who held the throne before her. Princess Celestia’s words came back to the forefront of her mind as she thought about Skeletor. While her aunt had told her to seek friends before appointing enemies, she also warned about the deceitful nature of demons.

She wanted to give Skeletor the benefit of the doubt, to find a faithful friend who would bend an ear rather than an enemy who would stab her in the back. However, there was still much that she didn’t know about the bipedal demon, and his seemingly sincere actions didn’t denounce the fact that he was a practitioner of Dark magic.

Cadence had only met one Dark magic caster in her life before Skeletor, back when she ascended to an alicorn nearly three years prior.

The earth pony mare who tormented the small village of Hope Hollow tore apart shards of her soul to spread pain and fear, using an ancient necklace as a conduit for her sinister powers. It was clear to Cadence that the conduit Skeletor chose was his skull tipped staff, and she could only guess where, or who that skull came from.

There was also the fact that Skeletor’s origins were still mostly unknown. His claims to being from another world, one that didn’t possess magic, and that he turned into a fictional character with that being’s abilities, was too hard to believe. She had believed his story enough at first, back when she thought he was a pony that was cursed by a magical costume to turn into a monster, but the additional detail of him being from a magic-less world was something too outlandish to accept without a second thought.

There was still much to learn about the silver-tongued demon, and her unanswered questions only made her unease grow.

“Princess Cadence?” Crumb Catcher’s voice gently prodded, bringing Cadence out of her thoughts to rejoin the meeting fully.

“Yes, Crumb Catcher?”

“I was asking if the proposal for us to send a second expedition force outside the Empire to travel to the Ruva Kingdom for medicine, your eminence.”

“Ah, yes. Well, from my understanding, General Cannon Fodder and his team haven’t returned yet, so I would like to withhold on sending more ponies out there unprepared. I’ve already informed my aunts about our need for medical supplies, and they’ve promised to send aid to us immediately. Is there any way for us to contact the general and ask him to return?” 

“I’m afraid there isn’t, your eminence. However, I’m sure that General Cannon Fodder and his company will return to the Empire in due time. Until then, we must remain patient and pray to Faust for their safe return,” the Spy Master stated with a sturdy sense of hope. “Now, does anypony wish to continue with the matter regarding the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom?” He asked, receiving negative head shakes from the other council members.

“Then, before I surrender my time to Avid Value to bring up his thoughts and motions, I would like to address the last motion on my agenda. I believe it is time we all address the crack in the crystal and discuss how we should handle Skeletor,” Crumb Catcher stated to the council, causing the shortest member to become slightly agitated.

“What do you mean by, ‘handle’?” Avid Value asked pointedly.

“A poor choice of words on my part,” Crumb Catcher explained, before quietly muttering an insult at the brown coated Stallion. “Unlicked cub. What I meant was that I believe we should take a moment to think about your end of the agreement to Skeletor, your eminence.

“Your eminence, as you remember, part of the agreement you and Prince Armor signed with Skeletor states that Skeletor shall be, and I quote, ‘given a position of power in recognition of his efforts for the Empire.’ I believe now is the perfect opportunity to define what ‘power’ we can and, more importantly, should offer. Your majesties, during your private meeting with Skeletor, did he indicate any personal preferences for his reward?”

“Well, Skeletor said he simply wished to live peacefully in the Empire. He hasn’t spoken about receiving any rewards since our first meeting, and everything he said appeared as though he didn’t want one,” Cadence told them. “I’ve waited to see if he would try to come forward with a suggestion, but he hasn’t.”

“Then what do you plan to give him?” Crumb Catcher asked, leaning on his hooves as the other council members became noticeably more interested.

“I’m… Open to suggestions.”

The truth of the matter was that she didn’t want to hand any power over to him, but she knew it would be inevitable. Even if Skeletor was honestly content spending his days toiling away with spells and magical studies of the archaic dark arts in the privacy of his room, she knew the crystal ponies likely wouldn’t see it the same way. Her aunt Celestia had given her a few warnings about the demon and the possible motives behind his actions.

If she would take too long to give him a reward or recognize his efforts, word would spread to the ponies of the Empire that she wasn’t making good on her end of the deal. It would likely spell the beginning of a civil war between two factions, putting Cadence in opposition to her mislead subjects.

“Hmmm. Then, I believe it would be best if we give him a noble title, possibly that of a duke, and reward him with a fief. Of course, given the Empire’s current structure, and the fact that every manor and mansion is either demolished or filled with ponies, I believe it would be rather difficult to accommodate him immediately. Though… There is the Thestral Kingdom,” Crumb Catcher mused.

“Are you suggesting that we make him a duke in a kingdom outside the barrier?” Emerald Secret asked in an almost disgusted tone. “Do you honestly think that anypony will be happy with that?”

“It was just an idle thought, nothing more,” Crumb Catcher gently defended with his usually calm voice. “Sending him to the Thestral Kingdom would provide us the opportunity of having Skeletor be removed from sight, allowing the crystal ponies time to rightfully recognize you as their divine leader, your eminence. Though, I know that such a plan is doomed to failure, just as Miss Secret pointed out.”

“We could attempt to rebuild one of the other dukedom’s mansions inside the barrier,” Avid added on. “but, considering the time and bits needed to do it, not to mention building supplies, it wouldn’t be possible to do it immediately. As much as I hate to admit it, we can’t reward him with any of the fiefs yet.”

“Um, why don’t we just give him a holiday?” Colonel Kernel wondered, causing everypony’s attention to land on the guard.

Beneath the usually calm and stoic mask that he wore, Cadence could see that the young colonel was a ball of anxiety waiting to bounce out the nearest window. She hadn’t actually expected the stallion to add much to the conversation, but was happily surprised by his idea.

“A holiday,” Avid quietly parroted. “Yeah, yeah that could work! We’d be able to show Skeletor how much we appreciate him, we’d make the crystal ponies happy, and then we’d be able to promise delivering a fief to him later. Faust’s serenade, why didn’t I think of that?”

“A holiday does seem like a nice idea, and it seems appropriate considering that Skeletor made a holiday to honor Princess Amore as well,” Emerald added.

Cadence quickly recalled the holiday in question, one of the first motions that was passed by the skull headed ruler, and one of the few that didn’t include the council’s input. It would serve to remind the Empire of his deeds and repay him for what he gave the crystal ponies. A holiday for the skull headed creature would also show the citizens that Cadence was, at least outwardly, accepting of the strange demon and willing to acknowledge his contributions. Finally, a grand gesture like throwing a celebration for him would give her more time to wait on giving him a meaningful title. Perhaps, by then, she would be able to learn more about the mysterious demon and see what laid behind his hollow eye sockets.

She looked over to Shinning for his input on the motion, only to see his eyes lock with General Camisole as she signaled him to follow with a discrete flick of her ear. With a nod, Cadence allowed him to help with the guards as she handled the rest of the meeting.

“I think your suggestion could work well in our favor, Colonel Kernel, thank you,” Cadence said appreciatively, causing a hint of a blush to peak through his coat as he fidgeted in place from the praise. “Avid, as the royal treasurer, can I trust—“

“I’ll begin preparing the allotted cost immediately,” Avid Value interrupted, enthusiastically leading the meeting with suggestions and thoughts for how to celebrate the, as of yet to be named, new holiday.

Cadence leaned back a bit more comfortably into her seat as the council member grew more animated, throwing suggestions and proposals around as if it were a game. Skeletor, a literal demon, was able to elicit joy from her subjects without even being in the same room as them. Cadence looked at the emotions flowing through her council, each one nearly bustling with happiness. Even the usually rigid wall of peace that was Crumb Catcher had adopted a more mellow feeling as he silently listened to the others.

Perhaps she would need to be more lenient in her views of Skeletor, least she make a mistake that she couldn’t fix.

“Fix him, fix him, fix him, fix him!”

“I’m trying! He’s not a broken toy you know!” Crux Heart shouted at Star Burst, who had been prancing around him and the prone demon in a panic.

“I can’t believe you killed him,” General Camisole mused with faux graveness as she took a bite out of her granola bar. “I mean, I didn’t even think it was possible to kill him.”

“I didn’t kill him!” Star Burst defended before turning her attention back to the doctor of their group. “He’s not dead, right?”

“He still has a heartbeat, but for all I know, he might have two hearts and one of them exploded. Best I can say is we pray for something good and prepare for the worst.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be a doctor?! Fix him!”

“I know pony biology! The most I know about other species is how to treat an injured griffon wing and minotaurian mating habits! If you need me to fix a broken wing, I can do it. If you need somepony to recite the entire history of why Satsrwirl had such a long beard, I’m your stallion. If you get invited to a quiz competition and you need a partner, I’m there in a heartbeat. But diagnosing a demon’s body? Your guess is as good as mine!”

“There has to be something you can do!”

“The best I can do right now is listen to his heart beat and breathing, in case you haven’t noticed, the Empire isn’t well equipped in the medical field.”

“Fillies, fillies, shut up,” Camisole calmly ordered as she trotted past the pair and lightly tapped Skeletor’s arm with a hoof. “Let’s not lose our heads just because Star Burst may have killed him.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Meh,” the general shrugged before turning back to the two guards. “Star, help Crux carry the big guy back into his bed and then continue monitoring him. I’ll go inform Princess Cadence and Shinning Armor about the situation. Crux, I want you on monitoring duty too.

“Report to me immediately if he wakes up and make sure he’s still breathing. If all goes well, we help Skeletor, look like heroes, and trot back home with another badge or two. Worst case scenario… We’ll sleep in that cloud when we get to it,” she ordered.

“Yes General,” the two guards saluted, earning a nod from their commanding officer as she left the pair to carry the biped back into bed.

Crux Heart and Star Burst lifted the demon onto their backs, stretching out their wings to act as a makeshift stretcher to slide him onto his covers. Once they were finished, the pair of guards hid in the shadows of the room, silently watching the demon rest.

“What exactly happened anyway? You weren’t really clear when you pulled me out of bed,” Crux Heart asked with a hint of bitterness in his words as he suppressed a yawn.

“I was in a panic, alright? He just ran straight to his room after breakfast and was muttering about a violin. Then he dug under his bed and took out a book and started talking about a tuba and a bed being wrong before he started screaming bloody murder.”

“Which book was it?”

“Um… There,” Star Burst pointed out, causing the medic’s gaze to fall on the forgotten tome. After stealing a glance at his still unconscious patient, Crux Heart slipped out of his hiding spot to snatch the book off of the floor. He quickly returned to his little cove behind the crates, giving the patchwork book a long look as he turned it in his hooves.

“I thought you already did a sweep of his room?”

“Well… Who hides things under their bed anyway? It was just so obvious that I didn’t even think about it, okay? Anyway, what does it say?” Star Burst asked pointedly as she leaned over his wither to look at the pages.

Just like the cover, the inside of the book was a mess of pages that were magically fused together, creating a patchwork of paper for the messy words that were scrawled inside. Unlike the neat and cordial writing that littered the pages at odd angels, Skeletor’s writing was bold and large, a single letter taking up three lines worth of space for each entry.

“Hmmm… Seems to be an account of his time in the Empire. There are a few gaps between new entries, and a lot of the beginning is awful, it’s like a foal learning to use a quill for the first time,” Crux Heart groaned as he leafed through the pages. While he silently read to himself, he caught an entry referring to the placebos and began to read aloud.

“ ‘I’ve gotten a bit better at opening the portal to where I want, though I’ve mainly just been using it to sneak into the kitchen and get some jelly to make my, “potions” for the ponies. I nearly went a full night without sleep just mixing jelly and melted snow in a pot to pour it back into a hundred or so jars. I only just realized that they’re giving them out by the spoonful and not the jar like I imagined, so I shouldn’t need to do it again for a while, at least.’ And… It looks like the rest is just about magical theory, though it’s really dumbed down.”

“Huh, so those placebo things were just watered-down jelly?” Star Burst asked as the took the book out of his hooves and began to do her own light reading.

“The prince and the princess will probably want to read this too. I’ll see if you missed anything else in your sweep.”

“Hey, you would have forgotten to check under the bed too,” Star Burst argued.

Crux Heart didn’t pay her comment a retort as he once again fled the safety of the shadows to look under Skeletor’s bed. Just as he predicted, there were a collection of books hidden near the center of his bed, just out of reach for Crux’s hooves. Despite this, the thestral guard laid on his side and outstretched his wing, sliding it under the bed to barley graze the books.

His muscles tensed as he heard Skeletor snort and slowly shift in bed, only giving the medic a few chance seconds to flee to his hiding spot before the demon became fully lucid. Skeletor released a sharp hiss of pain as his hand flew up to his skull, clutching the bare bone tightly as his unique swears passed his teeth.

“Fffffuck! Fuck, fuck fuuuuck…” The demon groaned as he sat up and buried his skull into his palms.

The two ponies hugged the shadows close to their coats as Skeletor grumbled a wealth of expletives. His cold gaze soon searched the room as one hand remained firmly planted on his skull. “Fuck…”

Skeletor’s pain filled gaze melted into one of confusion as he looked down at his bed. After tense minutes of looking at the fabric that covered him, he slowly pried himself away from it to rise. His confused sockets roamed the walls and floor, looking for a physical explanation to whatever question weighed on his mind. Before long, he tore his eye sockets away from his futile search to look at the grotesque scepter that was still standing next to his bed.

A quick hiss of pain caused his hand to fly back to his skull as he willed away the pain. If his two hidden stalkers weren’t thestrals, they would have never caught the seething mumble that escaped his jaws.

“Sombra.”

The guards’ ears perked in worry at his sudden choice of words. Without another word, Skeletor took his staff and went back to the area where he inexplicably collapsed. His Skull contorted in a look of panic and anger as his breathing increased.

Crux Heart’s eyes flew to his fellow guard, landing squarely on the book that she was hugging closely to her barrel. Worry soon buried itself deeper into the medic’s mind as Skeletor began searching under his bed for his missing tome, giving Crux enough time to catch Star Burst’s attention.

“Put it back,” Crux Heart mouthed to her.

Star Burst looked at the book in her hooves. “Shouldn’t we give this to Cami or somepony?” She mouthed back.

“We can do that later, we know where he hides it, just put it back,” the medic ordered.

Star Burst, after taking a moment longer than necessary to think about her options, begrudgingly agreed with a shake of her head. She pressed a hoof firmly on a patch of her jacket, activating the enchantment that would allow her to slip into thin air with ease. Though he couldn’t see his colleague, Crux Heart could still hear her shift out of their position as she went to place the book in a place not too far off from where Skeletor was looking.

In a matter of mere seconds, the book was placed just as Skeletor’s search under his bed ended. The skull headed monster irritably stomped away from his bed, only to stop as his gaze was caught by the familiar tome. He stood silently for several seconds before retrieving the patchwork book, sending the walls a long look as he went to slide the journal back under his bed.

Shortly afterwards, Skeletor gave a cursory glance at the rest of his room, following the shadows from the floor to the ceiling as he left.

“I’ll follow him, you should report back to Cami and tell her what happened,” Star Burst suggested before she raced off to catch up with her target.

Crux gave a firm and unseen nod of approval as Star Burst flew off. Finally alone, the stallion released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. The pounding in his chest that he had been deaf to had made itself known with a sudden strike. His hoof gently pressed against his barrel, feeling his heartbeat gradually grow slower from the sudden spring of excitement and suffocating terror.

His breaths became haggard with each heartbeat, replaying his memories as quick flashes of the demon staring in his direction. He could have sworn that he caught the Goliath’s eye sockets, staring back into the dark abyss that scowled at him, though a more logical part of his mind argued that Skeletor’s gaze swept right over the stallion and remained ignorant of his observers.

Once Crux Heart was finally able to steady the deafening sound of his heart, he ran himself through a small excessive to retrieve his nerves. Repeating a quick mantra under his breath, Crux Heart made his way over to Skeletor’s bed and looked at the demon’s secret collection. Without the worry of disturbing the bipedal beast, Crux moved the frame higher with his hooves as the thumb of his wing latched onto the spine of Skeletor’s journal, eliciting a silent cheer from him as he dragged it out.

The strange and familiar cover of the journal sat before him, promising a sea of knowledge that would aid in the prince and princess’ endeavors. While he would be able to report back to General Camisole immediately, he couldn’t allow an opportunity such as this to slip under his wings.

The medic, only having a few medical supplies on hoof, stole an inkwell and pen from Skeletor’s dresser and unfurled a wrap of bandages from his satchel. He would need to paraphrase some parts, perhaps even dedicate most of the journal to memory in less than an hour, but he would do it. The fate of the princess’ succession, possibly the fate of the Empire’s future, laid before his eyes.

“…’I feel like I’m going insane.’”

Chapter 36. Living in the Shadows of Royalty.

View Online

The royal archives were similar to a morgue.

Each book held the life of a dead pony. Sitting a few feet away from Skeletor was a mare who accomplished great feats, a stallion who saved lives, a ruva who revolutionized mining, each and every one of them was a pony who died long before Sombra’s tyrannical reign. They were lucky to live before the tyrant ascended to the throne, though not even death could stop those ponies from dying once more.

Sombra had destroyed a wide collection of books, or hidden them inside his personal chambers. Ponies who lived fulfilling lives had turned into ashes, either because their own accomplishments overshadowed the prior king or because the sick stallion simply felt like it. There were still many books that filled the shelves of the archives, but it was clear from only a glance that there were a great number of books missing.

Skeletor could only imagine where some of the lost tomes had gone as he roamed through the isles with a green aura lighting his path. His glowing finger traced across the bound spines of many books, searching desperately for answers to questions that he couldn’t think of.

He ignored the familiar chill that tickled the base of his skull, not even bothering to turn and confront the shadows as he had before. The creaking chains of the shelves and unlit chandeliers were the only reply he received when he demanded for Sombra’s spirit to reveal itself.

Unlike the ponies who lived inside the remaining history books, Sombra refused to stay dead. Skeletor didn’t know what the stallion was doing to him, but he knew he had to stop it. Everything the transformed human could think of pointed only to Sombra. Skeletor’s arrival, his faulty memories, his transformation, the dead stallion was the one behind everything.

Sombra was the first pony Skeletor had met, teleporting him from just outside the Crystal Empire to a dark realm of shadows that lead to the throne room. He had also proven himself to be a master of manipulating the minds and bodies of the crystal ponies, so it was just as likely that those same spells affected Skeletor’s mind in a different way. Finally, the spirit of the tyrant appeared before him and, though he claimed that he never summoned Skeletor, there was little room for argument as to who was responsible for Skeletor’s plights.

Sombra had made a deal with the pony equivalent of the devil, Grogin if Skeletor recalled correctly, and it was possible that the dark ruva had simply botched a summoning spell and brought Skeletor instead of a demon. Though that explanation left a few questions unanswered, it was all Skeletor had to work with. Crystal would possibly have more information in regards to how they came to Equestria but, since the only other human on the planet was in a different kingdom, Skeletor could only rely on his own intuition and whatever information the royal archives offered.

He desperately wished that Copper Plate was at his side to guide him through the strange organization of books, but she was preoccupied with her work in the council room. The only guide he had was a faint memory of Avid Value leading him through the archives to find the medical spell book that held Princess Amore’s brainwashing spell. In a fit of fury, Skeletor tore the page from the book and burned it, a decision he was growing to regret as he turned down another row of books.

Copper Plate wasn’t all too pleased to hear of Skeletor’s “accidental fire spell” but she thankfully didn’t do anything more than glare at him for about a day. Still, his little magic trick prompted the old mare to rebind every book and check each chain, replacing anything that looked too old with a fresh set of iron chains and locks. Even if he would find the books he was looking for, he would need to pick the lock and hope that he wouldn’t earn Copper Plate’s ire once more.

Of course, these facts were overlooked as he blindly wandered through the archives. Rational thought had little room in a mind clouded by anger and fraught with worry.

With nothing but his hazy memory and a glowing finger, Skeletor continued to pace through the rows of books, only giving some titles an idle glance as he searched for the lavender colored tome. From what he could recall, most books dealing with magic had purple covers to them, a sign of their greater value and a symbol of power to those who could actually own a book dyed in lavender hues. Of course, there were some exceptions, such as the green covered book that Sombra had offered him long ago, a personal collection of spells written by the dark lord himself, and the brown book that Skeletor would spend hours reading about during his practice.

The dead ruva mare who would be Skeletor’s tutor, Radiant Hope, went to great lengths to simplify her words so that a thestral or crystal pony could understand, something that her alien student was very happy about. She was one of the many creatures that Skeletor would never meet, another victim of the monster that summoned Skeletor to the Crystal Empire.

As his mind wandered to the memories of the nights he forewent sleep to learn from the studious mare’s words, his sockets shot back to a familiar purple book that his gaze had just brushed over.

He easily spotted the blue snowflake that decorated the book’s spine, the cutie mark of the mare who had sat on the throne before Sombra ripped her lifeless corpse off of it.

Skeletor’s hand snaked around the two additional locks that secured it to the archive’s shelves. His fingernail tickled the inside of the lock, brushing around the edges of it before he let the lock limply fall back into place. He studied the lock for several seconds, allowing memories of films and tv shows to play in his mind as he thought of a way to remove the two obstacles.

He wouldn’t be able to break them off, at least not without annoying Copper Plate again. Picking them with a bobby pin was out of the question since he had neither a pin nor the skills to do so.

Realization suddenly struck him like an ill-tempered nun, and Skeletor allowed his head to fall into his open palm. After being stuck in a magical pony land, as a magical villain, with magical powers, he forgot that he could just use magic.

After a few moments of berating himself, Skeletor unholstered the Havoc Staff from his back and took several steps away from the book. His back pressed firmly against the other shelves as the ran skull kissed the bottom lock. The light that enveloped his hand melted away, allowing the horns of his staff to collect his power and focus on the iron seal.

The dull hum of his magic rose, reaching the crescendo before the sound of a pop of metal, followed by the ringing of a hunk of metal striking the floor.

With some apprehension, Skeletor lowered the glowing horns of his staff to the floor. He released a thankful breath when he saw the lock wasn’t melted or destroyed. Emboldened by his success, Skeletor removed the second lock with ease and freed the tome from its bindings.

He laid the two locks on the barren space before walking over to a desk at the end of the row and lighting the candle set on it. Azure flames danced on the candle heads as Skeletor flipped through the worn tome, grimacing slightly as he passed the page that once held the brainwashing spell.

An hour passed as Skeletor combed the book, reading by the quiet candle light as he continued to ignore the occasional shiver that raced down his spine. Several pages made brief mentions of the brainwashing spell, or rather, “Lover’s Redirection” spell, though none of them went too in depth into what the spell did, only advising the reader to return to the only page that Skeletor destroyed.

There weren’t any mentions of how to undo the spell, or know if a modified version of it was cast or not. At most, all he could find was a loose paragraph hypothesized using the spell on cheating or promiscuous couples.

As columns of falling wax began to reach the table, marking the near second hour of his search, Skeletor closed the book and rubbed the corners of his sockets.

“Damn it all. Not a single good reference to that blasted spell,” he muttered, feeling another chill race through him. Tired and upset, Skeletor slammed his fist on the table and screamed into the darkness.

“I’m sure you’re laughing your ass off, aren’t you, Sombra!? The poor naive human doesn’t know what he’s doing, right? Well at least I’m still alive, which is more than I can say for you, you pitiful phantom!”

Silence was the only reply, something that Skeletor had become accustomed to in his one-sided conversations with the watchful spirit.

“Ah, the old silent treatment. Coming from you, I take it as a blessing since I can’t hear your insufferably smug voice. Or maybe you’ve finally gotten sick of your own voice? I can only imagine that years of talking to yourself would become grating. Was that why you enslaved the Empire, because no one would talk to you otherwise? Nyeh-heh, not even your own slaves liked you, and they were programed to like you! Just look at me Sombra, I’m the culmination of your miserable failures!” He exclaimed as he rose from his seat and confronted the shadows.

“You wanted to summon a monster, and you got one! You were just too stupid to stop it from killing you with a stick, a stick, Sombra! I didn’t use a single spell or magic trick, just unbridled rage and a fucking stick, how does that feel? The stallion who killed an immortal, battled goddesses, enslaved an entire Empire, killed with a stick! It’s no wonder why you’re not in hell yet, they’re pitying you because you were beaten to death with a god. damn. Stick!

“The monster, the dreaded tyrant, Hitler’s fursona, killed by his own stupidity. Nye-Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. It’s-It’s actually hilarious when I think about it! Nye-heh-heh-Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh-Oh, I-I think I might see you soon Sombra, because I’m about to laugh myself to death at how pitiful you are. Nyeh-Nyeh-HA-Ha-HA-Ha-Ha-HA!”

Skeletor’s mad cackle rang throughout the quiet library, striking the perceived phantom in a way that no physical attack could. A minute later, his laughter died down to a bemused chuckle as he waited for Sombra to reply.

“Fine, be quiet then. Once Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor find your spirit, you’ll be screaming in Hell forever. Nye-Heh-heh-heh-heh,” he chuckled mockingly.

The smile he wore barely hid the scowl that crossed his features as he went to put the book back where it belonged and left the archives. He never realized that more than one set of eyes were watching him as he walked to the medical ward.

The dead eyes of an immortal gazed lovingly at the new prince of the Empire.

Shining Armor couldn’t feel the love that each artist strived to put in their paintings, nor could he admire the beauty of each stroke as he and Crux Heart trotted past the many hanging portraits of the deceased princess.

Without warning, the two stallions were quickly joined by General Camisole as she flew in through of the hall’s windows.

“No sign of him in the halls. Any luck?” She asked the pair.

“A few guards said he was walking this way, but they don’t know where he went,” Shining Armor reported as the trio trotted down the labyrinth of halls.

“He could realistically be anywhere with that portal spell. Heck, he might not even be inside the castle anymore,” Crux Heart stated, earning a light glare from his general.

“Yes, thank you for reminding us, Crux. It would have been helpful is somepony came to me when he woke up like I bucking told them to!”

“Hey, I was writing down everything I found in his journal!” The medic defended.

“Wonderful, we confirmed that Skeletor is actually crazy, what else is new?”

“Well, now we know that he has memory problems. and that he was probably telling the truth about being from another world.”

“Right, because everypony’s diary is full of nothing but complete honesty. It’s not like he might have wanted us to find it or anything, that’d be impossible,” Camisole snarked with heavy sarcasm.

“That’s enough, Cami,” Shining Armor stated firmly, cutting off ay rebuttals from Crux Heart and killing their argument inn an instant. “What’s done is done. We can argue about the validity of the journal later. Right now, we have a missing guard and demon on our hooves, and I want to find them before something else happens. If Skeletor woke up then he should have gone to the medical wing to check on his health.”

“Which he didn’t,” Camisole tacked in.

“So, it’s not enough of an issue for him to seek medical attention,” Crux Heart mused.

“Right, so where else would he have gone if it was a normal day for him?” The unicorn prince asked, earning a pair of curious looks as the two waited for him to continue.

“Oh. Are you asking us? I thought that was metaphorical.”

“Rhetorical,” Crux Heart corrected.

“That too. Anyway, the only places he visits are his room, the royal bath, and the dining hall. We’ve already checked them, and we don’t know enough about him to guess where the heck he’d go.”

“What about the other night guards, where are they looking right now?”  

“Ballad and Top Deck are patrolling the outside as usual, neither of them has reported seeing Skeletor outside. Silver Shield and Meteor joined the search after I told them what happened. Everypony else is busy guarding the princess or shadowing the council members. We’re pretty much on our own unless somepony comes to us or—” Camisole’s voice trailed off as hers and Crux Heart’s ears suddenly went rigid.

“Or he could just yell really loudly,” Crux Heart mused as he and Camisole began walking off without any warning.

“What’s going on?” Shining Armor asked.

“Skeletor is shouting about something. It’s too faint to hear it clearly, but he sounds pretty upset,” the medic answered.

“Annnnd now the big guy’s laughing more than a foal with a set of keys. That’s probably not a good thing,” Camisole added on as their quick canter grew into a full gallop.

The three ponies soon came to a pair of large doors being guarded by a single stallion, a guard bearing Skeletor’s personal armor. The crystal pony gave the three a rather harsh look before realization struck and he bowed to Shining Armor.

“Welcome, your royal esteemed majesty. May I ask what you need?”

“We’re looking for Skeletor, right now. Have you seen him?”

“Yes, your majesty, he went into the royal archives over an hour ago,” the guard reported.

Camisole’s ears went rigid as she listened to Skeletor’s faint rant descend into a fit of mad laughter.

“Anything special?” The prince asked.

“Still laughing like an idiot,” Camisole reported as she fished a small whistle from her coat’s pocket. Crux Heart was quick to cover his ears as the general pressed her lips to the small whistle.

A few tense seconds passed before Camisole’s hardened expressions became softer and a smile decorated her muzzle. “Star’s still with him, and she’s alright. Now, I get to stretch her wings on a clothes line!”

“How do you know she’s alright?”

“She let back two short bursts,” Crux Heart answered, giving the whistle an irritable look. “If she was in danger, she either wouldn’t blow it or she’d only blow it once in response for as long as she could.”

“Alright, we know where he is, now what?” Camisole asked the pair. “… We did come here with a plan, right?”

Shining Armor hid a light grimace as he quickly thought of what orders to deliver to his escorts. “If Star Burst is safe, then we need to find out why Skeletor is in the archives. How long has Skeletor been inside?” Shining asked the crystal guard, who snapped to attention under the prince’s gaze.

“Two hours, your majesty.”

“Right, so the whole time then. Cami, I want—” The price’s words were cut off abruptly as the two thestrals hugged his side and activated the enchantments on their badges. Though the enchantments weren’t as strong as the one that was being constantly recharged for Star Burst, the two enchantments were still enough to cover the trio as the hinges of the doors began to scream.

The gapping guard quickly turned to see the demon walk out of the room, his feet striking the floor with an intense fury as he passed the invisible ponies. Shining Armor’s own horn then lit up to redouble the enchantments that hid them, watching in worried silence as the skull headed monster angrily stomped away.

A shimmer of light squeezed past the closing door, quickly trying to catch up to the irate demon before it stopped in midair. A glance back at Camisole was all it took for Shining Armor to realize that the second lieutenant was being ordered through Camisole’s high-pitched whistle.

Once the demon was out of sight, the four dropped their enchantments and spell respectively, earning a gob stocked look from the increasingly confused crystal guard. Before the second lieutenant could even salute, Camisole descended upon the mare with a great fury.

“Luna’s star-filled mane, Star, what were you thinking!? I told you and quiz-colt here to come to me when the big guy woke up, not to go missing for two bucking hours doing Celestia knows what!”

“But—”

“And you,” Camisole interrupted, turning her anger towards the medic. “Don’t think for a second that I forgot the hoof you played in this. You two will be begging to have your wings plucked off by the time we get back to Canterlot, do I make myself clear!”

“Ma’am, yes, Ma’am!” The duo responded, throwing tight salutes to their superior as she glared at them, doing her best impression of an angry mother breathing her children.

“Good. You!” Camisole shouted at the crystal guard. The resident pony, clearly not expecting her tirade to suddenly turn towards him, fumbled with his spear for a moment as he instantly straightened his posture. “Thank you for watching over the archives while Skeletor and my lieutenant were inside. I didn’t realize that they went on a quick study session. Everything’s a bit hectic, what with him abdicating the throne, and we were all worried when we couldn’t find him. Thank you for your service, soldier,” she said with a warm smile.

Shining Armor perked a brow at her sudden change in demeanor before following her as she shot the two thestral guards an icy glare. The trio turned quartet briskly trotted away from the archives, passing by the many familiar paintings that filled the hall as they casually followed the same path Skeletor took.

Shining Armor glanced behind to look back at the proud crystal guard before quietly whispering to his general.

“What was that about?”

“The shouting or the random praise?”

“The second one.”

“Makes him ask less questions, and it might stop him from spreading rumors to the other guards. Wouldn’t help us if there were rumors about thestrals looking for Skeletor, would it? Now, what in Celestia’s cabinet was happening in the archives?” Camisole asked Star Burst.

“Skeletor was looking for a spell book. He thinks that Sombra’s ghost is stalking him, apparently, and I guess he was looking for a spell to get rid of him. He was ranting a lot at the end, and I couldn’t catch much since he was stabbing my ears with his voice.”

“That lines up with what I read in his journal,” Crux Heart added on. “Skeletor made a list of theories as to how he came here. A few of them were odd, but one that stood out was the idea that Sombra summoned him to the Empire. He also had an entry recounting a meeting with Sombra’s spirit in the royal bedroom.”

“Great, so he’s crazy. Faust, I sound like a broken record,” Camisole lamented.

“What are the odds that Sombra is alive, or at least as alive as a ghost can be,” Shining Armor butted in.

“Crux,” Camisole called out, ordering him to think about it as she fought off the growing headache that pounded against her skull.

“That’s… I don’t want to say it’s impossible, there have been ponies in the past who could separate their soul from their physical body, but the caster is still alive in those instances. Aside from folklore and myths in other countries, there isn’t much proof of spirits. Although, some would argue that windigos were the souls of angry ponies, evidence from Neighgrolian writing points to them actually being a form of artificial life created by condensed emotions that surrounded physical objects, such as relics used by demons during the era of the three sirens, who were believed to be descendants of—”

“Ghosts real? Yes or no?” Camisole hissed irritably.

“… Strong maybe,” Crux Heart answered. “If anypony could come back as a spirit, I’d imagine it was somepony who made a deal with Grogar. Skeletor wrote about a warning Sombra gave him about a debt with ‘Grodar’, which he brushed off as Sombra, quote, ‘bull-shitting him.’ “

“Great, so the lord of Tartarus may or may not be coming here. What’s next, Tirek joins the party with the Sirens in tow?” The tired general half-heartedly joked.

“I thought Grogar was just a foal’s tale,” Star Burst questioned, earning a mirthless chuckle to escape Camisole.

“Yup. Hey, let’s play a game. It’s called, list the things that have appeared in the last two years that we all thought were fictional. Ready? Nightmare Moon, Eris, the changelings, oh, and of course who can forget the Crystal Empire? I’d honestly be surprised if I retired before another ancient so-and-so from Equestria’s past came back.”

“That… Is actually a bit worrying,” Crux Heart admitted.

“I doubt we’ll have to face off against the Father of all Monsters,” Shininng reassured them. “Still, I’ll have to let Cadence and the princesses know about this. What about the book Skeletor was looking at. Did it have a title?”

“Not that I could see. It had a blue snowflake on the spine and it was purple. I could go back and point it out if you wanted,” Star Burst answered.

“Alright. Cami, I want you to shadow Skeletor while Star and I circle back with a clocking spell and look for the book, and Crux, I want you to take whatever you copied from Skeletor’s journal to Cadence,” Shining Armor ordered.

The trio of thestrals nodded as they broke off to perform their respective tasks. Shining Armor and his escort turned on their fetlocks while the other two flew off, trotting back down the hall of lavish portraits.

“So, what’s the plan for getting back in? Invisibility spell? Teleport?” Star Burst asked.

“I was thinking we’d walk through the door like normal ponies. I’ll just say that you forgot something and we’ll trot right inside.”

“Oh… I guess that works too,” the younger thestral conceded.

With that passing remark, the two easily made their way inside the royal archives, blissfully ignorant of the unnatural shadow that hid beneath their hooves.

Chapter 37. A Gold Crown in Water.

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The Crystal Empire was bathed in moonlight as the crown jewel of the night hung overhead.

The day was full of gossip and rumors, each carried by delicate whispers as the crystal ponies watched their new princess with hesitant gazes. Whispers of Skeletor spending his time aiding the ponies with the assistance of the Royal Treasurer had spread from the commoners to the council members. Small conversations about his tour of the Empire sparked debates as ponies quietly argued over the intension of Skeletor’s stroll.

Among the floating words that caught Cadence’s ears, there was a rumor that the dome above the Empire had shrunk. Word had spread quickly from two worried mares, a pair of maids who were responsible for emptying the chamberpots outside the barrier, and retrieving the petrified feces from earlier that week for fertilizer in the underground farms. With barrels of frozen poop and a heavier weight of worry on their minds, the maids brought this information to the guards, who in turn brought it to the Royal Spy Master, and then to Cadence. By the time she heard of the barrier’s circumstances, nearly half the castle had heard as well, and a great number of citizens near the barrier would undoubtably learn of it as well.

To make matters worse, as hushed conversations stabbed her ears, a long series of journal entries assaulted her eyes and wrecked her mind with worry. Hearing about Skeletor’s life in the Empire was nothing like reading about his personal experience. Each bandage roll in her hooves held the fears that plagued his mind each day. When he had first revealed his worries to her in private, she thought that it was nothing but a blatant trick, a lie that would make her feel sympathetic for the displaced demon.

But his journal expanded on these worries. Every order and law passed was met with worry, his actions were harshly judged, and every entry ended with a wish for him to survive another day. The only notes of peace in his journal were when he spoke about his plans to return to Earth and the long notes he took on dark magic.

From what Cadence could find, it appeared as if Skeletor only vaguely knew of how his spells worked, never mentioning the fact that he was sacrificing shards of his soul to preform certain feats. He made notes of the side effects of losing certain parts of his soul, such as his twisted emotions and suffering physical pain, but none of his entries went over the loss and slow growth of his soul.

After looking through his notes, Cadence was able to come to several conclusions about the once lord of the Empire. Firstly, he was a complete novice to magic, possibly even less experienced than a kindergarten unicorn. Second, beneath the gnarled emotional spectrum that laid over him was a creature, a human, that was suffering greatly in her Empire.

And, finally, the worst conclusion she could reach, Skeletor either did come from another world, or he was suffering delusions. On one hoof, the original demonic forces that attempted to invade Terra had also been from another dimension, giving credence to the possibility that Skeletor was also from another world. However, there was also the possibility that he was a demon driven to madness by his misuse of dark magic.

Earth, Humanity, perhaps even his family, could have been illusions created by his fraying sanity, which would also explain his meetings with Sombra’s “ghost”. If that were the case, then she would need to help Skeletor and stop him from scratching the already festering wound in his mind with more spells.

However, if he was telling the truth, if his world was real and Sombra was still alive, then she would not only have to deal with the lies she told Skeletor, but also face off against an undead tyrant.

No pressure. Cadence thought sardonically as her tired limbs carried her down several flights of stairs. With everything that weighed on her mind, her body yearned for sweet comfort.

Shining Armor would take care of informing her aunts about their recent situation, allowing Cadence the brief time she needed to relax and distract herself. Heading the calls of her weary body and mind, Cadence set out to go to the one place in the Empire where she could forget her worries. Or at least she would have if the source of her concerns wasn’t there as well.

Descending down the final set of stairs to the royal baths, Cadence trotted into the blue light of the glowworms and basked in the warmth that the room radiated. Trotting around the pillar of stone that partially blocked the entrance to the hot spring, Cadence’s gaze lifted from the mosaic crystal tiles that decorated the floor and her eyes fell onto the familiar skull of a strange creature.

His arms rested on the lip of the pool, keeping his upper body out of the water as he relaxed in the pristine and bubbling pool. Skeletor’s skull shifted lightly, as if to peek on his new company before his limbs suddenly flailed about to quickly grab a cloth and cover his lower half.

“Gah, p-Princess Cadence! Um… Hi,” Skeletor greeted awkwardly.

“Good evening Skeletor, I’m surprised to see you’re here,” Cadence replied. From what she knew of his schedule, Skeletor would only bathe after dinner every evening, and reportedly only stayed for an hour before retiring to his room.

“Yeah… Um, anyway, I’ll be going then,” Skeletor excused as he wrapped the wet cloth around his hips and rose from the water.

“You don’t need to. I don’t feel like we’ve had many opportunities to talk, so maybe now could be a good time.”

Without another word, Cadence delicately removed her crown and royal appeal, placing them a few feet away from Skeletor’s belongings as she sank into the pool. Relief instantly washed over her body as the water embraced her, sending shivers of delight through her weary muscles as she sunk deeper.

In contrast, Skeletor stood as stiff as a board, staring dumbly at the princess as she leisurely descended into bliss. After a few awkward moments of silence, Skeletor slowly lowered himself back down into the bubbling pool, though he clearly didn’t carry an ounce of the comfort that he was enjoying before.

“Ah~ Sweet Faust, I can’t believe you’ve been hogging this for so long,” Cadence breathed.

“I-I didn’t mean to do anything like that, your majesty, I—”

“Calm down, Skeletor. I didn’t mean anything by it,” Cadence reassured as her wings began to drift away from her barrel to feel the warm water rising against her sore muscles. “It was just a little banter. No need to worry about it.”

“Um… Alright.”

Awkward silence fell over them without restraint, allowing the sound of bubbling water to quickly fill the room as the two sat in silence. The Princess of Love felt tempted to just let the still silence linger in the air, to avoid the conversations that she needed to have with Skeletor. She wanted nothing more than to simply push aside her concerns and deal with them the next day, or perhaps even the next month. However, she couldn’t give in to such temptations. If she wanted to learn more about Skeletor’s memory and earn his trust, then she would need to make the first step.

After several more moments of uneasy comfort, Cadence cleared her throat and approached the, arguably, easiest topic she could bring up.

“I think you’ll be happy to know that the council and I have found a reward for you.”

“Reward?”

“The contract we signed stated that I would have to assign you a title worthy of your deeds and repay you for your actions. You’ll be given the title of Duke and assigned a fief, though we won’t be able to give you either of those until we have more supplies and homes for the Empire’s citizens,” Cadence explained.

“Oh, well that… That sounds nice?”

“So, you’d be happy with a title and a fief?”

“I don’t see why I wouldn’t be.”

“Great! Also, you should know that we’re planning on giving you a holiday too. It was suggested that we should create a holiday to honor your feats, though the council and I will need time to deliberate on what we’ll need for a Skeletor themed holiday.”

“… … I’m sorry, I… Holiday?” Skeletor asked with disbelief. “What does th… What do you mean?”

“You created a holiday to honor Princess Amore and all of the ponies who died at Sombra’s hooves, this will essentially be a day to celebrate your accomplishments and the Empire’s liberation.”

“Well, I uh… I’m very grateful, but—”

“You’re worried, aren’t you,” Cadence interrupted. “Skeletor… I don’t know you as well as I’d like, but I know a bit. I know that you don’t want a holiday, heck, you’re probably thinking about how many ponies will be mad. But the truth is, Skeletor, nopony will be upset about it. The crystal ponies will be in an uproar if you didn’t get anything in return for your work, and if we don’t do something to show them that you’ve been repaid, then I don’t know what’ll happen.

“I know you don’t see it, but the ponies here love you, Skeletor. They practically worship the ground you walk on, and it’s hard to find anypony in the castle who has a single bad thing to say about you. It’s… It’s actually kind of frustrating that you can’t see it. So please, just… Could you please accept your reward and celebrate with everypony? It’d help me and the Empire a lot.”

Skeletor said nothing after Cadence’s plea, allowing the silence that surrounded them to take on a more contemplative nature, like the stillness that filled a library during midterm exams. As he silently mulled over her words, Cadence took the initiative to subtly cast a spell and once again see the emotions of those around her.

She could easily spot Skeletor’s shadow, Camisole, sitting just a few feet behind the skull headed man with a strong fortress of interest building around her. It wasn’t as blinding as the wonder and awe of a foal seeing something new, but it still glowed with a warmth that reminded Cadence of lightning clouds.

As for Skeletor, the usually mangled sea of emotions that carved through him were jagged. But when she ignored them, stared past the warped anger, grief, and lust that were tied together with thin threads of sanity, she saw a well of sorrow and worry that felt colder than the bite of winter. Still, a faint hint of hope glimmered inside the deep pit of doubt, growing steadily brighter as the seconds wore on.

