//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: The Crystal Empire Part 1: Wolf of Crystal Street; Tyrant King vs Trider // Story: The Tale Of A Lost Wolf // by Solaris Night //------------------------------// "So let me get this straight." Trider said as he made himself comfortable in his seat. "We are heading to a long lost empire, that an evil tyrant once ruled over and when he was defeated he made it disappear for a thousand years. And Celestia decided that for your test, you'll have to protect it with the help of your friends, Cadance and your brother." "That's exactly what I said." Twilight affirmed what the Kanisar just said. "I'm not even mad, that's amazing." he said in nonchalant tone. "Celestia is pretty smart, choosing to let me come along as well. I'll make sure that all who dare to even scratch the surface of the empire will be properly punished." With a menacing grin he cracked his knuckles, messaging his intention. "Actually Trider, Celestia said that I have to make sure you won't do such a thing." the mare said making the Kanisar look at her in confusion. "Come again?" She cleared her throat. "She said that under any circumstances are you to engage any hostile targets, without the approval of either me, my brother, Cadance or Rose. Those were her exact words." "Then why the fuck am I even going?" he asked in a raised voice, while flailing his arms around. A smirk streched across Twilights face, which unnerved Trider. "Because she, as well as I, want you to see other parts of Equestria and meet other ponies to befriend." The Kanisar groaned as he slumped in his seat. "Great. This another one of your friendship lessons. Why must you torture me so? Do you find joy in seeing me suffer?" "This is for all the times you've walked into the bathroom, while I was still in there." she said in a half playful, half annoyed tone. Suddenly her expression became serious as she looked at her friend. "But seriously Trider, I want you to promise me that you'll stay out of trouble. I don't want you to get hurt." "I'll try." he replied in as serious voice. "And thank you for being concerned about my well being." "That's what friends do." A pleasant atmosphere descended over the two as they looked into each others eyes. It was ruined however, when a certain rainbow maned mare decided to intervene. "Jeez, why don't you two just kiss already?" The statement broke their daze and Twilight turned her head away from Trider, a blush clearly evident on her face. The Kanisar on the other hand looked at the pegasus mare and grinned. "Maybe after you won't get your ass kicked by me." That made Rainbow glare at him and he did the same. They continued their staring contest, until Pinkies voice broke their concentration. "We're here! We're here!" she said as she jumped around the caboose. The others looked outside and saw in the distance a small train station. It was barely visible due to the intense snowfall. A few minutes later they all left their cart one by one, each wearing an extra article of clothing to protect them from the frigid cold. The last one to step off the train was Trider, who only wore a thick vest on top of his usual attire. Dynamism looked at him with concern. "You sure you'll be alright with just that Trider? It's not exactly appropriate for the current weather? You can catch a cold like that." Trider however just crossed his arms and huffed. "Don't be ridiculous it's not that cold." he said with determination, but it was betrayed when his body began to shiver. "Something like this is nothing. As a warrior, if I let such a trivial thing stop me then I have no right to be one." Dynamism blinked a few times, unable to comprehend what she just heard. "What?" was all she could say. "Don't pay him any mind darling. He just doesn't want to wear an article of clothing that includes sleeves." Rarity said as she corrected her scarf that was messed up by the wind. "Honestly, it's easier to get a dragon to give away some of his gold than make Trider wear something with sleeves." The dragon-mare looked between the fashionista and the Kanisar. "So he would rather have his entire body frozen than wear sleeves?" she asked. The rest of the group nodded and she looked at him with pitiful look. "When I first met you I thought you were the cool and brave type. Now I see you're just an idiot." "You have no idea." agreed Rarity. Trider scoffed and turned away from the two. "Well excuse me for having my priorities set differently than you. And like I said something like this." he said as he showed towards the storm with his arm. "Won't even affect me." As if the world heard his statement as a challenge a large pile of snow broke off from the stations