//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Embrace of Evil // Story: Shards of Darkness // by BlueBastard //------------------------------// Shards of Darkness Chapter 4 04 - Embrace of Evil As it turned out, removing the tree from the confines of the Las Pegasus guardhouse had taken close to two days...and only a little bit of exploding, mainly due to side spells that had been woven into parts of the gem, that being an extra concern. While that was enough to confirm by that point that the dark crystal in question had not been one of  her creations, that only made a far more disconcerting realization ever clearer: somepony was intentionally using dark magic to create fake gems. But where Razz had only done it to survive, whoever was doing it now had to be intentionally trying to set off dark crystal ‘bombs’ to destabilize local guard stations. Except the whole idea seemed stupid, since even destroying where the guards were stationed on a local basis across Equestria wouldn’t accomplish anything. The local police forces were not involved in the collection of fake crystals and so both they and local law and order were untouched. The local guard garrisons at risk were only a unit or two at most, meant more for just keeping a guard presence should riots break out than actual military action – one of the benefits of having so many pegasi in the service was the high mobility to deploy guards wherever necessary. All in all, because it was more or less an open secret at this point it was Razz’s craftsponyship that was at risk of exploding into dark crystal masses, the presence of fake fake gems only made Razz look to have been an even more dangerous threat by pure ignorance. And that pissed her off tremendously. “I have enough problems with ponies trusting me already,” grumbled Razz under her breath, “I don’t need one or more scumbags working to ruin my flip-floppy reputation even more.” Sensing his mistress’ dour mood, Heliodor landed on her horn as usual and leaned down, cooing in an attempt to lend support. In turn, she stopped to look lovingly at him, reaching up to scratch him under the chin. “Oh, I know I’ve always got your support, Heelee. Don’t think for a second I ever doubt your loyalty.” “Hopefully, you don’t doubt mine either,” chuckled a familiar voice. As Razz turned, she wasn’t surprised to see Princess Twilight approach her. “Don’t worry, before Luna left you to your own devices two days ago, she sent me a letter informing me of what was known, though admittedly it was little overall.” “Well, I can give you the skinny on what I’ve discovered so far simply by excising that damn crystal tree out of the guardhouse back there.” Razz then recapped her thoughts on the matter. “But why would somepony – or someponies – want to basically commit minor terrorism that isn’t going to accomplish much of anything?” “That’s what I want to know – I highly doubt they’re doing it to corner the market on cheap-ass crystals. I only got away with it because I’m the only pony alive who can safely handle that much unbridled power without going batshit insane. Terrorism is the only angle that makes any sense, but surely there’s gotta be more to this than being a moderate nuisance.” “Well, sorry to inform you, but a smaller outbreak just occurred in Berryville. Not nearly as big as what Luna described the growth here being but….” Razz sighed. “Fine, fine, just teleport us there already so I can get to work.” Being much smaller than a city like Las Pegasus (even smaller than Ponyville!), the Berryville guard outpost was subsequently both smaller in staffing as well as size. Which unfortunately meant that even though the giant obsidian mass erupting out of it was considerably smaller in girth than the one in Las Pegasus, the building itself was completely ruined and would need to be razed. But first, the tree had to go, and there was only one unicorn who could do it in any kind of effective time frame. “So, they had pictures of the compromised gems back in Las Pegasus?” asked Twilight, walking alongside Razz as they headed to the building. She’d teleported them to the public park in Berryville, as opposed to directly there, as the wider open space meant an easier chance for the pair to arrive without trouble. “Yeah, even from the pics it was obvious to me whoever is making these dangerous fakes aren’t even trying to make them as accurate to my spells as possible.” “Maybe somepony is trying to frame you?” Razz couldn’t help but blurt out a laugh. “Like I’d need help doing that if I had any interest in actually becoming Sombra’s successor.” The looks she got from Heliodor and Twilight prompted her to add “Kidding, just kidding, I’m not nearly as obsessive as that bastard - my prosthetic means I am not exactly a fan of stairs, for starters.” “Doesn’t change the validity of the point,” continued Twilight. “You’re an easy scapegoat because everypony knows about your handicap, and with the news about your old forgeries getting unstable, somepony or someponies looking to cause trouble for the Guard could easily try to make you look responsible.” “But then isn’t the worry that, because they’re obviously using dark magic, they’re eventually going to go batshit insane and become an actual threat to anypony other than guardhouses?” “That’s my worry if we don’t figure out who these ponies are – assuming they exist. But that’s why we need to clear out this latest tree-splosion as quickly as possible!” Twilight had once again proved her skill in foresight by having numerous guild mages on hoof to help clear out the tree. With Razz’s assistance, Twilight managed to invent on the fly a suitable counterspell to safely defuse the dark crystal tree, which she then instructed the mages on hoof to use. “This way, we don’t have to ship you around all over Equestria,” chirped Twilight. “There’s plenty of mages, but only one of you, but we don’t need your immunity to dark magic corruption to handle these trees.” Razz facehoofed.  “I can’t believe I forgot I could call upon the Guild in case of emergencies,” she sighed.  “And I’ve been doing all this running around for nothing.” “I wouldn’t say it was nothing,” Twilight insisted.  “We got some good leads out of this.” “Could’ve done it just as easily with a local mage casting the nullification spell and then giving us an after-incident report,” added Razz with a smirk. “Well, yeah, that’s true.” Suddenly, Heliodor burped loudly, spitting out emerald and gold flames that materialized into a scroll. One sealed with what was clearly Luna’s personal seal. “Oh, that’s a surprise,” said Twilight, who took the letter in her magic and opened it up. “Princess Luna says she’s had some ponies doing some assistance work on the side and wants us to meet with them in Baltimare.” “We’ll be all over the country by the end of the day at this rate,” sighed Razz. “Look on the bright side,” Twilight commented.  “You’re not doing it on the run, right?” “Depends on your definition of run,” the unicorn drolled.  Twilight, in turn, nodded sympathetically and then went to make sure the mages who would remain on site were on top of the situation. Once satisfied, she proceeded to teleport herself, Razz, and Heliodor away once again. Razz stumbled through the doors of the guardhouse, glad that this one at least wasn’t requiring her assistance in clearing out another dark crystal tree. “You okay?” asked Twilight, looking worried. Razz seemed unsteady, while Heliodor was disoriented enough that he’d gone from Razz’s horn to resting on her back, spread-phoenix position. “Yeah, we’ll be fine, just not used to teleporting so much in a short time span.” A mare with a cream coat with purple eyes, complimented by a blonde-and-pink mane pushed back with a maneband, seemed to be the one in charge. She noticed Razz and Twilight had entered, then approached, sticking out a hoof to bump. “An honor, your bookishness,” she greeted Twilight with a bow, before turning to Razz. “And I presume you are Archmage Raspberry Beryl? Pleasure to meet you. I’m Agent Sparkfire, from the Agency.” “Agency?” asked Razz. “Yeah, we’re not as glamorous as the guard proper, but we like it that way. As it is, two days ago, Princess Luna asked us to do some groundwork to figure out where all these bad gems are coming from. To give you a helping hoof given you were so busy cleaning up the mess.” “Well, I appreciate your help, since like you said, I’ve had no time to follow leads on this. If anything, I’ve felt like a sentient vacuum cleaner for evil crystals the past few days.” “I recall hearing about a similar incident a year or two ago when Rarity got crazy over a book and turned all the streets in town to gold, forcing Princesses Twilight and Cadence to clean it all up.” Razz rolled her eyes. “Completely forgot about that.  I was out of town on business, so I guess I missed that little shindig. ” “Don’t remind me,” groaned Twilight, obviously repressing bad memories of the incident. “Regardless, the letter Princess Luna sent us told us to meet with you here in Baltimare.” “Good,” said Sparkfire with a nod, “because this whole nonsense with exploding dark crystals might be over sooner than we thought. Princess Luna told us that you suspected ponies are making lower-quality fake crystals compared to your originals – we’ve already been briefed on how your origins tie into all this.” “Good, I’d hate to have to go through  that lecture again,” said Razz. “Anyway, another group of Agency operatives intercepted a group of ponies trying to smuggle in a cartload of dark crystals into Vanhoover, and it didn’t take much to get them to spill the beans on where these things were getting made.” “How ‘much’ are we talking here?” asked Twilight, eyes narrowed slightly. “As much as they are breaking the law, these are still Equestriani citizens and I’ve heard the stories of extremes the Agency has gone to before.” “We dealt with it in the most efficient and effective way we could, your highness,” Sparkfire replied breezily, as if discussing the weather.  “Doing so is a part of our charter, after all.” “Explain,” Twilight stated.  It was not a request. “Well, we threatened to use Pinkie Pie on them,” the spy clarified.  “No offense to Lady Pie, of course, but threats are most effective when they’re followed through.” “Pinkie Pie?” chuckled Razz, “That’s tantamount to a violation of some wartime agreement right there.”  