Finally, the displaced demon left his idle musings and gave Cadence an answer.

“I think I would like that. But, I do have to ask, is it really that necessary?”

“It is. First and foremost, you’ve helped the Empire more than anypony else has. You avenged those who were killed and enslaved by Sombra, allowed the crystal ponies to honor their fallen families, and you’ve done everything you could to help them… Though, there is one thing that I’m concerned about, something you made that I feel uncomfortable about.”

“… Is it regarding the law I passed about gay ponies?” Skeletor hesitantly asked.

“What? Oh, no, no it’s not about that,” Cadence explained, causing the sudden tension in Skeletor’s posture to melt away. “It’s about the ‘medicine’ you’ve been giving them.”

“You mean the placebos?”

“Yes. I want to know why you decided to use them,” Cadence bluntly asked.

“Then I assume you know what Placebos really are then?”

“I don’t know what you put in yours, but I’m familiar with the concept. I’ve heard of it being used in other countries for… dubious reasons, and I’m worried about the effect they could have on the Crystal Empire.

“ ‘Dubious’?” Skeletor parroted, rolling the word in his jaws before a delicate smile formed on his malleable skull. “Hmm-Ney-heh-heh-heh-ha, I don’t think I’ve heard that word in years. Well, I don’t know what you mean by that. Where I’m from, placebos are used to trick people into feeling better. The most effective case of Placebos on my planet was a man who had cancer, or maybe it was something else. I know that it was incurable, at least for modern medicine, so the doctors lied to him and prescribed him sugar tablets.

“What happened next shocked the medical community. He was getting better, fighting off the disease with his own immune system. Some people even thought that he’d make a full recovery. Unfortunately, someone let it slip that he wasn’t actually taking medicine, and his immune system took a nose dive. They tried to trick him again, but, ‘Fool me once,’ and all that… He died not long after. I’m sure it could be used as you described, but I never thought of using it to hurt the ponies here. I just wanted to help in any way that I could.”

“But you lied to them,” Cadence lightly argued, feeling a bitter taste of her own hypocrisy stinging her tongue.

“I did it because they have nothing. I didn’t expect it to take off like it did, I thought, 'I’ll give it to one or two ponies, help a little bit.’ I didn’t realize how much they’d come to depend on it, but I’m still happy it’s helping. Yes, I lied to them, but was I supposed to tell them the truth?

"The truth is we don’t have enough medicine, and what we do have isn’t exactly ‘medicine’ in the modern sense. What little we have is running low, and the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom should last another week and a half from what I’ve been told. Assuming they can find anything there, what little they can bring back will only buy us a short amount of time… Time many ponies don’t have.

“… Do you know exactly how many ponies have died since I came here, princess? Because I don’t. I know it’s too many, and that’s all I know. I tried to keep them all alive, introduce a plan to reduce suicide, enforce a system where the doctors properly wash their hooves and instruments, I’ve done everything I could but they still died… I ended up telling Crumb Catcher to stop reporting the death toll every day because I couldn’t listen to how many ponies killed themselves or died. I tried learning magic to heal others, but the more I read the more worried I became. I could have easily killed someone by trying to help them. So, I lied, I lied to them because I couldn’t find anything else to do, princess. And if I had too, I’d do it again.”

Cadence and Skeletor allowed the still air to become the loudest noise once more. Over the course of his explanation, Skeletor’s emotions had shifted from one torn form to another, revealing a pattern of highs and lows as he went through his experiences and reasons.

A part of her still heavily disapproved of the idea of using placebos, but another part of her also saw the validity in Skeletor’s thoughts. Her mind argued both for and against the use of placebos, creating scenarios that mirrored the story he had just told. If everyponny in the Empire had believed to be getting better, only to be told that the medicine was fake, would that cause their symptoms to worsen? Would weeks of healing fall flat after seconds of horror?

Then, another thought came to her mind, one that wasn’t louder than the others, but still made her focus on it as her stomach began to twist.

Why would he do that?

Skeletor, for all she could see, truly appeared to care for the ponies of the Empire. It wasn’t the familial care of relatives, or the love Celestia felt towards her subjects, it was simply a care given to strangers, a desire to help others just because you could.

Thoughts of another demon soon filled her mind, the only one whom her aunt Celestia had praised in her life, Scorpan. Cadence had nearly forgotten the tales of the friendly giant who sought to help others, a creature with a monstrous exterior that held a loving heart. His was a tale not too dissimilar from Skeletor. They were both demonic creatures, with odd features that would haunt the dreams of young colts and fillies, but they weren’t the monsters everypony thought they were… The monster Cadence thought, and perhaps hoped, Skeletor would be.

With a tired sigh, Princess Cadence finally confronted the fact that she had been wrong. Her heart felt heavier as she as she allowed the silence between them to grow.

What would she say if she broke the silence? More lies? Promises of returning to a world she didn’t know of? False hope that he could be united with a creature from his own realm? She wouldn’t dare shatter the silence with the truth. If he even so much as appeared to be upset with her, the crystal ponies would take arms against her for hurting their savior.

She wouldn’t tell him the truth about Crystal, at least not yet. However, there was one truth that she could tell him, something to reignite their conversation and kill the heavy silence between them.

“… I banned the use of Placebos,” Cadence announced. “I didn’t understand your intentions at the time. I ended up jumping to conclusions because of what I thought I knew and I’m still uncomfortable with allowing ponies to take placebos, I, I think I acted too rashly.

“I thought of the worst and I tried to stop a disaster before it could happen. It feels like… I came here expecting to fight off a tyrant, save everypony, and become princess, but none of that has happened. Instead, Sombra was already defeated, and the new king handed the crown to me without any argument. It’s like… Like…”

“Like you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop?” Skeletor suggested, causing Cadence to raise an eye brow at his odd remark.

Feeling incentivized by her quizzical look, Skeletor lifted a hand from the water and vaguely waved it through the air. “It’s like… You know something bad is going to happen, despite a lot of things seeming nice. I know you think I don’t see it, but I’d be stupid not to notice how some of the ponies feel about me. Christ, I’d have to be blind to not see it, but it’s uncomfortable, isn’t it? It’s like you’re waiting for the universe to pull you out of your comfort, to drag you through hell and back in a heartbeat… Has Crystal ever told you about human royalty?”

Cadence nodded hesitantly, not wanting to mention how her only knowledge of them came from Skeletor’s journal and the story of a cake loving queen who ate farmer’s crops that had been circulating around the Empire.

“I’m not a historian, or anything, but I know enough about kingdoms to know that the people are the ones in charge. It doesn’t matter if I think or if I know that a certain number of ponies like me, I know that it can change. I could say something stupid and then, ‘off with his head’,” Skeletor surmised, quickly dragging a finger across the place where his neck should have been. “Some of them like me, but how long until a rumor or something else makes them grab their pitchforks and torches? How long until one of them gets it in their head that the Empire would be better off without me? I mean, yeah, it would be, but I really like living.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“That I like living?”

“That the Empire would be better off without you,” Cadence clarified.

“Well, you’ve been doing a good job so far.”

Cadence resisted the urge to give him a deadpan look. He didn’t mean it in a condescending way, but it still felt a little insulting, even if he was being genuine.

“I banned your medicine,” the princess mirthlessly retorted.

“And you’re also bringing doctors from Canterlot, soon. Not to mention, you’re a princess, you’ve been trained for this job since birth.”

“Ascension, actually,” she corrected, though Skeletor didn’t appear to hear her.

“You know about politics, how the other kingdoms probably work, and you have connections with the kingdom of Canterlot. And, you let me stay here. You could have kicked me out or ‘sent me on a vacation’,” he made a show out of lifting his index and middle finger up and down at that, a gesture that was completely lost on Cadence. “Letting me stay here, it… It means a lot to me, princess. Thank you. I can almost guarantee that any king or princess back on Earth wouldn't have been so accommodating, and it’s… it’s nice that I don’t have to worry about that here, princess.”

“It’s the least I could do for everything you’ve done and… Please, call me Cadence. It’s what my friends call me,” the princess said as she extended a hoof to the biped. “And I’d really like to be your friend.”

Skeletor stared at her hoof for only a moment before his wrinkled fingers grasped it firmly.

“I would love to be your friend, Cadence.”

Chapter 38. Long Live the Immortal, Damn the Demon.

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There was a heavy darkness that laid under the cheerful ponies of the Empire. As many of them rose with the light of a new dawn, quickly trotting out of their homes to begin their days, a stallion cloaked in darkness wallowed in anger and misery.

Cannon Fodder’s ears strained as his eye lids began to drift closer together. He waited desperately for any hint of noise, something to latch onto so that he could chase away the mind-numbing silence that swallowed him. What little strength he had after his failed expedition to the Ruva Kingdom had been stripped away after several nights of forgoing sleep.

The nightmares that he used to face bravely had devolved into scenes of pure madness, with Skeletor taking the place that Sombra once held in Cannon Fodder’s dreams. Death and carnage followed the monster like a shadow, sweeping up the innocent into a swarm of horror, and Cannon Fodder could only follow the trail that Skeletor had left behind. Of course, not every nightmare was bathed in blood, but he found the ones filled with corpses to be better than the others.

Emerald screamed for mercy, her shrill cries causing her throat to bleed as the predator drew closer.

With a sudden shake of his head, Cannon Fodder tried to expel the memories of his darkest nightmares as he stared off into the depths of the cell’s dark shadows. The darkness was, in a strange way, comforting to Cannon Fodder. He remembered being afraid of the darkness when he was only a colt, creating monsters that weren’t there and hearing whispers that never existed. His father, Spear Carrier, had a rather unorthodox way of conquering his fears.

For a full day, Cannon Fodder did nothing but stare into a dark room as he sat in outside in the hallway. Then, seemingly at random for the next few days, his father would order him to sit outside that room for an hour and gaze into the black pit. The longer he stared into the darkness, the less he feared it, and eventually he conquered what little fear remained.

Even at that moment, the oppressive shadows that decorated the room felt soothing to the general as he evaded the memories of his nightmares. There weren’t any demons in the darkness to torment him like the ones in his mind. The real monsters never stalked in the shadows like vermin, they strode in the light like kings. Sombra, Crumb Catcher, and Skeletor were both villains that basked in the eyes of the public as Cannon Fodder wallowed in the darkest depths below the Empire.

As he contemplated the poetic irony of his situation, or rather, delved into the fluid thoughts of his sleep deprived mind as words crashed against each other, he tore his eyes away from the shadows to steal a glance at the ornate mirror that hung in his cell. Only his own tired eyes stared back at him as he briefly investigated every inch of the mirror’s frame.

After staring at the mirror longer then he should have, Cannon Fodder smothered his desire to stare at it and turned his gaze back to the shadows of his dungeon cell. He didn’t want to feed into the temptation of searching for ghosts in his delirious state. The dead were gone and that was final. They wouldn’t return, the Empire would mourn them to the end of time, and their ashes would feed the farm fields in the Empire’s caverns.

Princess Amore, Star Shine, Dice, almost everypony he knew was already gone. And if Emerald stayed near Skeletor, then it would only be a matter of time until she was gone too.

Feeling a new wave of nausea come over him, the General banished those thoughts from his mind and glared at the shadows, losing himself in the void. He would have stared at them for hours on end if it weren’t for the chime of a unicorn’s magic ringing in his ears.

His ears lead him back to the lonely mirror as it began to glow a brilliant shade of green. Leaping to his hooves, Cannon cautiously distanced himself farther from the magically charged mirror as tendrils of energy wafted from the edges of the mirror’s frame.

The long arms of magic wove around each other to braid themselves into a pillar of energy. A flash of bright lights forced the general to look away from the blinding eruption of light. When the blazing display had finally dimmed leaving behind a warm glow that encompassed the cell, Cannon hesitantly looked towards the source of the new light that kissed his fur.

His eyes widened as he looked up and met a pair of dazzling emerald eyes. The mare’s soothing green eyes outshined the amber colored jewels that decorated her platinum crown, sparkling with an unspeakable sense of love and affection that she felt for her subjects. The only thing more beautiful than her gaze was the delicate smile that decorated her muzzle, a delighted smile that could easily calm the primal rage of dragons. Her mane flowed on a non-existent breeze, framing her face in a sea of glittering pink hair.

She was elegance incarnate, love personified, a mare unlike any other, Princess Amore.

Cannon could only gape at the spectral form of the deceased princess as she took in the dungeon cell.

“What an unfortunate place for my loyal soldier to reside in. This is hardly becoming of a general,” Princess Amore observed as her eyes traveled around the damp cell.

“I’ve lost my mind,” Cannon muttered.

“You have not, my subject,” the specter reassured him as a wing brushed against his chin. Though it was only for a moment, he would have sworn to Faust herself that he felt Princess Amore’s touch. “In fact, I would argue that you are the only one to keep their mind intact.”

“You’re… You’re real?… Is that really you, your majesty?” Cannon asked, his words leaving his muzzle before an ounce of doubt could cross his mind.

“Yes, I’ve returned, my little soldier,” she reassured him. “It has taken far too long, but I have returned. The forces of Tartarus did their best to contain me, but I could never leave my subjects to fend for themselves.”

“Faust’s song, it’s really you. Y-Your majesty!” Cannon suddenly exclaimed as he bowed to the etherial spirit of Princess Amore.

“Yes, it is I, my loyal and faithful subject. I am pleased to see somepony still views me as their princess,” she commented idly before stamping a hoof to wordlessly command Cannon to rise.

“It has taken me far too long to reach out to you, my subject.”

“H-how are you here, I… I saw you die,” Cannon shamefully admitted as tears welled in his eyes. “I couldn’t protect you, I… I… You died and—"

“And I’ve returned. My loyal little soldier, you are right. You failed to protect me, but I do not blame you. Sombra was too powerful to face alone, not even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna could win against him. He was unstoppable.” 

“But-but I—"

“I won’t hear it,” Princess Amore interrupted. Oh, sweet Faust, how Cannon wished to just lay down and listen to her for hours. “You did all you could against Sombra, and you fought against his successor just as well. I couldn’t expect anything more from you, my brave and loyal soldier.

“While you have failed to stop both Sombra and Skeletor in the past, I will help you overcome the spawn of Tartarus that dares to sit on my throne.”

“You… You’ll help me fight him?”

“Of course, I will. I need you, and Skeletor knows it as well. That monster has barraged your dreams with horrible illusions, hoping to break your will and shatter your faith. But worry not. So long as you do as I tell you, then I will keep him at bay and defend you. All I ask is that you stay loyal to me, and we can put an end to Skeletor’s reign.”

Her words that wove into a loving melody of promises, filling Cannon with hope and pride as she circled around him. “I can help you, may faithful soldier. Together, we can reclaim the Empire from the wicked demon and help everypony.”

Cannon nodded, barely surpassing the joy-filled smile that wanted to break his professional mask as he nodded to the princess.

“What do I need to do?”

“For now, gather your strength. I will find a way to free you from this cell. Afterwards, we must go to the Ruva Kingdom, my faithful soldier,” the princess ordered with a warm smile. “And then, Grogar’s pet will kneel before the true ruler of the Empire.”

As the alleged ghoul of a goddess and an imprisoned general plotted in the depths below the Empire, a monstrous figure and an alicorn were silently staring down a deep hole in one of the highest rooms in the Crystal Castle.

Skeletor and Cadence stood at the edge of the cavernous pit that formed in the center of the throne room. It was if a starless night sky had ebbed itself into the earth, creating an abyss that appeared to stretch on infinitely. The pillars of obsidian that formed the pathway down appeared to melt into the darkness below, merging with the shadows that laid at the bottom of the dark chamber.

“… And you just found this?” Cadence asked as she peered her head lower. A faint echo of her voice crawled down the pit as it consumed the ghost of her voice.

“I was just as surprised, honestly. I was still in denial about, well, everything at the time, and I think I hit my staff against the floor? Mind you, I was still freaking out about killing their king, so when I found this, I thought it might have been an escape tunnel that could get me away from them.”

 “What, did you think they were going to try and avenge him?” Cadence asked the skull headed biped, who simply shrugged as he leaned forward to stare into the abyss as well.

“Like I said, I was panicking, especially when I found out he was royalty. Back home, you don’t fight with royalty unless you have an army behind you.”

“I guess I could understand that,” Cadence conceded before she decided to change the topic back to the large hole. “So, the Crystal Heart was down here?”

“No, that was actually at the top of the other magical staircase, and the entrance to that was down there. It’s about a fifteen-minute walk down and a much longer walk up.”

“… I can only imagine what Sombra had to do to create this spell,” Cadence said as she backed away from the well of dark magic. “Sweet Celestia, how many ponies had to suffer for this?”

“Far too many,” Skeletor answered. “Which is why we should find a way to make him pay.”

“And you’re certain that he’s… alive?” Cadence asked, not entirely sure if that was the appropriate word for a specter.

“Either that, or I’ve lost my mind. Aside from the time I shouted at him in a mirror,” that definitely didn’t sound crazy and concerning, “I… I also think he’s been following me. I feel like I’m constantly being watched, and recently I’ve heard strange noises at night. As soon as I get up from my bed they stop, but I swear there was something there.”

That something was Star Burst who, at the moment, was also watching over Skeletor alongside another guard, Patience. The pair of guards were cloaked in light, blending into the background from their vantage point over the princess and Skeletor. A faint shimmer of light was the only thing that could betray their invisibility enchantments, but the duo were well hidden inside a room of shimmering crystal walls and floors that practically glowed in the early light of the morning.

Sadly, or perhaps thankfully, Skeletor didn’t know about the shadow that Cadence had placed on him, and the princess was hesitant to ever let him find out about that. “Has there been anything else you’ve noticed?”

“Aside from the occasional sudden breeze and a feeling, not much. But, knowing Sombra, he’s probably doing it to toy with me. So, do you have a way we could get rid of him, princess?”

“Skeletor, I thought I already told you, just call me Cadence.”

“Right, right. Sorry, it’s just, I’ve never been friends with royalty before. Regardless, is there a way to get rid of him, or isn’t there?”

“That’s… I’m not sure. I’m not too familiar with dark magic, but I do know quite a bit, and I was prepared to fight Sombra when I arrived, so I could theoretically purify him. I haven’t heard of anypony turning into a ghost with dark magic, and it’s going to be pretty hard to find him if he’s floating around here. While I know how to purify an enchanted object that’s made up of dark magic, tracking dark magic is another feat, entirely. We had something that we were hoping could track down the enchanted object that was preventing Princess Luna from entering the Dreamscape here, but it… kinda broke, when you met our Lieutenant.”

“Star Burst, right?” Skeletor asked, catching Cadence a bit off guard with his immediate question.

“Yes, I’m surprised you were able to remember her name.”

“Really? I can’t imagine it’d be hard to remember pony names. Most of them are noun followed by noun or verb, much easier than human names in my opinion. Why, does Crystal have a problem remembering them?”

“Culture clashing, I guess,” Cadence quickly dismissed. A rather large part of her was quickly becoming concerned at how natural she was getting at improvising lies.

“Huh, weird. Anyway, back to the magic tracker, that was the thing that Star Burst smashed on the floor about… over there, right?” Skeletor asked, extending a finger to the far edge of where the hole formed.

“Yes, it was an experimental device that we were only able to make one portable version of. I asked for my aunts to build and send another along with the supplies ad ponies I requested, and they should arrive in around a week’s time.”

“Well, that’s good then. But, why did you need to bring a dark magic tracker?”

“Because it would have helped us find Sombra and anything he enchanted. We were hoping to find whatever he enchanted that prevented Princess Luna from entering the Dreamscape of the Empire, but now that we don’t have it, it’ll be nearly impossible to find it.”

“… I’m almost afraid to ask, but what do you mean by, ‘Dreamscape?’”

“The plane of dreams where ponies connect to one another. And before you ask, no, it’s not some, ‘weird pony hive mind’,” she said, causing Skeletor to audibly snap his jaw shut at her prediction. Shooting him a knowing look, the princess smiled as she answered the next unasked questions that was probably on his mind. “I’ve had to answer a lot of questions from delegates that don’t understand the Dreamscape or a lot of other things about Equestria.

“A long time ago, Harmony blessed us with a realm where we could be connected on a level that went beyond physical relationships. And no, we can’t just trot into another pony’s dreams, it takes an incredible amount of magic and knowledge to do that. I guess the best analogy is just knowing that your neighbors are next-door. You can’t knock on their door or talk to them, but knowing that they’re there is more comforting than thinking you’re alone in a large apartment complex or the only pony in a big town.”

“… Magic is weird,” Skeletor concluded, causing Cadence to stifle a laugh. “So, Princess Luna can enter pony dreams?”

“Yes. It’s also possible to enter the dreams of another creature, but Aunt Luna is the only mare I know who can pull it off.”

“Alright, well that just leaves another question. Why is it so important that she can enter the Empire’s Dreamscape?”

“To quell their nightmares. They’ve been through a lot, and I think we both know how it’s affected them. Quite frankly, I’d be more concerned if they didn’t have nightmares after surviving what Sombra put them through. Giving them just a little more peace of mind can help them in more ways than one, ways that you and I can’t do on our own. It’s paramount that we find whatever is stopping her from entering the Dreamscape and destroy it before anypony has to suffer another sleepless night, or something worse.”

Skeletor nodded as he looked out one of the throne room windows to watch the ponies below. “Then we should do our best to find it. Is there any way to track it without the device? Maybe a spell or something?”

“Seeing the effects of dark magic on a creature are easier than finding them on an inanimate object, that’s why we needed the dark magic detector. While it wouldn’t be difficult for me to read the emotions of a pony and see if they were under the influence of dark magic, trying to find emotions in an inanimate object is another hurdle entirely. I don’t remember how it was explained to me, but I just know that the device was supposed to latch onto the source of something filled with dark magic and guide us to it,” she explained.

“So, it really was a Geiger counter then,” Skeletor mused.

“A what?”

“It’s a device that detects radioactivity on my planet. I am a bit confused, though. If it was so important, then why did Star Burst break it so violently?”

“Thestrals are pretty sensitive to certain stimuli like sight, sound, or smell. And, since the dark magic tracker could only be heard by thestrals, you couldn’t hear how loudly it was screaming at her.”

“Hmmm, so it was a like dog whistle right next to her ears, then. Was it detecting this staircase?” Skeletor asked as he returned to the edge of the dark pit.

“From what I’ve been told, I think it was sensing you,” Cadence corrected, earning a brief look of befuddlement from her skeletal friend.

“Me?”

“It detected you using dark magic.”

“Hm? Oh, right, I keep forgetting about that,” Skeletor hummed, as if forgetting about using an ancient and taboo realm of magic was something casual.

The princess stared at him for a brief moment, wondering if the displaced human was playing a strange joke on her. She waited for a punchline that never came, forcing her to swallow her surprise as she tried to continue their conversation.

“You… you just forget that you primarily use dark magic?”

“The less I think about it, the better I feel. To me, magic is magic, and I don’t really care so long as it doesn’t hurt me.”

“Really? Considering what I know about you, I’m surprised you’re not too concerned about ripping apart your soul like that.”

“… What?” Skeletor asked after a moment of silence.

Unseen by either the princess or the panicking demon, Star Burst wore an amused and cocky grin as Princess Cadence’s guard, Patience Piper, cringed at the sudden shrill voice that filled the throne room.

Having been a victim to the demon’s voice on too many occasions, the lieutenant was able to preemptively shield her ears from his cries while Patience bared the brunt of his sonic attack. It was nice not being the only mare in pain for once.

“What?!” Skeletor shouted as he quickly dropped the scepter in a panic. The ram skull of his staff balanced precariously on the ledge of the staircase as Skeletor backed away from it. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THAT LAST NIGHT?!”

“I… Well I thought you already knew that,” Princess Cadence tried to explain.

“NO! I don’t know anything about magic, why do you think I’d know about that?”

“Hey, in my defense, you already told me and Shining that you knew about necromancy. That word alone is so classified that only a select few ponies know about it. I just thought that since you already knew about necromancy that you must know about the adverse effects of dark magic, too!” She argued.

“That was fictional on my world! By the gods, I’ve been ripping my own soul apart all this time? Fuck, I can’t believe I did it just so that I could turn a fucking page! Oh gods, what have I done?! Fuck, am I going to die? Am I going to hell? Please tell me I’m not going to hell!” Skeletor begged as his breaths grew shallow and he clutched his emblem. “Oh gods, I’m going to die, aren’t I? Oh, by the gods, by the gods, by the gods.”

“Hey, hey, hey, relax. Skeletor, relax, it’s fine.”

“How is this at all fine?! I’ve been ripping apart my own soul!”

“It’ll grow back!”

“Grow back?! Souls don’t…! Don’t… Do they do that?” Skeletor asked in a hushed whisper, as if his question was too delicate to pass his jaws.

“Yes, it’ll be fine. Just take a few deep breaths, Skeletor. In through your… Your nose hole, and out through your mouth. In, out, in, out,” Cadence advised, guiding Skeletor through the basic steps of breathing in an effort to calm him down.

“It’ll-It’ll grow back, right?”

“Yes, don’t worry. Just keep breathing. In, out, in, out.”

It took several minutes of his ragged breath filling the room, but the panicked demon eventually calmed down and retrieved his scepter, looking at the severed skull with a weary gaze as he spoke. “I…I can’t believe I was actually doing that. I didn’t even know it was possible for that to happen.”

“Didn’t you read about it in any of the books you’ve been studying?”

“No. The only things they said were muscle fatigue, wandering thoughts, and a little… Well, a lot of emotional stress. Each spell I’ve used required something to use it. If I used a levitation spell, my mind would drift and I’d end up staring dumbly at a page. If I used a portal spell, then I felt short of breath. I remember being really angry when I tried to use a shield spell, but I can’t remember that too well. None of the books ever mentioned sacrificing my own soul.”

“That’s… odd, to say the least. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to look over some of those books later. I may not know as much about dark magic as my aunts, but I know enough to understand how it should be used.”

“Thank you, Princess.”

“Cadence,” she corrected. “And, don’t worry about it, it’s what friends do.”

“Well, thank you, Cadence. So, how long will it take to… regrow my soul. I can’t believe I just asked that,” he bemoaned, rubbing his temple with his fingers in a circle as the princess hummed in thought.

“A soul can regrow pretty quickly under the right circumstances. It’s too bad we’re not in Canterlot, there are a lot of hospitals there that are specially trained to help with cases where students over exert their use of dark magic.

“Only a select few students in CSGU are allowed to practice dark magic, but it’s enough to warrant a good number of doctors who know how to accelerate their recovery. Depending on how often you casted dark magic, it could range from a few weeks to several months without a doctor.”

“Good to know, then. By any chance, would some of those doctors be coming here, as well?”

“There should be some that are familiar with treating it, but I didn’t specify it in my letter to her. I can send another, but any specialists in treating dark magic might arrive later than the doctors and supplies we already requested.”

“Good. Thank you again, Cadence,” Skeletor said, letting the tension in his shoulders slightly fall. His steady hands betrayed the calm facade he wore, something Star Burst could only catch thanks to her experiences with minotaurs through her sister’s fiancé.

Everything about the demonic creature, from his words to his actions, felt alien to Star Burst. An amalgamation of slightly familiar patterns that created the base of the otherworldly traveler.

The princess was able to catch onto the hints that his body unwillingly revealed, leading her to rest a wing against his legs in an attempt to comfort him. A gesture he clearly wasn’t expecting from how he hastily stepped away.

“Oh, sorry! I just thought you could use a hug,” the princess apologized.

“Well, thanks but I, uh, I think I’ll be fine without one, Cadence,” he excused as he looked into the sockets of his scepter. “I just need to process this. I didn’t know what I was doing to myself. I… I need to rest, I think. Um, I’m sorry, I don’t know how to close that.”

The princess followed Skeletor’s gesturing hand to the dark pit that sat in the center of the room.

“How did it disappear the first time?”

“The first time this hole appeared, it vanished about four hours after. Just enough for two trips up and down.”

“So it’s a time based warp between two places in space,” Cadence assumed, earning a baffled look from Skeletor.

“What?”
 “Dark magic is able to bend reality in ways normal magic can’t, like this staircase. We should be seeing the hallways and rooms underneath this floor, but they’re not there,” she pointed out.

Skeletor stared down the pit, his eyeless gaze traveling down the walls as scratched his jaw.

“You’re right. But, how is that possible?”

“Like I said, dark magic is able to bend reality differently. This isn’t a hole, so much as it is a portal. This staircase is probably somewhere in the Ruva Kingdom, if I had to guess. The door at the bottom may be a portal as well, connecting to ”

“So he connected a staircase in another kingdom, to a staircase in this one?”

“There isn’t a staircase to the Heart. I had my guards fly up to the spire on the castle and there wasn’t an entrance in the floor like you and Emerald described. It’s more likely that opening this portal opened the one at the top of the spire, connecting the throne room and the spire by a pair of tunnels,” the princess explained.

“That’s… Incredibly convoluted.”

Star Burst couldn’t help but snort at that, something that Patience clearly disapproved of based on the glare she threw at her. It wasn’t Star’s fault that he blatantly told a magic user that magic was weird. It was, and nopony ever talked about it because they were afraid of looking dumb.

Magic, as an unspoken rule, was weird, confusing, and definitely convoluted.

Suppressing a laugh with a light cough, Star Burst turned her attention back to the pair as Skeletor paced around the pit. “So, dark magic can bend space and time like that?… If that’s,” he trailed off, dragging his eyeless gaze away from the hole as he stared at the wall.

“If it’s what?”

“… It’s nothing,” he dismissed, turning his skull back to Cadence as they walked towards the throne room doors. “It’s just that I have a lot to think about right now. If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to… Go relax alone for a while.”

“Of course. And, if you ever want to talk, Skeletor, I’m available,” Cadence offered.

Skeletor appeared to ponder her suggestion for a few moments, before giving a nod to the Princess. “I will. Thank you, Cadence.”

Star Burst was quick to follow her charge as the throne room doors opened, flying close to the ceiling as the quiet demon stalked through the halls. She couldn’t think of what Skeletor had on his mind as he walked towards the royal baths, but she couldn’t help but feel like there was a worrying thought drifting in his mind.

Still, whatever thoughts or idle desires floated in his skull wouldn’t matter in the coming week, as the delicate balance of normalcy in the Empire would soon fall. Outsiders would soon find their way into the crumbling Ivory Tower, and citizens would be breaking through the solitary prison that severed them from the world.

Chapter 39. Outside the Ivory Tower of The Empire.

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As the smallest, most insignificant snowflake in Terra’s history fell to the ground on a cold winter morning, a rainbow-colored blur caught it in sky blue feathers that soared through the air.

Ponyville, a small rural town that was coated in a blanket of snow, was quiet in the early hours of the morning as the night sky crawled away. Sunlight rose from beyond the horizon, bathing the town in its warmth as hints of a colorful rainbow raced ahead of the light’s touch.

Snow that had settled comfortably on top of roofs was swept away by the swift pegasus that soared over them.

A direct path was the most boring route any pegasus could take, and the restless mare with a rainbow mane was no different. Weaving between any obstacles she could find or imagine, turning down narrow alleys and gliding under low-hanging shop signs as she flew to one of the few buildings that wasn’t coated in a thin layer of snow.

Standing alone in a sea of white on a small green island was a towering tree that dwarfed the buildings that she had flown by earlier. It held several windows in the fake green leaves that decorated the tall building, and carried a sign over the entrance that proudly displayed its name. The Golden Oaks Library, a small alchemy tower that had been converted into a library years before the pegasus was born, glistened with several enchantments that prevented the renovated fake tree from being coated in snow, something that some ponies had frowned upon for obvious reasons.

Everypony loved winter, but there was always a hint of dread when it came to cleaning up the season, something that the mare inside the tower wouldn’t need to worry about herself.

Moving past any idle thoughts that wasted her time, the blue coated mare knocked on the door of the tall library, bouncing on the frogs of her hooves as she waited for the resident librarian to answer.

The area around the door felt warmer than a fireplace, allowing the rainbow maned mare outside to feel more comfortable as the snow that clung to her coat began to melt away. It certainly made waiting more bearable as the mare waited upwards of five minutes, knocking a bit louder the second time, until the door finally drew open to reveal a lavender unicorn on the other side.

The purple two toned mane on her head was disheveled, and a pair of reading glasses hung off the tip of her nose as the bleary eyes behind them looked up at the uninvited pegasus.

“Dash?” The mare weakly asked, readjusting her glasses as she levitated a cup of coffee next to her side.

“Hey Twi, you ready to head out today?” Rainbow Dash asked, stepping past the librarian as she shook off the water that stuck to her feathers and coat.

“Rainbow Dash, the train doesn’t leave for Canterlot until three o’clock, in the afternoon,” Twilight emphasized, shooting a scathing look at the clock that prominently displayed the time as five in the morning.

“There’s a demon in an Empire that was literally lost to time. How could I not get up early for this?” Rainbow Dash asked, hoping on the couch as Twilight slumped into her own chair.

“Not.. Not demon,” she yawned. “Not yet, at least. Need to make sure it’s right so Celstia, Celestia,” Twilight slurred, her head dipping a few inches as her magic unceremoniously dropped the hot cup of coffee.

The sound of porcelain shattering against hard oak was more than enough to wake up the sleep deprived unicorn as she looked over at her mess.

“Buck!” The librarian exclaimed.

Using her magic, Twilight gathered the broken cup and used the welcome mat to wipe up the coffee.

“Geez Twilight, you okay?”

“It’s five in the morning, Rainbow. The only ponies that are okay at this time are Princess Celestia, and apparently you. Don’t you usually sleep in on most days?”

"Like I said, 'Demon, lost Empire, epic adventure.' Hard to catch any sleep when something like this happens. I mean, the last time we needed to do anything awesome like this was Princess Cadence's wedding! I've been bored out of my skull for three months just waiting for the next big disaster!"

"... Most ponies don't hope for bad things to happen to themselves, you know that, right?"

“Not my fault they can’t handle a little adventure,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, earning a dismissive eye-roll from Twilight as she stepped away to fetch a new cup of coffee.

With nothing more to do as she waited for Twilight, Rainbow Dash’s eyes wandered the unusually messy library. Twilight was unshakably anal about her organization system, something that had turned a few of the younger ponies away from attempting to borrow books in the past. But at the moment, the library was completely disorganized. Towers of books held sheets of paper that stuck out of their sides like branches, and the tables set up for visitors to read had been drowned in a pile of books that varied in size and subject.

Several black stains marred the few throw pillows and cushions that had been set aside for ponies who wanted to sit inside. Empty plates and glasses covered the few places that were free of the paper bricks that belonged on the shelves, which appeared to be mostly bare since the entire stock was strung about the room.

Letting loose an impressed whistle, Rainbow’s gaze trailed to the table in front of her, scanning over the chicken scratch that passed for Twilight’s hoof-writing. There were a few words she could pick out of the tangled string of ink, like “Skeletor, Crystal Empire, and Sombrero” but everything else was completely illegible to anypony except Twilight.

Rainbow Dash lazily flipped a few pages of one of the open tomes, passing by famous demons in Equestria’s history. She was only able to read a little bit about a purple slime called “The Smooze” before Twilight came back with a fresh cup of coffee in her magical field.

“Geez Twi, you really wrecked this place, huh?”

Twilight glanced at the mess in boredom for only a moment before her eyes suddenly grew wide. In several colorful flashes, piles of books and other papers were carried off in her telekinesis, or teleported back to the shelves they belonged in. Rainbow Dash had to shield her eyes with a wing at the dozens of flashes that tried to blind her, staring at her eyelids behind a curtain of feathers for close to three minutes until the sound of teleportation spells finally stopped.

The admirable mess returned to its normally boring and pristine condition as Twilight sagged in her seat, clearly struggling against a pair of tired eyelids as she melted into the cushions.

“Wow,” was all Rainbow Dash could say as Twilight released an exhausted yawn.

“Sorry about the mess. Was already awake double checking the supplies and makin’ sure everythin’ was fine but I,” she trailed off, her head bobbing slightly before a firm shake chased off any hints of tiredness.

“You should really think of getting somepony to help you around the library one of these days. Like an assistant, or something,” the pegasus suggested.

“You sound like Luna, but not sexy,” Twilight tiredly groaned, causing her friend’s smile to awkwardly rise a few inches.

It had come as a great shock to the other Element Bearers when the nerdy shut-in had announced her ‘courtship’ with the returned princess a week after Eris was resealed in stone. While everypony was more than happy for their nerdy friend, Rainbow Dash had noticed a few oddities about Princess Luna, like how possessive she was of Twilight. She was also a very big supporter of PDA whenever Twilight and the others were alone in the Canterlot Castle.

Rainbow Dash and the others still supported them, but there was occasionally a nagging voice in the back of Rainbow’s mind that made her want to intervene at times when Luna would come to Ponyville in a disguise or suddenly create an excuse that called the Bearers to Canterlot.

Keeping her thoughts to herself, Rainbow tried to think of a new topic that could break the stiff silence between herself and the nearly sleeping mare. Luckily for her, she didn’t have to wait long for a doorbell to suddenly ring and call their attention to the door.

“… I don’t have a doorbell,” Twilight observed.

Another ring at the door seemed to disagree with Twilight’s assertions, causing Rainbow Dash to toss her a look that bled with subtle worry and intense curiosity. Hesitantly, Twilight nudged the door open with her magic as her aura wrapped around Rainbow Dash, likely preparing a shield spell in case of… Whatever a non-existent doorbell would imply.

Their unease was put to rest as a bright pink earth pony mare jumped into the room as soon as the door unlocked, allowing Twilight’s magic to die out as she let herself in.

“Whooooooo’s ready for a road trip?” The pink earth pony asked, bouncing with unbridled joy as she galloped to her favorite seat in the library, which happened to be a pile of miscellaneous throw pillows and seat cushions. “Cause I am! I’m just so excited to spend a week with my best friends flying to a new place where we can meet tons of ponies and we can take pictures and—”

“Pinkie, what are you doing up so early?” Twilight tiredly asked, dragging an entire pot out of her kitchen with a spell as she haphazardly tried to fill an already full cup. Luckily, the party pony of Ponyville was quick to stop Twilight and she nudged the coffee pot away.

“I was getting ready to head out later today and I was going over everything I packed. I’m pretty sure I have all the essentials. A bludgeon, a baseball bat, a spare baseball bat, a set of knives, a rubber chicken, bow and arrows, a towel that I can soak in alcohol, and my party cannon, of course,” Pinkie Pie listed off earning a pair of odd looks from her friends.

The party cannon made sense considering Pinkie Pie, but everything else was exceptionally violent for the friendly mare. It was almost like watching a kitten lovingly nuzzle a sack of knives.

“And uh… Why?” Rainbow Dash attempted to ask.

“Duh, for getting rid of Sombra, silly,” she explained. “See, my great great great great great great, lotsa greats grandparents left the Empire a year before Sombra took over, and then my lotsa great grandparents on my mom’s side escaped, and then then I was born. And now, I get to actually go there and see where my relatives lived. Like my great-great-great-great-great-great-great—great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma Inky Bye, and her daughter Stinky Eye, and her daughter Dinky Die, and her son Blinky Lie, and his daughter Kinky Tie, though we don’t talk about her a lot, and—”

“Wait, wait, wait. You’re part crystal pony?” Twilight asked.

“Yup. Why else do you think I grew up on a rock farm, silly?”

“… You grew up on a rock farm?”

Nodding her head, Pinkie bounded over to the seat next to Rainbow Dash on the couch as she spoke. “Yep, it’s pretty hard for anypony except crystal ponies to grow crystals, and our farm is one of the closest places to the Crystal Empire. I got to learn a lot about our ancestors, especially about the music. Did you know that they have double belled flugelhorns? Du-bel bellllllled. I’ve always wanted to go there, and now I get to go and beat up the meanie king who hurt my great-great-great-great-”

“Isn’t Sombra, ya know, dead?” Rainbow Dash asked, eliciting a slightly unnerving giggle from her pink friend.

“Better safe than sorry~,” she sung sweetly.

“Wow. I… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this,” Twilight observed.

“I don’t like hating ponies, or anycreature really, except for Zecora but that was because Snips and Snails were being really big jerks and then Diamond Tiara convinced everypony that Zecora threatened her and—”

“Pinkie, we already know. We were there, remember?” The lavender librarian interrupted.

“I know, but I really like talking about all the fun things we’ve done, even if they’re not really fun but every lump of coal can be a diamond, except for some types of coal but I don’t know that much about coal since Limestone was usually the one who always got books about coal for Hearths Warming while I got books about rose quartz because my mom wanted me to keep the name Rose Quartz but when I got my Cutcinnera I wanted to be called Pinkie Pie because my coat is pink and my big sister has the last name Pie after our lotsa greats grandma Kylime and—”

Pinkie continued to ramble, her story falling on deaf ears as the other two elected to tune her out as she paced around the library. There used to be a time where Twilight and Rainbow Dash would try and follow along with her words, but Pinkie was a mare who enjoyed talking at others a lot, which made sense considering how much she had to listen to others. She would always love to bend her own ear for somepony else, and she would take immense pleasure in talking to the ether to just spew words into the void that others left.

“—But because Apple Cinnamon liked his fiancé’s half-sister, Surprise Party, there was a huge family feud that ended in tragedy when, oh wait,” she stopped, pulling out a doorbell from her mane and ringing it. “Twilight, somepony is at your door.”

“Wait, you kept a door—” Twilight’s words were cut off by a series of melodious knocks at the door, causing her to sigh as she unlocked the door for her next uninvited guest.

“Good Morning Darling,” the new visitor called out.

She was a white coated mare with a purple overcoat that matched her neatly brushed mane. Her horn was slightly more curved than an average unicorn’s, a fact that the pristine mare had taken great pride in when boasting about her ancestors lives in the Empire. While there weren’t any pureblooded Ruva’s left, there were a few unicorns who carried hints of their heritage.

“Hiya Rarity,” Pinkie Pie waved enthusiastically.

“Oh, you’re both here too? Wait, I wasn’t wrong about the time, was I?” Rarity worryingly asked.

  “No Rarity, we leave for the Ponyville Express to Canterlot at three o’clock. Ten hours from now,” Twilight tiredly seethed, sipping at her coffee to get a few precious moments of waking thoughts.

“Well of course, but I wanted to start today early. I could hardly sit still knowing where we’re going, after all.

“The Empire has only ever been a myth, a stunning kingdom of gemstones that reach the stars, dazzling emerald roads that gleam in the sun’s light, romantic sights that would make Prance look like a tourist trap. Poets would cry themselves to sleep looking for ways to describe it! And we’re going there! Oooh, I just can’t wait!” She cheered, hopping on her hooves in barely suppressed glee was Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Rarity, the Empire has been gone for over a thousand years. I don’t think it’s going to be as luxurious as you imagine.”

“Posh, darling, I’m sure even after all these years, nothing could ruin the beauty of—”

“You know there’s no indoor plumbing in the Empire, right?” Twilight interrupted, earning her the sweet sound of stunned silence as Rarity’s mouth froze open.

“Well, I do now… So, what brings you two to the library so early?” 

“Adventure/Revenge,” the two mares said simultaneously. Rarity spared Pinkie Pie the odd look that others would have normally given at that response, only asking a question with a single word while wearing a knowing smile. “Sombra?”

“Yup!”

“Give him one for me too, would you dear?” Rarity asked, earning a mock salute from the party planner as she giggled behind her other hoof.

“So, what are you doing here, Rarity?”