roof and fell directly onto the Kanisar, covering him in the cold substance. The group began to laugh at his misfortune as he shook off the snow. "Well you're right about one thing." Dynamism said in between laugh. "You won't catch a cold, cause I heard that idiots can't catch it." This made them laugh even harder as Trider began to remove the snow from him. "I wonder if it's possible to find a body under all this snow?" he thought as he continued with the removal. As the laughter died down Twilight and Applejack walked up to him. "Here let me help." the unicorn mare said as her horn glowed. Just like that all of the snow disappeared and his clothes were once again dry. "And take this sugarcube." the farm mare said as she handed him her scarf. "It isn't much, but ah hope it'll help." Trider took her gift and wrapped it around his neck, already feeling slightly warmer. He then hugged both mares, eliciting a squeak from both of them. "Thank you. You guys are great friends." He then gave the rest of the group an angry glare. "Unlike some." The others smiled sheepishly and apologized, while Rose just looked at the Kanisar and the two mares he held in his embrace, with intrigue. Eventually they broke the hug and looked around. "So... Anyone have any idea where this 'Crystal Empire' is?" Trider asked. "Captain Shining Armor was supposed to meet up with us and guide us towards it." Rose stated as she looked into the distance. "And that must be him, if I'm not mistaken." The others looked into the direction where she was looking and they too saw a shadow of a figure. "Twilight?" it called out over the howling wind. "Shining?" the mare called back. Soon the figure got close enough and they could see it was the stallion they were expecting. Twilight broke off from the rest so she could meet her brother halfway. When they were close enough they hugged each other. "It's good to see you again Twily." "Same here." They broke off and Shining looked over the small group. His gaze eventually fell onto the Kanisar and his mood turned sour. "Why is he here?" he asked as he pointed towards him. "Glad to see you too." Trider said, his tone laced with sarcasm. "As for why I'm here, let's just say Celestia thought it would be good if I were here if things began to go bad." Shining nodded. "I'm kind of glad she did." The others looked at him in disbelief. "You are?" they asked simultaneously. They knew Shining and Trider didn't particulary like each other, but they tried to at least not kill each other, so hearing him say that was a real shocker. "Yeah." he replied and began to head towards where he came from. "We'd better get moving. There are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark." "What kind of things?" Fluttershy asked in a frightened voice. "Let's just say, the Empire isn't the only thing that has returned." he said in a serious and grim tone. Heeding his warning they began to follow closely behind him towards the Crystal Empire. As they made their way Trider approached Shining. "What kind of thing?" he asked, curious. "Something keeps trying to break into the Empire. We belive it's the unicorn king that cursed the Empire thousand years ago." Shining replied. "Really?" A wide smile streched acroos Triders face. "That's good to hear." "Trider!" The Kanisar was scolded by Twilight. "Don't you remember you promised you'll stay out of trouble?" He just huffed as he crossed his arms and pouted. Satisfied Twilight approached her brother and faced him. "Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the Empire! If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected." Before her brother could reply a ghastly howl resonated across the frozen plain. They stopped in their tracks and looked around to see where the howl came from. "Th-That's one of the things, isn't it?" Fluttershy stuttered as panic began to grow inside of her, as well as the rest of the ponies. "We have to get to the Crystal Empire!" Shining commmanded. "Now!" Just as he said that a massive pillar of shadow rose above them, like a giant tidal wave. A pair of eyes formed within the dark mist, sickly green in color, with red irises and purple smoke escaping from the corners. Everyone began to run and the shadow followed. "Go, go!" They ran with all their might and were quickly approaching the barrier of the Empire. However the shadow was closing in even faster and Shining decided he would buy some time for the rest. Stopping and turning around he faced the shadow and fired a blast at it. But it was unfazed as it reformed and attacked the stallion. Shining ready to block, charged his horn and got ready. But the assault was too much and he was quickly overpowered. His horn began