Out of the corner of her eyes she could see the angry look on Twilight’s face, and promised to apologize in private later, but now was not the time for pleasantries. Sparkfire, however, neither seemed to notice or care.  “They apparently thought so, too.” Sparkfire allowed herself a small smile at the thought, before getting back to business. “As it stands, they said that the main hub of this operation, which is called the ‘Covenant of Sombra’ –“ “What a surprise,” deadpanned Razz. Heliodor – having recovered and was now standing upright on Razz’s back – face-winged for his mistress. “Yeah, tells you enough right there, but essentially this whole operation seems to be based on your divine example.” “My divine what?” exclaimed Razz, stepping back in shock. “They think I intentionally wanted this crap to happen?” “Well, you did announce you were the descendant of Sombra,” pointed out Twilight. “Yeah, but I was kind of completely livid over the death of Heliodor at the time and, well, how else do you explain this?!” Razz temporarily dropped her guise to expose her true, physically corrupted appearance, causing a few gasps of shock from other ponies in the immediate vicinity – though Sparkfire was not one of them. “Not to mention the fact that Sombra wasn’t really divine,” Twilight, having recomposed herself, added. However, Razz was more focused on Sparkfire’s lack of a reaction.  “What?” asked Sparkfire, when Razz gave a questioning look about that nature, “If I may be perfectly frank, you’re no scarier than a Nightmare Night costume compared to things I’ve had to deal with. Like Bugbears.” “Fair enough,” replied Razz, putting her guise back up to look less evil and pointy. “Anyway,” continued Sparkfire, “Anypony involved in the investigation knows you’re not involved with these wackjobs, Raspberry. But we’re gearing up to assault this place – it’s an abandoned feed factory just outside of town – and if you and Princess Twilight would be willing to lend a hoof, we can tie this thing up before dinner.” “You’ve got it!” said Twilight, answering for both herself and Razz. The Blue Ribbon Corn Feed building was certainly an eyesore – between the cracked brickwork, rampant overgrowth of vines and such, and faded signage, it was a real wonder why the whole area hadn’t yet been leveled and turned into some bright new neighborhood. At the moment, however, an elite team of agents led by Sparkfire, joined by Twilight and Razz, were hiding in the tall bushes just outside the grounds of the ancient building. Missing from the group was Heliodor, as due to being the only known domesticated green phoenix would’ve given away their position,  so he was ordered to wait back at the guardhouse. He’d reluctantly agreed only after a slew of promises from Razz that she’d be alright without him, as well as the agreement that if things got out of control, he could fly in to counterattack. “Ponies have definitely been keeping this place up and running for something, though,” noted Twilight, pointing to the windows. “Notice how despite being abandoned, the worst panes are only cracked, there’s no actual missing panes which is impossible without upkeep of some sort.” “Good catch, your highness,” said Sparkfire, “I wish I had agents half as observant as you sometimes.” “We probably should hurry, though,” advised one of Sparkfire’s subordinates, “it’s getting on to evening and based on what we know of the Covenant, they like to use the darkness to hide their activities. We need to get these bastards now while they’re asleep or we’ll have a fight on our hooves.” “Hold on,” said Razz, lighting up her horn and evidently fidgeting with a spell. “There’s a few sensory charms around the perimeter, nothing too complex for me but definitely dark magic – be sure to have your shield spells ready because I can’t tell you what’s behind those doors.” Then it was Twilight’s turn to show off her magical skills. “Hmm…they’ve only got one guard on duty, he shouldn’t be too hard to take out. There’s a lot of magical suppression going on – probably a lot of low level dark magic cancel spells designed to hamper something like this from a normal unicorn, but it seems most of the guards are actually asleep. There’s a lot of magic use in the basement, though, that’s probably where they’re making all the dark crystal.” “Yeah, in that case be extremely careful, you all know what their dark crystal can do if destabilized, but there’s a crapload of it in there that could blow the entire building apart. We need to tread lightly.” “Don’t doubt what the Agency can do,” said Sparkfire, “we’re no strangers to dangerous missions. But if nopony else has anything to say, then let’s get this done!” The sneak attack on the feed factory went a little too well for Razz. Something seemed off. Sure, things had gone off without a hitch, the guards putting up no resistance and practically the entire terrorist cell – from the cultists to the unicorns who had only just started producing that day’s supply of dark crystal – was in custody within fifteen minutes. But that was when Razz sensed a singular presence in what had been the upstairs offices of the building. A dark magical presence stronger than any single other Covenant pony now in shackles. “Are you sure you want to do this on your own?” asked Twilight. “I’ll come with you – it’d give me a chance to put that training you’ve given me on fighting dark magic” “No – whoever this is, I think they want me to come alone. This…’Covenant’ seems obsessed with Sombra, and therefore me, so I’m probably a demigod, as far as they’re concerned. If I can talk this individual down, then that’s a confrontation avoided.” “Well, you’re the expert here. But just remember that you’ve got me and Sparkfire’s agents if you need backup.” “Thanks.” Five minutes later, Razz was stealthily navigating the abandoned, moldering insides of the factory, passing through the light streaming through the holes in the room.  