“Well, like I said, I could hardly stand still and do nothing after waking up so early. And, I was certain that Twilight would have worked herself into a tizzy, worrying about every little minute detail and driving herself up the wall, so I stopped by to see if I could help distract her. I must say though, you seem oddly calm right now. Weren’t you practically pulling your mane out yesterday making sure I packed all of our winter apparel and re-enchanted them?”

“Freaked out already for close to a week, too tired to care,” Twilight reported in an unenthused voice as she lazily sipped her mug.

“Oh dear, we’re not bothering you, are we? I can leave if you want to get some rest, darling,” Rarity offered.

Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. “No, I’ll just sleep in the sleeper car later. Besides, I,” she stifled a yawn. “I wanted to make sure everypony understands what we’re supposed to do and the precautions we need to take. I don’t want anything to go wrong,” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but feel like that was mostly aimed at her. “As far as we know, Sombra’s gone, so no revenge, and this isn’t an adventure, it’s an investigation. We find out as much as we can about Skeletor, judge him accordingly, and write to Princess Celestia.”

“And we’re taking the Elements of Harmony because?” Rainbow Dash asked, rolling her hoof to signal Twilight to explain.

“Because it’s a safety precaution. If he really is evil and we don’t have any other options, then we’ll use the Elements. If we don’t have to, then Princess Celestia will probably send some guards to apprehend him and take him to Tartarus.”

“I heard he turned Sombra into a piñata, so he’s already in my top everycreature list!” Pinkie Pie chimed in.

“But he’s like, an actual demon,” Rainbow Dash argued. “Try naming one good demon! I dare you,” she challenged.

“Scorpan,” Rarity answered easily. “The demon who helped Equestria defeat Tirek. Oh, there are also quite a few wonderful stories of dashing demons acting against their nature and swooping a delicate damsel into their tender claws, stealing a tender kiss with their gleaming jaws, holding the heroine in their strong forelegs as they whisper a sweet loving melody~. Ah, truly romantic.”

“… Remind me to never borrow a book from you,” Rainbow Dash bluntly replied, hopping out of her seat as Rarity huffed. “I still say he’s probably evil.”

“It’s a possibility, but it’s not definitive yet,” Twilight remarked as Rainbow Dash trotted into the kitchen. Grabbing her own mug, Rainbow came back in to the main room to pour herself a cup of coffee, rejoining them as Twilight flipped through one of her notebooks.

After taking her seat on the couch next to Pinkie Pie and Rarity, Twilight turned the book to the trio, thankfully not expecting them to translate the sloppy hoof writing on the pages. “Another thing we have to keep an ear out is for something called a ‘Human’. Skeletor claims that there’s one in Canterlot and that he’s one of them, so we’ll need to find out if Human is a class of demon or if it’s something else entirely.

“Remember, we’re there to help and to investigate. Any questions?”

“I have one, darling,” Rarity said with a raised hoof. “Are we only going to stay for three weeks or is it possible that we’ll need to extend our time there? I just want to make sure so I can send a letter to my parents about watching Sweetie Belle.”

“And I can’t stay away from Sugar Cube Corner for too long. I’m already going to miss three parties,” Pinkie Pie added on.

“We’ll try to only stay for three weeks, but anything could happen. We’ll just have to remain optimistic and hope for the best.”

“Cool. So, we go, we help, and we send that bonehead packing, sounds like a plan to me,” Rainbow Dash stated, causing Twilight to groan into her hooves.

“Did you not listen to a word I said?” Twilight muttered.

“I did, relax. We’ll go, help, see if he’s evil or whatever,” Rainbow replied with a heavy emphasis on each word. “And we’ll play it by ear after that. I promise not to go in Elements blazing or look for a fight.”

The look Twilight gave her told Rainbow Dash that she barely believed a word that she said.

“I’m sure we’ll all be on our best behavior, dear,” Rarity assured, placing a hoof on Twilight’s withers as she went on. “I’d like to believe that we all have some level of tact. And if not, I could always give a few helpful pointers on being a gentlemare.”

There was a subtle threatening air to her words as she plucked a book off one of the shelves. It was a thick book that made the dictionary look like a short novel, decorated in golden trimming and bathed in different pink hues. Rainbow Dash had only seen that book twice before. The first was when she stupidly asked Rarity for help to get a date with a stallion. The second time was her nightmares the evening after her “lesson”.

Dropping any hint of her casual joking attitude, Rainbow Dash sat upright with a perfect posture and gave a quick nod, silently promising to not step out of line for fear of facing that dreaded tome once more.

“Perfect. Now, let’s go over the supplies we’re bringing,” Twilight said, pulling out a checklist from one of the draws and grabbing a quill from the shelf.

Sighing, Rainbow Dash sank a bit deeper into the couch as she made herself more comfortable. She couldn’t help but wonder why things were always so boring before they got exciting. Stealing a glance at the clock, Rainbow Dash silently lamented barging into Twilight’s house at the crack of dawn.

The monstrosity that was the night sky slithered around the globe, dragging a canvas of stars behind the moon as the sun began to rise next to it.

Sunlight fell on the land like a tidal wave, refusing to give back an inch of the land it claimed as it rose higher.

Standing from her balcony, Princess Luna watched as the last traces of her constellations hid from the fearful eyes of the public. Eris’ twisted joke had turned the object of their fear into an actual monster, a cosmic creature that would swim around the planet to bring forth the darkness that many ponies openly feared. It gave the ponies of Equestria more reasons to fear their useless princess.

She watched with a bored gaze as the Night Guard left their posts to be replaced by the Day Guard. Their obnoxiously bright golden armor glistened in the embrace of the morning, shining like jewels that decorated the castle walls and gates. Her own guards, meanwhile, stuck to the shadows like glue in their dark colored vests and uniforms, working with full efficiency without any want or expectations of praise.

Just like her, the Night Guards would always be considered the “other”, something less than their counterparts in the day. The nobles and commoners would say good morning with bright eyes and good night with meaningless mutters. During Day Court, the nobles and commoners would be fighting over a place in line to speak with her sister, while Night Court was quieter then a graveyard in winter. It was clear to anypony who the favored princess was.

It didn’t matter what Princess Luna did, nothing mattered, they would all look up to one princess and one alone. How could it even be considered a diarchy when one of them was clearly the preferred princess? Canterlot was a genuine jewel with a glaring smudge that any noble could point at; their “other” Princess.

After letting that bitter thought haunt her for a few minutes, Princess Luna left her balcony, trudging into her room with a dejected frown as she sealed the doors behind her. She didn’t know why she kept looking at something she hated, watching a disgusting trick that pretended to be the night crawl around the globe.

Pushing past her thoughts about the grim monstrosity that mascaraed as her unused canvas, Princess Luna rung a bell to summon the maids to clean her quarters as she left. A pair of Day Guards trotted at her side, working more as a symbol than a line of defense. Her true guardians hung overhead, unseen, unheard, and unthanked by anypony except herself.

The two decorations standing behind her were exactable in their jobs, but she couldn’t claim that they were her guards. They were just a pair of her sister’s guards that had been donated to her as a subtle warning to any pony or creature that sought to do her harm. Still, not many creatures could actually harm an alicorn, and those that could would never cower in fear at a pair of unicorns in gaudy golden armor.

She still appreciated their company to some degree, but a part of her knew that they were simply following orders from Princess Celestia. Their obedience and supposed love towards Luna wasn’t born from genuine emotions, it was simply another task that they were given by her sister.

Her thoughts didn’t weigh on her for long as she met one of the few ponies that she knew cared for her in the dining hall. An eye sore to the public, but a close friend and confidant behind closed doors, her “nephew” Prince Blueblood.

She took a seat at at the side of the table across form him, exchanging a pleasant greeting with him as her sister’s guards stood by the door and her own servants hugged the ceiling.

“Good morning your majesty, it’s lovely to see you as always.”

“Greetings to thee as well, Prince Blueblood. How hast thou been?” She asked in turn.

The prince looked over at the guards for only a moment before choosing to respond. With a practiced ease, he slipped into his suffocating mask and wore an obnoxiously smug smile that had revolted Luna when she first met him.

“I wish I could say they were better. That boar, Shining Armor, has requested my presence because he can’t do his job well enough. He sent me a letter weeks ago, moaning about how ‘hard’ it is. I warned Aunt Tia about letting that commoner marry Princess Mi Amore Credenza, but do you think Aunty ever listens? No, of course not. I offered a few flimsy words in my letter back, but it seems he wants me to actually go there. Can you believe that?” He moaned, putting on a performance that had managed to trick those that didn’t know his true nature.

Looking back on it, she was surprised that she had fallen for his boorish act for even a second when she first met him. It was too over-the-top for it to be genuine, like an antagonist ripped from the pages of a terrible novel. Though, nopony had even bothered to question Luna’s own mask and fake “Shakes Spear” way of speaking in public, so perhaps the ponies in the modern day weren’t as quick witted as they once were.

While it was easy to see through his mask, for Luna at least, it was a bit of a challenge for her to always decode his words.

Apparently, Shining Armor needed help from Blueblood, and the prince replied with some advice that wasn’t as helpful as Blueblood thought it was. He had also said that the guard needed to acclimate more to politics before marrying Cadence, but Celestia had assured them all that he would have plenty of time to do that after getting married. Nopony had predicted that the Empire, Cadence’s birthright and by extension Shining’s new responsibility, would appear less than a year after their wedding.

“Thou should consider it an honor to be invited to such a place. The Empire was always a wondrous set of kingdoms, full of majestic sights that would inspire poets to write plays about its elegance.”

“I’d rather visit it after those two have cleaned it up. Although, Aunt Tia said that they have a wonderful metal crafter in the Empire that uses a rare ore. I was thinking of buying some nice jewelry if Aunt Tia allows me to go there.”

Right, her sister had mentioned a new metal that was named after theft, ironic that the secrets of the new metal would be stolen from the demon.

Luna suppressed a shudder as her mind wandered to that creature. She had only braved to catch a glimpse at the illustration once, and she had been horrified by the eyeless creature that stared back at her. Cadence’s latest correspondence regarding the creature left a worrying impression on the lunar princess. She actively praised him in some ways and displayed actual thoughts of sympathy for deceiving the demon, not even realizing that the creature had already successfully deceived her in turn.

“T-truly? Then will thou accompany Twilight and the others as well?” Luna asked, shoving past those worries to speak about them in private later. The guards escorting her knew of the Empire, but nopony aside from a select few had been told about the monster that guarded the throne when Cadence arrived.

“Possibly. I doubt I’d have anything to talk about with them. But rest assured, your majesty, Twilight and her commoner friends will be perfectly fine. They’ve bested bandits, changelings, dragons, and goddesses alike. I doubt even King Sombra would stand a chance against the Elements,” Blueblood reassured her.

The fact that he didn’t mention Nightmare Moon or demons in their list of achievements didn’t go unnoticed by the princess. A sweetly bitter smile came to her muzzle as she searched for a new topic.

“Thank thee, dear nephew. And pray tell, hath there been any news of the device that keeps me at the wall of the Empire’s Dream Realm?”

“No. Since the portable prototype was broken, we’ll need to send a replacement with the doctors and miscellaneous ‘others’. I’ll speak with Aunt Tia later to see if everything is going as planned, but you know how she is in the mornings these days,” Blueblood stated, rolling a hoof in air as a maid placed Luna’s breakfast in front of her.

The two fake royals in the dining hall likely wouldn’t see Celestia for another hour or so, taking full advantage of Eris’ curse to sleep in for a few scant minutes.

Princess Luna would have done anything to get the same rest that her sister had. Being the defender of dreams wasn’t a task that she enjoyed. She saw darker things then any creature, immortal or otherwise, should ever have to witness. Most of those memories were wiped away thanks to a simple spell, one that she had reused with practiced ease since her return.

But, there were some memories she could never forget, moments that she held onto as a reminder of her failures, like the memory of standing in the Dream Realm only an hour ago.

She could hear ponies cry out for help on the other side, mares and stallions severed from her realm by Sombra’s wicked magic. The Empire was so close in her realm, a fraction of the distance that separated it from Canterlot in the waking world. But Sombra, the monster that killed her young cousin, had used a dark enchantment to keep her away from their minds. She couldn’t console them or banish their nightmares, all she could do was ignore their desperate cries as she helped the ponies of Equestria.

Their haunting wails still echoed in her mind as she silently ate her breakfast. Blueblood, being far too perceptive in other’s emotions, cleared his throat to gain her attention.

“Aunty, I bought some delicious jasmine tea earlier this week. Perhaps we could enjoy some in my study after breakfast. I’d love to hear your thoughts on if I should invest into their business,” he said.

It was a silent invitation, a chance to drop their masks and cut though the typical doublespeak that filled her ears when Nobility spoke with her. She couldn’t help but smile as she accepted his offer.

“I think I would enjoy that, my dear nephew.”

Unbeknownst to the rulers of Equestria and their champions of Harmony, there was another kingdom coveting the Empire’s resources.

Far beyond the southern boarders of Equestria, past the gapping gorge that burrowed to the depths of Tartarus, and beyond a sea of burning sand that scorched any who would dare tread it, laid a kingdom of stone that hugged the edge of the continent.

Monsters lurked in the caverns that made up their grotesque Empire, a realm of pain and suffering where prisoners were kept in blissful dreams, unknowingly feeding hordes of hungry creatures called Changelings.

To an outsider, these lands were treacherous and bleak, with little room for hope to dwell in their minds as they unknowingly marched into a monster’s den. And for Thorax, the traitor who had abandoned the Hive during the Siege of Canterlot, it was a home that didn’t welcome him.

He sat in the center of an opulent room of gold and riches, encased in a vicarious jell that bound his limbs. The towering torches blinded the imprisoned changeling, glistening off of the golden walls and glistening diamonds that surrounded the many portraits of his queen.

As for his majesty, she sat atop a dark throne of obsidian, framed by velvet cushions that kept her from blending into the throne. It had been sometime since he had seen his queen, and the passing days had clearly taken their toll on her.

The crooked horn that jutted out of her head seemed more fragile than normal, like a withering branch on a tree that would snap off with a gentle breeze. Her once lustrous mane had become strained and withered, handing like the loose threads of a spider’s web. The most noticeable feature however, aside from her much thinner frame and limbs, were the hollow eye sockets that held a pair of greedy eyes.

Desperation, anger, and lustful hunger flashed in her gaze as she looked down at her subject, wearing a crooked smile that abandoned what little warmth it used to carry. A haunting desperation laced her words as she spoke, an almost animalistic hunger escaping with each breath.

“Traitor, my guards told me that you have something very interesting to share with me,” she learned forward, swatting at her fangs with a dry tongue. “Is it true? Has the Empire returned?”

Chapter 40. Uneasy Peace Before The Winter Storm.

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Skeletor’s mind was weighed down by his recent revelations.

He laid in his bed uncomfortably, staring at the ceiling as he listened to the perturbing silence around him. Without his crown, his drive to learn magic, or his desire to study, he had become a living fixture in the castle, like a stray cat that they had put up with. He had nothing but time and absolutely nothing to distract himself from every idle thought that roamed through his mind.

Skeletor, not for the first time that day, escaped the confides of his bed as he mindlessly wandered around his room, his fingers occasionally rapping against the crates as he walked by. He finally casted a glance to the newest object of his suffering, the Havoc Staff, as he allowed his mind to roam freely.

Questions kept coming to him whenever he thought of Cadence’s words. How much of his soul did each spell steal? Would it really regrow or would there be some ethereal scar that always marred his spirit? Was there a chance that he had already used all of his soul without even realizing it? Was there a way to circumvent that rule and still use magic?

"What if I could use the ponies?" He thought.

It was too quick to stop, striking like lightning before he aggressively tossed that idea away.

A hand glided over his skull, desperate to reach inside his mind and wretch out the terrible thought once and for all. It wasn’t the first time he had been haunted with the idea of using ponies as a soul farm, but he sincerely hoped it would be the last.

Those thoughts would last for only a second before suddenly being rejected by every voice in his head, buried under a mountain of self-loathing for even humoring the idea. But the fact that ideas like those emerged at all made Skeletor feel sick to his core. He had caught himself silently lamenting the loss of Sombra’s tome more than once, almost wishing that he had broken the seal that bound it before he set it ablaze. He didn't want to flirt with those ideas, to think of the ponies as a resource or tool, but the thoughts would always find a way to be heard.

Whispers grew into loud questions, showing him a sickening side of himself that was far too eager to dance with the temptation.

‘They weren’t your thoughts,’ is what Evil-Lyn would have claimed. She would have told him that they were ideas planted by demons to drive him mad, monsters that wanted to guide him away from what was right. Skeletor never considered himself a religious man, but he had always bent his ear to Evil-Lyn whenever she shared her own beliefs.

Thinking of her brought a flood of relief to Skeletor as he began to wonder about the things and people he left on Earth. It was a natural distraction from his darker thoughts, and a good use of his time as he reviewed each memory. His journal had proven that he had forgotten about his youngest sibling, Stephan, but a wave of memories quickly came back to reassure him that not all of his past was lost. If he could remember his brother naturally in a passing thought, then it didn’t seem too far-fetched to believe that he would even remember his own name someday.

He had also reassured himself that his friend's name was Tuvar, and not 'Trevor' like he originally claimed. Memories that he had forgotten sprouted up of his old friend, giving Skeletor a glimpse of what he had unknowingly forgotten. In time, his memories would fix themselves just as they had already done.

With that reassuring thought in mind, Skeletor decided to make the most of his time in the Empire before he returned home. He had allowed his fears to condemn him to his room for too long, and a walk through the city the next morning sounded perfect. It would be a great chance to clear his mind and see the city more properly.

Helping to distribute breakfast to the crystal ponies seemed like it would be a good place to start. It was nice to spend some time with Avid Value, giving measured amounts of stew and other goods to the ponies. Sadly, the royal treasurer would be too busy these days to spend time with Skeletor, and he supposed he didn’t have the authority to be with Avid or the others either.

It was a strange concept to come to terms with. On Earth, there was a certain social etiquette when it came to friendships, such as staying closer to people his own age and other subtle unspoken rules.

Moving away broke apart relationships, other times old friendships would wither away, busy or conflicting schedules could certainly cause some people to lose touch, and the prejudice of someone’s family could easily sway others to avoid Skeletor in the past, but his social status was something new to consider.

Skeletor’s own position in the Empire was nebulous, not a citizen or nobleman but certainly not an unwelcome guest. Did becoming the emperor, or whatever he actually was, actually grant him citizenship? He had meant to poke Copper Plate’s brain about it before, but the thought had eluded him whenever they went over Terra’s major history.

Regardless, his status in the Empire meant that he wasn’t able to speak with the other council members unless they approached him first, with the exception of Colonel Kernel who had given him an invitation to sit with the guards whenever they ate.

He briefly lamented the fact that Avid wouldn’t be there, but became reinvigorated once he assured himself that Colonel Kernel or one of the guards would oblige his request for a morning stroll.

Once Skeletor had secured his cloak and tightened the bracers on shins, he reached forward to grab the Havoc Staff with a spell before his hand suddenly recoiled. The loose aura that had briefly kissed his fingers dissipated as he berated himself.

“Idiot.”

Shaking his head, Skeletor quickly strode over to the scepter, snatching it off of the wall before he secured it to the holster on his back.

Despite the staff being the source, or at least partially responsible, for the state of his soul and possibly his mind, he couldn’t part with it.

Before his conversation with Cadence, the Havoc Staff had acted as a comforting reminder of home, something familiar that he had touched when his hands were still naturally human. Even the thought of leaving it behind unnerved Skeletor.

So, once it was safely secured to his back, Skeletor strolled out of his room and made his way towards the dining hall with ease, exchanging a few pleasant greetings with the staff and guards as he walked by.

Cadence offered him a polite wave as he entered the room, which he returned as he went to sit with Colonel Kernel. As usual, he ignored the side glances and obvious stares from some of the other tables and took a seat next to the colonel.

“Good evening, sir,” Colonel Kernel greeted, which followed similar greetings from the other guards.

“Evening everypony,” Skeletor replied. Their colloquial speech was a bit jarring to imitate at times, but a little effort on his part to blend in hadn't hurt.

While the term “everyone” or “everybody” did exist on Terra, it was normally reserved for more formal speech. A few books from Earth, often stories translated from foreign languages, had annotations that mentioned casual and formal speech patterns, but he hadn’t put too much thought into it since he spoke English. The most formal type of speech he could imagine were terms like “sir” or “madam”.

His accidental culture clash meant that he had been using a professional and formal speech that made him look more authoritative than he actually was whenever he spoke. Perfect for running an Empire, but horrible for casual relationships.

”Skeletor, stumbling his way through success since birth,” he sardonically thought. “Deft Ear, glad to see you here. I was sure you’d be resting before your shift tonight for the Heart.”

The green coated stallion smiled smugly as he tapped aa hoof on the table. “It’s like you said sir, ‘evil never sleeps,’ and I don’t see any reason why good should either.”

“When did I say that?”

“You were telling us the story of the ‘Dark Knight’,” Steady Gaze helpfully answered.

“Right, right, now I remember. Well, try to catch some sleep later, Deft. Wouldn’t want Sketch’s bed to get cold, would you?” He jokingly asked, drawing a blush through the stallion's emerald fur. “Nye-heh-heh. Oh, by the way, how is the night gate working? Easy to set up and take down?”

“Yes sir, works like a champ!” Deft replied proudly. “We’ll set it up tonight and take it down the next morning. I got to practice setting it up earlier in the barracks with some help. Shouldn’t take more than a hoof full of ponies to move it around the Heart.”

“That’s good to hear, I was worried that it’d be hard for the guards to use it. It’s odd to think about how much you can do with just hooves.”

“Same for us,” one of the guards added on. “Can’t imagine how you can use your hands. It’s like you’ve got five legs.”

Skeletor chuckled a little at that, flexing his fingers with mild interest as his meal arrived.

“So, any chance you’re gonna continue that story about the Dark Knight?” A guard asked, earning a few interested nods as they looked over at Skeletor.

A day or so before, one of the guards had pointed out the bat themed apparel on his armor plates, and the conversation had spiraled into stories about Gotham’s defender after that. Their eyes would always spark with delight when he explained something as simple as a toaster, and would practically fall out of their eyes whenever he told a fictional story.

Some stories would spawn from a series of explanations, often starting with him answering a question or explaining a common Earth saying. He had to explain quite a few idioms after the “Date with destiny” debacle. Nice stallion, but certainly not Skeletor’s type.

It was fun to spin a tale and watch them hang on the edge of their seats, but Skeletor would be lying if he claimed it couldn't be tiring at times.

“Nye-Heh, maybe during breakfast, tomorrow. Oh, by the way, Kernel, would it be alright if you could spare a guard so I could take a walk outside sometime after breakfast? I need to get out of the castle and stretch my legs for a while.”

“Don’t see why not. I’d be happy to escort you, sir,” the colonel offered.

Nodding in appreciation to the soldier, Skeletor and the guards ate their meals with idle conversations filling the air. It had been the most relaxing moment for Skeletor in a long time, a break from the stress that had plagued him ever since he woke up on Terra.

Amore Memory Day had been a fun distraction, and his conversations with Avid Value had put Skeletor at ease, but he could never claim that he was relaxed in the company of others. When he was alone, he could drift away and ignore the fact that he was trapped, giving into the blissful comfort of silence every evening when he went to bathe. Casual conversations weren’t something that he had felt relaxed with before, but for once, it actually was.

He felt comfortable just listening to them swap stories, letting the memories of his day melt away as he enjoyed their company.

It was a calm moment that had set the foundation for a horrible storm.

Skeletor would soon die.

It was destined to pass, bound by the same fate that Sombra had followed long ago. It was destiny that allowed Sombra to make a deal with Grogar, and it was through Sombra’s own strength that he became a King.

Skeletor, the inexperienced fool, had only been lucky. He had latched onto a moment of opportunity and taken advantage of Sombra’s surprise, parading his small victory around as if he had actually earned the title of King Slayer. His deceitful nature carried onto his conquest of the Empire, hiding his true nature from the ponies as he bragged to the shadows.

Then, when he was fated to die at the hooves of an alicorn, the self-proclaimed “Master of Evil” bowed to a princess like a humble pet. All of his confidence had vanished without a fight, his own sense of self-preservation driving him to lick her hooves and hand her a hideous crown. It was one of the most pathetic displays Sombra had ever witnessed, watching a demon grovel under the guise of friendship to save his life. He was a coward, unfit to even be called a prince, let alone a king or lord.

Sombra, however, was a true king. He was a powerful lord who had slain immortals and surpassed the mortal bindings of his old body. For a creature who had fought against two alicorns simultaneously, slaying a mad demon was nothing more than a chore. The only challenge in his plan was his detachment from the mortal realm. While he could still use spells to interact with the world, he couldn't summon the power needed to kill a demon.

Still, even in his weakened state, it would only be a matter of time before the demon fell, even if it wasn't by his own hoof.

Sombra watched from the shadows as Skeletor laughed alongside his slaves, listening to the demon’s old plan before falling through the floor to reach the dungeons below.

While Somba mocked the creature for being pathetic, he would admit that some of Skeletor’s words struck him with interesting ideas. If not for his blatant lies to the Empire, defaming the king as a lowly demon, then he would never have thought to twist other’s loyalty to his cause. Skeletor's own words and actions would be Sombra's tools, allowing him to send the beast back to Tartarus where he belonged.

After donning the visage of a dead immortal, Sombra appeared before his most willing slave. The general, upon noticing Sombra’s presence, bowed deeply to the false alicorn.

“Rise, my loyal soldier,” ‘Amore’ ordered, lifting a wing to guide the stallion to his hooves.

The general wore a stoic mask, waiting for his master to speak like a well-trained pet. From the dark crevices under Cannon Fodder’s eyes, Sombra could tell that the stallion avoided his nightmares by foregoing sleep altogether.

“Have you slept well, my subject?”

“I’m feeling fine,” he answered.

“But how was your rest? Did Skeletor’s spell reach you again?”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle, your majesty.”

Sombra had to suppress a smile as he walked around the red stallion, taking a moment to examine him with an appraising gaze. While he took pride in the fear that he had stolen from Cannon Fodder, molding him into a fearless and devoted slave, he also noticed the general’s thinning frame. A glance at Cannon's empty plate revealed that he had cleaned it, and the king could only assume that prisoners weren't given the same portions as other ponies were. Taking note of the general's physique, Sombra made a mental note to fix the issue later. He couldn't allow his foolish slave to die too easily, after all.

“How can I expect you to serve me if you cannot rest? I can promise that Skeletor’s wicked spell won’t touch you tonight. I’ll protect you from him. Come tomorrow morning, you’ll need all your strength for what’s to come.”

“What’s happening tomorrow? Are we attacking him, ma’am?” He asked eagerly, restraining himself with a practiced patience as his 'princess' stopped circling the stallion to trot towards the bars.

“In a way. I cannot kill the demon as it stands now, but tomorrow, you will escape this cell and help me attain the power I need to slay him.”

“Oh, we… I see. I’ll be ready, ma’am,” Cannon Fodder replied with a hint of disappointment. “So, what do I need to do?”

“Just rest, my loyal soldier. I will handle everything else. Skeletor has already unknowingly helped us in more ways than one.”

“What do you mean, ma’am?”

“Skeletor comes from a different realm, one that doesn’t hold the same values as ours. There is a hint of his true nature behind every seemingly pleasant decision, and I plan to expose him to Everypony.

“His misguided ‘good deed’ will be the catalyst for your escape,” Sombra explained, with a gleeful smile decorating his muzzle. “Now, I must excuse myself, my loyal soldier. Get a good night’s rest while I ensure your escape,” he ordered, earning a stoic nod from the stallion as he trotted over to his bed to lie down.

Sombra’s smile grew as he melted into the shadows, relishing the general’s blind devotion before he soared through the castle. Ordering the general was always a fun reminder of his power. Even without taking full control of his mind, the general faithfully followed every command like a loyal dog, waiting for praise from a dead mare.

After taking a brief respite to soak in his own amusement, Sombra used his magic and swam into the realm of dreams to call upon his unknowing servants.

There was a lovely little mare who needed to go on a moon-lit trot.

Chapter 41. Let Them Eat Cake.

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The night was rarely ever restful in the Crystal Empire.

Dark phantoms of the past plagued the crystal ponies with horrific nightmares, and their wild imaginations turned shadows into creeping monsters that stalked them in the street.

For a brief time, these horrific visions had dissipated, hidden by the light of hope that bathed the Empire under Skeletor’s short lived reign. He stood as a monster that chased away the demons. Skeletor slayed nightmares with reassuring words and brought blessings from Faust’s garden that could defend them from their own inner demons. Nearly every imaginary horror would shy away at the thought of their lord, bringing relief to many as they reminded themselves of his power.

Things had not been perfect under Skeletor’s reign, but his promises of prosperity showed great potential for their once amazing Empire. The Crystal Empire was bound to thrive under his guidance, becoming a settlement of kingdoms that would grow into a bastion of love that would never falter under the powerful storms of the Frozen North.

Strike Iron, a brown coated mare who had been saved by Skeletor’s wisdom, had chosen to devote herself to following Faust’s favorite champion, joining a group of like-minded ponies who had called themselves by Skeletor’s original name and greatest feat, The Skull Torn.

Ever since Skeletor’s throne was stolen from him, the Empire had greatly declined. Ponies were wrought with mistrust and worry, Skeletor’s medicine was ripped from their hooves, and their true lord had barely been seen outside of the castle.

To make matters worse, the raging storm of nightmares that had been momentarily quelled under Skeletor’s reign had returned with a horrific vengeance.

Despite the reassurances of Lord Skeletor and the two false monarchs claiming that the Princesses survived their last encounter with Sombra, nopony had claimed to see the dream dweller chase away their nightmares. The Diarchs of Dream Valley had either perished at Sombra’s hooves, or they had abandoned them.

Hope for the princesses’ return had died a little more each night, feeding the nightmares that plagued them and giving them fuel to grow.

For a time, some ponies believed that Skeletor’s miracle concoction could prevent those twisted nightmares from taking shape. But, ever since the appointment of the false alicorn and her whorse, their nightmares had grown darker and more gruesome.

Even Strike Iron was cursed with visions of terrible sights, forced to watch as the Crystal Heart was wrapped in chains with Skeletor’s limp body hugging the ground. She heard Dilly Dally and her family cry out in pain, tasted the blood of ponies she was forced to hurt, and smelled the all too familiar stench of death rising into the air. It was as if their nightmares had become true monsters, desperate to feed on their pain with each passing night.

For those who couldn’t sleep well and needed reassurances that they were still free, they would take a quick trot to the Crystal Castle’s plaza to gaze upon the Crystal Heart in the glowing moonlight. And for Strike Iron, a fast trot to the plaza was exactly what she needed to forget about her horrifying dreams.

The brown coated mare blended in well to the darkness, barely going noticed by anypony who had ventured outside late into the night or the restless souls who glanced through their windows.

The Crystal Empire was a much different place in the embrace of the night. Lanterns were sparse in the kingdom, and often reserved for only the guards that went on patrols to save on supplies, so anypony outside of the new regime had to stumble blindly in the darkness if they wished to travel in the moon’s glow.

It rarely pierced through the clouds that hung over the Empire, only coming through on rare peaceful nights where the swelling storm would sleep. Unfortunately, the storm outside was just as restless as Strike Iron, hitting the barrier with a harsh gale that quietly roared through the dense shield.

With only the light of the Crystal Castle acting as her guide, Strike Iron slowly trotted through the city to reach the towering fortress. In the begining of Skeletor’s rule, the plaza beneath the castle would be bustling with restless souls, each one wandering back to the Crystal Heart to make sure it was still there.

As days became weeks, more and more ponies had begun to sleep well without returning to the Crystal Heart, saving their self-reassurances for when the sun rose the next day. There was no need to brave the darkness to confirm what they knew in their hearts.

Most of the previously night-dwelling ponies had returned to their shared homes from then on, hoping to catch a glimpse of the dark coated princess as they battled their own nightmares. There were still those who sought the comforting glow of the Crystal Heart at night, but they were few in number compared to the crowds that would gather in the morning's light.

Strike Iron didn’t expect to find many ponies at the castle’s plaza, and she had been proven right when she finally reached the home of her lord. Most mares and stallions were still sleeping in their beds, or whatever pile of cloth or hay they could find. She would have been one of those mares too if it weren’t for an argument with Dilly Dally.

Another fight with the mare she was destined to be with, another test given to her by Faust to prove her devotion to their relationship.

Skeletor, the champion sent by Faust to save the Empire, had taken one look at them and deemed their relationship pure, a shining example of love and devotion. He spoke of brave acts that she couldn’t recall, a sacrifice that she had offered without hesitation, a desperate plea that had proven to her lord that she loved Dilly Dally.

Neither mare had remembered those moments, and while Dilly Dally had the audacity to claim that Lord Skeletor had deceived his subjects, Strike Iron knew the truth. The moment they were judged had been wiped from their memories, scattered to the wind before they passed through his breath.

There was no doubt in her mind that Lord Skeletor spoke the truth and that her mind had fed her lies. But Dilly Dally believed in the false memories. She would always argue that her mind held the truth and that Skeletor’s words were laced with sweet lies that day.

It was unimaginable. Who were they to claim that their memories weren’t tainted when one of Faust’s heralds had said as much? To question Lord Skeletor was to question Faust herself, and humoring such an idea was the same as defying the blessing he imparted on them.

It was a test of their faith, will, and love, a test that Strike Iron would make sure they both passed. She would just need to convince Dilly Dally of the truth, and they would both be able to receive their lord’s approval.

With those thoughts in mind, Strike Iron had decided to pray at the Crystal Heart, hoping to reignite the love between herself and Dilly so that they could live in eternal bliss.

Come the next day, they would move past their dispute and Strike Iron would endeavor to make their relationship perfect. At least, that was what she had hoped to pray for at the Crystal Heart.

All of her thoughts and prayers vanished when she finally came close enough to witness an unimaginable horror. The free-floating artifact was encased in a steel cage that towered over any guard, locked behind the mythical ore that Lord Skeletor imparted to the Empire. His beautiful gift had been twisted into something malicious and sickening.

Terror wrapped around her soul as she silently quivered in fear, gazing at a nightmare that had crawled into the waking world. The Heart still spun on its pedestal, weakly pulsing with the love of every crystal pony, but it suddenly appeared frailer behind the tall bars.

Tears fell from her eyes as her breath became shallower. Panic raced through her mind as she stared at the mockery of their hopes and beliefs. It was torment given shape, a morbid display of power that made her stomach turn.

Her eyes searched desperately for an answer to her waking nightmare. Relief quickly flooded her senses for a moment when she saw the guards standing nearby. She raced over to the green coated stallion in Skeletor’s steel armor.

“Hey, what’s going on! What happened to the Heart?” She asked in a panic, only to receive cold silence in reply.

She yelled, plead, and begged with the stallion after that, but each cry fell on deaf ears as the two guards stared ahead with lifeless eyes. It was as if she was speaking to a living statue.

Fear encircled her heart as she looked back at the other frozen guard, with thoughts racing so fast that they outpaced her rapid heartbeat. The dead eyes of the guard finally fell on her when she took a step back, staring into her with a familiar contempt that judged her very existence.

She had seen that gaze in her nightmares, from a dark stallion who sat on a throne of obsidian. Her ears began to ring as the pending of her heart became too much for her to bare.

In an instant, her hooves quickly carried her away from the castle as she fought against the haunting memories of her past. And in between the panicked and fear-filled thoughts that flew through her mind, a small resolve gradually grew as she galloped through the streets.

The Skull Torn would not stand idly by and allow their Heart to be taken again by some tyrant.

Fear had slowly crept through the Empire like a fog. Righteous anger and terror filled their hearts, each born of a desire to protect their home.

A well-intentioned deed had sparked off the beginning of a riot, one that would go down in the Empire’s history as one of the Empire’s darkest hours.

Although the ponies hadn’t called out for blood with their voices, their emotions were nearly suffocating, like a toxic cloud of despair that couldn’t be ignored. Whispers of rumors went unheard by the crown, but their unrestful fury had been enough to pull Cadence from her pleasant dreams.

An overwhelming flood of their unified horror had crashed into her, causing her to awake with a startled cry as their fear took shape.

The guards outside her chamber were quick to leap to her aid, galloping into the room as Shining Armor instinctively raised a shield over himself and his wife. Cadence could faintly here her husband calling out to her, but it was drowned out by her own heartbeat and the deafening ringing in her ears.

The onslaught of negative emotions directed solely at her had been too much of a strain on her body and mind. Tears freely rolled down her face as her vision grew hazy, and repetitive bob of her head felt nauseating as quick and strained breaths desperately filled her lungs.

Her own panic became too much to bear, forcing her to blindly stumble out of bed and race to the edge of the shield. Her hooves pressed against the barrier as she tried to beg for air, each cry only coming off as an incoherent mumble as her breaths drew shorter.

She didn’t know what was happening, but she needed to breath. She would have torn down the entire castle just for a hint of fresh air. She needed space, she needed to escape, she needed to get out.

With a pop of arcane energy, Cadence teleported to one of the Castle’s balconies, bracing herself against the quartz railing as she drank in the chilling air like a drunk made. She only had a moment of relief before the powerful swell of negative emotions had rammed into her again.

Vomit violently surged from her dry throat as stinging tears began pour from her clenched eyes.

The noxious poison of the Empire’s emotions lingered even after she severed her ties to the emotional spectrum. A phantom of their pain clung to her memories, far too fresh to dispel as she struggled to breath.

She had never felt such pure abhorrence pointed at her before. Back in Canterlot, there were ponies who hated her and felt jealous of her, but they were sprinkled throughout Canterlot and only interacted with her on rare occasions. She had never known pure hatred, had never felt it stain her soul with an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.

Her limbs felt like paper as she limply clung to the railing, resting her neck against the chilling stone as her rapid breaths descended into slow drags of air.

A flash of light was the only thing that gave her any warning of Shining Armor’s arrival before his hooves wrapped around her tightly.

“Something… Something’s wrong… Get.. Help. Get help. Need air, get help. Need air, get help,” she pleaded repeatedly.

“Shhh, shh, it’s okay Cadence, it’s okay,” Shining Consoled as a hoof ran though her mane.

Her head felt lighter, like a ballon filled with helium, and her pounding heart only made everything feel worse as she tried to fight against the swell of emotions running rampant inside of her.

“Need-need help, air and help, get help,” she continued to beg. “Help, help, help.”

Shining Armor only held on tighter as tried to open her eyes, nuzzling her neck for a brief moment before calling out to the guards.

“Get Crux Heart and gather the rest of the guards! Now!” He ordered.

Cadence never noticed the other ponies on the balcony, but it was hardly important to her. The Empire needed her, the Heart needed her.

She didn’t dare to reconnect to the Empire’s emotional spectrum, knowing full well what waited for her if she tried.

Bile flew from her throat as the vivid memory of their emotions struck her, rendering her as nothing more than a sniveling mess in a heavy crown. Wisps of magic weaved around her, wiping the hot tears from her eyes as Shining turned her around to hug her fully, whispering reassuring lies about how everything would be fine.

She could only quietly sob as she melted into his embrace. Cadence listened to the rhythmic beat of Shinning’s heart through his neck, as her own heart steadily returned to a normal pace.

She felt tempted to pass out in his forelegs, to leave the waking world and retreat to the corners of her mind to hide away from her problems, to crawl under her bed and let a pair of real princesses fix her problems.

Soon, as her eye lids slowly began to grow heavier, she began being mocked or comforted by a loose memory of Skeletor’s own words as she struggled to remain awake.

“I’m afraid, your highness…”

The dawn of a great calamity grew closer by the minute.

There was a festering rage inside the crystal ponies, a deep-seated feeling of rage towards the king that had laid dormant in their minds. And, unbeknownst to Skeletor, he had awoken their wrath and given them a target.

The princess had been paralyzed by dread while the ponies embraced their fury, using it as a shield to stave off their fear as they prepared to dethrone the alleged tyrant.

Skeletor’s greatest nightmare had become a horrifying reality, he had earned their undivided outrage, but it had all been misplaced onto Cadence’s shoulders.

Skeletor, still completely oblivious to the horror that waited on the horizon, slept peacefully in his bed as his shadow snuck away from her post to join the other thestral guards. He dreamt of a life without turmoil, of a family that was alien but familiar.

He didn’t care to question the fantasy of his dream, simply enjoying his time with the friendly strangers he called family.

Unfortunately, he was gently guided away from his pleasant dreams when a faint voice called out his name. The soft whisper was melodious, dancing on a tune of syllables that sang his name with a warm and welcoming tone.

“Skeletor…. Skeletooor,” the voice called out, riling Skeletor from his sleep as he rose from his bed.

“Wha… Emeral?”

“No, Skeletor,” the enchanting voice said, earning Skeletor’s full attention as he looked up at a painting given life.

Any hints of sleep vanished as his eyeless gaze locked on the large alicorn, chasing away any desire to return to his sheets as he hastily braced himself against the headrest of his bed. She simply stared at him with a coy smile, standing proudly at the foot of his bed as her wings settled at her side. He had only seen the mare in portraits and books, reading her achievements and hearing his subjects sing her praises.

Skeletor’s breath caught in his throat as he stumbled to call out her name, as if it would shatter his opportunity to speak to the mare who had built the Empire. “Pr-princess Amore? Y-you’re the princess?” He fearfully asked.

The mystifying and sincere smile on her face only lasted for a few scant moments before it was suddenly replaced with a devilish grin. It felt so unnatural on her face, a twisted parody that made her look grotesque.

“No.”

Without another word, the alicorn’s bright fur dissolved into a foggy black coat, and the colorful mane danced on an etherial black fire. Her face contorted and folded in on itself, revealing the familiar visage of Sombra’s sickening face. “It’s ‘King,’” he grinned.

Once more, Skeletor felt his breath hitch as Sombra’s spirit smiled with a sadistic glee. “Hello again, demon. It’s been some time since our last—“

The havoc staff quickly flew to Skeletor’s hand without hesitation, allowing him to leap from his bed and fire off a random spell at the stallion. Skeletor didn’t waste a breath as he nearly set the room ablaze with a column of fire, letting it run rampant as it scorched the create and barrels that littered his room.

The repercussions of his magic casting had been forgotten by his rage, allowing him to fully utilize every spell in his limited arsenal to attack Sombra as the specter narrowly avoided his attack.

Skeletor continued his assault, launching blasts of ice and surges of lightning in a vain effort to strike the stallion.

The flurry of spells flew across the room as Sombra slipped out of the room, using the cover of the smoke to leap through the wall and into the hallway outside.

“Sombra! Get back here, you pathetic phantom!” Skeletor roared, summoning a portal to leap into and chase the specter through the castle.

The dead tyrant made no attempts to phase through any of the walls or ceiling, and stayed in perfect view as Skeletor threw any number of random spells him. Fire and lighting soared through the air as the specter flew through the halls, narrowly avoiding Skeletor’s attacks as he kited the old lord through the castle.

“What’s the matter, demon? Can’t you keep up?” Sombra mocked, earning a feral shout from Skeletor as he brought the scepter down like a hammer, swiping at the specter in between blasts of energy that sailed past the ghoul.

There was no grace or finesse in his attacks, only blind anger as he tried to kill the undead king with a barrage of spells and attacks. It was something animalistic, a basic desire to slaughter and maim without any care for grace.

A sinister and mad cackle echoed through the halls as Skeletor chased after his prey, reveling in the thrill of his hunt as his spells grew wilder. Lighting and fire leapt from his scepter, spreading wanton destruction through the halls as the furniture, paintings, and curtains caught fire.

“Nye-Heh-Heh-Heh! I’ll destroy you once and for all, you spineless specter!” Skeletor threatened, following closely behind the fleeing demon as it raced up the stairs.