to go numb and he could no longer charge any magic into it.. Knowing he didn't stand a chance he got ready to face his demise. All of a sudden a loud explosion sounded off and the shadow wailed in pain. It backed away from the stallion and looked around to see what happened. His eyes widened when he saw Trider fire numerous blasts at the shadow, making it slowly retreat. Once it was far away enough, the Kanisar jumped toward the stallion and picked him up and hoisting him over his shoulder. By that time the shadow recovered and was once again in pursuit. Putting all of his strength into his legs Trider ran towards the barrier and right before it could grab them they jumped through the barrier. Breathing rapidly Trider sat down on the ground dropping Shining off with a loud thud and a yelp. "That's twice now that you owe me." he said in ragged tone. Shining paid him no mind however, as Twilight approached her brother and grabbed his hand. "Oh no! Shining your horn!" Looking up at his appendage he saw that it was covered in black crystals. He tried to channel magic through it, but it was futile. He shook his head. "Should've worn protection man." Trider said as he stood up. The siblings glared at him and his poor attempt at being humorous. They walked off towards their friend leaving the Kanisar behind. "Tough crowd." he said as he scratched his head. He as well joined the rest of the group and looked at the Empire. "Sparkleriffic!" exclaimed Pinkie and she wasn't wrong. Everywhere you looked crystals upon crystals, each as bright as the other. "Should've brought my shades." Trider said as they began to head towards the tallest bulding in the center of the city. Eventually they reached the castle and admired the spectacular sight. Some more than the others. Rarity was gushing over every single thing they came across as they walked through the city and it was starting to get on Triders nerves. "If you like this place so much why don't you move here. That way you'll get out of my hair and I out of yours. It's a win-win." he said annoyed. "You say that now, but you'll evetually run out of clothes, what with all the 'adventures' you have daily and when that happens you would be crawling to me so I could fix them." she rebuted, leaving him silent. They made their way to the throne room where an exhausted Cadance waited for them. "Cadance!" Twilight exclaimed, earning the attention of her sister-in-law. When the princess saw ger she got up from the throne she was sitting in and approached the lavender mare. When they got close they did their little dance, which gained a small laugh from Trider. "Are you two gonna do that every time you meet?" Cadance looked at him and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Trider, we never had a chance to properly introduce ouselves." she said in a soft voice, while extending her hand. "Yeah, well, last time we had to fight queen bug and her minions. We were both kind of occupied." She nodded, but suddenly her magic began to flicker as the barrier outside did the same. She grabbed her head and sighed. "Are you ok?" asked Twilight. Shining stepped next to his wife and put an arm over her shoulders. "Cadance has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra." he explained. Cadance took a deep breath and put a hand onto the stallions chest. "It's alright Shining Armor, I'm fine. " she tried to assure him, but he knew she was just acting tough. "She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade..." he trailed off as he looked at his siter with worry. "Well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen." "That's why we're here." Twilight assured her brother. "Why we're all here." added Applejack while the rest hummed in agreement. Happy to see them all willing to help Shining nodded. "Well, with Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies." Raritys eyes widened. "Crystal Ponies?! Hahaha, there are Crystal Ponies?!" she began to fangirl, while the others looked at her confused. Trider on the other hand was more verbal with his annoyance. "Rarity I swear to every deity that exists that if you don't calm your tits, I'll do it for you." The statement did it's job and made the mare shut up, while the others looked at him, some slightly disgusted at his claim. "Anyway." Shining decided to continue. "We believe one of them knows how we can protect the Empire without having to use Cadance's magic." Gears in Twilights head began to turn, until an idea popped into her head. "A research paper!" she exclaimed. "Huh?" Twilight began to pace back and forth while she spoke in an excited tone. "That must be part of my test – to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you!" She