//------------------------------// // Crystal Faire Pt 2 // Story: Death March to Equestria // by Toxicfox //------------------------------// Crystal Faire, 12:44 pm <01:12:16:31> After the closing of the ceremonies Twilight had decided to spend time with her niece while Cadence and the other princesses relax at the castle spa before joining the festival. The Gang Strolls through the streets of the faire. " So what do y'all wanna do first?" AJ asks "There's the petting zoo with those adorable Ewe" Fluttershy suggests with angel rolling his eyes. "The Crystal Faire has a lavish Arts and Design Section. showing works of up incoming designers and crafts ponies "Flugelhorns!!!" Pinkie says popping up holding 3 horns "Yeah!" Clover agrees hopping on the pink ponies back as they both blow the horns in unison causing blackjacks eye to twitch. "I thought I hid those stupid things" he comments plugging his ears "I wouldn't call your Hot bar a good hiding spot" she casually says causing Blackjack eyes to widen and look to his Hot bar only to see the empty slot. ["She's a glitch I swear!"] Blackjack continues to confusingly look back and forth at Pinkie and his Hot bar." Ahem ..anyway I heard there was a joust? "Aw Yeah! It's one of the coolest things at the faire." Rainbow explains "So what is it?" Blackjack asks curious as to what a pony joust would be "Two Ponies armored up an competing in a contest of strength and skill" AJ adds. "It's the second coolest show in all of Equestria." Rainbow adds with extra hype. "What's the first?" he asks raising an eyebrow "The Wonder Bolts" They all say with Rainbow being the only one with enthusiasm causing blackjack to chuckle. "Hmm, how bout we go see a joust round then me and Rarity will check out the Arts fair and I'll meet Fluttershy at the petting zoo afterward." He suggests to the agreement of the 4 ponies. "Sound good Clover?" "Hmm Nah I wanna go play my flugelhorns with Pinkie Pie." the little dragon says raising her horn "Aight, don't make a nuisance of yourselves" he shrug "We Promise Nothing!!!" They say speeding off in a cloud of smoke "Sigh...oh Lord." he shakes his head before turning back to the remaining ponies ."Alright let's go to the joust." he says as they walk to the joust fields. "Mares and gentle colts, Welcome to the Imperial joust competition, I'm your host Pearl Waves" The unicorn announces over the mic. "and are your ready for the first exciting match?" She states before being met with the roars of the small crowd. "On the Left we have Topaz luster a young guard on his 2nd year and on the right Coal Presser , Mining prodigy and father of 2. Gentle Colts are you ready?" He says raising his hoof as the two armored stallions nod as they prepare their lances." Alright then En guard!" She yells dropping her hoof, the Stallions charge at each with determination in their eyes. both lances graze the ends of their Helmets as they pass by and gallop to the opposite ends of the field. The crowd applauds in excitement as they ready for the next charge. "That was awesome!" Rainbow cheers waiving a yellow flag matching Topaz's color ["This is so bizarre"] Blackjack watches with curiosity as the ponies joust in the same fashion to humans but sillier The Stallions brush the ground again before charging again,as they approach Coal leans left and seeing this topaz just manages to dodge having Coal's lance graze the side of his armor causing Topaz to sway to an audible gasp from the crowd. Topaz quickly regains balance and continues to the end of the field before turning for the next round. "Dang! almost had em" AJ complains holding up a dark grey foam hoof matching Coal presser's mane color "That's was a close one folks but this match is far from Over!" Pearl commentates as the stallions charge again. Frozen Caverns, 1:05 pm <01:11:55:21> The Cavern is full of numerous yeti and snow wolves, many feasting on freshly hunted prey others practicing with their new Black crystal weapons, all the while King Sombra sits upon his dark throne gazing into a purple and green tear into reality. Through the tear he watches the opening of the joust as two yeti stand beside him one fanning him with a large leaf as the other feeds him grapes from a vine. "Hmm It's good to see the Crystal ponies strong even in this time of weak rulers" he comments with a grin as he watches the joust continue with both stallions refusing to surrender as they stubbornly clash over and over. But as his spying spell travels across the crowd he senses a strong presence and halts the spell as it passes over Blackjack. " What is that?" he says zooming to the bored looking human sitting with the two element bearers." I've never seen any creature like it" his eyes glow as he activates detection magic; all the creatures in his view project a small aura around their bodies matching the color of their coat with the unicorns shining brighter due to their magic but what surprised Sombra was the dark aura Blackjack was emitting. "What sort of twisted dark beast is that?" he asks narrowing his eyes. Meanwhile "Achoo!