Without even realizing it, Skeletor’s feet had left the ground as he chased Sombra up the staircases to one of the highest floors.

Skeletor’s flight, much like his spell casting, was unwieldly. He would slam into the walls whenever Sombra chose to make a sudden sharp turn, creating an even worse trail of destruction as Skeletor utilized every spell he had learned.

A bolt of lightning raced through Sombra, causing the shadowy spirit to scatter into the darkness as Skeletor overshot the fleeing phantom. He frantically searched for Sombra, letting his rage reach a boiling point as he screamed out. “Where are you?!”

“Over here, demon!” Sombra mocked, causing Skeletor’s skull to snap towards the royal balcony doors.

It was the same balcony Skeletor had used when speaking to his subjects, the place where he had promised the crystal ponies that Sombra was dead. It wasn’t an egregious lie compared to his other proclamations and promises, but it was still one that Skeletor would seek to quickly rectify.

The dark king smiled as he bled through the two royal doors, sneering at Skeletor as he prepared another spell for the wicked tyrant.

“Face me, you cowardly colt!” Skeletor yelled, blasting the balcony doors off of their hinges as he strode out of the castle.

He was surprisingly greeted by a crowd of cheers as he stalked past the two broken doors, a wave of jubilation going almost unnoticed as he searched for Sombra. Skeletor completely ignored the prince as Shining erected a barrier around himself and Cadence, simply walking past the pair as he leaned over the railing to look down at the crowd.

With no sign of him in the moonlight, Skeletor shoved himself away from the railing and turned to the royal pair. “Where is he?!” He loudly demanded, somehow earning a heavier applause from the crowd as a stallion below called out to them.

“Praise be to your presence, your eminence,” the stallion greeted before turning to address the crowd. Skeletor stared down at the purple pony, barely noticing the blue cloak he and a good number of other ponies were wearing. “Is it not as I claimed?! The Skull Torn has come to save us from the oppression of our false rulers!”

“Please, this is all a misunderstanding!” Cadence pleaded, teleporting outside of Shining Armor’s shelled to raise herself on the railing. “Skeletor, please, explain what happened!”

“See! Even now the usurper is trying to control our lord!” The stallion shouted from below.

Skeletor’s anger had slowly bled away, morphing into confusion as the stallion continued to cry out to the crowd. “Those of you who claimed we spoke lies, see now as the truth is revealed! Our gift from Faust, the Skull Torn from her pleasant pastures, has come to us once again to save us in the face of tyranny and oppression!”

“… What?” He asked dumbly, though it went unheard by the loud zealot below him.

Had he seen Sombra? Where was he? Where did he go? His usually calm demeanor was tossed to the wind as he gripped the railing and glared down at the ponies.

“What did you say!? What did you see!” Skeletor called out to the stallion, continuing to ignore the royal couple as he hastily scanned the crowd.

“We saw it with our own eyes, my lord! The Crystal Heart locked in a cage as most of us slept through the night! I was hesitant to believe the words of my brothers when they came galloping to my door, but I witnessed it! And now, our lord has brought one of them down to us! Praise be to his wisdom!” The stallion cheered, eliciting cries of celebration from the hundreds of gathered ponies behind him.

Skeletor’s jaw slowly began to gape as his intense anger had vanished. Confusion and realization swept over him like a cold breeze, dousing any hints of rage as the ponies below continued to shout and jeer.

“It’s true!” Another voice rang out, one that was strikingly familiar to Skeletor. A mare he had remembered very well stepped out of the crowd, wearing the same cloak to hide her chocolate colored mane and coat. “I called Brother Nearside when I was takin’ a gander outside! Most of the brothers and sisters saw it! We tore it down and even have it, Lord Skeletor!” She yelled.

“Everyone, please remain calm, this is all a misunderstanding. Skeletor was the one to erect the fence around the Heart to protect it,” Shining Armor tried to state, only to earn their ire as the apparent leader of the group pointed an accusatory hoof at him.

“See, even now the royal’s whorse tries to sway us with their lies! But we won’t fall for the words of a false prince! And now, the Skull Torn has come to pass his judgment!” He cheered, eliciting dozens of voices to rise from the crowd. “They took the Skull Torn’s throne, stole the medicine he gifted us, and now they’ve thrown chains around the Crystal Heart when it was most vulnerable! And now, our lord has come to deliver swift justice!”

The crowd cried out in joy as the stallion continued to rant, each word falling on Skeletor’s deaf ears as his anger turned to horror.

“Skel…Help,” Cadence said, her own words coming out hazily as panic began to consume his thoughts.

His blood felt cold as he looked into Cadence’s desperate eyes. They stared deep into his soul with a desperate plea. But for what? An answer? An explanation? To save her from his mistake?

His mistake, his misguided deed, his sins, his name…

His name, something that became easier to call with time, was being chanted below. Not out of fear or anger, but twisted devotion as they demanded justice. They called out for retribution, to watch a royal fall from heaven to be beaten and hanged for his sins.
 His intimate nightmare, the one that haunted him most nights when he wore the crown, had become real. The common mares and stallions wanted royal blood to spill, and for onc in his horrible nightmares, it wasn’t his they were crying for.

He held onto his desperation and fear, using them in place of bravery as he tried to speak.

“No…”

He needed to beg with them, plead with them, anything to make them stop.

“No!”

He didn’t want to die.

“Stop!”

He didn’t want his friend to die.

“Stop already!”

He was terrified.

“I did it! I—hhnnn!”

The sound of crystal grinding against stone hit his ears before the chorus of gasps and screams that erupted through the air. His own breath came out as a silent whimper, a desperate gasp that drowned in the sea of noise.

There was something kissing his lower ribs, rubbing against the bone as he breathed. It was cold and wet, running down his leg like a weak faucet.

The voices around him grew louder as he stared down, finding a dark crystal bathed in blood sticking through the left side of his abdomen.

His thoughts, distant as he looked at the blood.

No poetic words or laments, just fear and pain.

The harsh winds of the Frozen North began battering his body. The screams grew louder.

The blood was red. His side was wet. It was cold.

He was staring up at the sky as the barrier fell. There was snow. White blob, white and pink blobs hovering over him, blue, blue, lots of blue. Magic, he knew magic.

Magic touching him, lifting and healing.

Ringing, bells ringing in his ears as his vision grew darker.

Blob was moving a lot, a grey blob suddenly there. More magic, more blue.

The blood was red. His blood was still red, as red as the monster's eyes.

Something forgotten, something evil. It was back. It smiled. He remembered.

Broken hero, imposter, monster. Sword, wrong sword. All wrong.

Staring, red. Body trembling.

Hoof, hoof pressing down.

Mind... slipping away to the darkness.

Peacefully into his nightmares.

Chapter 42. Rise From Your Grave, Unrestful King.

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Death was not an unfamiliar feeling for Skeletor. At least not for his body.

The embrace of an endless void, the touch of fire caressing his skin, and a cleansing light that burned his sins. They were all deeply etched into his soul, leaving scars that would have never healed if it weren’t for the Usurper.

The human was a prisoner inside Skeletor’s rotting mind, another untamed beast that was bound to the wizard’s soul by some mysterious force. But, the Usurper was different from the other demons and monsters that had been trapped inside Skeletor.

Unlike the ancient spirits that were chained to his body, the Usurper was a parasite. It was a vague memory given life, corrupting the mage like a disease. And like all illnesses, the body fought to cleanse itself of the Usurper’s influence.

A warped reality formed around him as he slept, dragging him through a faintly familiar life. The twisted parody of his past came and left like waves on a beach, disappearing without a trace as new dreams filled his mind.

He filled his role like an actor on stage. Each dream threw him into the body of a villain or friend, stumbling through them without any worries or cares.

This time, his dream had been set in a nursery, where two blond haired babies were sleeping comfortably in their crib. Christmas ornaments and other decorations littered the window to their room, each of which Skeletor ignored as he crept into the room wearing a festive red costume.

The bells on his boots jingled as he crawled in through the window, carrying a sack of toys for his niece and nephew that gotten caught on the window sill.

"Tis the season to be jolly, Fa-la-la-la-la-La-la-la-la," he quietly sung, cautiously stepping closer to the large rocking crib in the center of the room. "Come, we now, our age of peril. Fa-la-la-la-la-La-la-la-la. Avoid the beasts, they might be feral, hm-hm-hmmm-hm-hm-hmmm."

Peering over the edge of the crib, Skeletor wore a brilliant smile as he stared down at the little baby girl who was beginning to stir awake.

"Hey there, Adora. Happy Birthday," he whispered, reaching into his bag to pull out a unicorn plushie. "I got you something. His name's uh... Well, you can name him. And I brought a—"

"What are you waiting for?" A shrewd voice snorted, causing Skeletor to look back at the figure crawling through the window.

His accomplice in crime, a white faced creature with fin-like flaps along the sides of his eyes, stepped inside the nursery without any grace. Hordak tapped his foot impatiently like a child, glaring at Skeletor as he folded his arms.

“We don’t have all day, Numb-Skull. Give me the baby and grab the other one,” Hordak ordered.

Adora’s wails suddenly struck Skeletor as he looked down to the baby that appeared in his arms. Her small hands fought against the blue blanket, struggling to fall out of Skeletor’s arms as they instinctively pulled her closer.

“The baby, Skeletor, hurry,” Hordak reminded him.

Following the apparent script of his dream, Skeletor nodded as he walked to the dark warlord, dropping the little princess into his arms without any hesitation.

“Good. Now grab the other one. I’ll meet you outside!”

“Sure, just leave me to do the work, you cybernetic couch potato,” Skeletor grumbled, stomping over to the crib to grab his nephew when his regret struck without remorse. Clarity crashed into his mind as he heard Adora cry louder, causing him to turn as as Hordak leapt out of the window with his niece. “Wait. No. No! No! Stop! Give her back!” He cried, falling to his knees as a chair struck him in the back.

Groaning, Skeletor weakly turned to see his sister-in-law, a woman in a long green dress with short red hair, staring down at him with pure hatred. “You… You took her.”

“N-no, no, Marlena, I—”

“My baby! My baby! My baby! My baby!” She shrieked, leaping onto Skeletor like a wild animal as he struggled to push her away. “My baby! My baby! My baby! My baby!”

“Get off of me!”

With a forceful shove, Skeletor tore his sister-in-law off of himself and raced to the window, leaping into a bed of flowers outside as he ran away.

His legs swam through a thick wall of jelly, struggling to let him run away as time slowed to a crawl around him.

He could still hear Marlena’s demented wails as she slowly caught up with him, letting him stew in frozen fear as the nightmare came closer. There was no escape. She would catch him, it was inevitable. There was only one thing he could do...

Skeletor awoke with a terrified scream, bolting upright from his bed as the fresh nightmare gripped his mind.

Heavy breaths flew through his jaws as his eyeless gaze flew around the room, waiting for the twisted memory of his sister-in-law to return as he braced himself against the headrest.

To his slow relief, his mind returned to the waking world as the dream faded away, leaving only a lingering fear as he tried to steady his heart. A moment after having his hand planted on his chest, it drifted down his abdomen as he tried to relax, only for the hand to brush against the stitches on his side.

“Fuck,” he hissed.

Falling back onto the headrest, Skeletor weakly glared at the ceiling as he stole quick gasps of air. A familiar mosaic hung above him, a collection of colorful gems shaped like spring flowers. He had only been in the royal ward once, but it was still a fresh memory. Reality drew him away from his nightmare, comforting him with the memories of his time in the Empire as his gaze shifted to the door.

“Help…. Hello?…” He called out with a hoarse voice. “Somebody… help?”

In a haze of minutes, or even seconds, the door to his private room opened revealing a dark figure cloaked in rags. Several other ponies dressed in similar clothes quickly trotted in after, their words melting into a frenzied mess of questions as they began surrounding him.

Skeletor felt an odd sense of weightlessness as their hooves pressed down on his chest, their orders melting into a quiet string of noise as he felt the room begin to subtly shift.

Too many hooves were touching him. Too many ponies, too much darkness. The room wasn’t supposed to be swaying.

“Help… Help… Help, help,” he repeated, stealing short breaths as he tried to grab one of their hooves.

He barely noticed the thin needle prick his limp arm as the world grew darker, calling him back into the realm of dreams.

He wouldn't be alone in his final nightmare.

While Skeletor explored the depths of his mangled mind, falling deeper into the role of his adopted memories, a certain alicorn struggled to stay awake on her throne.

Cadence lightly nodded along with her remaining council members, sending another pony out of the throne room as the next petitioner arrived. The stallion’s words barely registered as Cadence chased after her drifting thoughts.

News of Skeletor’s momentary recovery was a desperate beacon of hope for Cadence, how had been glued to the throne of her castle for the better part of three days.

It took a surprising amount of willpower to not teleport to his room and drop the barrier surrounding the Empire. Thankfully, her sleep deprived council and her equally tired husband were there to make sure she didn’t leave her post.

While she sat on the throne, Shining Armor and the council handled the limited number of court proceedings, only allowing a select few ponies inside until things outside became less hectic.

Or at least until the mob outside stopped chanting, “Curse Cadenza”. Whichever came first. But between keeping a barrier above the Empire, keeping her aunts informed, constantly checking on Skeletor’s condition, as well as convincing everypony that he was still alive, and watching over her council, chanting was the least of her concerns.

It was a struggle to keep the Empire from collapsing, and her subjects’ animosity had only served to make it harder. Without the ambient love they used to openly share, the Crystal Heart had fallen like a stone into somepony’s hooves, and her Empire had been delicately balancing on the tipping point of a full revolution.

If nothing changed, then Cadence would have to….

Well, she honestly had no idea what she would do. Princess Celestia never prepared her for an uprising. Those happened to other kingdoms, where corrupt leaders had abused their powers and earned the ire of their citizens. It wasn’t supposed to happen to Alicorns, they were supposed to be better.

She was supposed to be better.

The Canterlot Nobles had already branded her as the “other” Princess, the one nopony would even remember. But was being hated by her own subjects any better than being the forgettable princess?

Why did it have to happen to her? Where had she gone wrong? Why didn’t they love her?

Too many questions filled her mind, and there wasn’t an answer in sight to any of them. All there she had was a flickering hope that Skeletor would soon wake up.

Then she’d fix everything. Everything would be perfect.

He’d help her explain what happened, then they’d get the barrier set up and Twilight and the others would come and everything would start to turn around and she could finally stop lying to Skeletor and then she’d ask for forgiveness and then she’d be a perfect princess and—

“Princess,” Emerald Secret called out, shaking Cadence from her descending thoughts as she turned to look at the Royal Advisor.

“Yes?” Cadence quickly asked, taking stock of the suddenly empty throne room as the other Council Members rose.

“Court is over, your majesty. You should hoof over control of the barrier to the prince,” Emerald Secret advised.

Shining Armor stood as confidently as he could, rising like the supportive pillar that she had become desperately reliant on. But even Cadence could see the cracks, the wrinkles under his eyes and the slight sway in his stance. While he was able to maintain a barrier over Canterlot on the day of their wedding, it was mostly a show of power and dedication to her.

Holding a barrier on a clear fall day wasn’t the same as defending against a storm. Besides, with Shining Armor being the only magic caster with any medical knowledge, even if it was only first degree, he was the only one who could cast healing magic on him. She couldn’t afford to hand over the reigns to Shining Armor.

Besides, Princess Celestia didn’t need help. If she could do it, then Cadence could too.

“No, it’s fine Emerald. I’ll hold it for a bit longer,” Cadence replied, slowly rising from her throne with Crumb Catcher’s helpful hoof.

“Your majesty, while it was good for you to hold the shield while court was in progress, you’re away from prying eyes. You need rest, your majesty,” Crumb Catcher reasoned, leading Cadence to the bottom of her dias while keeping her balanced.

“I’m fine, Crumb Catcher,” she argued.

Her statement may have held more weight if she hadn’t practically fallen into her husband’s embrace once Crumb Catcher let go.

“Sweetie, you need to rest. Now,” Shining ordered, lending her a supportive hoof as he casted his own shield spell directly under hers. “Drop the shield and then go to bed.”

“I can—”

“Sleep, your majesty,” Crumb Catcher added on, ignoring the glare Cadence sent his way. “Princess, as I said earlier, you’re no longer being watched. Nopony here will judge you for resting after your endeavors. You’ve shown the crystal ponies that you’re strong, even in the face of their anger and the North’s storms.

“But even alicorns need rest, your majesty. So, take care of yourself. Rebuild your strength for tomorrow, or risk losing it all tonight.”

“I… I… Bucking, fine,” Cadence groaned, dropping the shield and sinking deeper into her husband's open forelegs.

A heavy sigh passed her lips before a powerful yawn escaped as well. Her heavy eye lids slowly pressed together, calling her to the comfort of her dreams with sweet promises of rest.

She barely noticed Shining Armor guiding her to General Camisole’s back, allowing the princess to rest her head on the general’s withers as she trotted to the royal bedroom in a daze.

“We should stop by Skeletar,” she mumbled, slurring his name as she tried to fight her own body.

“I’ll take care of it, your majesty,” Emerald Secret promised. “I was already planning to check on Copper Plate. I’ll tell you if anything has changed.”

Cadence lightly nodded as she unconsciously followed Camisole’s pace, slowly drifting away as she descended into her own mix of dreams and nightmares.

Returning to the stage of his mind, Skeletor once again found himself in a warped memory.

This time, the stage had been set on an open field outside of Castle Grayskull, a recurring motif in many of his vague dreams. But unlike the many failures that he had suffered and forgotten over the past three days, there was something different about his sweet nightmare.

He brushed off any thoughts as briskly walked through the forming meadows of blood-soaked daisies, letting the sounds of a distant war fall on deaf ears as he strode towards the decrepit castle. Nostalgia wrapped itself around his heart as his gaze fell on the orb in his hand. A swirling mass of energy danced in his palm, allowing him to mutter a spell as the sphere began to dissolve in his grip.

Freed from it's small prison, the energy shot towards the sky and expanded over the horizon, blocking out the sun as a ghastly face began to form in the clouds.

Playing his part to perfection, Skeletor raised his Havoc Staff as he felt a familiar speech fall from his jaw.

“By rushing to the shelter of Castle Grayskull and your pretty Sourceress, you’ve spared yourself the fate coming for your parents and subjects,” Skeletor gloated, feeling the euphoric joy of his words as he stumbled through the memory.

“At least, for now. But it’s quite a predicament, isn’t it, Prince Adam?”

Suddenly, the spectral entity above the castle began to morph, losing its form as it condensed into a sphere of boiling magic. “If you don’t open the Jaw-Bridge, I’ll unleash my Moon of Cataclysm and reduce the royal city of Eternos to smoldering ruins! But if you do, I’ll use the Power of Castle Grayskull to do far, far, worse! So, what shall it be? All knowledge and energy in the universe in the hands of your greatest enemy, the Demon-Wizard Skeletor? Or…

“Your beloved father, King Randor, and his subjects turned into particularly noble columns of ash?!” He threatened.

The field was deathly silent as Skeletor waited, watching the castle's draw bridge with an intense gaze while the minutes passed. Skeletor's impatience eventually drove him to gloat more, hoping to draw out He-Man as he held the spell aloft in the sky.

“Yes, yes, take your time. I haven’t decided which of the prince’s friends should suffer excruciatingly first. Tela? Orko?” Skeletor mused with a great deal of gloating glee. “No, the cat. That annoying sniveling cat,” he reasoned.

“Skeletor,” He-Man’s unmistakable voice rumbled from behind.

“What? How did you get beh—“

A sword was thrusted into his chest without hesitation, burying a dark blade into what remained of Skeletor’s heart as he… He stared at a familiar monster.

The dark reflection of He-Man looked into his sockets with a cold boredom, watching Skeletor’s life slip away with little interest as the demon drew his last breaths.

"Nha...nih, na..." He quietly gasped.

The Moon Cataclysm, no longer bound by Skeletor’s magic, flew free into the atmosphere as the sword was ripped from his chest.

He could only think about how cold the sword felt as he fell to the ground. It was a strange thought to hold onto, gnawing at his mind like an obsession as he felt his life slip away. It shouldn't have been that cold.

His last moments of conscious thoughts weren't consumed by power or revenge, but by the freezing touch of a sword as it glided through him.

As the world around him began to fade, drawing him into the furthest depths of his mind, he felt a hand grab onto his cloak and tear him away from his nightmare. All he could see was a flash of green before a row of jagged teeth howled into his face.

"Awake, Usurper! Do not fall deeper into his mind!"

Waking with a start, Skeletor once again found himself in the royal ward at the dead of night.

A hoof crept onto his hand as his gaze darted through the room, calling his attention to the pink unicorn next to his bed.

Alicorn his thoughts corrected. Unicorn’s didn’t have wings on Terra. They weren’t like the unicorns on Earthernia.

His drifting thoughts were brought back to the waking world as Cadence’s voice touched his ears, drawing his gaze to the sleep deprived princess as the moonlight shun through his window.

“-ake up, Skeletor. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she began muttering, laying her horn on top of his hand as her horn began to glow.

The magic encasing her horn lasted for only a moment before it dissolved. Whatever spell she had used weighed heavily on her body, forcing her head to fall limp on the side of his bed.

Skeletor, feeling confused, tired, and worried, which was not an unusual combination of emotions for him, slowly allowed his hand to rest on Cadence’s neck as he tried to collect himself.

For some reason, he felt tempted to delve back into his nightmares if he could escape reality. Whatever monsters his mind could conjure were surely nothing compared to the cruelty of tomorrow.

Sadly, Cadence would be the only one getting sleep that night as his restless mind tried to make sense of his faint nightmares.

Chapter 43. The Old King is Undead.

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A gentle breeze brushed past Skeletor’s skull as he gazed over the Empire.

The once bare and shining streets had been buried in snow, and the few crystal ponies he saw were dull and lifeless, carrying themselves like shambling corpses through a frigid hell. They trotted without any purpose as they trudged through the snow, shoveling haphazard paths for the others to follow.

It was all hauntingly familiar. Almost as if he had slipped back to his first day in the Empire.

An empire without love. A kingdom falling to ruin.

He stared at the Crystal Empire, remembering the crystal fair that had taken place only a few weeks before. The shining buildings that glittered in the sunlight, the roads filled with laughter and life.

It had all felt like a distant dream in the face of this waking nightmare.

A light groan eventually tore his attention away from the bleak sight, causing him to face the sleeping princess behind him.

The light that fell through the window quickly fell onto the bed, bathing Princess Cadence in the glow of the morning sun.

Skeletor could hardy recognize the sleeping mare. The once elegant alicorn, who had held her head high when demanding her birthright, had become a shadow of the mare he knew. Her fur was knotted, her mane undone, and her once calculating eyes were heavy with tears and black stains.

She muttered quiet apologies in her sleep, silently pleading for forgiveness from whatever haunted her dreams.

Letting go of a breath he unintentionally held, Skeletor eventually closed the curtains and stepped away from the window. He fumbled briefly in the darkness before he found a candle holder on the nightstand, letting an eldritch glow flow from his fingers and ignite the cold wax with a spark of emerald fire.

He only recalled Princess Cadence’s warnings after he unleashed the spell, the memory of the staircase quickly flashing in his mind as he did so.

A piece of his soul to save him from walking blindly in the darkness. Even if it would regrow eventually it wasn’t good to waste his magic on simple cantrips. He had no idea how much he had already lost, especially after his last encounter with Sombra, so he would need to be more cautious moving forward.

He couldn’t afford to be so foolish anymore. After all, in an alien world with an alien body, his soul and memories were all he really had left.

Although another sleepy groan quickly reminded him of the one other thing he had in this strange world.

While Skeletor quietly contemplated the odd friends and bonds he formed in the Empire, his greatest enemies trotted farther away from the Empire’s reach.

The former general panted heavily as he reached the crest of a small mountain, stopping at the peak to steal a glance back at the long path he had carved through the tundra.

The Crystal Empire was nothing more than a dark silhouette in the distance, obscured by the heavy snow and blue glowing dome that covered what remained of their once vast Empire.

He couldn’t help but marvel at the dark spires. In the past, the days before Sombra and Skeletor’s reign, back when the world had all made sense, he would never look back at the Empire. It was his home, a place he would surly see again whenever he journeyed to the Ruva or Thestral Kingdoms. He would always see it eventually, shining in all of its magnificent glory.

But at that moment, standing on what used to be a well-traveled road for merchants between the Crystal Pony and Ruva Kingdom, he couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever see his home again.

Would this be his final time? Dying on some unnamed hill in a frigid wasteland, a criminal who had stolen the Crystal Heart from its pedestal? Or would he defy everything and return with the power to save his home from the demonic dictator?

He had no idea, but whatever doubt he held quickly disappeared when he felt the chilling presence of his princess pass through him.

The ghostly apparition of Princess Amore appeared ahead of him, beckoning him farther into the tundra with a knowing smile. “Well done, my loyal soldier. You’ve made it farther than I expected you could without me.”

“Of course… Princess,” he called, feeling a second wind shoot through his body. “I… I made sure to grab some small rations and fire wood… Set up a small camp in a cave somewhere back there…” He panted, following behind the princess as she hummed in thought.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to survive with so little? The Ruva Kingdom is still far away from here.”

“Didn’t have…. time to get more… Only a saddle full. Needed to hide the Heart… What happened back there?”

“Are you referring to what happened to that wretched demon?”

The former general only gave a quiet nod, saving whatever breath he had to reach the bottom of the hill.

“I used what little magic I had to wound him. After hypnotizing the guards at the Heart and getting you out of the dungeon, I used what little power I had left to strike. For now, the demon has slipped into his own dreams and his crude puppet has taken control.”

“And the shield?”

“Another one of my spells,” the princess quickly answered. “I could have done more to harm the beast, but the safety of my subjects comes first. They will survive long enough for us to take the Heart to the Ruva kingdom and return with what we need.”

“I…. I’ve been meaning to ask… What’s up there?”

“Something that Skeletor will never expect. We are going to turn Sombra’s twisted creations against the skull faced demon,” she said, letting a wide smile crawl across her muzzle as she looked off in the distance.

Cannon Fodder wanted ask what Sombra of all ponies could have created in the Ruva Kingdom, the spectral princess turned back to him and asked a question. One that everypony knew the answer to, but none ever wanted to hear again, sharing in a silent promise to never speak of Sombra’s worst atrocity.

“Tell me, my loyal soldier. Do you know why there are no foals in the Crystal Empire?”

The Empire was constantly filled with noise.

Wails of pain, shouts of grief, and tearful pleas all filled the air like a storm. Nopony would ever hear the loud protests of General Cannon Fodder except for himself and the spectral creature who guided him.

In fact, not many ponies had even taken note of the general’s disappearance. The only one who had known about the general’s absence was a single stallion, a large blue coated butler who stood at an empty cell in the Crystal Dungeons.

Crumb Catcher had already seen the empty cell earlier that week coming late in the evening with a tray of food and water for the red-faced stallion. Despite the general’s mistakes, Crumb Catcher still had some respect for the older stallion and believed that Cannon Fodder would set aside his petty anger and wild thoughts if it meant helping the Empire find the Crystal Heart.

However, instead of finding an uneasy ally in the Empire’s darkest hour, he was left with an empty cell and a shattered mirror.

Of course, the Royal Spy Master had quickly connected the general’s disappearance and the Crystal Heart’s theft, but there were still so many questions left for him to ask.

How could the general have escaped without a key, or without alerting the two guards stationed outside the dungeon’s only entrance? Why would the general even want to steal the Crystal Heart?

And, perhaps most bizarrely of all, what had happened to the guards stationed around the Heart? From the few moles he had inside of Skeletor’s cult, Crumb Catcher was able to piece together what had happened before the Heart’s disappearance. Strike Iron, a low-ranking member of their group, had contacted the higher members and quickly told them about the Heart’s “horrific” state. Then, she and the higher members returned to the plaza to confirm her story, where the guards had allegedly ignored their questions and kept silent.

This went directly against Skeletor’s orders to inform any late-night wanderer about the Heart’s new protective measures, but what was even stranger was that none of the guards stationed there had reported seeing anypony enter the plaza. In fact, when questioned about the events of that night they had all stated that the angry mob approached them half an hour after their shift began.

There was suddenly two and a half hours that none of them could account for, and none of them seemed to even realize that the incident occurred three hours after they relieved the late-night guards of duty.

With the Prince’s help, Crumb Catcher was able to determine that none of them were withholding any information thanks to the aid of a non-invasive lie detector spell.

Without any proper leads or clues, Crumb Catcher could only try to maintain peace by using his frail network of spies to search for the Heart. Unfortunately, many of them had either defected to Skeletor’s cult after Skeletor was injured, believing that either Princess Cadence or Prince Shining Armor had been behind the magical attack. The few that remained were either less vocal about their treasonous thoughts or were too green to be used as an effective tool.

Drawing in a deep breath, Crumb Catcher heaved a heavy sigh as he reviewed all of his remaining options. If he was going to keep the Empire from falling any further, he would need to ask somepony outside of his circle for help.

The faint sound of hooves soon struck his ears, giving him enough time to dawn a more comfortable mask as Colonel Kernel trotted down the hall.

The overworked stallion dragged himself down the row of cells, studying each one with a cautious glance before letting his gaze fall on Crumb Catcher.

“Colonel, I’m glad you were able to find the time to meet with me,” he asked, keeping a calm facade as he continued to stare into Cannon Fodder’s cell.

Had he taken his eyes off of the cell for a moment longer, he might have noticed the colonel’s gaze beginning to harden. He may have even seen the grey stallion’s tired expression twist into a snarl.

If he had seen any of that, then he would have probably expected the solid hoof that Colonel Kernel threw at him, sending the Spy Master to the ground with a loud cry.

“Mother Bucker! Y-you Bucking dalcop, what has gotten into you?!”

“I’m tired… And I’m really tired of you,” the colonel answered, grabbing the larger stallion by his collar and throwing him onto the wall.

“Stop! Stop! Stop! Wait, wait! We don’t need to trade hooves, Kernel!”

“I ain’t training them, I’m throwing them!” He promised, pulling a hoof away to land another hit.

“WeneedtoputSkeletorbackonthethrone!” Crumb Catcher quickly blurted, causing the other stallion to falter as the words struck his ears.

Crumb Catcher unceremoniously dropped from wall, laying on the floor with a fresh pool of blood forming under his snout.

“You’re kidding… First you wanted me to help you take down Lord Skeletor, and now you wanna play nice and get him back on the throne?”

“That was when I thought the princesses were in the Empire!” Crumb Catcher defended, wincing as he pulled out a handkerchief ad pressed it to his nose. “Buck me, that’s smarts,” he muttered.

“Colonel, I understand we started off on the wrong hoof—”

“You threatened me with the gallows.”

“I warned you about them. Sweet fertile fields above, you guards are all dense.”

A withering glare from Colonel Kernel was enough for Crumb Catcher to realize that any remarks would likely cause new marks on his face.

“Ahem. As-ow-as I was saying, times have changed, colonel, and I need to change with them.”

“So, what, I’m just supposed to believe you’re on Team Skeletor now?” Colonel Kernel asked incredulously.

“I’m on whatever ‘team’ gets the Empire out of this mess. Look, Kernel, I’ve said some things I regret now, but my intention was to never do unjust harm.

“It’s been more than a thousand years since the Empire vanished. Do you know what that means? Everypony outside of the Empire you knew is dead. All of your extended family in Dream Valley, dead. All of the ponies outside of the Empire who could reliably come to our aid, dead. All we had, all we still have, are some vegetable growing in below the Empire and a skull faced demon from Faust knows where. So, when I thought there was even a possibility that the Princesses were secretly inside the Empire, I pounced. I set aside whatever loyalty I had for him so that I could place it in better hooves.

“Then, when I heard that an alicorn had actually come to the Empire, I sent you to meet them. I knew how loyal you were to Skeletor, how much you genuinely liked him, so I hoped your sincerity would move the Princesses and everything would go more smoothly.

“But then the princess who came wasn’t either of them, she told us that well over a thousand years had passed. And now, we’ve lost the Crystal Heart, the one thing we had left in this poor and broken Empire. We aren’t even a real Empire now; do you realize that? We barley even count as a small kingdom!

“Everything I did, I did it for the Empire. I didn’t do it for myself, for Skeletor, or even the princesses. Everything I’ve done, everypony I threatened or lied to, I did it for our home, Kernel. I just want what’s best for the Empire, and I know you do too, enough to hopefully set aside our differences for a truce… So please, please believe me when I say I’m not your enemy.”

“… … I still hate your guts, you know,” Colonel Kernel said, holding out a hoof to the Spy Master.

“I’ll accept that,” Crumb Catcher replied, accepting the outstretched hoof with his free leg. “Now, I apologize for my behavior before.”

“For telling me I’d be in a guillotine? Or for telling me some guard would attack me if I told Skeletor?”

“For… Improperly phrasing a delicate warning,” Crumb Catcher stated, earning another glare from the colonel. “And for manipulating you. I can see now that you would have made a much more reasonable ally than Cannon Fodder.”

“Oh Faust… General and the others don’t even know what’s happened yet,” Colonel Kernel realized, causing Crumb Catcher to wince as he applied a bit more pressure to his bloody nose.

“Ah, well… That’s another reason for why I called you down here,” Crumb Catcher admitted, covering it up with a change in topic as he checked his blood-soaked rag. “But for now, we have more pressing concerns. Skeletor hasn’t woken up yet and it’s only a matter of time before his cult or the conspiracy theorists outside do something stupid.

“If he doesn’t wake up soon then we may have to move on to throwing our full support into Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor. Sadly, as much as I would prefer having them continue to support the Empire, it will mean nothing if the Empire’s citizens don’t accept them.”

“Alright, so what’s your plan then?”

“Firstly, we need to begin leaking information out to the public. Skeletor isn’t dead or bedridden, instead he was called back to Faust’s opulent fields, or he chased his attacker down to the depths of Tartarus and will return soon.”

“Is anypony going to believe that?” Colonel Kernel asked, following the Royal Spy Master back to the entrance of the dungeon.

“Oh, please. They already think he rode into the Empire on a Windigo and used the throne to cave in Sombra’s skull. As long as they think Skeletor said it, most of them will believe it. Especially if it ends up glorifying that necromantic nigmenog,” he joked replacing his soaked rag for a fresh handkerchief as the duo began climbing up the dungeon’s stairs.

“Alright, so how does that help Skeletor get the throne back?”

“Well, that’s the tricky part. While I can’t promise the royal throne, I do have a plan to give him a throne. Of course, that’s assuming he wakes up before the angry mobs begin barging down the castle doors. I need you to help me deliver a proposal to Princess Cadence that may help sooth their tempers.”

“So, you need an extra vote on any council meeting? What about the others?”

“Avid Value is an even larger fanatic than you, so he’s a guaranteed vote. I know Emerald Secret and Copper Plate are both reasonable mares, so I don’t need to worry about their stance. I know you would agree to the proposal as well, but I need more than just a vote from you. I need somepony I can trust. Specifically, a pony who’s famous among Skeletor’s supporters.”

“Famous? Wait, hold on, what do you mean by that?”

“Colonel, after Skeletor relinquished the throne, the only council member he ever spoke to in public was you,” he said, adopting a tone that a parent would usually take with a slow-witted foal. “While the rest of us were obligated to support the Princess and her consort, you sat with him every day for every meal and you were even seen personally escorting him outside of the castle.

“Not to mention, your table in the dining hall has become the source of all of the Crystal Castle’s gossip. Anything we know about Skeletor or his past came from that table. So yes, Kernel, you’re famous,” he bluntly stated, neatly tucking the two bloody rags into his barrel pocket. “Even the Skull Torn admire you. And that admiration is a great tool for us.

“They won’t listen to any of the council members, and Faust knows what the Skull Torn, or anypony outside would do if Princess Cadence tried to lie to them. Buy you, oh Kernel, they would believe you if you told them Skeletor had a replaceable jaw and an extra set of arms.

“So, I need you to personally quell any rumors about Princess Cadence or Shining Armor being involved in Skeletor’s attack. Make them think it was somepony else. Blame it on Grogar himself if you can’t think of anypony else to blame. Just remember. ‘Princess Cadence would never stab Skeletor in the back.’ Can you repeat that?”

“Princess Cadence would never stab me in the back,” Skeletor protested, wincing from Spoon Sugar’s touch as the doctor applied crystal berries to Skeletor’s bare back.

“I’m not saying that she would, Sire, just that that is the gossip going around,” the black robbed stallion defended, quickly replacing his old gloves for a cleaner pair before rewrapping Skeletor’s abdomen.

“I don’t know where they would even get that idea from.”

“Well, aside from yourself Sire, there are only two other ponies in the Empire who can use magic. If you had been stabbed by a knife or a sword, then perhaps the story would be different. But you were skewered by a black crystal that just grew out of the ground. Only one stallion could do that, Sire, and we all remember what you did to that tyrant.”

“Yeah… Right,” Skeletor answered, donning his cloak once more as his mind wandered back to Sombra’s lingering soul. “Um… Doctor, do you know much about Dark Magic?”

“It was Sombra's favorite type of magic,” the doctor shrugged, adjusting his odd wooden mask as he pulled out a stethoscope and placed it fixed it to his mask.

“What about medically? Like the effect of Dark Magic on a soul. Or even seeing how much of one somepony has?”

“Hmmm. I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that, Sire. Only ruvas dealt with anything concerning souls, and even then, there were only a few specialists who studied it. Some of their personal notes are still hogging space in my desk, so I could probably clear them off and take a look at them. Now, deep breath in,” the doctor ordered, listening to Skeletor’s heart as he ran him through a quick test.

“Good. Now out.”

Skeletor easily complied, repeating the process several times as the doctor finished his basic checkup and packed his tools away. “I’d say your heart beat is pretty fast, but it’s consistent with all of my previous notes, so maybe that’s good. Probably… Hopefully,” Doctor Spoon Sugar noted.

“I’m still alive, so we’ll say it’s fine,” Skeletor dismissed, quickly placing a hand on his chest to check his heartbeat. “I’d appreciate it if you could get those papers to me soon, Doctor Sugar. If you can’t find me, then have a maid place them in my room.”

“Of course, Sire,” Doctor Spoon Sugar bowed, earning a gesture from Skeletor to rise before he briskly walked off.

His conversation with the doctor, as brief as it may have been, was very enlightening for Skeletor. From murderous plots to missing Hears, a fallen barrier and a grief-stricken kingdom on the verge of civil war. And to think, it had all happened in just seven days.

Skeletor braced himself against one of the open windows, taking a moment to collect his thoughts as the cold air kissed his skull.

Everything he had done to keep the balance, to build up trust and keep the Empire safe. Undone in a single night.

He felt almost numb, a cold and distant feeling washing over him as he rested his arms against the window’s ledge, watching the world outside slowly burn.

He saw their sadness, their grief, and despite himself, he couldn’t help but see something sickening. Something that he never wanted to see in their suffering.

He saw opportunities.

Chapter 44. What Lies Under Your Castle?

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The distant trickle of water echoed down the caverns, a far off melody with no clear direction.

It was a beautiful sound, a natural song that guided any wandering soul deeper into the brightly lit tunnels. It’s trickling tune wasn’t the only thing that made it stand out from the Empire’s other underground paths. It was comparatively much larger, with enough room for several carts and carriages to travel through, and a ceiling high enough to accommodate at least a dozen thestrals and their own flying carts.

It was almost disappointing to know that such a grand cave had such a lackluster name, simply being called the ‘First Cave’. Skeletor had expected something a bit more poetic, perhaps ‘The roots of the Empire’ or ‘The crystal caverns’.

It had been a historic landmark for the Empire, the place where the three pony tribes off the Empire had first settled to weather the storm, the place where Princess Amore had discovered the Crystal Heart. And in the end, it became a memorial for all those who had died under Sombras reign.

The First Cave hardly seemed like a worthy name to him, but renaming it didn’t feel like something he could do on a whim. Perhaps its history spoke louder than any other name could.

As he descended deeper into the cave, drawing closer to the source of its song, he found himself passing by a familiar and grim mural. The walls were covered in a myriad of colors, the cutie marks of every pony who had perished under Sombra’s tyranny. To any tourist or casual observer, they might have thought that it was a beautiful art piece, a collection of cute drawings that brightened the dull walls of the cave. But, to Skeletor, and any who knew the significance of those etchings, it was horrific.

Before, there had been a great hall of records, holding the cutie marks of anypony who had lived in the Empire. It was a palace dedicated to the past, a place where nobles and commoners were displayed side by side, showing that all were equal under the eyes of Faust. Sadly, it was one of the first buildings Sombra personally destroyed, for no other reason than to force his silent subjects to grieve.

The caves were all that remained.

Skeletor could still remember when Emerald Secret had escorted him down there, explaining the significance of some of the first marks that had been carved and painted into the walls. Towards the entrance into the cave where some ponies were still either chiseling or painting, each and every cutie mark was unique, with no two marks ever repeating. But, at the end of the path where the mural had started, the colorful and distinctive marks had given way to a grim and familiar pattern.

Soon, Skeletor found himself surrounded by carvings of white hearts nestled in clouds. He couldn’t help but slow his stride whenever he reached that point, letting his sockets study the long stretch of white carvings. No matter where he looked he was constantly met with the same image, the same nameless grave of foals too young to get their marks.

His gaze always drifted to one cloud in particular, a rare carving that had a pair of hearts sharing a cloud. It was the only one he knew anything about.

They were twins.

Those three simple words sounded so hollow in his head. They were twins, and that was all. They never had the chance to be bakers, or knights, or anything. They were never given a chance to even be children.

They were gone, left as nothing but carvings and ash, and that was if they were lucky.

It hadn’t taken much time for him to find out what happened to the less fortunate foals. It was one of the few unspoken truths in the Empire, a nightmare that could never be said aloud outside of private conversations.

It was possibly Sombra’s greatest sin.

After a few more minutes of following the familiar trail through the caves, Skeletor tore his gaze away from the murals to the path ahead and banished any thoughts of the murals behind him, preparing to step into the ashes at the end of the tunnel.

He had always felt uncomfortable entering the underground farms, stepping on the ashes of ponies who had died centuries ago. It felt wrong to carelessly walk on the remains of these creatures, but Emerald and the others had assured him time and time again that it was simply their tradition. Unlike Earthernia where ashes were placed in urns or scattered in the wind, the Empire had a different way of respecting their dead. The ponies who passed on would serve the Empire even in death as the nutrition and soil for the Empire’s crops.

It was the ultimate sign of respect, a way to help the friends and family who were still alive. Although those words hardly brought Skeletor any sense of comfort as he stepped through the ashes, suppressing a wince with every step.

Skeletor tried to think of something other than the fresh ashes that had just been spread the day before, his eyes finally falling on the tall trees that some ponies were still trying to chop down.

After a thousand years of being untouched, the trees and other crops in the farms had grown far too much. It had taken a full day to clear the entrance when the ponies had first returned to the farms, and it took considerably longer to tame the wild forest that had, to them, seemingly popped up overnight.

Skeletor’s presence didn’t go unnoticed as he wandered through the farms as a hushed whisper eventually replaced the sound of their usual daily work. He offered a quiet wave to any pony who was openly gawking, even giving the coal shovelers a small smile and nod as he passed by.

Soon enough, Skeletor had finally made it to a large pool of water at the center of the farms. The dew from the stalagmites fell with a familiar rhythm, filling the pool with water and the air with a a ringing tune. On any other day, Skeletor may have taken the time to admire the formation, but he didn’t have time to appreciate the reflective pool or watch the ice melt above it. He had come with a clear purpose, and its name was, “Emerald Secret.”