shoved a finger into her brothers chest as she backed off. "This is gonna be great! I love research papers!" "Yeah, who doesn't?" Rainbow said sarcastically, while she nudged Pinkie. Pinkie being Pinkie however, thought she was serious with her question. "Oh-oh-oh! Lemme guess! Is it Spike? Nono, Fluttershy!" she said as she dragged each one of them in front of her. "Trider?" she asked as she dragged him. The Kanisar just shrugged. "You wouldn't be wrong." "Don't worry, big brother. I am really good at this sort of thing." Twilight assured Shining as she and her friends left off to get answers. "Look, all I'm asking is if you know anything about what happened when Sombra took over?" Trider asked the pony in frustration. "I already told I know nothing." the pony said in panic as he slowly backed away from the Kanisar. "Just leave me alone!" With that said the stallion ran off leaving an even more frustrated Kanisar behind. "WILL EVERYONE STOP FUCKING RUNNING AWAY FROM ME WHEN I TRY TO TALK TO THEM!" he shouted, scaring off any nearby citizens. He heard someone giggle behind him and when he turned he saw Rose standiing there, along with Dynamism. "What do you guys want?" "It seems you're having trouble talking to ponies. Want some help?" Rose offered. Trider huffed and crossed his arms. "Don't give me that sass. You guys haven't found out anything about this either." "Yeah, but we at least spoke to them, unlike yourself." Dynamism rebuted with a grin. "I hate you." he grumbled. Rose put a hand over her chin as she thought. "Maybe the reason, beside being an alien, is that you apperance gives off the wrong kind of vibe. Maybe you should approach them with a smile." she suggested. "Fine. I'll try it your way." Trider said in a defeated tone. He looked around and spotted a mare in front of one of the houses. He approached her and put on a smile. "Excuse me miss?" The mare stared at him in shock, before her eyes rolled into her head and she lost conscience and collapsed. Both Rose and Dynamism face palmed at his attempt and groaned. Trider meanwhile lifted the poor mare and placed her under a small shade of a tree. He then calmly walked back to the two. "Not a word!" he groweled and walked away. The mares followed behind him and each kept quiet. "It's about time we meet up with others. Maybe they had better luck in getting answers." The Kanisar simply nodded and walked off towards the castle. Soon the others came into view and Pinkie waved towards them. "They're here! They're here!" she exclaimed, earning others attention. "What took you guys so long?" asked Rainbow when they arrived. "We had some trouble with getting answers from the locals. We apologize if you had to wait." Rose apologized for her and her friends. "Ya weren't the only ones who had that kind of trouble." Applejack assured them. "These crystal ponies seem to have some kinda collective amnesia or somethin. Only thing ah was able to get out of 'em was somethin about a library." Twilights expression suddenly brightened and she gasped. "A library? Well, why didn't you say so?!" she said as she grabbed Applejacks face. "Uh... thought I just did." Applejack said as the lavender mare let her go. "Well you can count me out of this. I came here to kick ass, not read, so if you'll excuse me I'll just be sitting in the castle trying to relax while an impeding doom looms over us and you guys read books. Ciao." Trider said as he began to walk off. But his movements were halted by a lavender aura that lifted him off the ground. "Quit your complaining. It wouldn't hurt to read every once in a while." Twilight said as she walked towards the library with Trider in tow. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" The group arrived in front of the librarys entrance and when they entered they saw countless shelves, filled with countless books. Twilight set Trider back to the ground and he just pouted while huffing. "I just... I don't even know what to... There are no words." she said as she admired the sight. "I can think of a few." Trider said under his breath. "Ahem." The sound of someone clearing their throat caught the attention of the group. "May I help you?" asked an eldery mare, with golden rimmed glasses. "Yes." affirmed Twilight. "We're looking for a book." "We have plenty of those." the librarian replied as she waved her hand in arc. "No shit! Who would've thought that a library would have books?" Trider exclaimed. The group looked at him with angry scowls. Applejack cleared her throat. "Don't mind him. He's just grumpy he was dragged here." she assured the elder mare. "We're lookin' for a history book. Somethin' that might tell us how the Empire might've protected itself from