She moved as silent as death itself until she saw artificial light emanating from a doorway, likely the owner’s office, if she guessed correctly. “No point in delaying the inevitable,” she sighed, opening it and entering. What she found was a room, lit by countless candles, decked out in royal purple, green and silver trim, which did little to brighten the room given all the walls had been painted black, but on the walls were runes and writings Razz immediately recognized as being medium-level dark magic – the sign that she was going to have to get serious as even a medium level dark magic user had more than likely crossed the sanity threshold of rationality. “At last, we meet, Destined Beryl,” said a cloaked figure in the middle of the not-that-large room. He turned, pulling down his hood to reveal himself to be a remarkably generic looking elderly unicorn. “I am High Templar Pure Faith, your devoted follower.” “My what?” said Razz in an annoyed deadpan. This was another reason why she’d wanted to come alone – she’d figured the one in charge was a total psycho devoted to worshiping her ‘evilness’ and the last thing she wanted was her circle of friends to know about a bunch of weirdos treating her like the coming of a dark Celestia (or ‘Daybreaker’ if that awful fanfiction Rainbow had made her read had any merit). The teasing would be far worse than death. “Your follower, of course – it’s obvious that you’ve only led those silly agents and that worthless new princess to be the glorious first sacrifices to achieve your preordained greatness! It is your destiny to take up where your ancestor left off, crushing the princesses and bringing Equestria to a new age of power! Enshrouded in the embrace of darkness will you –“ “I’ve heard some dumb shit in my life but this is probably among the top ten.” said Razz, rolling her eyes. “I mean, after all that business where I lost my cool and had the entire freakin’ government at my mercy, yet I was more concerned about avenging my pet bird, I would have thought ponies at least had an inkling that I’m not actually Sombra reincarnate.” “You can drop the act, now,” said Pure Faith, confident in how the blessed one before him surely wasn’t serious. “But it has become clear to us that the whole ‘failed’ ploy was in fact just your attempt to cozy up to the fools in charge, as to better seed the oncoming destruction, which as loyal servants of The Obsidian Throne we have sought to aid you in!” “Wait…let me get this straight. You’ve been spreading volatile gems around Equestria because that’s what you thought I’d been doing?” Truthfully, Razz had suspected something like that to be the answer, but it didn’t make the pure stupidity of the plan any less surprising. “Uh…yes? I mean, why else would you sell gems that were basically dark magic time bombs?” Oh, this idiot’s a piece of work, Razz groaned silently.  “I didn’t do it intentionally! There was also the fact where I was homeless and hungry and the only thing I could do that wouldn’t immediately brand me for death was selling fake gems so I could survive! I’m not some glorious dark leader, I’m a mare who spent the latter half of her adolescence running from town to town committing involuntary treason against the country to survive! And that was in part due to being related to that piece of shit Sombra!” Pure Faith stood there, his brain apparently finally registering that maybe Razz wasn’t what he’d convinced himself she was. “But you’re a scion of the Dark Lord himself, you have his powers, why wouldn’t you-“ “Because I’m not a power hungry despot! All I’ve wanted in my life is to be normal and while I’ll never be able to achieve that, I’d rather use my power to protect ponies than use it to make them live in fear! I owe Sombra nothing and I won’t let him have control over how I live my life!” “How disappointing,” said Faith, finally getting the message. “Your existence as a false messiah must be punished.” His horn lit up as his eyes narrowed. Razz then heard the door behind her slam shut and the *chink* of the lock – like that mattered. She wasn’t worried as she’d also guessed what the inherent ‘backdoor’ plan had been for the cell if they’d been raided and she hadn’t been present. Razz! came the voice of Twilight in her mind, through telepathy, All the crystal down here is starting to- GET EVERYPONY OUT NOW! Internally screamed Razz, before firing up her own magic…and encasing Pure Faith’s hooves in crystal. “You’re not getting anywhere, you old bag of bones!” “I would gladly die to see you silenced, impostor!” he cried out, probably not really thinking about his responses. “Nopony’s dying tonight!” she cockily