The mare jolted in surprise, her own transfixed gaze tearing itself from the pool to look behind her, until her gaze inevitably fell on him.

“My-my lord! You’re here I—” she hastily spoke, turning to give a quick bow before Skeletor held up a hand.

“No need for formalities, Emerald. I’m sorry for startling you, but I needed to speak with you urgently. One of the maids told me that you’d be here,” he explained before passing a glance at the ponies that were quietly watching them from the distance. “If possible, I’d like to speak somewhere more private.”

“Of course, Skeletor. Where—” before Emerald could even ask, Skeletor turned to point his scepter at the lake, summoning an orange oval portal at the shoreline.

Emerald’s words died in her throat as she stared at the spell, quietly transfixed by the pulsating portal before Skeletor silently stepped through.

Shaking off her sudden surprise, Emerald quickly followed through and met the cold frigid air. In the short time that Skeletor had stepped through, he had already perched himself on the railings of a balcony, staring off into the distance from one of the castle’s many spires.

His gaze was locked on the light blue dome covering the city, a pale imitation of the Crystal Heart’s shield, and the only thing keeping the Empire safe.

Emerald soon joined him, planting her front hooves on the railing as she raised herself up.

“Skeletor, might I ask why we’re here?”

“... This is where it happened,” he said, looking down at the streets below the Crystal Castle. “Emerald, I respect your opinion above a lot of other ponies. You’re smart, objective, and you’re the only mare I can rely on right now.”

“Oh... Thank you. That means a lot to hear.”

“Good,” he replied, taking a moment to take a deep breath before turning to her. “I need to ask... What do you think happened on this balcony?”

Skeletor was met with only silence and a look of genuine surprise. He could already see the gears turning in her mind, her gaze becoming more concentrated as she stared at her own hooves.

Before long, she finally asked, “You want to know what I think of the princess and the prince.”

“I do,” was all he replied, waiting as she took another moment to organize her thoughts.

“I don’t have much faith in them to be honest. They’ve come without any plans, and they haven’t delivered on any of their promises... But then again, I don’t think I had many high expectations for you either, my lord.”

“I’m not—”

“My lord,” she repeated, tearing her eyes away from her hooves to look up at Skeletor. “You’ve earned my respect and the respect of all the ponies left in our Empire. You are more deserving of the title of lord than anypony here, so allow me to say this. I trust you my lord, I don’t entirely trust them.

“But if you’re asking me about what happened here, then no. I don’t think they had anything to do with what happened that night. However, I’m sure you already knew that, didn’t you?” She asked, to which Skeletor replied with a brief nod.

“No, I don’t think they did. I think... No, I know who did it. And I need the advice of an Advisor,” he said, taking a moment to step away from the balcony to quickly check the doors. “I didn’t want to tell any of you this, I wanted to pretend like I was crazy, like I could just tell the prince and princess and they’d make the problem go away for me... Emerald, I don’t want to have to tell you.”

“Whatever it is you have to say, I’ll listen.”

“... Then I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Emerald,” Skeletor lamented, casting a sorrowful look to her before he went on. “I promise, I’ll make this better.”

“Skeletor, please,” she pressed, “I know you’ll try your best, but what’s happening?”

Taking a deep breath, Skeletor braced himself before finally uttering the words that he knew Emerald would never want to hear.

“Somehow, Sombra returned.”

"How is that possible?" Shining Armor asked, his voice dripping with anger as he looked over Crumb Catcher's report.

The current prince of the Empire paced around the throne room scanning over every line written in Crumb Catcher's report, electing to hold it with one of his hooves since his magic was occupied with maintaining the barrier. Unfortunately, the mental strain of his spells and his wife's current condition did little to help his mood, and a less than fruitful report from the Empire's spy master only made him feel worse.

“No witnesses. You’re telling me that not a single pony saw the Crystal Heart get stolen?!” Her prince yelled, earning a subtle wince from the blue stallion.

“Not so, your majesty, just that we haven’t found anypony whose witnessed it yet. As I’m sure you’re aware, some ponies are… Less than willing to cooperate with the guards at the moment.”

“We’re trying to save the Empire! How can they not get that?”

“Your majesty, they’re in a frenzy right now. It hasn’t even been a week since the… incident, involving Skeletor. Many of them believe that you or her majesty, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, may have had a hoof in in.”

“That’s insane! Why would either of us do that?”

“Common sense falls to the wayside in times of panic, I’m afraid. But, rest assured, we will find the culprits responsible for stealing the Crystal Heart,” he promised, earning a tired sigh from Shining Armor.

“Alright. Thank you, Crumb Catcher. Is there anything else you found?”

Crumb Catcher’s reply wasn’t immediate, but it still held the same self-assuredness of his other replies. “… No, not at the moment your Majesty. I’ll be sure to give you a more promising report next time. In the meantime, I've sent Colonel Kernel out to assure the public that everything is under control. Hopefully, we'll be able to dispel any rumors about your or Princess Mi Amore Cradenza's involvement in what happened.”

“Okay. Great, good. In the meantime, just… Just keep at it. And send Pan in so I can go over the provision preparations with him.”

“At once, your majesty,” Crumb Catcher bowed, before quickly trotting out of the room to fetch the head chef.

When the doors finally closed behind the royal spy master, Shining’s head fell onto the throne with an exhausted groan.

He felt tired, miserable, and worst of all he felt isolated. Every guard he had trusted enough to confide in was in Canterlot, his sister was still days if not a week away from the Empire, his wife was too exhausted to eve stand, let alone hear him complain to her. For the first time in his life, Shining Armor had felt utterly alone.

Before he could sink any deeper into his self-wallowing, the sound of the old doors opening drew his attention to Camisole and her closest soldiers as they trotted in.

"Well, we've got news!" Camisole shouted as Crux Heart and Star Burst followed her inside. "It's good news and uh, not so good news."

"Mostly bad," Crux Heart tacked on, earning a wing smack from his superior officer.

"Whatever it is, it can't be worse than what I just heard," Shining Armor moaned.

"Great! Because we don't know where Skeletor is," Camisole said in an oddly cheerful tone as silence descended over the room. "... ... Surprise..."

"You lost him?" Shining finally asked after a near minute of silence.

"That's kinda the good news? He woke up! Crux saw him in the medical wing earlier and tried tailing him for a bit," Camisole explained. "He followed him to the farms under the Empire and uh... Poof. Portal."

"Technically it wasn't a poof. It was more like a warble kind of noise and even then I think only thestrals could—"

"You lost Skeletor?" Shining repeated, interrupting Crux Heart as he glared at the three.

"Good news though! Great news!" Camisole cut in, taking the brunt of Shining's intensive stare down. "He took Emerald Secret with him, so he might not have left the Empire! Oh! And, get this, you're gonna love it, he doesn't blame you guys!"

"Which is the best thing we could hope for," Crux once again chimed, earning a second wing slap from Camisole.

"Okay... Okay," Shining Armor nodded, before eventually turning his attention to Star Burst. "And... How did he get to the medical wing without you tailing him?"

"I had to go look for a clean chamber pot," she quietly defended, earning a giggle from Camisole. "It's not funny! I was up for two days and barely got any breaks because somepony forgot to schedule my shift change!"

"... Yeah, okay, my bad," Camisole admitted.

"Anyway, when I came back the guards were still stationed there, so I didn't think he just up and left. Checked inside like I did every hour on the hour, and I saw Princess Cadence there instead of him and uh... Yeah, I asked the guards and they said he left pretty much right before I came back."

"Okay... So," Shining said, not really having any idea where his sentence would end when it began. "Skeletor's missing. My wife is resting. First is bad, second is good. And... and Skeletor's missing, that's-that's probably the worst thing that could happen."

"... But at least he trusts you guys," Camisole tried to say, earning a spiteful look from Shining Armor.

"Of course he does, why wouldn't he? Heck, why does anypony think that?! It's crazy!"

"Well, to be fair you and Princess Cadence are the only spell users aside from Skeletor," Crux Heart interjected.

“And since nopony thinks Skeletor suddenly shish-kabobed himself…” Camisole trailed off, letting Shining Armor finish her thought with a groan.

“Then it must have been me or Cadence.”

"Which we know you didn't," Camisole stated confidently, before uttering a quiet, "right?"

"Not the time for jokes," Shining groaned. "We didn't do it, Skeletor didn't do it so... So that just leaves Sombra," he lamented, burying his face in his hooves as he felt his headache grow worse.

“It is looking a lot more likely," Crux Heart stated. "Based on the obsidian spike that shot out of the balcony and the reports of what Skeletor was screaming on his way there, I'm not seeing lot of other explanations."

"I've got one. He's crazy," Star Burst insisted. "I mean, I know we talked about it a little bit before, but, there's no way Sombra actually came back from the dead, right?"

"At this point, it's the only lead we have," Shining Armor stated before prying himself off of the throne. "The Crystal Heart magically disappears and Skeletor is lead to the nearest balcony overlooking a mod of angry ponies? Not to mention it's all his weird Skull Cult and he just so happened to get stabbed at that moment? Either Sombra is back, or we're dealing with something or somepony else. And honestly, I don't know which idea scares me more."

"Alright, so assuming Sombra's some ghost from Tartarus now, what're we going to do? Can't really call the Equestrian Ecto-Blasters," Camisole quipped as a scroll suddenly appeared from a burst of emerald flames.

Taking the fresh parchment in his hooves, Shining Armor scanned over the letter as a hopeful smile crawled onto his muzzle. "Oh, I don't we'll need any phantom pony chasers. Because the Elements of Harmony are going to be here in around three days," Shining Armor promised as he trotted towards to throne to place the paper down.

"Camisole, Star Burst, is any pony out there looking for Skeletor?"

"Got two on it, sir," Camisole saluted, prompting Star Burst to do the same.

"Join them. I want somepony down in the farm in case he brings Emerald back there. In the meantime I want you to search the towers and the library. I've got a feeling he isn't planning on leaving the castle just yet. Crux," he added, turning to the larger stallion. "I want you to keep helping out in the medical wing, and when you get some time, head to the farms too. Twily and the others should be here soon, but until then, we need to ration what we have incase anything else happens.

"If anypony finds Skeletor, tail him and don't lose him. You all got that?"

"Sir, yes, sir!' They all chorused before flying and trotting off to carry out his orders.

After all of them had left, Shining Armor took the opportunity to plant himself back on the throne, his sore mind and body relaxing on the comfortable cushions as he waited for his next meeting with Pan.

He couldn't help but wear a small smile as he waited, knowing that he wouldn't be alone when Twilight and the others would arrive.

Chapter 45. Rulers, Rumors, and Rigor Mortis.

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“It all started on the coldest morning in the Frozen North, a day when the unrestful souls of Sombra’s victims screamed out in anger, demanding that the evil ruva would be dethroned and brought to the deepest depths of Tartarus.

“Faust, hearing the pleas of the souls that had refused to leave their rotting mortal coil, answered their prayers by creating a creature of raw power and gave him a mystical artifact that was stolen from the demons. He was wrapped in a cloak of shadows, and given armor that was made from the scales of the ancient dragon kings. Fully equipped, the figure drew his hood forward to hide his face as he traveled down to the mortal coil.

“After arriving in the depths of the Frozen North, Faust’s champion was guided by the spirits to the Crystal Empire. And then, after being led by the spirits of our fallen families, he called on their aid once more to restrain their still living relatives.

“With his great talents and skills, the being cut from Faust’s cloth was able to avoid Sombra’s traps and made it to the throne room, where he fought against wo enslaved guards that were given enchanted armor by our old tyrant

“Even with their armor, the two slaves were not able to stand against the champion and were rendered unconscious. After he made sure that neither of the slaves were injured, he kicked open the Throne Room doors to glare at the dark stallion.

“Without even a word, the two leapt into battle, launching spells at each other with no end in sight. Unfortunately, Sombra managed to deal an almost killing blow when a burst of his magic impacted the champion’s hidden face. Sombra had robbed him of the beauty and silk voice that Faust had gifted him, leaving only a skull behind as the champion fell to the floor.

“Believing that his adversary was dead, Sombra trotted towards the apparent corpse to look at the fallen champion. Then, with the speed of a lightning-bolt, the hero from Faust’s Garden moved to grab the tyrant’s gnarled horn. With a flick of his wrist, he tore Sombra’s skull from his body and crushed it in his hands. As Sombra’s corpse began to paint the floor with his blood, the hero ventured to the depths of the kingdom to reach the Crystal Heart.

“After freeing the three slaves who were tasked with watching over the Heart, he brought them to the surface so they could see the Heart return to its pillar.

“As the ponies of the Empire celebrated their freedom, the champion thought about what he would do now that his journey had ended. He couldn’t, in good conscience, leave them while they still needed to rebuild, so he decided to stay in the freed Empire.

“While Faust had given him many things to prepare for the battle, the one thing he lacked was a proper name. So, he gave himself the name Skeletor, which he took from the ancient language of the dead. In the tongues of deities and demons, his name translated to ‘Skull Torn,’ an act imparted on only the cruelest of monsters, to tear their mind and soul away from their corpse.

“With that, he would define his life with only a single death under his hands and led the Empire towards a prosperous future… And now, we, the followers of Skeletor carry on his morals. My brothers, my sisters, who are we?" Brother Nearside stated, his eyes lighting up as he looked over the room.

In an instant, their reverend was met with a chorus of cheers as they chanted, "The Skull Torn!"

In the days following Skeletor's attack, the Skull Torn had seen a large number of new followers, and each one was completely enraptured by the story of Skeletor. It was necessary for every new recruit to hear about Skeletor's great battle against Sombra, to know just what he had sacrificed for his subjects.

Sadly, most of the story was made up of secondhoof knowledge, parts and pieces picked out of conversations that Skeletor had had with guards or any casual remarks he had made in his speeches. Their lord was far too humble to revel in his victory, choosing instead to focus his efforts on rebuilding the Empire than reveling in the past.

Or, at least that was what their lord had planned to do until they had shown up.

“He has given us more than we know. Knowledge that would have never been revealed were it not for him, truths hidden in the shadows of liars. Some of us, the sinners we are, held onto doubt when he gave us the truth, while others embraced it full heartedly. And now, our new members know their mistake, and have joined our ranks. We have all seen the truth, for we are not eyeless or earless.

“It was just as Skeletor had claimed. ‘The spawn of Grogar’s minions took the shape of Faust’s apostle, lying to Princess Amore to taint our love and destroy the barrier.’ Don’t you see my brothers and sisters? The demon that wore the mask of a deity has tricked us all again! Sombra has taken the form of an alicorn, claiming to be Princess Amore’s descendant, and we believed it!

“We were deceived by the same demon that fooled Princess Amore, and we watched as our lord was bewitched by this foul monster. Under their guide, he put the Crystal Heart in a cage, and she sought to blame him!

“And when he chose to defend his actions, to explain their manipulations, they stabbed him with an obsidian spike! It was Sombra’s own spell, his dark power, and it could only come from the prince or princess!

“Who else in the Empire has a horn or magic? Who else was next to our Lord before he fell? My brothers, my sisters, open your eyes and see the truth!” He commanded, earning a chorus of cheers as his followers broke out into a song of revenge.

Brother Nearside took pride in watching his brothers' and sisters' eagerness to take on the false rulers, even though he knew they stood little chance against Sombra and his dark minions. The Skull Torn had no considerable power of their own and were little more than craftsman and farmers with little fighting experience, the only exception being the Crystal Castle guards who had either started or joined the Skull Torn early on.

Though their will and determination to fight were strong, in terms of actual strength or prowess they were frighteningly weak. But, if the day would ever come when Skeletor would call for their aide, the Skull Torn would join him without hesitation. They would never fall under the chains of oppression, not again.

As Brother Nearside let his gaze drift over the sea off colorful faces, his eyes finally settled on one mare, a devoted member to the Skull Torn from the early days of their conception. The dark brown mare had slipped through the crowd quietly, leaving the room without so much as a word to any of her fellow members.

A frown fell on Brother Nearside as the door closed behind her. Something was wrong with their sister, and he was determined to find out what.

After giving his goodbyes to the old and new members of the Skull Torn, Brother Nearside quickly followed behind Sister Strike Iron, calling out to her as they drew closer to the entrance of the manor. "Sister Strike Iron, do you have a moment to spare?"

"Uh, yes! Is there something you need, Brother Nearside?" She asked hesitantly. If it were any other pony, Nearside may nnnzot have raised an eye at her tone, but he had known Strike Iron since the early days of the Skull Torn. She was always eager to talk to any of their members, usually being the first to prompt any conversation or discussion about their lord.

Something certainly seemed off about her. "I was wondering if you were okay. I noticed you slip away from the tale time back there."

"Oh, yeah, of course I'm fine. Just... Things have been tough with family. That's all," she admitted quietly, casting a glance to the end of the hall as she nervously tapped a hoof. "I promised I'd see Dally before the sunset, don't wanna get to Baron Tone's manor too late, you know?"

"Ah, Dilly Dally, right. She was the mare you brought over around a week ago. How has she been? Has she shown any interest in joining the Skull Torn?"

"It's ah-it's a little complicated. We just decided not to talk about it for a while, anyway, I really need to get going."

"Of course, I won't hold you up any longer, sister," Nearside promised, letting her turn away before he quickly added. "Just know, if you ever need an ear to bend, we'd all be willing to listen."

"... Yeah. Thanks," she said before promptly trotting down the hall towards the front doors of the manor.

Nearside heaved a tired sigh when he heard the soft creaking of the doors. He sent a silent prayer to his lord to watch over the mare, turning to trot back to the Alter Room as he did so.

He didn’t worry too much over Sister Strike’s loyalty to the Skull Torn, but he did idly wonder about the other mare.

Dilly Dally would hopefully see the truth of their lord’s power, and willingly trot into the Skull Torn’s embrace. But, if she refused then that was simply her path to trot. He just prayed that Strike Iron would be safe if she chose to trot alongside Dilly Dally down the wrong path.

Hopefully they could both be saved and join their fellow crystal ponies in Faust’s Fertile Fields.

Soon, their lord would rise again.

"Rise and shine, you…. You,” Camisole stretched her stiff wings as she stifled a yawn, staving off the quiet call of her bed as she looked down at her charge. “Jerk.”

Shifting in her crawlspace, Camisole weakly glared at the sleeping giant as he enjoyed a quiet rest, blissfully unaware of all the trouble he had caused her and the other thestrals the day prior.

Skeletor had been busy opening portals all throughout the castle, going from room to room without any proper rhyme or reason. Anytime they had felt like they were getting close to catching up to him, he’d suddenly decide to go back to the Alchemy Tower or the farms.

It was only thanks to Copper Plate that they had finally managed to catch him in the Royal Library. Even then, they had just barely managed to get there in time, leaping through one final portal as he entered his bedroom.

He stumbled to his bed with all the grace of a drunk elephant, flopping on top of the covers as he carelessly tossed his staff aside.

When they had all finally reconvened outside his room that night, Camisole had decided to finally follow Skeletor personally, giving Star Burst a well-deserved break in her private quarters.

Camisole never took the time to closely watch Skeletor before, often defaulting to letting Star Burst or some other pony do it instead. But, considering how often they had either lost track Skeletor or how often he would surprise them, it made more sense for a more seasoned shadow to tail Skeletor instead.

At first, Camisole was eager to fill in Star Burst’s saddles and follow the blue behemoth, hoping that she could catch something that flew under everypony else’s noses. Maybe a secret meeting with Sombra? A quiet admission to some conspiracy? Some revelation that would shine more light on his background?

But, nothing happened. He was just sleeping, and whatever he muttered in his sleep was unintelligible and useless. At most she could hear him complain about his graying skull, or call out to a “He-Man”. She noted that He-Man might have been related to Hue-Man and Per’s son, but everything else was just nonsense.

So, with nothing else to do, she watched him sleep.

And she was so bored doing it.

“Wake up already,” she quietly complained, eyeing a nearby clock as the morning drew closer to the afternoon.

Fishing a snack out of her satchel, Camisole quietly chewed on a ration bar as Skeletor turned over again, letting out a quiet groan as he nuzzled deeper into the blankets.

“Nngh, Greah, Snuh. Sosiss,” he muttered, letting out a a light moan as he lightly wrestled with the blanket.

Before Skeletor could go on another sleepy rant about his skull, a gentle knock rang out at the bedroom door.

“My lord, are you awake?” The royal advisor called, earning a long groan from the undead alien.

“Mmmaaaah.”

“May I come in?”

“Gimme a second,” he called out groggily, a yawn already passing his jaw as he sat up.

Flinging his legs off of the bed, Skeletor rose from his seemingly eternal slumber with a long stretch.

“Come in,” he yelled back, stepping around his bed to search for his scepter.

“Good morning, my lord,” Emerald Secret greeted warmly, earning a quiet greeting in return as walked over to a nearby barrel. “My lord, the princess requested to have an audience with you in an hour.”

“An hour? Why so early?” He asked, snatching a stick off of one of the barrels and scraping it against his fangs.

“She wanted to give you some time to rest, but she said she was worried that you would possibly miss lunch.”

“It’s getting that late already?” Skeletor idly asked, grabbing one of the nearby gems from the barrels and searching for his reflection in the inside.

“It’s almost eleven, sir.”

“What?!” He quickly turned, his gaze locked on the nearby clock.

“Yes. She was hoping to have the meeting in the Meeting Hall after lunch. She wanted you to know that the other council members would be there as well. Unfortunately, Copper Plate won’t be able to attend.”

“Alright. Have you told her yet?’

“Uh... No, I haven’t. Should I?”

Skeletor didn’t reply immediately, instead choosing to fix his clasps and belts as he mulled it over. “We’ll debate it later,” he quietly answered. “We should also wait for the meeting before revealing it to the rest of the council.”

“Yes, my lord. But, are you sure she’ll approve of telling them?”

“We don’t have much of a choice,” he stated, stomping out of the room with Emerald and Camisole in tow. “I trust you and the council to keep a secret.”

“Of course, my lord.” Emerald agreed, letting them fall into a lull as they marched ahead.

Camisole tried to quietly keep up in pace with the advisor as she effortlessly matched Skeletor’s long stride. The tailing thestral didn’t need to think too hard to understand what the two were talking about. It was clear to the commander that they were alluding to the secret of Sombra’s return.

As much as Camisole had often joked about Skeletor simply being crazy or delusional, she was beginning to have her own doubts about the dead tyrant. She hoped that if Sombra had truly returned from Tartarus that the revived ruler would at least wait until the Elements of Harmony had arrived before striking.

Although Princess Celestia’s pupil and her friends weren’t trained guards or soldiers, they at least beared the relics that had the power to stop him. If they could purify the demon that had possessed Princess Luna for over a thousand years, then surely they could get rid of some undead despot. And, if Skeletor ever turned out to be a genuine concern, then they could deal with another dead dictator as well. However, Camisole doubted that it would ever come to that.

Over the short time she and her guards had observed him from the shadows, Camisole’s opinion of Skeletor had somewhat grown. She wouldn’t go as far as to trust him with her life, but she did think that he was pretty harmless. Aside from Sombra’s death, Skeletor didn’t appear to be a violent or angry creature.

The worst thing Camisole could say about him was that he unknowingly gave her and the other thestrals a hard time tailing him. Otherwise, he wasn’t that much different than a Minotaur, just loud, odd looking, and had a weird obsession over clothes.

Still, even if Skeletor wasn’t violent, that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of doing something bad, even if only by mistake. With any luck, Sombra would be blasted asap, Skeletor would go retire in a graveyard or something, and everypony could just go back home and have a well-deserved vacation.

But, nothing could ever be that easy for her. She could already tell that there would be problems popping up at every turn. If Skeletor wasn’t an issue then Sombra certainly would be, and if he wasn’t too difficult then the crystal ponies would be another, not to mention that they already had their hooves full with a missing artifact.

They had a long day ahead of them.

It had been a long and restless night for Colonel Kernel, his mind constantly replaying the day’s events whenever he closed his eyes.

The grey stallion had done his best to follow Crumb Cather’s orders, letting every guard and pony know that he and the other council members didn’t suspect the new princess of being the ones responsible for Skeletor’s condition. Of course, without a scapegoat or somepony else to point the hoof at, it wasn’t easy to answer anypony when they asked the same question.

“If it wasn’t them, then who?”

He didn’t know. Nopony did. Sombra was dead, Skeletor had been stabbed, and the princess and her consort had been completely unharmed. Not to mention, the fate of the Crystal Heart was still unknown. Colonel Kernel had known about the steel cage for a long time, he knew that it wasn’t a plot by the new royals to keep the heart locked away, and had tried his best to convince ponies that it was actually Skeletor’s idea. Sadly, Crumb Catcher had greatly overestimated Kernel’s sway over the ponies who idolized Skeletor.

At least, that was until rumors of Skeletor’s recovery had suddenly spread throughout the castle. What started off as quiet ramblings had quickly become the most widely known fact, from the farmers in the caves to the patients in the medical wing, everypony who had seen him had been talking about it.

And somehow, be it fate or pure luck, something happened to the gossip of his return and the story that Kernel had failed to sell to anypony. They had suddenly merged.

Kernel’s story had changed from “The colonel believes that the princess and her consort are innocent,” to “Skeletor personally confided in him and said that he had trusted the royal pair.”

Of course, the colonel didn’t try to clear up this new misunderstanding, feeling far too nervous to correct anypony who brought it up. It would only hurt both his reputation and the Empire’s trust in the royal couple.

Even if things had suddenly taken a turn for the better, Colonel Kernel couldn’t rest easily.

What if Skeletor doesn’t trust them? What if they actually did it? Would Skeletor think I was in on it? Would I be executed for lying about Skeletor? Should I tell him that Crumb Catcher put me up to it? Can I even trust that jerk to not shove me in the snow? He wondered, his thoughts constantly poking at all of his underlying fears.

It was a miracle that he was able to get any sleep at all. But soon he had to leave his nightmares and face something far scarier than his own twisted imagination, the heavy consequences of reality.

The day had started off without any issues, preforming his weekly inspection of the guard patrol, followed by a private meeting with Crumb Catcher to go over the testimonies he was able to gather from the prior night. Sadly, their conversation proved to be less than fruitful, and only served to worsen Colonel Kernel’s anxiety over his inevitable meeting with Skeletor.

He prayed for Skeletor to be either merciful or oblivious, for nopony to bring up his attempts to sell himself as Skeletor’s personal confidant, or the high-ranking pony that the Skull Torn had allegedly painted him out to be.

When the time finally came for Colonel Kernel and the other guards to gather for lunch, he kept his eyes firmly planted on the doors, nearly jumping whenever somepony entered or left.

“You okay, sir?” One of the guards asked, stirring Colonel Kernel from his thoughts as he glanced back at them.

“Hm? Yeah, fine, why?”

“Ya seem jumpy,” another guard observed. “Like, ‘lied to your—”

“I didn’t lie to anypony!” He interrupted, drawing more attention to himself before he immediately shrank under their gaze.

“... wife, jumpy’,” the green guard finished, looking at the colonel with a concerned look.

“He’s probably anxious for the boss to get back,” a larger guard chimed in. “I mean, how would any of you feel if you had to explain everything that happened to Cannon Fodder?”

A shudder washed over all the guards at the strong stallion’s remark, as a new and even more concerning thought struck the colonel.

General Cannon Fodder is going to kill me when he gets back.

“Yeah. Hey, why hasn’t he come back anyway?” The first guard asked.

“He’s on a mission to the Ruva Kingdom, remember?”

“Yeah, but didn’t all of them call it off early? I saw Spearhead on Lapis Lane yesterday, and he said he and the others came back a while ago.”

“What? That doesn’t make sense. You sure it was Spearhead?”

“Yeah! Weirdest thing is that he said they were all getting paid time off for about another four weeks.”

“That can’t be right,” Colonel Kernel finally mustered. “I’d know if they came back. They were supposed to report back to me or... That blue bastard.”

“What was that?”

“Uh, nothing,” he quickly brushed off. “Did he say anything about the General, the mission, anything?”

“Eh, not really. Just that they came back around the time Skeletor abdicated the throne,” the guard shrugged, returning to his bowl of jelly as he thought aloud. “But man, must be nice to get paid time off. Wouldn’t mind joining the next expedition if I can get that.”

“Good luck leaving the Empire at this rate,” the larger guard scoffed. “So long as they’re here, we’re stuck under their shield.”

Following the guard’s glances, Kernel’s own gaze fell on the royal dining table where the princess and her suitor were sitting with Avid Value and Crumb Catcher. The colonel and the other guards tore their eyes away from the table quickly, all of them sending a quiet prayer to Faust that nopony had seen them openly gawk at the royal pair.

“Could you keep your voice down, Fort?” One of the guards quietly chastised. “What if one of their thestrals hear us?”

“Oh please. It’s not like we’re the only ones talking about it. What’re they gonna do, arrest every guard in here?”

“You’ll be lucky if they do that,” the smaller guard stated cautiously. “I mean, you saw what they did to Skeletor.”

“That wasn’t them,” Colonel Kernel stepped in, trying to convince both himself and the other guards as he did so.

“Yeah, I’m sure it wasn’t. And I’m sure Princess Celestia doesn’t raise the sun either,” Fort scoffed. “I ain’t believing that unless it falls out of Skeletor’s jaw bone.”

“What about my jaw?” Skeletor butted in, taking his usual seat at the table as the other guards silently watched on in shock.

None of them had noticed the lull in conversation that swept over the room mere moments ago, and they were too engrossed in their quiet argument to even notice the towering giant as he strode in.

Skeletor, either not caring or not noticing their surprise, folded his legs in the small chair and quickly brought a bowl of assorted vegetables into his lap.

Colonel Kernel was the first pony to find the courage to speak, breaking the other guards out of their stupor with a very stupid question. "... Morning?"

"Oh, good morning, Kernel. Or, afternoon, I suppose," he shrugged, diving into his food with gusto. "So, what were you talking about?"

"Uh.... The princess, sir?" Fort stuttered.

"Hm... She does look tired," Skeletor observed as he watched the royal advisor make her way to the prince and princess. "I'm surprised she can stand at all with that shield up. From what Emerald told me, Princess Cadence has been holding up for a few days now. I didn't think it'd be possible to make a barrier big enough to cover the Empire."

"Yeah, but she’ll uh... You’ll take it down, right?” One of the guards asked.

“Me?” He asked between bites of broccoli. “I don’t think I can take over for them. I barely know how to keep up a shield spell over myself. But, once we get the Crystal Heart back, I’m sure things will go back to normal. I probably shouldn’t tell any of you this but....” Skeletor paused, glancing over his shoulder to stare at a blank wall before crouching down in a quiet whisper. “We’re close.”

“Close?” Colonel Kernel asked in a hushed voice.

“Close to finding the Crystal Heart,” Skeletor revealed, drawing the guards in closer as he continued. “I know I shouldn’t tell you this, but we’ve actually found a lead. If we’re right, the Crystal Heart is still in the Empire. But don’t tell anyone I said this.”

“But, but where is it?”

“Ah, I can’t say anything else... But we know who did it.”

“Who is it?” Fort nearly cried out, his hooves pressed firmly on the table.

“Oh, I-I can’t say anything more, I can’t. I promised Emerald and the princess that I wouldn’t say anything. But, believe me when I say that Princess Cadence and Prince Armor are close to catching them. We won’t let them get away with throwing the Empire into an uproar,” he promised, leaning back into his chair as he added on one more detail. “Just remember, you can’t tell anypony that—”

“‘Princess Cadence found them’?” The pink princess parroted, as she stared at her royal advisor incredulously. The green coated mare simply nodded in return, bringing up a glass of water to drink as she laid out Skeletor’s plan.

“Yes. Skeletor believes that it will help ease the crystal ponies if they think that you and Prince Shining are close to ‘cracking the case’ as he phrased it.”

“Except we aren’t,” Shinning Armor growled. “Do you have any idea how much pressure we’re under already? If they think we have a lead then they’re going to expect results faster than we can deliver. We haven’t even gotten reports from most of the ponies at the plaza from that night.”

“I am aware, Prince Shining, and I made sure to tell him that as well. He’s trying to emphasize that you just need a little bit more information to finally find the Heart, and that anypony who doesn’t trust you or is unwilling to trot forward is actually hindering the Empire by not being forthcoming with any information.”

“So, Skeletor is trying to apply pressure on them by putting the investigation’s shortcomings on the hooves of the ponies and not the royals,” Crumb Catcher observed, a hoof resting on his chin as he mulled the plan over. “I... can’t say I think this plan will work completely, but it should hopefully convince at least a few ponies. Of course, that’s if we ignore the major problem at hoof. What his highness said is right, you and Skeletor are creating unrealistic expectations for when we can expect to find the Heart. What if we can’t find it next month, or Faust forbid next year?”

“Crumb, I would hope that you would know this better than anypony. But, if we don’t find the Heart by then, there will be no Empire,” Emerald Secret stated firmly.

“What are you talking about?” Shining Armor butted in. “Twilight and her friends are coming in a few days with doctors, guards, medicine, supplies,” he listed off.

“But they’re not coming with a Crystal Heart. And, while I’m sure there are many talented unicorns in the new guard, the fact remains that nopony is as strong as Princess Cadence. Can we really keep doing this for a year, your majesty? Making some unicorn or yourself keep up a barrier over the Empire for every hour of every day?” She asked, her eyes quickly falling on the frail princess. “I know you're an alicorn, but not even Princess Amore could do that for a whole year. Some of the unicorns and your husband may be able to relieve you for a day or three, but it’s not sustainable.”

“I’m more than able and willing to do it,” Shining butted in. “I held up a shield over all of Canterlot for Faust’s sake.”

“For a day, if what your guards said was true,” Emerald jabbed.

“It was three and I could have gone the whole week! I can erect a barrier for the Empire in my sleep.”

“Shining,” Cadence quietly intervened, “That was when we had clear skies and clear weather. I hate to say it but... I think Emerald is right.”

“No, it’ll be fine. I can take a week off of work and focus on the shield and—”

“That won’t work, your majesty,” Crumb Catcher interrupted. “You may be able to do that much for the next month or so, but it’ll be impossible after that. From what your guards told us when I asked them, it appears that while the Empire had vanished in the winter, it re-appeared in your summer. The storm outside will only become more difficult to hold back as winter approaches. If we cannot find the Heart by then, I fear we will have to leave the Empire.”

“An evacuation of that scale is impossible,” Avid Value chimed in.

“Sadly, I agree,” Crumb Catcher nodded solemnly. “We wouldn’t be able to save everypony if it came to that... And we would likely never be able to rebuild the Empire.”

“Unless the Heart returns,” Emerald Secret pointed out. “And, if Skeletor is right, it won’t be long until it will.”

“And how would Skeletor know that?” Shining Armor asked with a hint of suspicion in his tone.

"... Your majesty, I wished to tell the others in a more private setting, but I believe now may be the best time," Emerald stated, gathering her courage to face Avid and Crumb Catcher. "Skeletor believes... That Sombra will return with the Heart."

An uncomfortable silence washed over the table, drowned out by the usual chatter and clatter that filled the dining hall.

"No... No, no, no," Avid finally muttered. "No, no. No! That... No, no, this isn't real, right?" He desperately pleaded. "He's supposed to be dead, gone, ashes in an alley!"

"Avid! Keep your voice down," Crumb Catcher chastised.

“How can I keep it down! This is terrible!”

“I know that, but shut your muzzle. There are ears everywhere,” he pressed, glowering at the smaller stallion before turning his attention back to Emerald. “And you, I cannot think of a worse time to spout some asinine conspiracy theory, Emerald. I thought you had some common sense.”

“It’s not a conspiracy. They already know that he returned,” Emerald argued, nudging her head towards the royal pair.

Cadence flinched under their scrutinizing gaze, feeling their disbelief dance on the surface of their emotions. Avid wasn't as subtle as Crumb Catcher, a light glare falling on his face as his jaw lightly dropped in shock. Crumb Catcher, on the other wing, kept his usually stoic mask as he looked over, without any hint of anger or betrayal marring his features.

"We... I-” She stuttered as she searched for the right words, only for her knight to step up and help her.

“It’s something we only really came to terms with yesterday,” Shining stated, resting a comforting hoof on his wife’s. "We didn't want to bring this to anypony's attention until we were certain that he was back."

"And you're certain now?" Crumb Catcher asked, not accusatory or angry, but with genuine curiosity in his voice.

"We don't have any other explanation," Cadence finally said, gaining a small boost of confidence thanks to her husband's help. "I'll admit, I didn't believe it when Skeletor first told us. But, after looking into everything available, we're almost certain that he's returned. But don't worry, in a few days we'll get some help from my sister-in-law and her friends to fix everything."

"How is she supposed to help?" Avid asked.

"Because she's one of the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony," Shining Armor explained, earning befuddled looks from all the ponies at their table.

"I'm sorry sire, but, aren't Princess Celestia and Princess Luna the bearers of the Elements?" Crumb Catcher asked as he pushed his plates away to plant his hooves on the table.

Princess Cadence quietly chastised herself for forgetting to tell the council about the Elements of Harmony's new bearers, but brushed away those thoughts as she gave a brief summery to the crystal ponies. "They passed on the Elements to new ponies. Shinning's sister, Twilight, was Celestia's personal pupil and bears the Element of Magic. Rainbow Dash is the new Element of Loyalty, Applejack is the new Element of Honesty, Rarity is Generosity, Pinkie Pie is Laughter, and Fluttershy is Kindness. Once we're able to find Sombra, they should be able to use the Elements to banish him from the Empire."

"And when will they reach the Empire?" Emerald asked, turning to prince as she continued. "If I recall, it should be several weeks by pegasus to get from here to Dream Valley. How far away is Canter city from here?"

"Canterlot is about a week's flight by pegasus, and they should be here in about a day to three days," Shining answered, earning a sigh of relief from Emerald. "Now, back to what you said earlier. What did you mean by the Heart returning soon?"

"Skeletor believes that Sombra would want to keep the Heart close to him at all times, and will likely bring it back when he strikes."

"But what if he doesn't come back by the end of the year?" Avid pointed out. "If that happens, it won't matter if he has the Heart or not, we won't be able to stay in the Empire until then."

"He won't let that happen. Sombra wants the Empire and everypony inside it... He won't let us abandon the Empire," Emerald explained, a hint of dread touching her words as she spoke about the fallen king. "If Lord Skeletor is right, he'll want to strike soon. But, if we're prepared for him, we'll be able to stop him and get the Heart back in one fell swoop."

"So, for the record, we have to hope that Sombra attacks us," Crumb Catcher asked incredulously.

"I don't like it either, but it's all we can do," Emerald sympathized as Crumb Catcher sighed and stood up from the table.

“Well then, I'm going to do some 'light reading' and then I’ll prepare the meeting hall. I'll see you all there,” Crumb Catcher excused as he went out to look for a clean chamber pot.

"Before you go, I need you to grab some documents," Emerald called after him. "Do you remember the Thorn case?"

"Why would you need..." The royal spy master slowly trailed off as realization seemed to wash over him. "You... I see. I'll have those prepared immediately," he promised before he quickly trotted out of the dining hall.

The walk to the meeting hall felt far shorter than usual for Skeletor.

His pace quickened as he hurried up the stairs and through the halls, passing by the familiar portraits that decorated the castle. On a normal day, he might have taken the time to spare them an appreciative glance, to soak in the beauty that filled each frame.

Sadly, he didn’t have the time for his usual wandering thoughts.

All Skeletor could think about was the meeting and how it would go. He sent a silent prayer to every deity he knew from both Eternia and Terra, hoping that their meeting would mark the inevitable end of the resurrected ruler.

A small part of his mind had told him not to go, to not speak up and just let Princess Cadence and Prince Shining handle the situation. There was nothing new he could add to the conversation, no plan that they hadn’t already considered. If anything, he was about to tell them the obvious, to boast about an idea that they had already been preparing on their own. He would just be wasting their time.

But, he chased off any doubts that crept into his mind, knowing that even if he failed that at least he had tried something. He refused to stand aside as the new royals took the reins for this plan. At worst they would call him a fool, but at least he would never think of himself as a coward.

With those thoughts in mind, Skeletor braced himself as he returned to a familiar set of doors with Emerald trotting alongside him.

The crystal guards opened the doors without any prompt, allowing Skeletor and the royal advisor to easily step in and greet the gathered ponies.

Crumb Catcher and Avid Value were already in their usual seats, an empty chair between them where Copper Plate should have been sitting as well. At the far end of the table sat Princess Cadence and Prince Shining, flanked by Star Burst and another thestral guard that Skeletor wasn’t familiar with.

It was odd that Camisole was nowhere in sight. If anyone should have been in this meeting, he was certain that it should have been the thestral general. But, considering that the crystal colonel also wasn’t around for the meeting, he brushed off any concern for the mare as he approached the table.

"Hello, your majesties. Emerald already caught me up to speed on the Elements," Skeletor stated, taking a seat on one of the cushions as the rest of the available council gathered. “So, I won’t need to be told twice about them. You said they should be arriving soon, right?”

“Yes, tomorrow or the day after at most,” Cadence promised.

“Good. If everything goes according to plan, then they’ll be absolutely indispensable. Are we ready to start now?”

“We are, but isn’t the colonel going to join us?”

“Colonel Kernel apologized and said he wouldn’t be able to attend the meeting, so I’m hoping that you could catch him up to speed later. Crumb Catcher, did you bring what Emerald asked for?"

“Yes, sir. Everything I found while looking into them should be in here,” Crumb Catched said as he pulled several binders out of a saddle bag.

"Good. Your majesties, I've already touched on this once before with you briefly, but I thought I should let the rest of the council know as well before we officially start. Crumb, if you could.”

"Of course," Crumb Catcher bowed, before standing up to address the rest of the council as he placed the binders on the table. "Some time before you arrived, Princess Cadence, we received reports of an odd crystal pony wandering outside of the barrier without any food or previsions. They stated that their name was Thorite Hoof ad that they had lost their way when trying to trot towards Yakyakistan. General Cannon Fodder was leading the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom when they found him, and he ordered Red Flag and Cole to escort him back to the Empire.

"Once he was brought inside, it seems that he was briefly employed by Track Record at his bakery before the guards came to ask for any more information. After that, Thorite never returned to the bakery, and we lost any leads on him afterwards. Coincidentally, after Thorite had disappeared, another stallion named Thorn had also become acquainted with Track Record and began working at the bakery as well. While this didn't cause us any great concern at first, when Track Record reported that Thorn had also disappeared soon after your arrival, we began to look more closely into him as well," Crumb Catcher explained, pulling out several documents to present to the council.

"Nopony named Thorite Hoof has appeared in our records, although we did find records of several mares with the name Thorite, the only stallion we could find was a thestral guard who died early on during Sombra's reign. As for his cutie mark, a blue vase, we've only found two cutie marks in our records that seemed to be a close match for his, both of whom had died long before Sombra had taken over.

"As for the other stallion, the last recorded name for a 'Thorn' was twenty years prior to Princess Amore's death. They were a ruva, grey fur and a thorny bush for a cutie mark, presumably dead when Sombra stormed the Ruva Kingdom a week after Princess Amore's death. As for his cutie mark, our closest record for a red rose was much older than our records for Thorn. With no more leads, we were forced to drop this investigation for more pressing matters.

"But, due to new factors, I can only assume that Thorite and Thorn are the same pony. What's more, we have reports that Thorite was seen using magic.

"After alluding the guards sent to question him at the bakery, two guards, High Tail and Scamper, saw him approaching the barrier. When they tried to confront him, Thorn galloped away from the barrier before turning down an alley. The guards reported that they saw a brief flash of light when they entered the alley, and when their vision cleared, he was gone."