danger back in the day." "Yes. Of course. History, history..." The librarian thought over. Her face brightened up, seeming to remember where that was. "Ah, yes." The group looked at her expecting an answer. When a couple of seconds of silence passed Twilight spoke up. "Which is where, exactly?" "I... I can't seem to remember. I'm not sure I actually work here." she stated. A loud crash could be heard and when the group looked behind them they saw Trider standing next to a wall. It had a small hole where Trider punched it. "Don't mind me. Just venting some of my frustration." he said through his teeth. Twilight turned back towards her friends and spoke with them. "We'll just take a look around. I'm sure we can find it on our own." The others nodded as they headed deeper into the library. "Let me know if you find anything." the elder mare said before she too left. "I like her." Pinkie said as she hopped along with her friends. "Speak for yourself." Trider grumbled. It's been over an hour since they started to search for any possible clue about how to protect the Empire from Sombra and they still got nothing. Trider stood up from the ground and dropped the book he was looking over. He stretched his limbs and moaned. "This is fucking pointless." He looked around and saw eah of the mares did their best to find what they were looking for, whatever that may be. When he looked at Twilight he saw she looked over her own books like they were on conveyor belt, which they kind of were as she levitated them in her magic. "Uh, anyone else startin' to think this is a lost cause?" Applejack asked. "You've only began to realize that now?" Trider said exasperated. "No, no, no, no, no..." twilight continued her search until a certain book came in front of her. "Yes!" she exclaimed earning everyones attention. "History of the Crystal Empire." She levitated the book as she opened it. "I just hope it has the answers we need." she said as she began to skim through it. Couple of hours later After finding the book, the group learned about a certain tradition that the crystal ponies had, called the Crystal Faire. Every year the citizens of the Crystal Empire would hold this event to 'renew the spirit of love and unity in the empire so they could protect it from harm'. And once they got permission from the royal couple they started to work on the faire. It was grueling work, but it sure beat sitting around reading a book, at least to Trider. The faire started a little while ago and results were already clear. Crystal ponies began to enjoy the festivities and their coats and manes began to gain back their old colors. Every member of the group was also occupied with their own tasks. Pinkie was the playing the part of a jester, Fluttershy was looking over the mini zoo they built, Rarity and Rose were making hats out of straw, Applejack and Ranibow were guiding ponies across the faire and Twilight was managing all of it. Trider was left with providing food to the ponies, but so far he had no costumers, which didn't bother him at all. "Ah peace and quiet. Now this is life." he said as he leaned back into his chair and relaxed. A shadow fell over his face and when he opened his eyes he saw Dynamism standing over him. "You sure are taking this all in stride." she commented. The Kanisar simply shrugged and returned to his nap. It was however interrupted when the barrier began to flicker. They heard a sinister howl, identical to the one they heard when they were attacked by Sombra. Shadows could be seen surrouding the Empire, but just as quick as the barrier disappeared it once again formed. Trider and Dynamism looked at each other in confusion. "What was that?" the mare asked in slight panic. "Don't know, but it spells trouble." the Kanisar answered. Suddenly they saw a multicolored projectile approach them at high speed and right before it crashed into them it stopped. Rainbow hovered in front of them panic clearly plastered on her face. "We've got trouble guys!" she said in worry. "What's wrong?" they both asked the pegasus mare. "Remember that Crystal Heart thing we read about in the book?" The nodded and Rainbow continued. "Well, apperantely that thing was for real. When ponies fill it with their hopes and joy it projects it's magic and protects the Empire from danger. But Sombra hid it somehwere when he took over." "So you want us to find it?" Trider said in concerned tone, with a hint of excitement. "No! Twilight wants us to continue entertaining ponies, so that we don't lose all that hope and joy, while she searches for the Heart." Rainbow said. Trider groaned as he sat back down into his chair. Dynamism however nodded. "We understand. Go tell the others this news." With