replied back, “because you’ve forgotten that dark crystal is my specialty!” A bright flash of purple deposited Twilight, Sparkfire, her agents, and all the arrested ponies a safe distance away from the Blue Ribbon Corn Feed building. And not a moment too soon as the entire structure promptly exploded, sending old brick and shattered glass everywhere. Twilight threw up a shield to protect those around her, but a little debris made contact due to the distance. “Oh my Celestia,” gasped Sparkfire, “what happened?!” “I think Razz’s attempt at negotiating with the leader went south,” replied Twilight, “and so the leader tried detonating the entire crystal stockpile to kill everypony inside.” “But, that means-“ “No, it doesn’t. I know Razz, she would have to have known this was a possibility all along, but that’s also because she understands dark crystal more than anypony. She wanted to stay in the heart of that trap in order to defuse it.”  Twilight looked around.  “Still, better to be safe than sorry.” The princess of magic immediately empowered her horn, and a thin amethyst tendril shot out from it, enveloping the building in a bubble.  The bubble expanded and split, becoming two, then three. Finally, when Twilight completed her spell, the ancient factory was encased in a four-fold barrier, impenetrable to all but the most potent of forces. “This should contain the blast,” Twilight said with a smile. Sure enough, a flash of blackish-purple light then flared up, depositing an unharmed Razz next to Twilight. “Yeah, that stockpile could have sent shards flying everywhere, but as it stands now what used to be Blue Ribbon Corn Feed is now a giant crystal eyesore – like the castle at the center of the Crystal Empire, but with far less furnishing.” “I’m going to have that damn thing painted someday,” grumbled Twilight. “And what of the leader?” asked Sparkfire. “Take my hoof and I’ll show you,” replied Razz, sticking out a hoof. Sparkfire took it and in a flash, the duo ended up right where Razz had been standing before the explosion – a deck of wood planks where the upper levels of the building had once been. However, now it was supported by a dark crystal mass underneath and in front of the duo was a pony whose expression was frozen in that of shock. “May I introduce to you, Agent Sparkfire, the former High Templar of the Covenant, Mr. Pure Faith. The real scumbag who tried to run my reputation through the mud.” “Well, I must say things are looking nice and tidy, then,” complemented Sparkfire. “But, ah, what about him? You plan on leaving him to die like this?” “Oh good heavens no, I’ll help dig him out - I may have Sombra’s power, but unlike what Faith over there thought, I’m not a cruel monster like him!” A few days later, Neon Lux sighed, brushing a lock of neon green mane out of his face. In his onyx hooves he held a copy of the local paper which described how a group of cultist terrorists calling themselves the ‘Covenant of Sombra’ had gotten their plots served to them by Raspberry Beryl, Princess Twilight, and a group of government agents. “I told High Faith his idea was going to fail but did he listen? Noooooooo…” sighed Neon Lux. As the true mastermind of the Covenant of Sombra, getting a cultist network off the ground was difficult enough in a world where the majority of the population saw no problem with letting a bunch of namby-pamby princesses with pretty wings and giant forehead spikes run the country. Losing Pure Faith and his cell was a blow that would take a long time to recover. “High Templar Lux,” one of his underlings addressed, “the mare you requested to see has arrived.” “Send her in!” he demanded. Maybe it would help take his mind off the horrid news.  As he turned, he was surprised to see a rather young looking mare, coat of white with a two-tone mane of orange and pink, with a butterfly cutie mark enter. “Are you the one who sent me this letter, this…prophecy that will rebuild this nation in the image of the dark one?” “Indeed I am,” said the mare, looking right into Lux’s neon pink eyes with bright emerald irises that seemed to glow, “I am the Oracle Tiny Dynamine, and Sombra’s unfinished business he left on this world I intend to finish!” Several days later, after all the Covenant mess had blown over, Razz was working her comfortable shift at the front desk of the Traveler’s Retreat, loyal Heliodor perched on his stand next to her, when Twilight walked in. “Oh, good afternoon, your majesty,” joked Razz, “how may I help you today?” “Very funny Razz,” mock-groaned Twilight. “As it is, I just wanted to let you know about our little experiment.” “Our experiment…?” asked Razz, vacantly, before recalling with shock. “Oh no! I completely forgot!” “Yeah, I know, I forgot as well – good thing I put that alert spell on it. Believe it or not, that crystal finally exploded earlier this morning. That’s totally going to help us get to the bottom of what was causing all those ruined guardhouses, right?” Razz didn’t reply with words, instead just sitting there in a stunned silence. Then, gradually, she started laughing, with Twilight following suit. The whole thing had been a bunch of loony Sombra worshipers, but they were all caught now and wouldn’t trouble anypony ever again.