"We had originally brushed this off as the light reflecting off of the crystal walls at an odd angle, but... I fear we may have been mistaken."

"It was Sombra," Emerald Secret finished, earning a nod from the blue stallion.

"It would appear so."

"Wait, couldn't that have been a changeling?" Star Burst intervened, earning a curious look from the crystal ponies.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I'm familiar with that term," Crumb Catcher said, gathering his papers back into the binders as he took his seat.

"Changelings, you know," Star Burst said with a roll of her hoof. "Those bug things that can make themselves look like ponies? Eat love? Foalnap ponies? Would probably love to be in an Empire dedicated to love?"

“I’ve never heard of that before,” Skeletor said as he passed a curious glance to the council members.

“I haven't either,” Avid Value said, a slight shiver running up his back as he pictured the odd beast.

“Nor have I,” Emerald added on. “But, if it’s real, then perhaps that could be related to Thorn and Thorite.”

"I don’t think we have to worry about that. That's not a changeling's M.O," Shining noted. "Changelings replace and infiltrate, they don't make up personas or work somewhere where ponies would look for them. Besides, I can't imagine a changeling coming all the way out here."

“Didn’t you say they eat love? What does that even mean?” Skeletor asked, his fingers tapping on the table as he added another concern onto his endless list.

“They drain the emotions from ponies they captured,” Princess Cadence explained. “But, nopony outside of the Empire even knows that there’s a kingdom inside the Frozen North. It’s just a myth to ponies today.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Avid Value interrupted. “I’m sorry, we’re a ‘myth’ now? What are you talking about? The Crystal Empire was the second largest pony empire in all of Equestria. Ponies just forgot about us?”

"It was an order by Princess Celestia,” Shining Armor stepped in. “She made sure that nopoy would end up throwing away their lives chasing a vague prophecy or from trying to loot the Empire. If it’s a myth and there’s nothing in the North, then nopony would try to get here. But, if she told ponies the truth, then there probably wouldn’t even be a chair left in the Empire when you came back.”

“Do ponies do that now?” Crumb Catcher asked with a raised brow. “I hate to sound like my father, but, back in my day grave robbing was considered a terrible sin.”

“Some ponies just don’t care,” Shining shrugged.

"I’m sorry, but can we get back to this whole ‘Thorite and Thorn’ thing?” Cadence asked. "I can't see what Sombra would get out of baking bread for ponies."

"Ah, apologies, your majesty. It wasn’t the bakery that interested him, but the stallion who owns it," Crumb Catcher explained. "Track Record was one of the first ponies to find the Crystal Heart in the tower. Because of this, Track Record has gained a small amount of respect among the ponies, and since he's the only pony who has a connection to Skeletor but isn't a council member, it could be that Sombra wanted to use Track Record to sway the public to go against Skeletor. As of now, we can only guess what his plan was."

"Okay, that makes sense. But, why would he disappear if that was the plan?"

"It's likely because of you," Skeletor guessed. "You threw a wrench into his plans. Instead of having to deal with one magic caster, he suddenly had to fight a unicorn and alicorn as well. It makes sense that he would turn tail and run. He’s likely thinking of a way to defeat us in the quickest way possible. No prolonged fights, just a quick attack so he can eliminate us in one swift move."

“What makes you so sure that that’s his plan?”

“Because that’s who he is. He hits first and he hits hard. It’s how he took out Princess Amore and it’s how he toppled the Ruva and Thestral Kingdom. The only reason I was able to beat him the first time is because he let down his guard, and ever since then he’s been stringing me and everyone else along with his plans.

"Thorn, Thorite, Sombra, or whatever he'll call himself next time, we'll be prepared for that spineless specter. And I know exactly how we’re going to do it," Skeletor announced, as he stood up from his seat and unsheathed his staff from its harness.

"We’re going to show this phantom that he's past his prime. Hit him with something he can't prepare for,” he elaborated as he presented his staff to the council. A green aura enveloped the golden horns of the ram skull, radiating with a mystical force as he lifted the binder into his grasp. "I've looked through every and any book on spells that I could find in the Royal Library, and one thing has become very clear to me. It's all outdated and full of theories and guesswork. If magic has progressed as far as I think it has, he won't be prepared for modern magic. He's an old soul living in the future," he explained, releasing the binder from his aura as he spoke.

"Something like a trivial levitation spell takes time and concentration. The same goes for a barrier spell or any other offensive or defensive spell that he'll know about. But, over the course of a thousand years, I'm sure that someone must have created a better and more efficient way to do it. We'll need someone knowledgeable in magic to go over the archives, see what spells were around when Sombra ruled and what spells came after. If there's anything, a better barrier, a different flame spell, even a party trick that wasn't around back then, we're going to throw it at him."

"I know what my sister will be doing then," Shining quietly joked, earning a light smile from Cadence.

"The next part of the plan is more difficult. We can hurt him but that won't be enough. We need something more permanent. And hopefully, that's where the Elements of Harmony will come in. Once Sombra is off guard and forced to retreat, we'll lead him straight to the Elements and destroy him."

“That... That might actually work,” Cadence said, before she started to pick at a particular flaw in Skeletor’s plan. But we can't be certain that he doesn't know about the Elements of Harmony coming here or that he's unprepared for them. And, even if he’s not, they can’t kill him. The Elements of Harmony have only banished and purified in the past," Cadence explained. "With Luna, she was banished to the moon and then the Nightmare was cleansed from her. And before that, when Eris was hit she was encased in stone."

"Hold on! Princess Luna was what?!" Avid Value exclaimed, earning everyone’s full attention. “What do you mean she was banished to the moon?!”

“Is that why the night sky looks so ghastly now,” Crumb Catcher asked, as Cadence stood to address their concerns.

“No, the-the sky is a different thing. Don’t worry, Aunt Luna is fine. She was possessed by a demon and—”

"A demon?!" Emerald gasped. "But... That-that can't... You said she was fine! That she was with Princess Celestia in Canter City!"

"She is! Now!” Cadence defended. “Look, a lot of things happened after the Empire disappeared.”

“Like what? Did Eris break out of her statue?” Avid jabbed, only to be met with an uncomfortable silence from the royals and their guards. “Oh sweet Faust...”

Heavy silence fell onto every pony and creature in the room, the sudden revelations weighing heavily on their minds as they let their imaginations run wild with their fears.

Skeletor hadn’t heard of the changelings before, but he had read a good deal about Eris. A goddess of pure chaos, a mad queen who could twist reality to her mad desires. She was the one creature he knew that was worse than Sombra, a monster who had no empathy for any victim that laid in her path.

To not only hear that one of their deities had fallen to temptation, but that a genuine goddess of chaos had also been set loose on the world, it truly sounded like the worst possible outcome.

As Skeletor and the others quietly thought about Cadence’s words, Crumb Catcher had apparently decided to interrupt their deep thoughts with a gentle cough.

"I... I think it would be best if we proposed a break for the time being," Crumb Catcher announced, standing up from his seat to speak to the royal pair. "We've just learned that not only has Sombra returned and been around for far longer than any of us would like to imagine, but we've also heard something... rather disturbing about these 'changelings', our Empire, and about Princess Luna... Eris. I believe it would be in everyponies best interest if we took an hour or so to digest all of this."

“... Alright,” Cadence quietly agreed, stepping off of her raised cushions as she spoke. “The meeting is temporarily adjourned. We’ll reconvene in an hour’s time. All in favor?”

Not a single voice raised an objection to her question, easily going along with Crumb Catcher’s suggestion as they raised their forelegs and hand respectively.

“Alright. Rest well, everypony. I’ll see you all in an hour,” Cadence said, trotting out of the room with Shining and the guards falling in line behind her.

As everypony else left to gather their thoughts, Skeletor was left alone to deal with the implications of their recent revelations.

He idly wondered about what other monsters had appeared outside the Empire. The creatures that stalked the country, the cruel tyrants who could scare Sombra, and all the other mysteries that could someday wander into their Empire.

But none of those thoughts worried him. Instead, his greatest concern was his own feeling towards the vast unknown that lurked outside the Empire.

That strange sense of glee and anticipation fluttering inside his heart.

Chapter 46. The Ghost of Christmas Past.

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Skeletor swiftly strode through the heavy snow, each step carrying him closer to the cliff side as he assessed his surroundings.

The white wasteland below disappeared into the horizon, stretching on for miles of snow without any distinguishable landmarks in sight. Without anything to guide him, Skeletor would be walking blindly through the vast tundra, forced to pick a direction at random and hope that it wouldn’t take him farther away from civilization.

The only solace Skeletor could find was knowing that if he was lost, then he was also lost somewhere in there.

Letting that thought comfort him, Skeletor looked down the mountain to access the best route to take. The mountain didn't look too steep, but they would certainly need to take their time if they didn't want to end up sliding down the snowy path.

“We have a long walk ahead of us,” he grumbled, starting the arduous trek that laid before him when he suddenly heard a light whimper from behind.

Skeletor felt nothing but annoyance as he glanced back at his prisoners, two earth children and a strange blue dog, each one shivering as they dragged their feet through the snow behind him.

“I-I-I d-don’t think we can ma-ma-ma-move,” the boy complained.

“It’s awfully c-cold,” the girl added on, as a gust of wind suddenly blew past the two.

The children quickly huddled for warmth as their small dog whimpered. Its little legs struggled in the snow as it tried to walk towards the young pair, falling deeper into the snow with every pitiful attempt.

“I said move. Move it!” Skeletor shouted, turning away as he began his descent down the mountain. He would have left the two to freeze to death if it weren’t for the boy’s pleas.

“Please mister, be nice! It’s Christmas time.”

“Christmas time? What’s that?” He asked in faux interest, letting the two children hold on to some hope for his sympathy.

“It’s a season of love and joy.”

“And caring,” the girl tacked on, clasping her hands to continue her speech before the cold winds finally took ahold of her. Her body falling like a limp doll as she sunk into the snow.

Her older brother tried to save her, grabbing onto the girl’s sleeves as he desperately pulled her up. Skeletor felt unconcerned for the pair, deciding to taunt the pair as the boy tried to carry his sister.

“Is that what Christmas is? No wonder Horde-Prime wants to get rid of it. A season of love? Caring? Joy? Eeyuch! What a disgusting idea,” Skeletor mocked as he planted his staff in the snow as he folded his arms. “Well, there’s no Christmas spirit here. Now get moving you two, before Hordak comes back!”

“I-I’m sorry mister, but we’re so cold,” the boy sniffled as he struggled to hold his sister.

“So you’re cold, eh?” He joked before the distant sound of an engine roared in the sky.

Hordak would be back soon if they didn't start walking again, and there was no way the small boy could carry his useless sister. If he didn’t act fast, Hordak would take the children to Horde-Prime first.

Just like when he took Adora.

“… Oh, blast it!” He cursed, raising a finger at the two as he shot them with a beam of magic.

A simple tailoring spell was all the two ungrateful children needed, covering them both in pair of thick fur coats with nothing more than a flick of his finger. The measly party trick was enough to encourage the two whining brats to follow him.

“Oh! I’m warm again,” the girl cheered.

And I’m annoyed again, Skeletor bitterly thought.

“Thank you mister Skeletor, you’re very kind.”

“Kind? Never use that word around me! Now get moving!" He yelled, taking his staff back into his hand as he ordered the two to march ahead of him.

The two children obediently shuffled through the snow without any more complaints, at least until they heard the whimpers of their pesky little dog.

“Oh wait, I have to get Relay!” The girl said as she tried to run back to her pitiful pup.

“No. Leave him," Skeletor ordered.

“But he’ll freeze! We have too!”

“I said leave him. Now move,” he barked, pointing at the path for them to follow as they marched along.

As they trudged through the snow in their new winter appeal, the sound of their pet’s desperate struggles filled the air behind them, causing the girl to turn back and plead with Skeletor once more.

“Please!” The girl begged, her eyes swelling with tears as she gazed into his skull.

Skeletor would normally never bargain with a crying child, but the thought of them complaining more as they walked was far too annoying for him to handle.

“Oooooh. Blast it,” he cursed, walking away from the frost-bitten brats as he gently picked up the shivering puppy.

A tinge of remorse stirred his blackened heart as he held the dog, it’s innocent and dumb eyes staring up at him with a comforting warmth.

“I don’t know what’s coming over me. But whatever it is, I don’t like it,” he complained.

Not content with how much it had already annoyed him, the pooch planted its paws on his chest and began to happily lap at his jaw bone.

“Euck! Stop licking my face you dratted dog!”

“It was nice of you to save Relay, mister Skeletor,” the little girl cheered, causing the rotten ruler to snap at her with a shrill shout.

“I am not nice!”

“And neither am I,” a thunderous voice bellowed in the wind.

Skeletor suddenly stopped in his tracks, turning to look for whatever creature had spoken. There wasn't a soul in sight behind them, and their footprints were the only ones that marred the pristine snow around them.

"Who's there?"

"A phantom of Skeletor's past," the voice answered. "I was there at his birth and at his end. Now, I am here to witness what comes after his fate."

Skeletor looked around them, searching for whoever had dared to catch them off guard, only met with the vast landscape around him.

Holding on to Relay as he raised his staff towards the wind, Skeletor took a step back as he called out to his prisoners. "Children, quick! Get behind me!"

He was prepared to hear the children's cries, the sound of their boots rushing through the snow as they huddled closer, or even the sound of stifled breathing. But, Skeletor didn't hear any of that.

He could only hear the wind rushing around him.

Skeletor quickly turned back to the children, hoping that his paranoia had just gotten the better of him. But, to his absolute horror, the children were gone.

“Children? Children, where did you go? Get back here!”

“Do not chase his memories,” the voice bellowed as Skeletor followed the footprints back up the mountain. "Those children are gone, in a place you long to be."

"Children! Girl! Boy!?"

"You must stop," the mysterious voice continued. “You cannot fall deeper. I can feel your presence fade with each day, usurper."

"Shut up! I need to find them!"

"You will only find despair."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Skeletor continued to cry out, finally reaching the peak of the mountain where they had started. "Where are they?! Children!"

"They are gone, nothing but a distant memory. A memory you have foolishly adopted. Again."

As the voice berated Skeletor, the undead king began to notice the canine convulsing in his arms. Relay's bright blue coat slowly faded into a swampy green, its fluffy fur becoming dry and brittle as clumps of hair were carried away by the wind.

"You must not fall deeper."

The fait sound of bones breaking assaulted Skeletor's ears as a pair of dull horns suddenly popped out of the dog's skull, its fur and skin painted in a green ooze that seeped down Skeletor's arms.

Relay's rotting face contorted into a hateful sneer, its hollow eyes staring up at him with a familiar crimson glow.

Before Skeletor could scream or react in any way, the beast barked one final command.

"Wake up!"

"Nooo!" Skeletor screamed as he leapt from his bed, tossing his blankets aside as his eyes flew around the room.

A shadow flew at the edge of blurry vision as he yelled, seemingly disappearing into the darkness the moment his eyes caught it.

With his heart still racing from panic, Skeletor tossed his blankets aside and scrambled for his staff. The ram’s horns followed his gaze as he quickly swept the room, desperate to find the monster that was living at the edge of his memory.

His ragged breath and racing heart began to slow down as he looked at the dimly lit walls, his eyes finally falling on the curtains as they shifted with the wind. Skeletor watched as the shadows began to stretch and morph with the curtain, feeling relieved as he thought that early sunrise had been playing tricks on his groggy mind.

Skeletor let his staff fall comfortably to his side, taking a deep breath as he sat back down on the bed. The faint memories of his dream had been discarded, letting him crawl back into the lucid world as he came back to his senses.

It was just a dream, Skeletor reminded himself, letting a hand rest on his face as he laid back down.

His thumb briefly trailed the fractures of his skull, sliding up and down the crevices while he collected his thoughts. His mind wandered back to the meeting he had with the council and the royals, reminding him of the plans they had made for later that day.

The guards would need to prepare a path for the pegasi to land their carriages, and the council would need to be gathered to greet the Elements of Harmony at the crystal pony palace where the majority of their guards would be staying.

The crystal pony palace was the only castle of the three kingdoms to still be left standing in the Empire, no more than five miles away from the Crystal Castle that rested in the heart of the Empire. Though their names may have been similar, they served two distinctive purposes in the Empire. The smaller castle would be used for the representative or the head of the Crystal Pony Kingdom whenever they were needed in the Empire, either for formal events or personal meetings with Princess Amore. However, the crystal pony palace had been all but abandoned since Sombra’s reign, and its sister castles laid to rubble when Sombra took over the majority of the Empire.

The crystal pony palace had been used to house some of the ponies who had lost their homes, but it still had plenty of room for the earth ponies and pegasi who were coming from Equestria. The doctors and unicorns would be separated into the Crystal Castle, the former would be assigned to the Medical Wing of the castle and preform duties in the Alchemy Tower while the unicorn guards would scour the Crystal Castle for any enchantments or spells left by Sombra.

Cadence and Shinning Armor had planned it all out without any argument from the council or Skeletor, not that Skeletor even felt like he could raise any objection to their decisions. In the eyes of the Empire he held no real authority or power, at most he was just a Lord without a title, an issue that Crumb Catcher had decided to raise during the meeting as well.

If all had gone well and Sombra was finally defeated, Skeletor would be given a fief and the title of Duke from the Brag family. Although Skeletor wasn’t familiar with the term fief or understood most of Crumb Catcher’s suggestion, he was able to pick up on a few essential details. The first being that Skeletor would finally get his own home, a place that once belonged to sir Humble Brag, a Thestral Noble whose entire family had served Princess Amore faithfully for generations before their eventual demise. In order for Skeletor to gain the title that Humble Brag’s family had, he would be “adopted” into the family and be given all the privileges of a high ranking noble.

Though Skeletor appreciated the offer, in truth he didn’t care for it. Rather than living in the Thestral Kingdom he would have preferred living in Canterlot or somewhere else in Equestria. If he could, then hopefully he would have more time to meet Crystal and ask her about how she got to Terra, if she still had memories of Earth, if she even remembered her own name or face. If she didn’t, then what was she like? Was she still a human with a normal face, or was she trapped in a hideous body like him?

He longed to meet someone like him, an alien trapped in an alien world who could guide him through their odd new home, at least until they found a way back to their own kind.

Skeletor let another weary sigh pass his jaws as he peaked past his fingers, staring at the ceiling as his mind wandered back to the present.

He was far too awake to return to the comforting call of his bed, but he guessed that it was also far too early to start his day either.

Slowly Skeletor rose back up from his bed as he began his routine, deciding to take an early stroll through the tunnels as they prepared for their guests to arrive.

Soon, they’d finally be able to lay the dead king to rest, and Skeletor could stop worrying about the monster that lurked in their shadows.

He couldn’t wait to finally have some peace of mind.

Colonel Kernel couldn’t wait to finally give Crumb Catcher a piece of his mind.

He marched through the halls with a clear purpose in mind, to grab that blue bastard by the barrel and toss him out of the nearest window. The colonel was livid with what he had heard from the other guards.

After taking the initiative to find the Spearhead and the others in town, he got a clearer picture than the one that Rookie had given him in the dining hall. At first, they were all tight lipped about their mission, simply saying that the general had reassigned the team halfway through and gone back out with a different group of guards. Of course, none of them knew who he went with or why, and none of them had let anything slip.

However, after a little bit of pressing, Colonel Kernel finally got something out of Archer. The guards had returned early due to being ill prepared to face some odd breed of wolves that were lurking around the trail to the Ruva Kingdom. While most of the guards had returned to their quarters after Skeletor announced his abdication, Cannon Fodder had decided to go to Crumb Catcher to get some answers about Skeletor’s announcement. After that, none of them saw him again, and Crumb Catcher personally met each of them and ordered them to stay out of the Crystal Castle, “Under Lord Skeletor’s command.”

And so, after getting all of the details he could from Archer, he proceeded to trot back to the Crystal Castle to confront Crumb Catcher.

Passing by the many portraits of Princess Amore, Colonel Kernel quietly counted them in his mind until he found the seventeenth painting. After taking a moment to make sure that nopony else was around, he discretely nudged the frame to the side, squeezing into a small gap as the portrait closed behind him.

He carefully trotted through the secret passageways, doing his best to not get turned around or bump into any of the maids as he made his way to Crumb Catcher’s office. The hidden halls varied greatly in size, from rooms large enough for two ponies to cart along food or other items, to burrows that felt far too snug for the colonel to sneak through.

It was a maze designed to turn around anypony who would stumble upon it, while also allowing the maids and guards to go anywhere in the Crystal Castle without being seen or heard. While it was mainly used by the maids and staff to reach rooms without being seen in the main corridors, the passageways also served a separate purpose for the Royal Spy Master, allowing him to meet and call upon ponies in secret to gather information and deliver orders. Colonel Kernel had only heard rumors of them before his sudden promotion, stories about regular ponies or new guards who had gotten lost in the winding halls, or legends about strange noises that echoed behind the walls.

While he couldn’t say if anypony had starved in the walls or if anything else had happened in those halls, he did know that one particular rumor was true.

There were stories about a room that only thestrals could use, a place that sat directly above the Throne Room where guards had been stationed to watch from above during court. It was called the Guard’s Nest by some, but to the guards it was commonly referred to as the Brain of the Empire, a place where the royal spy master would do their duties to defend the crown and keep order in the Empire.

For a brief time, the spy master’s quarters had been converted into a secret base for the thestrals to launch an attack against Sombra, taking refuge in a room that they had believed was out of his grasp. Although Colonel Kernel didn’t know what happened during their short resistance, he knew the inevitable outcome, and sent a silent prayer to Faust as he thought of those brave ponies.

Though they had died tragically, they had all lived on as legends in the guard, heroes who refused to abandon the Empire, unlike those who had flown to Dream Valley early on during Sombra’s rise to power.

Sombra. The very thought of the tyrant made Colonel Kernel’s fur stand on edge. Though the colonel wasn’t present for either meeting with Skeletor and the rest of the council, Avid Value had taken it upon himself to catch Colonel Kernel up to speed on the events that transpired the day before. The Royal Banker had made sure to give Colonel Kernel a seat before disclosing the secrets that he had learned.

Not only had Sombra found a way to cheat death, but apparently the world outside of the Empire had also changed severely in the four thousand years that it had been missing. Eris had returned, Princess Luna was banished to her own moon, and there was some horrible species that could eat love and steal a pony’s appearance.

Before he could let his mind wander any deeper into his imagination, Colonel Kernel eventually found the final passageway that led directly to Crumb Catcher’s office.

The once grandiose and large doors that blocked off the office had disappeared long ago, only leaving a small makeshift wall and door in their place for the purposes of privacy. The simple wooden door and walls had gone unguarded, relying on the confusing tunnels to keep any possible intruders at bay.

From above the short wooden walls, he could see the thestral tunnels that littered the ceiling of the room, each one covered with rusted irons bars that were out of anyponies reach. Sombra had likely locked them when he managed to storm the room centuries ago, stopping anypony else from getting into the castle through the tunnels.

The Empire’s last stand, he briefly reminisced, remembering the bitter defeat that they had all felt when Star Shine and her guards had been dragged before Sombra. Although he had only seen the prior spy master once from afar, he still felt like he knew her, he respected the mare who fought hoof and tail against the mad king. But her predecessor, the stallion who had spat on her legacy by lying and manipulating everypony, the pony who would bow to Sombra if given the chance, Colonel Kernel could never respect him.

Without any further delay, Colonel Kernel quickly shoved the door open and made his way to Crumb Catcher’s desk. The spy master refused to take his eyes away from his work as he called out. "Colonel, how good it is to see you again."

"Cut the Yak shit, Crumb. I want answers!" Colonel Kernel shouted, trotting up to the desk and slamming his hooves onto the table.

The spy master didn't seem outwardly phased, only offering a bored glance at the colonel as he neatly tucked away the loose papers.

"About what, specifically?"

“Cannon. Fodder,” Colonel Kernel growled, doing his best to try and intimidate the blue stallion.

“The general? Hm, I suppose it was a matter of time before you came to me about that,” Crumb Catcher noted, cleaning up the rest of his work as he gave the colonel his full and undivided attention. “I take it you’re not happy with me locking him in the dungeon then?”

Colonel Kernel felt his anger slip for a moment at Crumb Catcher’s sudden confession, before he quickly regained it with a single word. “What?!” He roared, causing the royal spy master to look genuinely surprised.

“Oh, I would have thought that you would have investigated that before coming to see me. My mistake then. So, what are you here for?”

“Why was Cannon Fodder locked in the dungeon?!” Colonel Kernel pressed, ignoring Crumb Catcher’s question entirely.

“Well I would think that was the obvious part. Don’t you recall? I already told you that the general was plotting against Lord Skeletor in the past. He left me with no other choice but to detain him.”

“And when did that happen?”

“The day he came back from the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom,” Crumb Catcher easily answered, leaning back into his chair as he continued on. “I actually meant to tell you about that, but I thought it would be best to wait for a more appropriate time, considering how... upset you were when we were speaking that night.”

“‘That night?’” Colonel Kernel repeated, his anger subsiding as realization suddenly struck him. “The dungeons. That’s why you wanted me down there? To show off that you locked him up?”

“No, no, not at all. I’m not a stallion who likes to gloat. I actually brought you there for a different concern. Speaking of which, would you like a seat? Perhaps a drink?” He offered, earning a silent glare from the grey stallion. “If you would like to interrogate me or hit me, then could you at least be civil and listen to what I have to say first?”

Colonel Kernel stared down at the stallion for around another minute, finally flopping onto the pillow on his side of the desk as he barked a simple order. “Talk.”

“Well... I suppose I should start at the beginning. Before Cannon Fodder had been assigned to join the expedition team to the Ruva Kingdom, he had already been secretly plotting against Lord Skeletor. I found out about his plans early on and I knew that it would only turn out poorly if it was left completely in his hooves. At the time I did agree with the general somewhat, I believed that if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were alive then they would be less than pleased to see him on the throne, but there was no way Cannon Fodder could kill Skeletor.

“Any attempt on his life would risk the lives of everypony in the Empire, so I took control of his plans. After some time, I realized that Skeletor wasn’t the monster Cannon Fodder believed he was, but there was no way to tell if the princesses would agree, so I began to play both sides. I helped the general with his plans while also working on ideas to keep Skeletor in power, or at the very least endear him to the princesses. If it weren’t for Princess Cadence and her consort, I may have eventually carried out Cannon Fodder’s plans.”

“You really would have, wouldn’t you?” Colonel Kernel interrupted.

“Of course. I would do anything within my power to help the Empire, colonel.”

“Even though you’d stab Skeletor in the back?”

“Yes. But, that was then, and I have changed my view on him quite a bit. After all, he abdicated the throne willingly. Nopony except the Princess had asked him to, and every guard and maid present spoke against her, even Avid Value stood opposed to her demand. But Skeletor understood, just as I do, that the Empire is bigger than us, that the only thing that matters is that the Empire still stands,” Crumb Catcher said, a small smile decorating his muzzle as he thought back to that night. “I’ll admit, I respected him greatly at that moment.

“And so, with his abdication and the princess revealing herself to be Princess Amore’s late descendant, I had no choice but to change my plans. Sadly, I didn’t have any time to prepare since General Cannon Fodder had also returned early. If he was just gone for another week or so then I’m sure I would have thought of something that could have been better for everypony,” Crumb Catcher lamented, dropping his confident and controlled demeanor as he stared at the desk.

“I couldn’t let him hurt Skeletor at such a sensitive time. The crystal ponies would undoubtably blame Princess Cadence for it and the Empire would be thrown into a civil war. Not to mention, if I let him walk freely, I feared that word of our plans would reach either Skeletor or the princess. So... admittedly, I may have panicked and had him quickly escorted to the dungeons. Although you may not believe me, I did want to let him go eventually, but only after he had proven to me that he could be reasoned with.”

“And if you thought he couldn’t?” Colonel Kernel challenged, folding his forelegs as he glared at Cannon’s co-conspirator.

“Simple, I’d report him to Skeletor or Princess Cadence, but only after doing some cleaning of my own, of course,” he admitted, “It wouldn’t do me any favors if he tried to drag me down as his accomplice, after all. So, I took the time to convince Purity Flame to side with me, found guards who held a firm loyalty to Skeletor, and created a story that would paint him as the soul conspirator.”

“And you’d just let Skeletor or the princess do whatever they wanted, right? Just throw Cannon under the carriage and let him take all the blame?”

“While I wouldn’t phrase it that way, I'll admit that I would pin the blame on him, but at the same time I would argue for a lighter punishment. I would have said that he was suffering from wild delusions, or that he wasn’t in his proper mind, anything to get him put in the Medical Wing instead of the dungeons. If everything went well, the general could quietly retire and I could find somepony more agreeable to fill his spot on the Council. Of course, that was only if he could sit quietly in his cell.”

“Okay, so what now? You’re going to let him rot in there until he just gives up and agrees to work with you?”

“That... that may not be possible anymore,” Crumb Catcher conceded, earning a snort from Colonel Kernel.

“Yeah, no kidding. I know I wouldn’t be happy being locked up down there.”

“No, I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” the spy master corrected. “The issue before was that he was unwilling to cooperate with me. But now, things are considerably worse. I didn’t bring you to the dungeon that night to show you Cannon Fodder, I brought you down there to show you where he should have been.”

“‘Should?’” Colonel Kernel parroted.

“Yes. You see, colonel, General Cannon Fodder managed to escape from his cell the night Lord Skeletor was attacked,” Crumb Catcher revealed.

Silence washed over the room as Colonel Kernel processed what the royal spy master had said. His general had not only been plotting against Skeletor, but he had also escaped the same night that Skeletor was attacked.

The same night the Heart went missing. He realized, choosing to voice his concerns with the spy master.

“You realize what this means, right?” Colonel Kernel pressed. “If Cannon Fodder escaped then he must have—”

“That’s impossible,” Crumb Catcher quickly denied.

“But—”

“I know what you’re thinking, and it’s merely a coincidence.”

“How do you know?”

“Because Cannon Fodder isn’t a ruva or a unicorn,” Crumb Catcher reasoned. “Skeletor was attacked with magic, the guards that were stationed around the Heart had a large lapse in memory, and we have at least one or two unaccounted ponies in the Empire who may use magic. The general couldn’t do any of that, he’s just a normal stallion. The only pony capable of doing that is Sombra, and there is no way that the general would ever work with somepony like him.

“And, while I did briefly consider the possibility that Cannon Fodder was mind controlled or enslaved again, it wouldn’t make sense to target him,” Crumb Catcher reasoned. “He was in a dungeon, and you were taking care of all of his duties for the time being. If he had wanted to cripple the Empire then it would only stand to reason that he would possess either Emerald Secret or myself. Besides, I’ve spent several nights trying to find out where Cannon Fodder went and what he did afterwards. And so far, I’ve found nothing.”

“But this can’t be a coincidence,” Kernel continued to argue. “How did he even get out? Did a guard help him? Did he have a key?”

“I don’t know and it has to be a coincidence,” Crumb Catcher countered. “I understand what you’re thinking, but it’s impossible. The only culprit that it could be is Sombra, and Cannon Fodder could not have been involved, because if he did anything to help him then it’s inevitable that Princess Cadence and Skeletor will find out about what I’ve done.”

“So, you’re just not going to tell them because you’re scared then?” Colonel Kernel accused, standing up from his seat to look down at the blue stallion. “I can’t believe you. You talk about the Empire’s needs, about how you’d do anything for it, but you won’t tell them the truth.”

“Because the truth will not help,” Crumb Catcher argued, standing to meet the colonel face to face as he explained. “If I had anything to say that Cannon Fodder was responsible, then I would tell them, but we have nothing. As far as I can tell, the general stole some supplies and trotted off into the storm to get to the Ruva Kingdom by hoof. He is nothing but a distraction, somepony for us to point the hoof at as Sombra watches from afar. That is all Cannon Fodder is, a distraction, a scapegoat, a waste of time,” he stated, trotting around the table to pull out his folders on the mysterious ponies who had disappeared inside the Empire.

“The only pony capable of doing this is Sombra, and we know that he has the ability to take the form if ponies he’s created,” Crumb Catcher argued, pressing the folder into Colonel Kernels barrel as he explained. “If you don’t believe me, then read my reports. If Sombra was truly trying to gain Track Record’s trust, then that tells us that he can’t simply possess a pony or enslave them like he used to, otherwise Track Record would be nothing but a puppet for Sombra to wield at his command.

“So, it wouldn’t make sense for him to suddenly use magic to control Cannon Fodder and take the Heart,” Crumb Catcher reasoned, letting the papers fall into Colonel Kernel’s hooves as he returned to his seat behind the desk.

Colonel Kernel stood there for a brief moment, feeling the weight of the documents in his hooves. While they were by no means heavy, they were certainly thick. He skimmed the pages briefly, looking at the family trees and records that decorated a few pages, reading eye witness testimonies from guards and civilians, rotation shifts in the dungeons and for the Crystal Heart’s guards, and even a loose sheet of theories and ideas that were littered with random scribbles.

“Part of me wishes he did do it,” Crumb Cather quietly revealed, earning Colonel Kernels attention as he stared at the desk. “If he did it would be so much easier. I’d bite the bridle and admit my mistake, tell the Princess that it was Cannon Fodder who took the Heart, maybe try to worm my way back into her good graces by telling her about everything I’ve done for the Empire. How I helped Skeletor from the shadows, kept peace in the kingdom, watched over ponies from afar. I’m not sure if it would work, but I would try.

“But things aren’t that easy, colonel. If I could point the hoof at Cannon Fodder and say in good conscious ‘He did it’ then I would. But, as I’ve already said, it’s not that easy. He is a distraction, and our real enemy is Sombra. And I need your help, colonel.”

The spy master beckoned Colonel Kernel over with a nod to the pillow, before he went into his desk and retrieved a bottle of wine with two glasses. “You know Kernel, you remind me of myself in a lot of ways.

"You, a stallion destined for field work and an honest life, pushed by your father to join the guard because he was convinced that the shovel on your flank was actually a spear. And me, a pony who adores the spotlight, forced to work behind the scenes as everypony else gets the glory, all because of one stupid stallion.”

The spy master poured a glass for each of them, pushing the drink towards Colonel Kernel as Crumb Catcher began to sniff his own glass.

“I uh... I don’t drink,” Colonel Kernel said awkwardly, only to be met by a bemused laugh.

“Neither do I. Another similarity I suppose. But, Star Shine had this bottle when it was fifty years old, and now it’s well over four thousand years old. Why let it sit for another century or so when we can drink to a new alliance?”

“... What are you proposing exactly?” The colonel cautiously asked.

“A partnership, one where I’m much more open with you, Kernel. I know you don’t trust me, but I hope you know how much I trust you. Why, if you went to Princess Cadence or Skeletor right now, I’d be completely vulnerable. You could tell them everything I’ve said and I’d have nothing to refute you with. So, I’m hoping you can humor me with what I’m about to suggest,” Crumb Catcher said, letting his glass swirl in his hoof as he chose his next words carefully.

“I need somepony to keep a look out for Cannon Fodder, should he come back. I’m far too busy with my own projects, preparing for the Elements and their guests, working with Avid to adjust the budget, not to mention keeping my spy network clean of any... impurities. I’m being pulled in several directions, and Cannon Fodder isn’t high on my list of priorities.

“But, if he comes back, I need somepony who can catch him. A guard who can at least reason with him, or even apprehend him should it come to that. And I believe you are the only stallion I can trust with that. Although you may not trust me, I need you to listen to my next words carefully.

“Sombra is our enemy. Going to Princess Cadence or Skeletor will only create more problems, and I’m the only stallion capable of keeping order as the spy master. Sombra wants us to fight each other, to be distracted when he comes back to take the throne. So pease, Kernel, please keep this a secret from everypony,” he pleaded, letting the whistling wind of the tunnels above fill the air as they both fell into an uncomfortable silence.

Colonel Kernel hesitantly accepted the offered glass, giving it an experimental sniff before recoiling at the smell. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Crumb Catcher's glass was raised in a silent toast, waiting for the colonel to join him and accept his invitation into their uneasy alliance. After giving it a brief thought, Colonel Kernel clinked his glass against Crumb's, letting the spy master slip back into his seat as he drank.

"To new beginnings," Crumb Catcher offered.

"To the Empire," Colonel Kernel countered as he finally took a sip of his own glass before retching from the taste.

He couldn't help but steal a glance at Crumb Catcher as he drank, letting a single thought play in his mind as he tried to wash the taste out of his mouth.

What a liar.

While Crumb Catcher and Colonel Kernel's alliance began to take shape, another pair of ponies were drawing closer to their final destination.

It had taken far longer than he or Princess Amore had hoped, but General Cannon Fodder could finally see the faint outline of the Ruva kingdom in the distance. Although he could only make out a faint silhouette of the kingdom through the storm, he could still see the heavy damage that it had suffered. The once sprawling towers and opulent spires that had decorated the city had all either toppled or were leaning at odd angles. He briefly remembered the time that Sombra had commanded him and the other crystal ponies to seize the kingdom, how the ruva had torn through those unfortunate enough to be on the front lines.

Cannon Fodder felt pity for the innocent souls who were killed in the first days of their march on the kingdom, but after being controlled by Sombra for years after that, he slowly began to envy them. They were able to die a quick death to a flame spell or a telekinetic blast, while the truly unfortunate ponies had to hunt and kill any pony who stood in their way.

If it weren't for the strange black stones that Sombra was able to summon, his enslaved army may have been completely wiped out by the Ruva Kingdom. Cannon Fodder never understood how Sombra had done it, but he had managed to create a spell that could seal a pony's magic when they were hit with his obsidian spikes. The ruva, unaccustomed to fighting without their magic, fell easily once Sombra joined the battle field.

All that remained of them were the ruins of their kingdom. The king, the nobles, the young, and the old, each had been gathered and sacrificed to the pits that they were forced to dig.

Sombra never took the ruva as his slaves, and the few he did were often used for his own twisted entertainment, tools to be tossed aside and sacrificed when he would inevitably get bored with them.

Now he had returned, not as a slave of Sombra forced to slaughter the innocent, but as a knight of Princess Amore on a mission to liberate the Crystal Empire from its new tyrant.

Even with his new mission in mind, he could never forget the sins he had committed under Sombra's influence. The foals he had personally carried into the center of town, the innocent thestrals he had hunted down, and the few crystal ponies who had evaded Sombra's control. They had all died by Cannon's hooves, even if they weren't his own at the time.

Cannon Fodder didn't have much time to remember those dark times, as a distant howl reminded him of the monsters that roamed the Frozen North. Packs of hairless wolves had blocked the quickest routes to the Ruva Kingdom, leaving him with little choice but to walk around the packs’ hunting grounds.

Finding his second wind as the howls seemed to draw closer, Cannon Fodder trotted through the snow with only one plan in mind. Survive.

What came next would be left in Princess Amore's hooves, and although her plan had greatly disturbed him, she had said it was the only way. They would rely on the same sickening tools that Sombra had used during his reign, turning them against Skeletor and any demon spawn he would call upon. While he trusted Princess Amore's decisions, he felt wrong using the pits to their advantage.

They had caused so much pain and grief during Sombra's reign, and to use them once more felt like a slight against all those who had died trying to close them.

Still, Princess Amore had never led them astray when she was alive, who was Cannon Fodder to question her when she was still leading them even in death? With that thought keeping his faith firm, he pushed past his own weaknesses and resolved himself to their mission. It would be painful, ugly, possibly unforgivable, but it had to be done.

He trotted closer to the edge of the kingdom, the faint smell of sulfur stinging his nose as he trotted along until he finally passed by a familiar pit on the outskirts of the town.

It wasn't a particularly large hole, at least compared to the others that he had seen during his enslavement. Judging from its size and how far away it was from the heart of the kingdom, Cannon could only guess that it was quickly dug by some slaves who had caught some runaway ruvas who had managed to slip out of the kingdom. The rising heat kissed his fur, letting him know that it had been "filled" with enough ponies.

He could still remember the cries that had emerged from the pits. Those sick and twisted pleas that turned into sadistic glee.

"General," Princess Amore called out, stirring Cannon Fodder from his thoughts as he looked back at the apparition. "I know the pit is warm, general, but we must press onward."

"I... I wasn't," he tried to speak, his words dying in his throat as he felt the heat caress his fur. He didn't stop to get warm, he wouldn't use them for that. He wouldn't dishonor all the ponies who died like that. But, nothing came out of his mouth except a simple, "Sorry, your majesty," as he trotted deeper into the kingdom.

He didn't bother to look at the buildings or the streets, he had already seen them all years ago when the kingdom was conquered. If he looked he would only remember the past, the faces, the cries, the pleas.

Those things, he shuddered, blocking out the memory as he pushed onward.

He took solace in the fact that they would rest before executing Princess Amore's plans, taking refuge in one of the Alchemy Towers before they would have to go to the center of the town.

"This way, general," The alicorn apparition called out, guiding the general down the back streets of the kingdom.

"Um... Your majesty, h-how exactly are we going to... do this?" Cannon Fodder hesitantly asked, his own curiosity besting his usually rigid and calm exterior.

"What do you mean, my dear?"

"I... I mean the pits, your majesty. O-only Sombra could use those."

"He did, but I have had a long time to study as well. Now, I can preform the same ritual to use them. Of course, I'm going to need your help as well, general."

"... Okay," Cannon Fodder quietly agreed as he kept his head down.

"Don't worry. Once Skeletor is dealt with, we can then set all of those poor souls free from their prisons. They will thank you," she promised, guiding him to the doorstep of a small spire. "And now we begin. After you, my general."

Heeding his princess' command, Cannon Fodder trotted up the stairs and hesitantly opened the door, it's old and squeaky hinges nearly falling off the frame as the door slowly swung inside. He had seen several opulent and well decorated towers during his service in the Ruva Kingdom, the copper platter frames and bronze decorations, but the room before him was nearly barren. It was filled with heavy tomes at the entrance of the tower, all of them were laid out the floor instead of the shelves where they should have stayed.

It felt more akin to an archive than an Alchemy Tower, but Cannon Fodder didn't question it much. His princess had brought him to this specific tower for a reason, and he would put his faith in her.

"Mind the mess, general, it is nothing but a distraction," her majesty revealed, flying over the mess and towards the staircase that disappeared behind the round fireplace. "What we seek rests at the top of this spire. Come quickly, general."

Cannon Fodder followed her command without any delay, briskly trotting up the stairs as he followed her ascent. As the two quickly moved up the tower, Cannon Fodder noticed several old and worn paintings that decorated the halls. There were family portraits of dark grey ruvas with equally dark manes. He hadn't paid them much mind at first until the third floor where a certain portrait caught his eye.

Inside the small portrait was a foal with their familiar grey fur, a black mane that could disappear into the night, and the familiar crimson eyes of a tyrant.

"General?" Princess Amore called again, stealing his attention away from the painting. "We mustn't delay any longer. Hurry now, we're almost there."

"Princess... Is this..." He tried to ask, his words once more dying in his throat as she looked back at him.

"My loyal knight, I think you know even without having to ask," his princess said as she began to float down towards him. "General, do you know the rumors of the ruvas?"

"Um... Which ones, ma'am?"

“The stories crystal ponies tell about them. Rumors about them re-growing horns, healing lost limbs, practicing miracles that only Faust herself could achieve. Some even said that ruvas could create midbrains.”

"A midbrain?"

“Yes. A midbrain is a special part of a pony, a separate mind to help them guide their magic into their horns, hooves, or wings. Without it, the only way to cast spells or use magic would be to dip into dark magic. To use your own soul or the souls of your victims to fuel your spells,” she explained, guiding him up the stairs with each word as she kept his attention.