a nod Rainbow shot off towards the others and left Trider and Dynamism to look after the stall. "Well things have just gone into shitter." she said. "We don't have a mean to stop Sombra, while Cadance is becoming more exhausted by the minute. If things go on like this, the king will take over the Empire before we can stop him." "Not unless we stop him before he even reaches the city." Trider said as he stood up. "What do you mean?" Trider smiled as he cracked his knuckles. "I'm sick and tired of waiting. I want action. So I'm gonny go out there and beat the shit out of him." Flabbergasted Dynamism looked at the Kanisar and what he was intending to do. "You can't. It took combined powers of bot Princess Luna and Princess Celestia to take him down. You can't expect to beat him by yourself." "We won't know until we try." he said as he started to head towards the Empires border. Dynamism however ran in front of him and blocked his path. "I am a Royal Guard Trider and my mission is to keep you safe and make sure that you don't get into trouble." Her wristbands glowed and they formed into her signature gauntlets. "I'll stop you with force if I have to." Trider looked at her, seeing she was dead serious and chuckled. "You really think you'd beat me?" he taunted her. "You'd barely make a good workout." Sweat began to pur from the mares forehead as she knew she wasn't a match for him, if he wanted to get serious, but she had a trump card in her sleeve. "What about your promise to Twilight? You said you'd stay out of trouble and not fight Sombra. And what about your promise to Celestia? You said you wouldn't hurt anypony. If you fight me you'll break both of those promises." Trider looked at her as his form slumped and he walked over to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "You're a great friend Dyna. Not many would dare to stand up to their own friends to stop them from doing something stupid." The mare put away her gauntlets and smiled as well, figuring she had won. "But you made one mistake." Suddenly pain seared through her stomach and air left her lungs, Trider struck her with his knee. Dynamisms conscience began to fade as darkness enveloped her vision. "I never promised Twilight I would stay out of trouble, I merely said I'd tried." she heard him say as she struggled to say on her feet. "As for Celestias promise. I didn't really hurt you that much it would leave permanent damage, so I figure she wouldn't be that mad." He smiled as he removed his knee from her stomach and let her to fall to the ground. "But I am glad to have a friend like you, so I hope you won't be too mad when you wake up." With that said he began to walk off, as the mares limp form hit the ground with a thud. With the last of her power she looked at her friend as a tear cascaded down her cheek. Trider stood in front of the barrier, readying himself for the oncoming battle. He took a deep breath and stepped through, inot the frigid cold. Wind blew past his ears as his surroudings were trapped inside of the dark mist. "SOMBRA! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME!" he screamed into nothingness. At first it seemed there was nobod there, but soon the shadows began to surround the Kanisar. Out of them then stepped a single pony, who Trider presumed was Sombra. The king was taller than Trider by at least half a head. His coat was dark grey, while his long, messy mane was pitch black. He wore a suit of armor that was accentuated by a short red cloak. What really stood out on the unicorn was his red tipped horn and his bright green eyes, with red irises and purple mist escaping from the corners of them. "Who dares to call me out?" he spoke with a deep booming voice. He looked around and soon his eyes fell onto Trider. He looked him over and raised a brow. "What in Tartarus are you?" The Kanisar smiled as he pointed a thumb at himself. "The name's Trider and I'm a Kanisar. But that doesn't matter. All you have to know is that I'm the one who's gonna kick your ass." he proclaimed. "Really?" Sombra said with a bemused smirk. "You can try." "That's all I needed to know." With a roar Trider closed the distance between the two and began to deliver a flurry of punches. Sombra easily avoided all of his attacks and blocked a few of them. Seeing that the current method didn't work, Trider decided to start kicking him as well. But like before the unicorn king had no trouble with keeping up with him. "Is that really all you've got?" Sombra asked in a bored tone. "I was expecting a fight not a dance. You disappoint me." As he said that he grabbed both of Triders arms and kicked him directly in the gut. Trider was sent skidding across the snow until he stopped at