"Of course, those were all just rumors. Nopony had successfully grown a midbrain outside of a pony. But, to keep one intact after death? That is a different issue entirely," Princess Amore revealed, painting a morbid picture to Cannon Fodder as she continued to explain. "Of course, to do so was completely taboo in the Ruva Kingdom, and done so in complete secrecy in these very towers. Some ruvas believed that they could study the midbrain, create something to act like it instead of simply recreating it.

"Some came close, but the Shade family had excelled in it. They were able to create items that could potentially strengthen a ruva's magic, but the youngest of their family saw more potential. He began preforming experiments that even his own family would shudder at, things that would amaze and horrify you. Along the way he had invented many unique spells and enchantments, and eventually found a way to overpower me with his techniques.

"But he was not content with what he had done. He had always wanted more, and eventually, he was able to make a pact with Grogar for more power," the princess explained, leading Cannon Fodder into the highest room of the tower. "Grogar's demons had their own unique spells as well, and by marrying the two, he had created something that had never been seen before. But, he needed the right materials to create it, and all the them are here," she revealed, pointing to the edge of the bedroom where their prize laid.

"What... what are we looking for?"

"The final piece, general. Look under the bed," she commanded.

"The-the bed?" He nervously asked, feeling far too apprehensive after learning about the tower's true owner.

"Foalish, I know, but it was where he hid it. Quickly general," she ordered, nudging him closer to the bed.

Cannon Fodder had never been afraid of "monsters" under his bed as a foal, and it was an odd trait that he had felt proud of when growing up. It was a small badge of honor to a colt who had no idea about the true horrors that laid outside the Empire.

But at that moment, staring at a simple bed without any unique decorations, he couldn't help but feel a shiver run up his spine.

Swallowing his fear for a brief moment, Cannon Fodder blindly felt around under the bed, his hooves running over a pile of salt before he bumped the corner of a metal box. Grasping it with both hooves, Cannon Fodder dragged it through the small wall of salt and out from under the bed, staring at the undecorated box in his shaking hooves.

"Open it," Princess Amore ordered, guiding his hooves to the tiny latch that kept it shut.

Opening it slowly, Cannon Fodder gazed in confused horror at the ornate crown in the box.

The band of the crown appeared to be iron, unpolished and undecorated, lacking any special engravings or markings. The centerpiece of the crown, however, was anything but ordinary. It was a long hone, bare of the usual fuzz that would cover it. But even without the fur that used to cover it, Cannon Fodder could instantly tell whose horn it was. There was only one mare with a horn that long in all the Empire, and turning to look at her, his worst fears were confirmed.

“Dreadful, isn’t it?” She asked, floating above the morbid crown.

"How... How could he?"

"Power, she answered plainly. "He prepared this long ago in secret. He wanted to create a weapon that would potentially overpower my cousins. He had planned to use my power to enhance his own after his death. You see, general, an alicorn actually doesn't have a midbrain like normal ponies. Instead of drawing magic out like a ruva, they wield something akin to dark magic, but they don't use souls as fuel. The sun, the moon, the very concept of love itself. There are our tools, and they're also the same tools that Sombra used as well," she explained, drawing the general's eyes away from her severed horn.

"And now, you can use it."

Her words rang in his head like a bell, his stomach dropping to the ground as he felt the world around him fade. "What?" Was all he could manage to say, feeling the bile build in his throat as she grabbed his attention again.

“Sombra was dead long before Skeletor arrived in the Crystal Empire. He sacrificed his mortality for something greater, possessing the his old body," the princess revealed. "He planned to do it once more in the future, but he did not foresee Skeletor's attack, and died before he had the chance. He wanted to find an able-bodied crystal pony and have them wear the crown so he could possess them. But now he is gone, and we can use it instead," her majesty promised, bringing her face closer to Cannnon Fodder as she tried to console him.

“I need you to be more than my loyal knight. I need you to be my champion. Take the crown, open your mind, and repeat after me. Can you do that?”

"I... I..." He stuttered, his eyes staring blankly at the white horn in his grasp.

"I know you can," Princess Amore whispered, coming closer to Cannon Fodder's ears as she revealed the words he needed to use.

There had to be another way, some other plan to stop Skeletor.

The crown came closer to his head.

He could find Princess Celestia or Luna, they would help them.

His helmet was discarded without any care.

Faust, somepony, there had to be somepony who could stop them.

The crown slipped around his head, like a perfectly fit set of armor.

And the words she had said easily passed his lips.

Cannon Fodder felt his mind open to Amore's magic, slipping inside his soul with a familiar vice grip, his forelegs freezing at his side despite his protests.

“Perfect. Just remember, general, you are my champion. My warrior. My puppet,” she stated, letting her voice drip with a familiar venom.

Horror gripped his heart as he felt his forelegs press on the ground, light flowing from his mane as the apparition entered his mind. He felt a terrifyingly familiar presence overtake his body, his limbs acting on the whims of another as someponies voice spilled out of his lips.

He wanted to scream, to cry out for help, to beg Faust for forgiveness, but all that came was a dark cackle.

He wanted to die. If he died at least he wouldn't be a puppet once more. But his forelegs refused to move, his own body began to turn against him, there was no escape for him.

With a final flash of light, Cannon Fodder felt his body hit a nearby wall, crumbling to the floor like a wet cloth.

A deep breath filled his lungs, holding the air inside him for a long moment before he felt it fly out of his body. His eyes wandered to a mirror that laid in the corner of the room, naturally falling on it as he felt a faint memory tickle his mind.

He remembered putting that mirror in the corner because it needed to lean against two walls. But that wasn't his memory, he had never seen the mirror before that day.

Slowly, Cannon Fodder rose to his hooves without any effort. He felt the bruises on his body and the pain in his head fade away, becoming a faint memory as his hooves carried him closer to the tall mirror.

“Oooh... I feel...” He mused, the dark voice tickling his ears as he finally gazed at his reflection. “Alive.”

A smile split his lips as his fearful gaze faded away, his golden eyes becoming as red as his coat.

The new stallion raised a hoof to his muzzle, letting it slide down his face as he felt his unkempt fur. He felt horrified, while he felt elated. Their warring emotions had no visible effect on the new stallion, ignoring the torment that filled his soul as he admired his new reflection.

However, his triumphant moment was swiftly undercut by a low rumbling as realization struck the scarlet stallion.

"Alive and... and starving," he observed, letting a hoof clutch his barrel as he trotted back to the bed. "You should have treated your body better, general. 'Your body is a palace', as they say. Specifically, it's my palace now," he joked, letting a low chuckle tickle their throat as he laid down.

He could see Sombra's thoughts as if they were his own, the simple joy from laying down, the overall elation from returning to life, the sadistic glee he took from taunting Cannon Fodder. It was all laid bare before him, as plainly as his own thoughts and feelings.

“You’ve fought well, general, but this is the end of your battle. You’ve lost,” the demon taunted, letting a spell soar through his horn as he grabbed a pillow with his telekinesis. Red waves of magic danced on the surface of the pillow, fluffing it nicely as he lifted his head to have a good rest.

"But don’t worry, I still haven’t forgotten our arrangement. I'll make sure that demon will die by your hooves. Even if they're mine now," he jabbed, burying his neck into the pillow as he lit his horn opine more. "You should sleep now, general. It's the only thing you can do after all," the new Sombra advised, summoning a scrying orb to watch over Skeletor and his companions.

"Emerald, do you have a moment?"

"Of course, my lord. What do you need?"

“Now, let’s see what you have in store for me, Skeletor.”

Chapter 47. The Consequences of a King.

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There were only so many words that one could use to describe snow. It was white, it was cold, and there was a lot of it. Sometimes it fell quickly, sometimes it drifted slowly, and there wasn’t much more to say about it.

It was cold, damp, and it got everywhere, and that was all there was too it. There wasn’t anything special that Rainbow Dash could say about it, especially after staring at it for the better part of a week.

It was fun for the first few days, watching the snow dance outside the window as they flew through the air. Feeling the heavy winds gently rock their carriage, like a boat that sway with the current of the sea, or like a cradle that swayed with a gentle touch.

But after that, the winter wasteland lost all its charm, and Rainbow Dash could only say one thing about the Frozen North. It was boring.

Rainbow Dash let a heavy sigh fly through her nose, fogging up the glass to make another doodle on the carriage window. Random lines and odd shapes became a crude set of ponies swooping through the air, flying alongside their carriage as she and her friends flew closer to the Empire.

Peeling herself away from the window, Rainbow Dash lazily watched as her drawings faded away, leaving her alone with her thoughts once more as she stared at the storm clouds above.

Being one of the few weather mares in Ponyville, seeing such an untamed sky unnerved her. The last time she had seen such chaotic weather was when Eris had decided to turn the tree tops of the Everfree into clouds that rained splinters.

But the storm above wasn’t the work of Eris, it was a natural chaos, a phenomenon that she had only heard of about in kingdoms outside of Equestria. The griffons and dragons couldn’t manipulate the weather like a Pegasus, so their lands were left to the whims of the weather, suffering storms and disasters that had never touched Equestrian soil.

Part of her had always wanted to see the weather run wild, to see a tornado up close, or hear thunder roar for days on end, or to even hold a chunk of hail the size of her ear. But, seeing it in person for a week, she began to yearn for the normalcy of Equestria’s weather.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the white unicorn sneaking up on her until she nudged her with a hoof.

Suppressing a yell or an audible gasp, Rainbow Dash turned to the mare as she made a hushing motion with her hooves. Rarity kept her voice low as she spoke, barely above a whisper as to not disturb anypony else. “Sorry dear, but I wanted to know if you would like to share a cup of tea?”

“Sure, Rares,” Rainbow Dash quietly agreed, getting up from her seat as she and Rarity quietly crept through the carriage. The others were all still heavily asleep, with Pinkie Pie hanging from the ceiling in a makeshift hammock, and Twilight who had sprawled out on her saddle bags.

Applejack and Fluttershy were the only two who had decided to use an excessive amount blankets for the trip. Applejack, being an earth pony, did not agree with the winter weather in the slightest. She was a summer mare through and through, and did her best to hide her orange fur under a bundle of blankets that kept her warm. Fluttershy, in contract, actually held a special place in her heart for cold weather.

The yellow coated mare would play for hours in the snow as a filly, jumping in with the same joy that Rainbow felt whenever she went on a long flight. Sadly, while Fluttershy loved the cold, she absolutely hated the noise. The creaking of the wood, the howling wind that rattled the windows, it was all too much for the shy mare to handle. So, after Pinkie Pie and Twilight had courteously donated their blankets to her and Applejack, Fluttershy buried herself under a mountain of cotton to block out the noise.

Rainbow Dash could fairly hear a light snore as she passed the pile of blankets, a small smile decorating her muzzle as she trotted by. Ponies liked to call Rainbow Dash a heavy sleeper, the laziest pony they knew, but in truth Fluttershy could hibernate like a bear.

She could still fondly remember the time that Fluttershy had fallen asleep during a game of hide and seek as a filly. Rainbow and the others had spent nearly an hour looking for her, eventually asking the teachers for help when they finally found her sleeping in the school’s bell tower. She hadn’t heard a single pony calling out her name, and although she was apologetic and extremely embarrassed, Rainbow always recalled that game fondly.

Letting that thought warm her, Rainbow Dash joined Rarity for a cup of tea as the mare used a spell to heat the kettle. The blue Pegasus stole a glance at her horn, watching the magical glow made the llight curve of her horn much more apparent, almost as if it curled with the spell. Rainbow Dash brushed it off, a simple trick of the eye that had given Rarity no end of grief growing up.

It was a touchy subject for Rarity when Rainbow Dash had brought it up the first time, and she knew better than to poke at it any further, even though she thought it was pretty neat.

Rarity spent about a minute or so on her spell, focusing solely on the water inside the kettle as the seconds ticked by. She could hear the water begin to bubble, the steam getting caught in a small magic dome that Rarity had simultaneously cast over it. When the tea was finally set, she effortlessly grabbed a pair of teacups with her telekinesis and placed them on the floor, setting her sights on a set of teabags that were nestled away in one of Rarity’s bags.

Although Rainbow Dash didn’t know much about magic, she knew that most spells took time to cast and recast, especially when a unicorn switched from one spell to another. But Rarity, once more living up to her name, was a true rarity amoung unicorns, easily weaving a heating spell into a shield spell, before letting it melt into a telekinetic spell. Although Rarity had said that she couldn’t do the same with more powerful spells, the fact that she could do it with mundane spells still impressed quite a few ponies. The only mare Rainbow knew who could do more than Rarity was probably Twilight, but she had been taught by Princess Celestial herself, while Rarity had claimed to be completely self-taught.

Rarity, content with showing off her skills for the morning, grabbed the kettle with her hooves and poured the water over the tea packets. A faintly familiar smell tickled Rainbow Dash’s nose as the water began to absorb the tea, the word popping in her mind as the phantom taste fell on her tongue.

“Is that dandelion?” Rainbow Dash asked, earning a light nod from Rarity as she smelled her own cup.

“Oh yes, I got it just for this trip. I heard it was an Empire delicacy and I just had to try my hoof at it,” Rarity happily explained, taking in the faint smell as she waited for the tea to cool for a moment.

Rainbow Dash hadn’t been much of a tea mare, but all of their coffee was sitting in a separate carriage far behind the fleet, so she’d make due with what they had on hoof.

After taking a small sip of her tea, Rainbow Dash nearly spat it out when Twilight startled her.

“Lunnnnah,” the purple mare quietly called out as she turned over to her other side.

Normally, Rainbow Dash would have quietly poked fun at somepony dreaming of their marefriend or coltfriend, not maliciously of course, it would have all been in good faith. But, considering that Princess Luna could actually see ponies in their dreams, it was more than likely that the princess was giving Twilight one final goodbye before they reached the Empire.

“Aw, that’s really cute,” Rarity awed at the scene, letting her mind run wild with her own fantasies about the pair.

It’s clingy, Rainbow thought to herself, electing to reply with a small nod instead as she bit her tongue. While she and the others had no say in Twilight’s relationship with the immortal princess, they still all had their own thoughts on the matter. Rainbow could guess that most of them didn’t pay it too much attention, simply wishing the pair the best and being happy that they were both happy.

But something about their relationship always made Rainbow Dash uncomfortable. Maybe it was the fact that they had started off as enemies, that Luna was a millennium older than Twilight’s great grandmother, or the many excuses Luna had made to call the Elements and Twilight to Canterlot, be it some mural painting or some snobbish party. Rainbow didn’t hate Luna or anything, she actually thought that Luna was a lot less rigid than Princess Celestia. But the speed of her and Twilight’s growing relationship rang a few bells in Rainbow’s head.

But, she would never voice her concerns, unless she felt that Luna or Twilight had stepped over some line. Not that she could really say anything since she had never dated anypony.

... ... Oh...

That surprisingly stung a bit more than Rainbow was expecting, but she did her best to brush it off as she continued to enjoy her tea.

Letting her thoughts wander away from the dreamer-mare, Rainbow let her eyes fall back on the towering blankets as they slowly became unraveled. A small yellow snout poked out of the covers, catching the faint scent of dandelions that wafted in the air.

Rarity quietly stole Rainbow’s attention once more, pouring another cup of tea and offering it to her. “This should help Fluttershy a bit, as well,” Rarity advised, passing the tea cup to Rainbow before she trotted over to Fluttershy’s fluffy fort.

The folds of her blanket turned towards Rainbow Dash as she crept towards Fluttershy.

“Hey Flutters, Rarity made you something,” she quietly called, placing the cup about a foot away from the mound as Fluttershy began to dig herself out.

Her sleepy eyes slits slowly adjusted to the light of the carriage as she crawled out of her cotton tomb, her ears slowly rising as the wind rustled the carriage wheels outside. The blankets briefly clung to her yellow leather wings, falling to the floor with a gentle flop as the thestral gave them a long stretch.

Fluttershy briefly muttered a soft spoken "Morning," as she lowered herself to the tea, the delicate smell hitting her like a fresh bed of flowers.

"Sleep well, Flutters?"

"Oh yes. Thank you again for the blankets," she almost whispered, picking up her tea cup and giving it a small sip before she trotted over to Rarity. "And thank you for the tea, Rarity, I really needed something to perk me up."

"Not a problem darling," Rarity replied, scooting over a bit as Rainbow and Fluttershy sat nearby at the edge of the cart. I hope it's not too strong for you. Would you like me to water it down a bit more?"

"Oh, no, this is perfect," Fluttershy reassured her, taking another grateful sip of her cup as she leaned against the wall.

Her ears were buried in her pink mane, hiding them from the whistling wind as she tried to make herself more comfortable. Even though she had planted them firmly against her head, Fluttershy could still hear her friends perfectly well, listening to the pair as Rarity posed a question to Rainbow.

“Would you happen to know how long until we get there?”

"Eh. The guards just changed around half an hour ago, so I think we've got about three more rotations before we get there," Rainbow guessed, remembering the small jostle as they switched mid-flight.

"How long have you been awake for?" Fluttershy quietly asked.

"About two hours now, I think. Just couldn't get back to sleep after I woke up. I mean, how can I?" She began to ask, lowering her voice back down when she noticed Fluttershy flinch at her volume. "We're heading to a lost Empire and getting ready to meet a real demon," she quietly continued. "Aside from Princess Cadence and Shinning Armor, we're going to be the first ponies in Equestria to trot there!"

"But what about their guards?" Fluttershy quietly countered.

"And our guards as well," Rarity added on. "Not to mention the doctors, the spell masters, the workers, the archivists."

"Okay, okay. We'll be the first famous ponies in the Empire," Rainbow amended. "And just think of all the awesome adventures we can have! Fighting ghosts, saving ponies, telling them all what we've done in Equestria. It's gonna to be awesome!"

"Well, you can have fun doing that. I'd much rather take in the scenery than go on some new adventure," Rarity said, a distant and dreamy look filling her eyes as she stared out the window. "The towers, the castles, the streets themselves, crystals as far as the eye can see."

"I just hope I can see a northern sheep," Fluttershy admitted. "I heard they only lived in Yakyakistan, but I'm really hoping that they have them in the Empire too."

"Awww, I read about those once,” Rarity cooed. “Their fur came in so many colors. I never thought that there could be a cyan sheep before.”

“Guys, aren’t you forgetting about something here,” Rainbow pointed out. “We’re here for a reason. We can trot around and pet sheep after we find Skeletor and—”

“Have a nice and civil conversation with him,” Rarity interrupted, putting extra care to emphasize her words as she did so. “Remember Dash, we’re not looking for a fight.”

“I know!” Rainbow argued, lowering her voice once more at Rarity’s silent request. “I know. We’re here to evaluate, not assault. I get it,” she huffed. “I’m not gonna just fly in and punch him out of nowhere.”

“Well I hope you can forgive us for thinking otherwise,” Rarity chastised. “It seems pretty clear to all of us that you’re looking for a fight with him.”

“Preparing for one,” Rainbow corrected. “Look, I’d be super cool with him if he’s just a chill dude. Heck, I’d be happy if we just went there and came back without any problems, but you’ve gotta admit that this is weird, right? Some dude just trots in, kills the big bad boggy-mare, gets a crown and then just hoofs it over because somepony asked nicely?”

“Weird doesn’t mean he’s evil, Rainbow.”

“I didn’t say evil,” the blue pegasus quickly defended. “I said ‘weird’. And if he’s just weird then we’re cool.”

“You better be. Remember, Rainbow, this is a very important meeting. Even if he is a little odd or strange, we’re going to treat him like any normal stallion. We’re going to compliment him, laugh at his bad banter, and be civil.”

“I got it, I got it,” Rainbow muttered, turning her attention back to her tea as Fluttershy finally found the time to speak.

“Um, for what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be prepared. I mean, Pinkie Pie packed a lot of weapons... a scary amount of them.”

“Oh, that’s for Sooommmm-pony else,” Rarity explained, avoiding the subject of Sombra as she quickly course corrected.

While Pinkie Pie and Rarity had some silly idea about them getting revenge for their ancestors against Sombra, nopony else was on board. Applejack and Twilight were convinced he was dead, Rainbow was a little optimistic about the idea, and Fluttershy... Well, what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. Besides, Sombra was dead and long since buried.

Still, it would be pretty cool if they had a chance to fight him. It’d be another adventure worthy of being immortalized in Canterlot, a stain glass window of the six of them blasting that tyrant back to Tartarus. Not like that would happen, though.

Tossing away any thoughts of Pinkie’s conspiracies, Rainbow returned to her drink as Applejack seemed to slowly stir from her sleep. The farmer’s internal clock had undoubtedly beckoned her to the waking world, and the early riser was clearly dismayed when she had to leave her warm dreams.

Letting out a tired groan, the apple farmer attempted to poke a hoof out of her covers, quickly drawing it back under the blankets when the cold air caressed her fur.

Applejack quietly groaned under the covers, cursing the cold air as she began to preform what Rainbow Dash had affectionally dubbed, the Apple Worm Wiggle.

With all the grace of a drunk inchworm, Applejack brought her back legs close to her barrel, pushing against the carpeted floor as the crept over to them. She’d make a little progress, stop, push on for about another two or three hooves, and repeat the process all over again, eventually worming her way towards Rainbow and the others.

Still wrapped in her covers, Applejack raised herself up and peered out of her cotton cocoon, greeting them all with a long yawn before she spoke. “Morn-nin’.”

"Good morning dear," Rarity replied, pulling another tea cup as she prepared more drinks. "How are you feeling?"

“‘Mmh cold,” she complained, tightening her grip around the blankets as she nestled deeper into them.

Instead of her usually iconic tan farmers hat, Applejack sported a hoof stitched cap from her grandmother to help keep her warm and cozy on her trip, though it didn’t seem to do much for the rest of her body. Her light coat made working in the summer sun bearable, but it didn't serve her well in the Frozen North. She was a shivering mess for the first day after they crossed the border, and every day since had only been worse and worse for the usually outdoorsy mare.

“Oh, did the enchantment on the pillow run out again? I can apply it again, if you’d like,” Rarity offered, earning an eager nod from Applejack as she hastily reached for her teacup.

“P-please d-da-do.”

“Sure, dear. Hug the pillow tightly now,” Rarity advised, lighting her horn once more as a subtle flash of light leaked through the folds of the blankets.

Relief washed over Applejack’s face as she snuggled her heated pillow tightly, setting the teacup back down to retreat back into her blanket tomb.

“Th-thanks, Rarity,” Applejack lightly stuttered, scooting in towards Rainbow and Rarity as she completed the square.

“Not a problem, dear. It might not last as long as Twilight’s enchantment, but I’m sure that Twilight will be awake by the time that one wears off.”

“Sh-should be good when we get ta the Emp-p-pire. Got a jacket w-with some heat packs in it.”

“The one you brought to my shop before we left?” Rarity asked, receiving a light nod from the orange mare. “Oh, Applejack, I really wish you would wear something else. I still have an extra jacket in my bags if you change your mind.”

“N-nah. I’m good. Thanks though,” Applejack said, giving them another long yawn as she got more comfortable. “Don’t need a new jacket. Old one’ll work good enough.”

“Well, alright. But the offer is always open,” Rarity reminded her, taking a moment to refill Rainbow’s cup again with a new tea packet. “I also have some lovely matching booties that would fit you perfectly.”

“It’s fine, Rarity,” Applejack passed, pointing her attention to her yellow blanket buddy. “What about you, Fluttershy? Ya doin’ okay?”

“Oh, yes. It’s not nearly as loud as it was yesterday,” Fluttershy happily reported. “It’s still a little noisy, but it’s mostly okay. It won’t be long until we’re in the Empire anyway.”

“Thank Celestial for that,” Applejack cheered with her cup, raising it in the air before hastily brining her hoof back into the warm covers. “I can’t wait till I can finally touch solid ground again.”

“You and me, both dear,” Rarity chimed back in. “It’ll certainly be nice to sleep in an actual bed again.”

“Hammock ain’t doin’ it for ya?”

“Oh, absolutely not. My horn keeps getting caught on something whenever I use it,” the unicorn complained, casting a glance at her sleeping bag. “I’m glad I brought something else, just in case. Although I must say, I’m surprised you haven’t used yours since the first day.”

“Too many blankets for it. Ended up throwing it in here with the rest of them,” Applejack answered, followed by a light nod from Fluttershy as she added on.

“I couldn’t sleep with the ropes squeaking so much when we swayed.”

“Ah, alright. Thank makes sense,” Rarity stated, turning her attention to Rainbow. “What about you? I haven’t even seen you put yours up.”

“That’s cause Rainbow can’t tie a knot ta save her life,” Applejack unhelpfully answered, earning a dismissive wing wave from the pegasus.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Floor’s better for my back anyway.”

“Oh? Is there a problem with it?”

“Nah, just like having something solid to sleep on,” Rainbow replied, carrying on the conversation with her own thoughts. “Don’t really need a bed or anything soft for a good night of sleep. But what I do need is coffee, and lots of it.”

“Sweet Celestial, it’s been forever since I had some,” Applejack agreed.

“It’s only been a week,” Rarity countered.

“Yeah, and that’s forever,” Rainbow explained, receiving an eye roll from Rarity as she sipped her tea.

“Well, I suppose we all have something special we’re looking forward to,” Rarity conceded to the coffee loving pair. “Personally, I can’t wait to try some food from the Empire. Oh, I’m sure they must have something truly exotic.”

“Yeah, can’t say I’m not lookin’ forward ta that too. Would be nice ta eat something that wasn’t canned or comin’ from a box.”

Rainbow and Fluttershy couldn’t help but agree with that. A week of eating nothing but rations and guard meal kits left them all wanting for something more when they arrived.

They all quietly spoke for a little longer, eventually falling into a comfortable silence when they ran out of things to say. The past several days had been filled with lively conversations, stories and odd thoughts that had popped into their heads, questions about the Empire had been passed around, and they had ended up running out of things to talk about soon enough.

Setting the teacups and kettle aside, Rarity excused herself to her personal corner to do some light reading, while Applejack and Fluttershy had decided to get a little more sleep to pass the time. Trying to steal her own share of shut eye, Rainbow Dash decided to unfurl her hammock on the floor and lay down near the window.

Sleep slowly overtook her as she stared as the frantic flurry outside, mindlessly watching as the snow clumped into the corner of the carriage window. It was building up like an hourglass, barely rising higher and higher with each little flake, only to fly off whenever the carriage suddenly bounced on the wind.

She counted the passing seconds as each pile grew, playing her own odd game as she guessed how long it would take for the next pile to fly away. Rainbow counted the seconds one last time before she peacefully drifted into her dreams, letting her dreams carry her to a warm and sunny place.

The Crystal Empire’s streets were filled with cheers and joyful gossip as ponies trotted around, each one carrying a piece of an ever-growing story as they tried to spread the good news to anypony who hadn’t heard.

While some of the stories varied in both subtle and obvious ways, they had all started with the same general question. “Did you hear about Skeletor?”

Track Record had heard those five words about a dozen times in just an hour, and each time somepony had come with a little bit more news. Not only had Skeletor recovered from the incident on the balcony, but he had claimed that Princess Cadence and her consort would help him bring the pony who did it to swift justice.

After rising from his bed in the medical wing of the castle, Skeletor called on his closest confidant, Colonel Kernel, and confided in the colt about what had happened that horrific night. Somepony with the ability to disguise themselves as a light blue stallion with an orange mane had infiltrated the Empire with the sole purpose of stealing the Crystal Heart. The stallion had some help from another pony named Thorite Hoof, and together, they plotted to attack Skeletor and steal the Empire's Crown Jewel.

After that, details began to vary, from it being two ponies to only being one, and all the blame placed squarely on Thorn's hooves. Or sometimes a pony would tell him that Thorite and Thorn were actually the same pony, which made a lot of sense in hindsight. It did seem a little odd that a pony with a gardening cutie mark was so good at baking bread, not to mention how similarly Thorite and Thorn acted off the clock.

He still couldn't believe that such nice and hardworking stallions had actually been monsters in disguise.

They were so soft spoken and friendly, they didn't even look like they could hurt a fly. But, it was all an act, and everything suddenly seemed to click in place for Track Record. Both of them trotted in out of nowhere and seemed a little out of place, neither of them seemed to have any common sense about the Empire, and then they both just vanished into thin air out of nowhere. It was so obvious when he actually began to look back on it. The way that Thorite and Thorn would both laugh at his dry wheat humor, how they both tended to get lost in thought when they looked out the window, and that odd feeling he had whenever he felt one of them looking at him from behind.

He knew Thorite was having some trouble with the guards before he left, but he just assumed that Thorn had something personal that was keeping him away from the shop. He would have never guessed that the two had known each other, let alone that they were plotting regicide over rye bread.

After Track Record had heard the news from a few of the castle maids who frequented the shop, he left Fresh Bake in charge for a bit and went to give a new report to the guards. They already knew everything about Thorite and Thorn from the first two interviews Track had with them, but he didn't tell anypony about what happened the morning after Skeletor was stabbed.

He was in Lardy Bread’s taking inventory, checking on all the bread that was fresh or going bad and he noticed something odd. The front door had been unlocked, and a couple of loaves of bread and some of the wood for the stove was missing. He didn't think much at first, just somepony desperate for some food, almost everypony was, but the missing wood was a little odd.

It was only after he heard the gossip about his two former employees that it finally clicked for the mustard colored stallion. Thorite and Thorn had both worked at Lardy Bread’s, they knew he had fresh food and firewood, and they also must have known that they'd need a lot of firewood when the shield would collapse.

After giving his additional report to the guards, they thanked him for his time and sent him off with a quarter of one of those new steel bits that ponies were talking about.

Track Record couldn't help but stare at the line of ponies behind him when he trotted away, each one coming forward to give their own two bits about that night to help the guards catch Thorite and Thorn. The line stretched all the way from the guard's post to the Church of Faust about two blocks away, and he wondered if it would end up stretching to his shop by the time lunch rush rolled around.

It'd be wonderful if somepony in line knew where those two were, if they had even the smallest clue for the guards to follow and track them down. But, as far as Track Record knew, they were already long gone. They were probably somewhere outside of the Empire, eating bread around a camp fire and laughing their flanks off.

Heaving out a tired sigh, Track Record trotted back into Lardy Bread’s to take a load off of Fresh's hooves. He couldn't take the direct path to the shop sadly, since the fastest way back had been blocked off. The streets from the crystal pony palace to the Crystal Castle had all been cleared and blockaded, a guard standing at every intersection to let ponies know that they couldn't mill about. One of the larger thestral guards was standing near the crystal pony palace with a pair of weird red sticks hanging from his saddles. The light kept catching on whatever crystals were in them, hitting a few crystal ponies in the face whenever it caught the sun at just the right angle.

It was a little annoying when Track Record gave him a passing glance, but he just averted his eyes and kept trotting forward, letting his attention eventually rest on the odd pony sitting on the shop's front door step. She was wearing a dark blue cloak, with a series of small bones embroidered into the hem that hung around her hooves. He recognized those robes, it was something that nearly every member of the Skull Torn had worn at their meetings, and sometimes flaunted in public to show their faith in Skeletor.

He couldn't see the mare's face or cutie mark, only catching her cream coat and her dark blue mane as it spilled out of her hood.

Track Record had met his fair share of the Skull Torn, usually newer members who wanted to hear anything about what had happened when he met Skeletor for the first time. Most of them were disappointed when he told them the truth about what had happened, often branding him a liar or a fraud for not painting a more divine picture of Skeletor's epic battle with Sombra. So, Track Record tended to embolden the story a bit whenever somepony asked.

Still, those ponies were nothing more than recruits or ponies who were thinking of joining, and the mare on his stoop was somepony else entirely. A pair of crystal cross bones sat where her cutie mark should have been, displaying her rank as a high worshiper of the Skull Torn, somepony who had proven their devotion after some unknown trial.

Track Record's trot slowed as he caught sight of the mare, wondering what the Skull Torn could have wanted. But, before he could turn down an alley to discreetly enter through the back, the mare looked up and caught sight of him. Her dull and tired eyes lit up with relief when she saw his yellow coat, and a genuine smile crept to her muzzle as she quickly trotted towards him.

"Damnit," Track Record cursed to himself, wiping his worries away with a service smile as the mare reached him. "Hiya, how can I help you?"

The mare gave him a nervous smile, throwing a glance around as she spoke. “Hi, I uh... I heard a lot about you.”

"Good things, I hope," he joked, biting back a groan as she continued.

“I heard that you met Skeletor when he first came to the Empire.”

“Well, uh... Yeah,” he admitted. "But it’s not like I know him personally or anything. I was just there when he got rid of Sombra, couldn't even see anything.”

"What about when he got the Crystal Heart?" She pressed, closing the distance and forcing Track to trot back.

"Whoa, back up," he ordered, dropping his polite demeanor as he spoke. "Yeah, I was there. Look, I didn't do or see much. You'd probably want to ask the royal advisor or Cannon Fodder about it. But good luck with him, he can be a bit of a grouch," he joked, trying to trot past the mare before she blocked his path.

"Wait. So, you're Track Record, right?"

"Yup," he groaned. "Now, I'd love to stick around and chat, but I've got work to do."

"Please wait. I need your help," she begged, trotting after him as he opened the door. "I don't have anypony else I can talk to."

"Oh, I'm sure Brother Farside or whatever would be willing to help."

"Nearside is the problem, they all are," she explained, shoving her hoof into the door before he could close it. "Please, I'll pay you. I'll buy some bread, I'll do anything. Just... just please hear me out."

"Ah, look, if this is about joining the Skull Torn, I—"

"I'm not with them," the mare interrupted, throwing Track Record off his pace as he looked at her closely. He couldn't help but point out the obvious.

"Then... what's with the cloak?"

"It's not mine," she explained. "I'm just borrowing it. I don't want anypony to see me out here."

"You know the cloak's kinda brining more attention to you than away from you, right?"

"I do now," the mystery mare grumbled, glancing down at her cloak with disdain as spoke. "I just didn't want attention. Can we just talk in private? Please? I promise, I'll explain everything. I just... I can't do this outside.”

Track Record thought about denying the mare, just returning to work as normal and pretending like he never saw her. But, his mother always said he had a habit for trotting headfirst into trouble, and he didn't have the heart to turn away a mare who needed help.

The yellow stallion opened the door more as he stepped out, offering a hoof to the cloaked mare as he spoke. "Well I don't usually invite strangers inside. My name's Track, you know that, but what's yours?"

The mystery mare accepted it with genuine relief, a smile forming on her muzzle as she replied. "Dilly Dally."

"Nice to meet you, miss Dally. I got some biscuits baking in the shop if you want something to eat first."

Inviting the mare inside, Track Record trotted past the counter as he called out to the baker in the back. "Hey Fresh Bake! We got company. Could ya bring out a couple of biscuits?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not hungry. I just want to know if you can help me," Dilly Dally quickly said, earning a dismissive hoof wave from Track.

"Nah, you're a guest. Least I could do is offer you a something to eat. Don't feel like you have to, it's just something to snack on if you change your mind," Track Record explained, stepping aside as Fresh Bake carried a tray of biscuits on his back.

"You're just in time, finished these about a minute ago."

"Nice," Track Record smiled, swiping a biscuit for himself as he and Fresh took a seat near the counter. "So, what can I help you with?"

"Um... I was hoping we could talk alone, if that's okay."

"Oh, okay then. Sorry bud," Track Record apologized, earning a sigh from the stallion as he trotted off back to work with a grumble.

"Was hoping I wouldn't have to wash the knives," he muttered, trotting to the back as Track Record turned his attention to Dilly Dally.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

Dilly Dally took a seat across Track Record as he nibbled on a biscuit, weighing her words before she cautiously asked him a question. "... What do you think of Skeletor?"

"Skeletor? Well he's a great guy!"

"Guy, but not god, right?" Dilly Dally pressed, leaning in closer as she waited for his answer.

"Well... I thought about it, and I don't think he is. Maybe he was sent by Faust, but I don't know. Don't think it really matters much in my opinion. God, demon, freaky minotaur, doesn't make much of a difference in the end."

"It does to me," Dilly Dally explained. "If you don't think he is then... that's good. I can work with that."

"Work with? What do you mean by that?"

Dilly Dally didn't immediately reply, dodging his question with one of her own. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Depends on the secret, I think," he answered, and it was apparently enough to satisfy the mare as she made herself comfortable.

"It's a long story. But, after we were freed from... you know who, I was working in the subterranean farms. I was going back up for a new rake since my last one broke, the wood just snapped in half out of nowhere. I thought I could get a new one, but... then I bumped into somepony. Her name was Strike Iron," she recalled fondly, a smile softening her features as she spoke.

"Strike and I knew each other since we were fillies. Her dad helped mine whenever he needed a dented shovel or something fixed, and our moms let us sleep over each other’s houses sometimes. It was nice, a better time and place back then, but it didn't last. Her dad packed up and moved to the Thestral Kingdom with the whole family to make armor for the guards there. Something about too much competition near the castle, or whatever. Didn't really pay attention.

"And then I moved on. Lived my life, got to working in the fields, made enough to pay off a few debts. It was nice, and nothing was supposed to change," she said, taking a long break as she steeled her nerves. "But then he came. I-I'm not going say what I went through but... I lost everypony. I don't know where they went or when, I just know that they're gone now.

"I gave up looking pretty quick. I-I did what my dad always said and just tried to move on. Buried myself in the farm and just tried to help out the best I could. and after everything that happened..." She stopped, fresh tears staining her eyes as she spoke. "She was alive... I never felt happier than that."

Track Record quickly trotted back to the counter to grab a napkin for the mare, giving her the time she needed to collect herself as she cried.

"I'm sorry," she quietly sobbed, burying her face inside the napkin as she tried to stifle her sobs. Track Record gave her a simple unseen nod, letting the mare take her time as she gave a good cry.

It always helped to get a good guttural sob out, like a pot boiling over and spilling out all at once. First step to healing was a nice and long cry.

After a while, Dilly Dally finally choked on her tears and held them back, taking a moment to collect her thoughts as she muttered another apology. "'m sorry."

"Oh, it's fine. We uh... we all have those moments."

"Thank you," she quietly replied, dabbing a few more tears from her eyes as she clutched onto the napkin.

"I... where was I?" She asked herself, trying to find her place once more as she carried on. "Right... right, we uh... we talked about everything. We talked about the Thestral Kingdom at first, tried to only talk about the better times. But we couldn't keep that up forever. Every time I cried she'd comfort me, and I'd try my best to do the same whenever she needed a good cry too.

"We... we actually ended up skipping out on work for a while," she chuckled, letting her head rest on the table as she recounted the rest of her story. "It was... it was like we were fillies again, sneaking out to do whatever we wanted. It felt like a game, trotting through the tunnels and stopping whenever we thought we heard somepony. We'd laugh our heads off silly whenever we hid in some alcove or cave.

"And then, one day we were laughing, we... we looked at each other and..." she paused once more, but not out of sorrow or pain. "We kissed."

Her voice was barely above a whisper, a quiet confession that Track Record wasn't even sure he was supposed to hear. It was an intimate secret to her, something special that she didn't want to share with anypony else, but Track Record didn't know what it was all leading to.

She kissed a mare, but that didn't seem like a big problem anymore. Skeletor had said it was okay after he spoke with...

The mares, he finally realized, watching Dilly bring herself back up with a new found determination to continue. He listened more intently to her as she spoke, giving her the attention, each word needed as she began to explain.

"It all happened so fast. We were free for a week and we were already meeting each other in a quiet cave. We-we didn't see each other for about two days after that. I don't know if I was avoiding her or if she was avoiding me, maybe it was both. But, then we saw each other again, and... we did it again.

"It was wrong, it wasn't something we were supposed to do. Our parents, our grandparents, even Princess Amore said it wasn't natural. But we didn't care, it was just the two of us alone with our own pain. Nopony was around to judge us, we could still hang out in public, we'd just hide it. Just meet in the caves and everything would be fine, nopony had to know.

"But then we got sloppy, and the guards caught us... Back then, being a mare with another mare was punishable by two months in a dungeon and c-cleansings," she spat out. "But there weren't any more ruvas to do the spell to stop us, so we just thought we'd be locked up down there forever. I was scared, I didn't want to die but I didn't want to forget Strike either.

"And then... then Skeletor ordered us to come to the Throne Room. I thought, 'this is it! We're just going to forget all of the times we spent together. It'll be like we never met.' I was going to lose the only pony I had left and there was nothing I could do about it."

She took another break to dab her eyes, letting the napkin rest on her face as she recounted the horrifying experience she had.

"I didn't know much about him at the time, nopony did. Some ponies thought he was a gentle giant, but I didn't believe it. Everything inside of me was screaming at me, telling me to never see him. I thought... I thought he would be just like him, just another monster in a crown.

"I.. I still don't know how the mare next to him was so calm," she tried to joke, a dry laugh falling out of her muzzle as she elaborated. "There was a green mare next to him... Nopony else, no guards, no servants, not a single soul. Nopony even read out our charges.

"And do you know what happened?" She rhetorically asked, letting her answer hang in the air with a single word. "Nothing."

Dilly Dally straightened her back as she stared at her hooves, a smile touching her lips as she recalled her fateful encounter. "Nothing... He got off his throne, came down and said 'sorry'. He... He bent down and said we'd be fine, offered us lunch and then just sent us off. No strings, no begging, nothing. Everything was perfect! We were free mares. Skeletor gave us a pass and we could just trot out of the castle, no questions asked. I couldn't have even hoped for that to happen, nopony could have!

"I... It was perfect," she recalled with a faint fondness, as her demeanor began to drop once more. "And then... then he gave that Faust damned speech," she lamented, slouching lower in her seat as she asked him a question. "Where were you when you heard it?"

"... About Amore being lied to?" He asked, earning a weak nod from the mare. "Near the balcony, just like everypony else."

Silence fell over the two once more as they both recalled that day. Though one of them had seen it as a moment of enlightenment, the other had clearly seen it for what it truly was. "It was all a lie, you know," she revealed quietly. "Strike never said she'd die for me, neither of us could say a word. But, he didn't... he didn't tell the truth. He lied, I swear he lied," she repeated, as if it was something nopony could ever believe.

And, although Track Record wanted to trust her, it felt unbelievable even to him. How could Skeletor have lied about Princess Amore for just two mares? It couldn't have been possible. There had to be more, Skeletor couldn't have said something so bold without proof.

"You don't believe me," Dilly Dally said, her voice dropping once more as she spoke. "It's fine... Nopony does. Not even Strike. She heard him there too, she was just another mare in the crowd. I was too much of a coward to go, I... I didn't want to leave the house, I just felt like something bad would happen if I went. And I was right.

"I get it, though. It took some time but it made sense. He lied for us, to help protect us. But... but Strike wouldn't listen. 'Why would he lie?' That's all she would say!" The cream mare continued, becoming more animated as she recalled her story. "The same argument just over, and over, and... she thought she was the problem. Skeletor can't lie, so she's the one whose wrong. Her memory is wrong. We're both wrong because, 'Skeletor said so, he must have been telling the truth'," she bitterly quoted. "And I'm just so sick of it! I'm tired of her not trusting me, her own memory! Just-just taking Skeletor at his word! I'm..." She stopped, taking the time to catch her breath as a bitter thought struck her.

"And I'm tired. I'm tired and I'm wasting my time here. She doesn't believe me, the Skull Torn won't listen, and you probably think I'm just some crazy pony. This was a mistake, I-I just..."

Dilly Dally buried her head in her hooves, a tired groan leaving her muzzle as she stared at the stained table. She never finished her thought, letting her last words die in the air as silence filled the room once more.

Track Record had been quiet more most of their conversation, and if he had left it at that then he was certain the mare would trot away.