the foot of the barrier. Slowly picking himself up he grabbed his stomach and and groaned. "Heh, excuse me your majesty, it's just that up until now I've always had such weak opponents that I thought I wouldn't need to go all out. But I now see that if I want to beat you, I'll have to get serious." Dark aura began to envelop the Kanisars body as he entered his Feral Unleashing. As he did Sombra looked at him with intrugue. "I see, so you're able to use dark magic as well." he said. "Sorry to burst your bubble king, but this isn't magic. I can't use magic. Instead my people are capable of using Ki, which is similar to magic, but not the same." he explained to Sombra. "As for what I'm doing right now, this is something only my people can do. To put it simply, I've currently accessed my full power with this transformation, so you could say you've already lost." "And what makes you so sure you'd be able to beat me?" questioned Sombra. Trider smirked as he wiped his nails on his chest. "In this form I was able to stand toe to... Hoof, with Chrysalis who defeated Celestia. So I'm quite certain about my victory." "Well then lets not postpone this any longer." Sombra said as he raised his arms. "Now you're talking my language." In a blink of an eye Trider closed the distance between them and surprised the king. With a powerful punch he sent him flying across the snow and before he could hit the ground he ran in front of him and delivered a powerful blow that slammed Sombra into the ground. Trider watched as Sombras body turned to smoke and he rematerialzed a few feet away from him. The unicorn rubbed his jaw and smirked. "You weren't kidding when you said you were more powerful in this form." he said. "But it will take a lot more than that to beat me." "Then how about this then?" Trider said as he leaned forward. "Roar Cannon!" A blast of Ki escaped his mouth and hit Sombra directly in his shoulder. The dark king howled in pain as he grabbed where the blast hit him. Taking advantage of him being distracted, the Kanisar jumped him. "Piston Cannon Tetraspear!" he screamed as his fist connected with the armored chest of his opponent. The strike knocked the wind out of the unicorns lungs and slammed him into the snow again. Sombra again turned to smoke and was now once again standing facing the Kanisar. He again gripped his shoulder and looked at the small traces of blood. His scowl turned to a smile as murmured to himself. "Intriguing." he then looked at Trider as he remembered something. "You were the one who blasted me when I tried to stop you from entering the Crystal Empire." "Yup." Sombra began to chuckle, but it soon grew to thunderous laughter. Trider looked at him, thinking he might have lost it. Eventually his laughter began to die down and the Kanisar spoke up. "What's so funny?" With the last of his laughter disappearing the unicorn looked at him. "It's just been so long since I've fought such a worthy opponent." He paused as he thought something over. "Would you be willing to tell me your full name? I just wish to know who it is I am fighting." The Kanisar smirked. "Trider Lykosgrothia. And you better remember it when you reach the Great Beyond." "I'm sure I will." the king said in a menacing tone. Without saying another word they both closed the distance and clashed in the middle. They exchanged blows, but it was soon clear Trider was getting the worst of it. After another clash Trider jumped backwards and unleashed a barrage of Ki blasts. Sombra however blocked them all with a small barrier and once he stopped firing he decided get close to the Kanisar once again. Trider however again jumped away from his attack and began to charge his Ki into his palm. "Wailing Nova Sphere!" he shouted as he lunged the orb at the unicorn. When it connected a massive explosion enveloped Sombra and a cloud of dust made him disappear from the Kanisars vision. But Trider knew that wasn't enough to kill him, so while he was still inside the cloud he ran behind the king and prepared another Sphere. Once he was behind him he unleashed the orb and another explosion rocked the ground. Trider panted, exhaustion falling over his form. "That should do it." he said in between breaths. He began to walk away, but he caught the sound of someone clapping. With terror he turned around and his widened when he saw King Sombra standing in front of him, unharmed. The unicorn continued with his slow clapping as he approached the Kanisar, a sinister smile spread across his face. "That was a valiant effort, it really was." he said as he got closer to him. "But if that was really all you had then I'm afraid you lose." Trider gritted his teeth as he called upon all of his remaining