"... I believe you," Track Record finally said.

Dilly Dally looked up at the baker, a sense of uneasy hope glistening in her wet eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah. A little bit of faith doesn't hurt. And hey, last two ponies I trusted weren't the best, but I'm sure third time'll be the charm," he tried to joke, lightening Dilly's dour mood as she brought herself back up.

"Thank you. Noponny... she didn't believe me. And she can't believe me... me, the mare who stood right next to her throughout all of it. I saw it with my own eyes, we both did. I knew he was lying, but Strike couldn't accept it. 'How could he be lying, he's Skeletor.' Heh," she heartlessly chuckled.

“I’m at my wits end here. I’m sick of getting into arguments with her, and I hate that she’s not even trusting her own memory anymore! I wanted to talk to Skeletor, but he hasn’t been to court, and the princess is only holding court every other day. Nopony in the Skull Torn would help me, they're all crazy! But you," she pointed. "You're not like them. You’re the next best pony I can talk to. If you can tell her that Skeletor isn’t a god then maybe she’ll believe you.”

“Right... But, what do you want me to say, exactly?”

"I don't know, just-just something that'll make sense. Lie to her if you have to, tell her that Skeletor said he wasn't a god, that he told you he was from Tartarus. Anything," she pleaded.

"I-I don't know if I can say that. I don't lie."

“Everypony lies. Even Skeletor. I know that better than anypony,” she bitterly recalled, finally accepting one of Track Record's biscuits before she placed a pair of bits on the table. "I'm sorry for unloading all of this on you."

"Hey, no worries. And keep your bits, biscuits are on the house this time."

"Yeah, but this favor isn't," she replied, pulling her hood back over her head as she turned to face the door. "Thanks again for everything, Track. If I can, I'll stop by later this week with Strike. Could you..."

"Yeah," he answered. "Yeah, I can probably think of something by then. Til then, you're always welcome to drop on by if you need an ear to bend."

"... Thank you."

And without another word, she left, hope carrying her back home as she waited for Strike's intervention.

Track Record couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief as she left, feeling an immense weight fall off of his barrel as he sat there, thinking about how strange his life had become. Meeting Skeletor, a general, a royal advisor, a pair of assassins, and now some mare caught up in a grand conspiracy.

He was meeting quite a few interesting ponies as of late, and that only meant that there would be more trouble on the horizon. But, it was like his grandfather said, "a little trouble can sometimes lead to a lot of fun. And a lot of trouble is often followed by a lot of fun."

Chapter 48. A Royal Welcome.

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The pressure that Skeletor had felt was almost indescribable.

There was a hollow feeling inside of him whenever he tried to find the right words to describe how he felt. He knew that there were words that could easily convey his feelings, and that people or ponies smarter than him could have found them if they only gave it some thought. But, the right words always seemed to elude him, and only left him feeling worse.

He tried to think of anything that would pull him out of his foul mood. Testing magic, reading more books in the archives, finding a council member to talk to, even something as simple as a bath to distract himself as the seconds ticked by. But none of his plans came to fruition, because he couldn't find the right reason to pursue any of them.

Skeletor had hundreds of choices to make, and yet he chose to do nothing, because it was the easiest choice to make out of all of them.

He stared blankly at his notebook, a blot of ink slowly eating away at the paper as he tapped it repeatedly.

Skeletor didn't want to fill it with anymore self-deprecating thoughts or struggles, he needed something good that could motivate him to get out of his room. Some magical word or phrase that would surely inspire him to act instead of simply reacting.

If he could just find the right words then maybe he could find a way out of his own head. But his inspiration never came, and he had only succeeded in creating another mess. Again.

After staring at the blank page for another minute or so, Skeletor gave up and sprinkled a pinch of parchment powder on the ink blot to stop it from sticking to the other page. Closing his misshapen journal, he slipped the diary under his bed and walked towards the Havoc Staff.

Practicing magic was always an option, but Cadence's warning about dark magic would always echo in his mind. He needed to be better at magic if he wanted to fight Sombra, but if he didn't want to waste his time and his soul on spells that would just fizzle away. But, if he didn't use a spell and take discard another chunk of his soul, then Sombra would claim it for himself.

He tried to find other excuses to not practice any more. He had carelessly been opening portals the day before, he showed off a pointless levitation spell just to prove a point to the council, he could just wait until Cadence's friends arrived to learn more about magic.

His last reason had been the one that won out in the end, deciding that it would be safer to study magic once one of their unicorns gave him a better understanding of his soul. If he knew how much of a soul he had, how quickly it would burn away or regrow with every spell, or a way to use magic without sacrificing part of his spirit, then surely it would be more efficient to wait.

He couldn't help but scoff at that thought. It was efficient to wait, to do nothing with the excuse of doing it later. Just waiting for something to happen.

They were waiting for the Canterlot convoy to arrive, they were waiting for Sombra to strike, Skeletor was waiting to meet Crystal in Equestria. Waiting, waiting, just more and more waiting.

He waited so long that the word had lost all meaning to him.

Stowing away his staff behind his back, Skeletor stepped out of his room and wandered almost aimlessly throughout the halls. The idea of going to the Royal Archives tickled his curiosity for a moment, but he had already read the same books and scrolls several times. The dining hall also left little to be desired, and there wasn't anything he could do in the alchemy tower. Most of the council was busy preparing for their guests, and he doubted that he could do anything to help them.

So, left with only a few choices and no clear desire in mind, Skeletor stopped by a window to look outside. He didn't intend to do much except admire the view, but as he looked at the empty streets below, an idea suddenly popped in his head.

The crystal pony palace was only a short walk away from the castle, and Princess Cadence had a conveniently clear path from the castle straight to the palace. He hadn't been on a walk outside in so long that he had completely forgotten that it was an option, and he had always meant to look around the crystal pony palace.

If anypony asked, he could just say he was going there to access the palace before the ponies from Canterlot arrived. At the very least, it would be a good excuse to get in a good walk and take his mind off of thing.

With that thought in mind, Skeletor tore himself away from the window and made his way towards the Crystal Castle's front doors.

A quick distraction from his worries was exactly what he needed.

Colonel Kernel couldn't afford to have any distractions.

If Princess Cadence's last report was accurate, then the Elements of Harmony and their entourage would be arriving in just a few hours, and everypony was racing to get ready for them. Crumb Catcher was busy assigning ponies to work in the palace and clean it for their guests, Avid Value was trying to rehouse all of the ponies who were using the palace as a temporary home, and Colonel Kernel had to make sure that all the guards were present and accounted for.

Trotting down the steps of the Crystal Castle, Colonel Kernel pulled out a sprawling parchment and read over a small portion of the guards listed. He had to reassign most of their shifts and duties when Shining Armor suddenly ordered tighter security on the road between the castle and the palace, and it became a hassle to follow Crumb Catcher's odd list of guards. His recent alliance with the spy master had come with quite a few benefits, though at the moment they had felt like inconveniences.

Colonel Kernel checked over the long list of guards that Crumb Catcher had provided him, divided into stallions who were known members or spies in the Skull Torn, ponies who resented Princess Cadence and her consort, an additional list of guards who were in favor of the royal pair, with an additional small list of ponies who had surprisingly shown signs of not trusting Lord Skeletor.

It was detailed, it was precise, and it was too long.

Crumb Catcher had little notes next to a few names, ponies who should be grouped together and guards who, above anything else, shouldn't even be in the same room as each other. He even made sure to include a few details about the reason why he had arranged the guards to be grouped or separated. Some of them needed to be isolated from the groups that opposed the princess, to make them feel like they were the only pony standing against them and hopefully change their view of the royal pair. Others, like Fort surprisingly enough, needed to be kept in a mixed group of guards so that they could focus on debating with the other stallions instead of being stuck in a group who would either completely agreed or disagreed with them.

It was scary how well prepared his list had been, to know that Rookie and Fort had been purposefully moved closer to Colonel Kernel so that he could act as a mediator. And the list was just what Crumb Catcher was willing to share. He could never guess how deep Crumb Catcher's spy network ran, or see all of the strings that he pulled behind the scenes.

He considered it a small blessing that Crumb Catcher was working with them instead of aiming for the throne himself... At least he was pretty sure he wasn't planning on it.

So, Colonel Kernel followed Crumb Catcher's list down to the letter, making sure that everything went smoothly as they prepared for their guests.

"Oh, my head," the colonel grumbled, checking over the guard’s rotations once more as he trotted out of the Crystal Castle.

The maids would hopefully have the rooms ready in an hour, and then they would need to be assigned their own set of private rooms in the palace to serve the guards assigned to stay after the Elements of Harmony returned home, at least until the new guards could be properly integrated into the Crystal Empire's guard.

Dreading the eventual paperwork that would land on his desk, Colonel Kernel briskly marched towards the palace to reassign one of the guards that had slipped into the wrong group. However, as he trotted to the palace to carry out his duty, he heard the familiar rhythmic beat of two bare feet behind him as the Crystal Castle's doors swung open once more.

Stopping in his tracks, the colonel turned to see Skeletor walking out of the castle without a single guard present. The prior lord of the Empire didn't notice the colonel at first, and after following Skeletor's gaze, he found out why. As soon as the warlock had wandered out of the castle, his attention was completely drawn to the empty pedestal that sat directly under the Crystal Castle.

Skeletor walked towards the barren podium, letting a hand hover where the Crystal Heart should have sat. He retracted his hand as quickly as he raised it, deciding to simply stare at the pedestal as he stood there.

Colonel Kernel couldn't help but call out to Skeletor after a minute or so of him standing over the podium. "Skeletor? Is everything alright, sir?"

The daydreaming demon was quickly drawn out of his trance as the colonel's call, looking past the pedestal and catching the colonel near one of the legs of the castle.

"Ah, Colonel Kernel. Yes, I'm doing fine. I didn't expect to run into any of the council members out here," he called back, walking towards the colonel with his usual long stride. "Are any of the others here?"

"No sir, just me. I was just heading to the crystal pony palace to check in on things."

"Well, what a coincidence, I was just heading there myself. Would you mind if I joined you?"

"Not at all, sir," the colonel easily obliged, trotting next to Skeletor's side as he tried to match his quick pace. "If you don't mind me asking though, didn't you bring any guards with you?"

"I didn't think it was necessary. I can look in ay direction and I'll see a guard," Skeletor pointed out as they passed by the pillars of the Crystal Castle. "If I needed help, I'm sure I could just call out to one of them."

"I... I guess that's fair," the stallion uneasily agreed, tucking Crumb Catcher's paper away as he remembered the ponies on the spy master's list. "So, what made you want to trot to the palace?"

"I wanted to do a quick inspection, see if there's any problems."

"Oh, well don't worry about that, sir. Everything's treading smoothly."

"Yes, I'm sure. But, better to be safe," Skeletor said, letting his words hang in the air as the two made their way towards the crystal pony palace.

Colonel Kernel did his best to match Skeletor's fast stride, keeping pace with a light gallop as Skeletor took in the scenery around him. His eyeless gaze wandered over the buildings and windows, dancing on rooftops and chimneys before eventually falling down to the street below them.

"Hmmm... Colonel, do you mind if I ask a question?"

"Not at all sir," the grey stallion easily answered.

"Well... The last time I was able to walk around and actually see the Empire was during the Crystal Fair."

"Oh, I remember that. I uh, I was actually one of the ponies in the jousting match that day. I saw you sitting in the royal box with the council members."

"Really? Wow, I never would have known," Skeletor chuckled. "Nye-heh-heh. Ah, the jousting match was a lot of fun. Great job, by the way."

"Thank you, sir,!" Colonel Kernel replied, his gallop adopting a bit of a prance as he took in Skeletor's praise.

"But... The last time I was on this street everything was... worse. Like that building there," he pointed out. "I could have sworn I could see inside the second floor while I was walking around. And I distantly remember that the building over there was leaning at and odd angle. But, everything looks so much better now. How is that?"

"Oh, that's just our magic," Colonel Kernel shrugged, completely oblivious to Skeletor's odd look.

"Magic? I thought only unicorns or ruva could do that?"

"Everypony's got a little bit of magic inside, it just comes out in different ways," Colonel Kernel began to explain. "Ruvas can cast spells through their horns, but thestrals are able to fly with it. Crystal ponies like us just push the magic down into our hooves, and the crystals absorb it and regrow."

"I... I'm sorry. The crystals can grow?"

"Of course, it does... Do... did you not know?"

"I've never heard of that, although I really shouldn't feel surprised anymore. Still, I never read about this in any of the ruva books."

"Probably because it wouldn't be helpful. Maybe if they made a spell to walk on clouds like a thestral or pegasus, then they'd write down something about us. Not like that's ever gonna happen soon," the colonel laughed.

"Walk on..." Skeletor said, before letting his thoughts fade away with a shake of his head. "Clearly I need to look over some books outside of magic theory. Oh, that reminds me of something actually. Have you heard anything about the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom?" Skeletor suddenly asked, causing the colonel to briefly stumble over his hooves. "Oh, are you alright?"

"Y-yup! Perfect! Anyway, what were you talking about?" The grey stallion quickly asked as a nagging fear resurfaced in the back of his mind.

"Well, I was wondering if you had an idea on when General Cannon Fodder and the others would come back. I know the expedition was only supposed to be for about three weeks, but I'm a little concerned about it now with... 'Thorn' running around," Skeletor hinted, easing the colonel's concerns as he began to spin his own lie.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be back soon. They're just taking a bit longer than we thought."

"Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that 'Thorn' is out there somewhere. If he found them outside of the shield... I don't even want to imagine it. I was just hoping you had some news about them," Skeletor said as his gaze fell on the shield above them. "Nye-hehe-heh. How are they even going to react to all of this. Three weeks away and the Crystal Heart was stolen. I... I know Cannon Fodder didn't think too highly of me, but he's going to chew me out for losing the Heart so soon," he noted with a mirthless chuckle.

Colonel Kernel felt a pit in his gut as he looked up at Skeletor. The dethroned demon had felt genuine concern for his guards and generals, for all of the crystal ponies left in the Empire. Even after Crumb Catcher had told Skeletor about the general working behind his back, he still cared for the scarlet stallion.

All the colonel had to do was tell Skeletor the truth and his fears would be dissuaded. He'd still feel hurt and betrayed, both by Kernel's willingness to lie and Cannnon Fodder's alleged regicide plot, but at least he would know better than to trust the general if or when he decided to return.

Skeletor had given the Empire more than he could imagine and hadn't made any demands to be worshipped for it. He never demanded a statue in his honor, a holiday to celebrate his glory, he didn't even hint at wanting praises for his achievements. He had done so much for the Empire, he at least deserved the truth.

"I uh... I have to say something," Colonel Kernel said, as he carefully chose his next words. He'd make it clear that Crumb Catcher had been behind it all, that he had been playing them all like pawns.

Crumb Catcher would be punished by Princess Cadence, Colonel Kernel could beg for mercy and...

And then all he'd be left with is the one list Crumb Catcher gave him. There'd be nopony else to keep the spy network alive, nopony who could unravel all of his plans and figure out how they worked.

"Yes, Kernel?"

"I... The..." Colonel Kernel stuttered as he spoke.

It was obvious what Colonel Kernel had to do. Skeletor deserved the truth.

"The truth is..."

But not at the cost of the Empire's stability.

"... I'm a little scared too," he admitted as they continued trotting towards the crystal pony palace.

Colonel Kernel had kept the Empire safe with a small white lie, but he couldn't feel good about it.

"I still don't feel too good about lyin' ta him," Applejack complained as she raised a hoof in objection, leaving it up for less than a second before she quickly clung to her heated pillow.

Rainbow Dash hid her annoyance as Applejack derailed the conversation, preparing to hear the same song and dance from Twilight and the farmer.

With the Empire slowly coming into view, Twilight had decided to call one last meeting before they landed in the crystal city. Twilight and the other mares all gathered around the center of the carriage, a small stack of papers and reports sitting in the middle of their circle.

The purple pony had been going over the last report Cadence had sent about Skeletor, detailing his desire to meet something called a "human" in Canterlot. As far as Twilight knew, Skeletor had only been cooperative with Cadence because he thought he could meet them, and if he found out that Cadence and Shining Armor had lied, then things would probably get pretty ugly.

Sadly, anytime Twilight brought up their cover story for "Crystal", the Element of Honesty would always voice her disagreements. Twilight and Applejack would always say the same thing, and it would always boil down too, "I'm right, I don't like it, and you're wrong."

Rainbow Dash preemptively tuned the two out as Twilight fixed her glasses, letting them duke it out on their own as Rarity tried to mediate it. To Rainbow Dash, the human lie would be good or bad depending on who Skeletor was.

If he was actually an alien from some other planet that was forced to look like a monster from a picture book, then lying to him about having a human in Canterlot was wrong. But, if he was lying to them about being a good guy, then it was all fair because he lied first. But to Applejack, it didn't matter if he was lying or not, he deserved the truth just like everypony, regardless of whether it would help or hurt him.

Twilight, on the other wing, made it clear that she didn't like lying to him, but saw it as the only way to get closer to him. Even if it turned out that Skeletor was a good guy, they could probably get the princesses to find a human called Crystal and get them to just say they're the one Skeletor was looking for. She thought that, as long as Skeletor eventually got what he wanted, he wouldn't think twice about them lying to him beforehoof.

Rainbow Dash eventually rejoined the conversation as the two calmed down, with Applejack agreeing to not tell the truth, but stating she wouldn't outright lie to his face. It wasn't much of an agreement, so much as it was Applejack promising not to spill the beans, but it was probably the best Twilight could hope for.

After thanking Applejack for at least agreeing to that much, Twilight moved onto the next phase of their plan. "Now, after we're able to get closer to Skeletor, I'll preform a few spells on him and see what information I can collect. The rest of you will have to talk to the crystal ponies and see what you can find. Don't make it apparent that you’re asking about Skeletor, try starting off by asking light questions about the Empire first.

"While we're doing that, the guards will look for Sombra's enchantment using the DMD's that were provided, giving Luna a chance to finally enter the Dream Realm in the Empire again and help everypony whose suffering from nightmares or repressed memories. The Unicorns will try to find the Crystal Heart by trying to pinpoint the frequency of--"

"Question!" Pinkie Pie suddenly interrupted, throwing Twilight off balance as she looked at the crystal mare.

"Yes, Pinkie?"

"What's a DMD again?"

Twilight sighed as she pulled up the secret schematics, presenting the paper to the pink mare. "DMD stands for Dark Magic detector. It's a prototype tool designed to help ponies aside from unicorns detect dark magic in any enchantments or spells, the last one that Princess Celestia sent broke, so she sent a slightly improved version with a team of pegasi and thestrals so they can scan the Empire and find out what Sombra did to keep Luna out of the Dream Realm there.

"It's a secret prototype that was originally designed to detect changelings after the wedding invasion, but it accidentally proved to be more useful for finding dark magic than changeling magic. Aside from us and a few others, nopony is allowed to know about these, at least until they can find a way to fix any of the issues with the DMDs. Got it, everypony?"

Twilight was met with a quick chorus of agreements. Satisfied, the purple pointdexter plucked the paper out of Pinkie's hooves and returned it to its proper folder. "Good. Now, assuming everything goes according to plan, we'll be in the Empire for the next two weeks, and back in Ponyville a week after. I know I promised that this would only be a three-week trip, but Princess Celestia wants us to stay another week just to be safe. Sorry, girls."

"Oh, it's all fine dear," Rarity said, easing her friend as she continued. "I'm sure my parents can watch Sweetie Bell for another week, and I didn't have any orders that needed to be picked up by then."

"I sent a letter to Tree Hugger asking if she could stop by my cottage for a few more days to take care of the animals, I'm sure she'll be fine with it," Fluttershy added on as Pinkie Pie also tagged in.

"Yeah, besides, we're going to the Crystal Empire! I'm sure everypony back home would understand if we stayed just a teenie-weennie bit longer. Right, Dash?"

"Yeah, but I do think Pitter Patter is gonna be a little upset that she's on snow duty for another week. Mind if I can get some cupcakes on the house to cheer her up?"

"You got it!" Pinkie promised with a bright smile.

"That's great to hear," Twilight said, bringing the attention back to her as she pulled out one last paper. "Now that we've got that out of the way. I want to go over just a few notes about our mission. We're here to befriend and talk to Skeletor, not to get in a fight," she emphasized as she glanced at Rainbow. "And, to not upset him. Like... fainting when somepony meets him," she added as her eyes shifted to Fluttershy for a brief moment. "So, just to be safe, all of the guards were provided a sketch of Skeletor beforehoof and told not to react to him. I was also able to get a few extra copies from Shinning for us too, so take your time and be prepared," she stated, passing the papers around the group.

Cadence's original doodle of the demon left a lot to be desired, all Rainbow could tell from it was that he was blue and purple, and had a really long arm with a skull on the end of it. The new sketch however, left nothing to the imagination.

Rainbow Dash stared at his expressionless skull, her eyes tracing the sharp edges and curves of its bare bones. It wasn't like the old pony skulls she had seen as a filly at museums, and it was unlike any of the animal skulls she could remember reading about in school.

Instead of the familiar manic smile that she had seen on every pony skull, Skeletor's jaw looked more like a subtle grin that barely pulled his teeth up to his cheekbones. His skull was also oddly flat, almost as if he had never had a muzzle or a snout.

Next to his skull was another severed head, albeit one much more recognizable to Rainbow. Skeletor was holding a staff as tall as himself, tipped with the skull of a goat or a ram with long spiraling horns. She idly wondered if the other skull was alive as well, until she heard Rarity make a comment about the picture.

"Oh my... he... has a... an aesthetic," Rarity said, holding the picture aloft with a spell as she made small notes on the side. "You wouldn't happen to know if he wears anything else, would you?"

"Not that I know of," Twilight noted, taking another glance at one of the letters in her pile. "As far as I know, Cadence never really mentioned his clothes."

"Uh, is anypony gonna mention the goat skull he's got on a stick?" Applejack pointed out, as Fluttershy firmly corrected her.

"Ram... It's a ram skull."

Rainbow felt herself tense at Fluttershy's serious tone, catching the thestral starring daggers at his bare skull. Rainbow heard Fluttershy use that voice only once before, it was a tone she reserved specifically for ponies who had found themselves on the thestral's bad side. And, judging by the serious look in her eyes as she studied the picture, Skeletor had unknowingly found himself in Fluttershy's bad graces.

While Fluttershy looked at the sketch of Skeletor intently, Rainbow's attention eventually fell on Pinkie Pie as she started doodling on her paper.

Pinkie Pie had taken the opportunity to add eyes and a mustache onto Skeletor, while also adding a small crown on top of his hood with a matching one on his staff. he snickered as she wrote "skull siblings" above Skeletor and his scepter, taking the time to circle it with a speech ballon that led to both of the skulls.

"Also, I just want to stress one last important detail before we get there," Twilight said, bringing everypony away from their papers as she spoke once more. "Skeletor and Cadence agreed to keep the Empire's displacement a secret for the time being. I'm not asking anypony to lie," Rainbow could hear a huff from Applejack at that comment. "Just don't mention what year it is. Otherwise, if ponies ask about the princesses being safe or where they are, you can be honest. Just, maybe don't mention that they live in Canterlot. The crystal ponies think that Princess Celestia and Luna are recovering in Dream Valley."

"Oh, you mean where Princess Celestia and Luna first settled down in Equestria, right?" Pinkie Pie asked, receiving a few curious glances from the other mares. "... What? Doesn't everypony know that?"

"That... no," Twilight eventually answered. "That's part of the erased history of Equestria. How do you know about it?"

"That's what my mom told me, I just figured everypony knew that. Nopony else learned that in school?" She asked, earning a collective "no" from the other mares. "Huh... Homeschooling wins again," Pinkie shrugged, returning to her doodles.

"... Anyway," Twilight said, moving back to her previous point. "If anypony asks, keep your answers about Dream Valley brief. And if anypony asks about their family outside of the Empire... just offer them your prayers," Twilight advised them as she heard a knock from the window.

The pegasus guard outside waved her hoof three times, giving them a thirty-minute warning as she flew up to relieve the pegasi up front.

"Alright everypony, get your bags ready. We're almost there," Twilight announced, gathering her papers back up as she trotted to her luggage. Applejack hurriedly trotted back to her corner of the carriage, throwing on a thick green jacket as she gathered her other belongings in a bag. Pinkie Pie and Rarity both casually trotted to their own spots, taking the time to sort everything as they quietly gossiped about what they were going to do in the Crystal Empire.

Rainbow Dash was about to fly over to her own space when she suddenly heard a quiet mutter from her thestral friend.

"Say something Flutters?"

"Just... Nothing, Rainbow," Fluttershy replied, turning her attention back to the sketch of Skeletor with a scowl.

"Hey... Uh... J-just remember, Flutters, we're not coming here to fight him, right?" Rainbow reminded her, earning a light nod from the thestral as Fluttershy trotted to her bags.

Huh, so that's what that feels like, Rainbow thought to herself as she finally flew back to her belongings.

Thirty minutes passed by in the blink of an eye, as each mare finished packing their bags and hugged the walls of the carriage.

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity hugged the right side, peaking out of the window as the Crystal Empire came into view. The towering crystal spires glistened in the aura of the Empire's shield, glittering with Cadence's magic as the light bounced off of the buildings and streets.

Rainbow could see a crowd of crystal ponies in the small streets below, hugging the clear road that the Empire's guards had organized for the many carriages that were coming in behind Rainbow and the others. As the carriages cleared the barrier and started their gradual descent, Rainbow could hear trumpets ring out below, earning a gasp from Pinkie Pie as she bounced in place.

"Double-bellll!" She squealed, listing to the flugelhorns intently as she pressed her ear against the glass.

"Oh, my word! Look at that!' Rarity pointed with a hoof. "That tower over there looks just like the Tower of Prance! And look over there! I think that's the palace we're landing at! Oh, this is... This is better than I could have possibly imagined."

As Pinkie Pie and Rarity took in the sights and sounds of the streets below, Rainbow dash scanned the colorful blobs below, eventually finding the familiar pink and white coats of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. It wasn't hard to find Skeletor after that, standing right next to the royal couple with his scepter in hand.

He towered over the royal couple and the other ponies around him, casting a long shadow down the road that fell over the ponies like a shady tree. As she stared at the blue behemoth, she noticed him turn towards Cadence to say something, earning a nod from the princess as they spoke. Shining joined the conversation as well, nestling his wife's neck as he said something else.

The topic of their conversation soon became apparent as Rainbow and the others noticed another barrier form inside of Cadence's spell, allowing the princess to remove her spell as Shining Armor filled in for her. The transition was almost seamless, keeping the Empire completely safe from the harsh elements outside of the Empire's barrier.

Rainbow briefly admired the shield as it slowly grew to the same size as Cadence's, eventually pulling her attention back to the three below as Cadence gave an order to one of the thestrals. The thestral nodded in agreement before flying further down the road, holding two control lights in his hooves as he prepared to guide the guards to the landing zone.

The carriage landed with a gentle thud as the pegasi up front galloped down the clear road, slowing down to a gentle trot as they came closer to the crystal pony palace.

Rainbow watched the sea of colorful faces, seeing the curious and concerned expressions as they passed by. It felt a little odd that nopony was cheering or waving as they passed, but what really caught her attention were the ages of the ponies. Big, tall, old, and older, there wasn't a single young face in the crowd.

Rainbow Dash was about to call out to the others and ask them if they thought anything was off, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie as she gave a loud gasp.

"No way! Lardy Bread’s Bread! That's my lots and lots and lots and lots of great aunt's name! Oh! Can we stop by there? Can we, can we! Pleeeaaase!" She pleaded, causing Twilight to sigh.

"Pinkie, I understand how exciting this must be for you, but even if you found some of your ancestors here, you couldn't tell them that you're related to them."

"I know... But bakery!" She whined, trotting in place as the carriage slowed to a crawl. "I promise, I won't tell anyway who I am! Just five minutes, pleeease."

"I... We're almost there, after we get to the castle, you can go there later. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeperonie!" Pinkie Pie easily agreed, as she trotted to the back and grabbed her bags. "It's showtime everypony!"

"You can leave your bags, Pinkie, the guards will be bringing them to the castle for us," Twilight said, earning a polite shake from Pinkie.

"Sorry! But I'm keepin' this foal on me at all times," she said, giving the bag a loving pat as she put it on her back.

"What's in there anyway?" Rainbow decided to ask.

"Oh, just the necessities. Tooth brush, tooth paste, baseball bat, bludgeon," she listed off, giving the bag a good shake as metal and wood rattled inside. "Anything that I need in case you know who shows up."

"Ya really think that old stallion's kickin'?" Applejack asked as she fixed her winter hat.

"Better safe than sorry~," Pinkie replied, leaping out of the carriage as it came to a final stop. Rarity was the first to follow her out, taking in the sights around her as she poked her head out the door.

"It's... beautiful." Rarity's eyes lit up as she stepped outside, a gleeful smile decorating her muzzle as her head lifted up. "I've never seen anything like it."

As the other mares followed the unicorn outside, they couldn't help but share her genuine awe as they looked around. Even the smallest and most mundane buildings seemed sparkle in the light.

Rainbow Dash was briefly taken aback by the true beauty of the Empire. She had expected to stumble upon some frozen ruins of a fallen kingdom, a land that had been swallowed by time and overrun with wild animals and monsters. But the Empire was unlike any of the lost civilizations she had read about. Aside from a few buildings and some cracked roads, she couldn't see any sign that the Empire was in disrepair.

But, when her eyes finally fell back on the crystal ponies, it was evident that they were just managing to get by. Their thick fur coats hid their half-filled bellies, and their distrustful gaze was less than inviting. They were all strangers in a forgotten Empire, and it felt like they were less than welcomed, especially when Rainbow heard their mutterings.

"Is that a ruva?"

"Another thestral? Why's she yellow?"

"Why aren't Princess Celestia and Princes Luna here instead?"

She could only catch a few hints of their questions as she trotted by, and eventually she couldn't hear anything when Twilight raced past her yelling, "Shining! Cadence!" To the Equestrian royals.

The leader of the Elements gleefully galloped to the royal pair as they met her halfway, embracing the smaller unicorn in a group hug as they exchanged pleasantries. It was a nice touching scene, until Rainbow and the other mares noticed the looming shadow of the blue giant.

Whatever confidence Fluttershy had before had vanished when she came face to skull with Skeletor, as she hid behind Rainbow Dash and tried to conceal her fidgeting wings. Of course, their thestral friend wasn't the only one who was struck with silence when they saw him.

Applejack and Rarity both did their best to keep calm as they watched him, marching up to Rainbow's side as they all tried to hide any reactions. Even Pinkie Pie was oddly quiet when she finally caught a glimpse of the lumbering giant, joining the others in their silent gawking as she stepped by Applejack's side.

Twilight was the last to notice the blue behemoth, breaking off from her hug with the royal pair as Skeletor loomed over them. Rainbow couldn't see the purple mare's reaction from behind her, but her shaky voice betrayed any brave face that the unicorn tried to pull.

"Uh... Hi there?"

"Hello Miss Sparkle. I've heard a lot about you and your friends," he said with a quiet and ear grating voice. "It's nice to finally meet you all."

Applejack was the first pony to waddle up to Twilight's side, her jacket rubbing against her legs and barrel with an annoying squeak as she tried to stay calm. After the other mares quickly trotted forward to join Twilight and the farm mare, a green mare with a braided mane cleared her throat to grab their attention.

"May I have the pleasure of introducing, Princess Cadence, the descendant of Princess Amore and rightful heiress to the Empire's throne, her husband, Prince Shining Armor who also holds the throne of the Empire," she stated, finally turning to the demon as she adopted a warmer tone. "And lastly, Skeletor, former lord of the Crystal Empire, Slayer of Sombra, and Duke of the Humble Brag estate."

"Oh, uh... Hi again," Twilight nervously repeated herself as she introduced herself and the others. "I'm Twilight, and this is Applejack, Rarity Belle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. It's nice to meet you, Skeletor."

Skeletor spared the green mare a glance when Twilight finished, earning a nod from her before he stepped forward. "It's wonderful to meet you all too. Your brother and Cadence have told me a lot about you all."

"Mostly good things," Shining joked, earning a dismissive eye roll from a small brown coated stallion behind them. "It's great to see you all again. I know guys all must be pretty tired, but lunch should be ready in a bit at the Crystal Castle. Would you want to join us?"

"Oh, absolutely, your highness," Rarity readily replied for the group. "Oh, I can't wait to try some of the Empire's delicacies. What will we be having?"

"Crystal berry jelly," the brown stallion piped up, causing the blue stallion next to him to clear his throat.

"Of course, we also have some other dishes for our honored guests. Only the best for the new bearers of the Elements. I hope you can pardon Avid Value's blunt reply. In the meantime, how would you like for me to arrange a tour for you all at the Crystal Castle?"

"Oh! Can we get a tour of the town too!" Pinkie Pie happily asked as she raised her hoof.

"Perhaps we can arrange something tomorrow. Your majesties, are you ready to head back now?"

"I'll stay back and check up with the Canterlot guard," Shining Armor said, giving his wife a quick nuzzle as he pecked her on the cheek. "I'll be back at the castle in a bit. See you then, everypony."

"See you later, Shiny," Cadence replied as the white unicorn quickly trotted off with several crystal guards. "I hope you girls don't mind trotting too much. The Crystal Castle has a lot of stairs."

"A lot is an understatement," Skeletor joked, following Cadence and the crystal ponies as they trotted back to the Crystal Castle.

"Well what would you call it?"

"It has too many. There are stairs at the entrance, stairs in the halls, the walls, hidden staircases, stairs up towers. Not to mention they're all made for pony hooves. It's a nightmare walking up and down steep steps all day."

"Huh, I thought you'd be used to them by now."

"Hardly. If I never see another staircase again, it'll be too soon."

"Pssh. You say the weirdest things sometimes, you know that?"

"In my defense, I'm the weirdest thing you've ever seen. I might as well say the weirdest things too, princess," Skeletor joked, causing Pinkie Pie to stifle a giggle.

"I already told you, you can just call me Cadence."

"Ah, right, sorry. It's just been so long since we've been able to talk outside of... well, I guess work. Not really sure what to call it."

"Well, you could always join us at the royal dining table, you know."

"Maybe for today. But only if you don't mind me interrupting time with your sister-in-law."

"Of course not, that wouldn't be a problem at all. Right, Twilight?" Cadence asked, stirring the bespectacled mare out of her daze.

"Oh! Yeah, of course. It'd be great to get to know you better, Skeletor."

"Wonderful. I have so much I want to talk about. I heard you studied some soul magic back in Canterlot. I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about it."

"Soul magic? Th-I don't think that's something I can really talk about."

"It's okay, Twilight," Cadence consoled, slowing down her trot so she could stand next to her sister-in-law. "You can trust Skeletor. We need to talk about a few... problems that have happened recently. We'll talk about it after lunch, though."

"But Cadence, soul magic has a direct link to... well..." She trailed off, letting her eyes fall back on Skeletor as he walked slightly ahead. "Dark magic," she whispered.

"I know, Twilight. But trust me, everything will make sense later."

"... Alright," Twilight finally replied as Cadence trotted back ahead of the pack to match Skeletor's pace.

Skeletor muttered something to Cadence up ahead, earning a light nod from the alicorn as she whispered something back.

Rainbow couldn't hear a word spoken between the two, only catching the word "human" as Skeletor spoke. The rest of the group quietly trotted behind them and the crystal ponies, until Rarity tried to break the ice with the demon.

"I uh... I must say, I love your cloak, sir. It's very dashing."

"Ah, thank you, Miss... I'm sorry, Belle, right?"

"Oh, Rarity will do just fine, sir," Rarity answered, taking another moment to marvel at Skeletor's clothes. "I must say, the sateen is a very nice color. Where on did you get it?"

"It's nothing fancy. It was just something I picked up from the Mattress Kingdom."

"Really? I've never heard of the Mattress Kingdom before? What's it like?"

"Nothing special, my friend Tuvar used to work there. They were getting rid of some extra inventory and I decided to use it."

"Use... You wouldn't happen to sew, would you, Lord Skeletor?"

"You can call me Skeletor. I'm not a lord anymore... right, Emerald?"

"You are, now that you're the Duke of the Humble Brag's estate, even if the fief and manor aren't prepared yet," the green mare answered.

"Wouldn't it be 'duke' Skeletor then?" The bone head asked.

"Duke would also suffice, but lord is a more generic term for anypony, or creature in your case, who holds a noble title."

"Besides, everypony is already used to calling you 'Lord' Skeletor," the brown stallion added on, earning a nod from Skeletor.

"Huh, I guess that makes sense," Skeletor said, turning his attention back to Rarity as he continued. "And I didn't really do much. It was mostly hot glue, velcro, and some ladder stitches. The rest of it already came with the hood and other accessories. I just needed something that matched the color for the full cape."

"Oh, did you have a tailor make them, then?"

"Nye-Hah! I wish," Skeletor laughed, catching them all off guard with his loud and shrill shrill cackle. Thankfully, the skull faced demon didn't catch their reactions as he looked ahead, ignorant of the painful looks the Elements had given him. "Ah, no. It was all bought online. I only added the cape later, and then bought this after my other staff broke," he said, holding his scepter a bit higher to show it off.

"Oh... I'm... Glad you could find a replacement," Rarity awkwardly replied, giving a faint chuckle as she stared at the hollow eyes of the staff. "It's... It matches your unique aesthetic."

"Nye-Heh. 'aesthetic'. Yeah, I guess you could say that," he laughed, pulling the corner of his hood a bit closer to his skull. "It's uh... grown on me, at this point. Although I wouldn't mind something like a pair of pants. But the Empire is low on any extra materials and—"

"Oh! I brought some sample sheets with me if you'd like to take a look," Rarity eagerly interrupted, pulling out the sketch of Skeletor she had along with a pencil. "I happen to be something of a designer back home. I'm sure I could make something nice to go along with you cloak. Maybe something in a lighter shade of purple?"

"I uh... Thank you, that would actually be quite nice."

"Oh, it's the least I could do, my lord. Consider it a gift for restoring my ancestor's home."

"Ancestor? You had relatives from the Empire?"

"Yes, from my mother's side. We actually come from a long line of ruva nobles. Oh, it'll be wonderful to trot around and look at the Ruva Kingdom!"

"Unfortunately, I don't believe that will be possible, Miss Belle," the blue stallion interjected. "The Ruva Kingdom is a week's trot by hoof, and it's unfortunately far away from the Empire's current barrier. I'm afraid it will be another year or so until the shield may grow large enough to cover the other kingdoms again."

"Ah, I see," Rarity said with a dejected tone, tucking her paper and pencil away as she finished a rough sketch. "Well, I suppose I'll be able to bring Sweetie Belle and my parents by then. We can make it a family trip."

"Only if it's safe by then," Cadence added on. "We've still got a lot of rebuilding to do before then. But, we can talk about all of that later. I'd love to hear about what you've all been up to since the wedding," she said, turning her attention to Twilight as she continued. "I heard you've been studying chaos theory lately."

"Oh, yeah, but it hasn't been too helpful. I was hoping it could teach me more about the petrification spell on Eris, since everything that happened prior to and after her release should have theoretically broken the Element's enchantment on her. For instance, during the Canterlot invasion," Twilight said, falling into a long and convoluted explanation about the Elements and their reaction to the goddess of chaos.

Rainbow tuned Twilight out as she trotted forward, her eyes resting firmly on Skeletor's broad back. In just five minutes, Skeletor had shattered all of her expectations of the demonic dictator. He didn't have an intimidating voice, didn't go on some long tangent about eternal whatever or something, and he was making jokes with a pretty pink princess.

Still, Rainbow wasn't willing to drop her guard around the gruesome ghoul just yet. She'd be sure to keep a close eye on Skeletor during their visit.

Sadly, Rainbow and the others weren't the only ponies keeping an eye on the undead duke.

Resting comfortably in a far-off castle in the Ruva Kingdom, Sombra watched the rainbow maned mare and her companions closely as they trotted through the streets of the Empire.

The scarlet stallion sat comfortably in Lord Dispel's throne, resting on whatever pillows and blankets he found that had survived the Empire's displacement. He took a deep breath as he lazily glanced at the chamber pot next to him, watching as the pot slowly filled with Cannon Fodder's blood.

Nodding to himself, Sombra tore the small tube out of his foreleg and healed the cut with a simple spell. Casting magic was less bothersome than he initially expected, thanks to the power offered by Princess Amore's severed horn. While the old alicorn had managed to tap into the Empire's positive emotions to fuel his power, Sombra was able to take the Empire's abundant fear and use it for his own desires.

At first, Sombra thought that the distance between the Empire and the Ruva Kingdom wouldn't allow him to easily latch onto their fear from so far away. But, to his delight, it was surprisingly easy to use the general's own internal turmoil as a source of power.

He didn't expect the stallion to remain so coherent in his mind, but it was a small miracle for King Sombra that he could use the general even after he had served his initial purpose. And, in a delightful twist of fate, Sombra didn't even need to do anything to torment him. The new alicorn and her whorse had essentially done the job for him.

Princess Cadence and her concubine had spoken highly of the "new Elements bearers," listing off their deeds with pride as they recounted the recent history of Equestria. It was surprising to learn that, not only had the royal sisters waged war against each other, but the spirit of Eris had even managed to shortly escape her stone prison.

Their recounts of the Element's achievements had thrown Cannon Fodder into a deep spiral, as the true fate of the Empire revealed itself to the general. Not only had the Empire been forgotten, not only had all their friends and family outside the Empire died long ago, but even the alicorn sisters had fallen from grace. The truth was worse than any lie Sombra could have conjured, and the general had no way to cope with his sudden revelations.

Still, while Sombra reveled in Cannon Fodder's grief, he couldn't help but think more critically of the princess' words.

If the Element's power was not eternal, and if Princess Luna and Eris could escape banishment, then how long would it be until Grogar and his demons would eventually return as well? And, if the Demon Lord’s return was inevitable, then did he still need Sombra's help? If the old goat knew that he could possibly wait out the spell that confided him and the others to Tartarus, then what use would Sombra be to him?

If Sombra wasn't fast enough, then Grogar and his armies would take over Terra before he could even conquer Equestria, let alone the Crystal Empire. He'd be no match against any of his generals, like Tirek or Erebus, or Faust forbid Lavana. Not only would he need to contend with Princess Celestia and Luna, along with Skeletor, Princess Cadence, and the new Element bearers, but he would also need to devise a plan to fight Grogar and his minions as well.

He couldn't be hasty and fly into battle unprepared, but he also didn't have the luxury of time on his hooves either. He would need to move quickly, and strike the Elements and Skeletor before Princess Celestia and Luna could come to the Empire. He would also need to do it before the Equestrians returned to Canterlot, or else Twilight and the others have time to prepare a better plan than the one Skeletor had cobbled together.

Stopping at the pit that laid directly outside Dispel's castle, Sombra poured the general's blood along the rim of the pit, completing the crimson circle that he had started earlier. While he wouldn't have the time to summon as many demons as he initially wanted, it would be just enough to occupy the Equestrian guards. The unicorns from Canterlot would be the biggest issue, but even a thousand years of experience couldn't prepare them for the monsters that they would soon face.

Sombra stared as the snow around the pit as it began to bubble and boil, steam rising from the ground as the crystals beneath began to glow with a crimson hue. The sound of rattling clattered from the hole as he felt the ground tremble, with the hollow wail of a foal piercing the air.

A smile split his muzzle as he trotted back to the castle, letting the first of his soldiers make their way back up from the depths below.

He would make sure that Celestia's precious pupil and niece would never leave the Empire alive.