strength. His body began to pulsate, as his muscles grew and his aura diminished. Soon he was as tall as Sombra and he glared at him. "This time you're dead." He charged Sombra with speed that would make Dash jealous and connected his fist directly with the kings face. But he didn't falter after just that, instead he wailed on him, each hit more powerful than the last. Soon he was pummeling the king into a small he created and he still didn't seem to stop. Fueled by anger his attacks became more and more ferocious until there was no energy left in him to fight with. With a ragged breath he stopped his assault and ploped onto the snow. He looked into the crater, expecting to see the mangled body of the unicorn, but what he saw made him terrified, or better yet the lack of what he saw. The crater was empty, no sign of the king ever being there. His blood froze when he heard the laughter of the unicorn king echo across the plain. Slowly he turned his head and his eyes widened when he saw King Sombra stand over him, again with not even a scratch on him. "How?" Trider asked in a weak voice. "Simple. I am a being of shadows, no amount of physical attacks could ever harm me. Magic is also utterly useless one me as I'm a master of magic. However..." His expression turned sour as he looked at his shoulder. "It seems your Ki is capable of causing me actual harm. But I figured I could just block them with a barrier and I was right. While they can harm me, they were still very weak compared to my magic." Dread befell Trider as he realised, he never stood a chance. Sombra saw his hope diminish and he chuckled at his grief. "And even if you'd been able to hurt me with physical attacks, you'd never been able to get close enough to me to actually land a hit." He flicked his wrist as several tendrils formed out of the black smoke. "Let me show you." With a snap of his fingers the tendrils attacked Trider, each delivering a powerful blow, that the Kanisar couldn't block, as he was too exhausted to do anything. The assault was relentless and soon Triders body was covered with scratches, bruises and even some of his bones were broken. With another snap the tendrils stopped and hovered over the limp body of the Kanisar. Sombra then flicked his wrist again and each tendril pierced Trider through different part of his body. Slowly they lifted him up until he was face to face with the king. "You truly are a great warrior, I'll give you that Trider Lykosgrothia." he said as he looked him in the eyes. "You'll be a valueable pawn to me." Trider looked at him with confusion. "What... do you mean?" he said in weak and ragged voice. Sombra smiled as his horn glowed. "I want you to enter Crystal Empire and wreak havoc and also to eliminate that pesky princess that has erected this barrier." Trider wanted to rebute, but he had no energy to do so. "I'm sure you would be saying that you would never let yourself become my pawn. And I can assure you that with a mind like yours it would be difficult to completely control you, without proper preparation that is. But we dont't have time for that." He walked to the Kanisars side and he followed him with his eyes. "But during our battle I tapped a little bit into your mind and there I found something interesting." he grinned as his hand began to glow the same color as his horn. "Painful memories, fear and especially anger. With proper guidance it is easy to control someone who let themselves be consumed by rage. At least well enough to make them kill." Trider didn't know what he was talking about, but he knew it wasn't anything nice. He tried to get out of tendrils grip, but it was futile. Sombra chuckled at his attempt. "Still have enough strength to resist. Good." He placed his hand onto the Kanisars head and began to bend and shift his mind with his dark magic. "But you'll be useless to me with your body like that." He also began to heal Triders body and restoring his energy. He continued to do that for a couple of minutes until he was satisfied. He dropped the man onto the ground and crouched down. "One last thing before I let you loose." he placed a finger onto Triders forehead and a mark appeared. "This curse will let you continue to fight even when your body has been pushed beyond its limit. With that you'll teach those foolish ponies what happens when they try to oppose their rightful ruler." Trider began to slowly picked himself up and began to slowly walk towards the Empire. "You know what you have to do, right?" asked the dark king. "Kill." Trider said above a whisper. "Kill." he repeated this time louder. "KILL ALL HUMANS!!!" he screamed as he ran through the barrier, his eyes now red with purple smoke escaping from them.