… Ugh" "Bless you" AJ responds handing Blackjack a hanky "Thanks" he responds before blowing his nose Back to Sombra " I thought only the Umbrum could command this much darkness. But the ponies seem to treat him as an ally rather than a monster, If it stands with the princesses my plans will be ruined!" he slams his hoof on the arm of his crystal throne cracking it. causing the whole room to become silent as Sombra's beasts stare at their master with fear." I must remove it from the city, but how? " he mumbles in thought rubbing his chin as he casts an Inspection spell. Unknown Creature -Traits- Bipedal Omnivorous Intelligent Enhanced Strength Dark and Fire magic Sword Affinity- Master -Armor- Dragon Skin Battle coat Bull Hide Boots with steel plates Boar Hide Gloves Dark and Fire resistance -Weapons- Enchanted Steel Sword (Darkness) Altered Spear (Dark Fire) "Interesting, this beast seems to be some kind of dark warrior with a semblance for magic." Sombra begins to think of a plan for the creature." If it's will is a great as its strength I won't be able to control it. And an outright attack would be foolish." He continues to ponder before looking back to Blackjack. " It's appearance strikes a similar appearance to those adventuring heroes in the old books, but the hide clothes makes me think he's some sort of hunter." Sombra's spell does a full 180 around Blackjack scanning him. "I see no Equestrian or Crystal Sigil, and he certainly hasn't been blessed by any of the princesses. If I'm going to retake my empire that beast will have to be removed. But how?" Sudden inspiration strikes as an enormous yeti passes his view lugging a large tree trunk before throwing it into a large campfire. With a menacing grin Sombra charges his dark magic "If I'm going to remove this powerful beast...." He wills the yeti to stand before him. " Then I'll do it with another power beast." The Magic covers the large yeti, It's body begins brutally shifting as the darkness flows into it. It's snow white coat darkens to a pale ice blue, its body contorts as it's hunched back straightens with several cracks, steam erupts from its body as its fat tightens to muscle and dark horns sprout from its head. The yeti is on it's knees doubled over in pain as the last of the energy subside, then stands towering at 10 feet tall opening it's blazing red eyes looking at it's creator. "Yes, A truly exotic beast." He says admiring his creation. "Now for the challenge ." he casts another spell that forms black barbaric armor upon the creature ending in a helmet with crystal spikes and a single blue gem in the center resembling a crown. (This but darker with Black crystal Spikes on the shoulder) "And finally, the Prize." he smiles as he fuses his Magic with the surrounding permafrost, raising a large Shard of black Ice which shortly shatters in a magical explosion. In it's place floated a large dark battle axe emitting a cold wind and fog The Yeti stares in awe at the weapon before grasping it, His hand shook from the Brutal cold of the weapon before slamming it to the ground creating a large burst of Black icicles at the strike area. The pain of the cold subsiding, with a deep exhale the Yeti emits a Cold fog from its breath before once again gazing upon his master. [" Excellent, now for a test."] He says casting several spying spells all around them showing several areas of the Frozen north. In each window it showed other small clans of Yeti. Afterwards the spells collide with each other and seep into the floor and within seconds a map of the north formed of black crystals with glowing purple flames marking the yeti locations. "Prove your strength and conquer the rest" "Yes….Master." The yeti says in a deep and grunting tone, having spoken equestrian for the first time. And so the Yetis marched into the mountainous tundra armed with their new weapons and lead by their Dark Chieftain Crystal Faire, Arts area 2:27pm <01:10:33:12> The area was filled with an uncountable number of stands. Blackjack's cursory glances revealed all sorts of finely crafted pieces of artisan goods. Paintings, small sculptures, precious jewelry. No doubt crafted by professionals and amateurs alike. Rarity gawks at them all as she passed, her eyes the size of saucers and twinkling as she observes them. "Magnifique! I've never seen a gem cut so finely," she remarked with awe, peering with wide eyes and practically drooling at the heart shaped gem. Blackjack simply slurps at his soda. "Mmhm," he gave a nod, absentmindedly agreeing as he keeps walking. Rarity tuts, giving him a roll of her eyes. "Would it *kill you* to show a little more enthusiasm?" He shrugs. "Maybe." Her stare harshened. Blackjack sighs, letting the straw leave his mouth. "Sorry. I'm not just that into jewels." "Really?" Rarity replies, skeptical. "What could you possibly be interested here if not jewels?" Blackjacks gaze wanders around the area before being stolen by a small stand nestled between two more professional looking stands. "Hmm?" his eyebrow raises as he walks over, the fashionista following behind, partially annoyed at his apparent deafness to her question but also equally curious of where the human was going. At the stand sits a young unicorn colt. He's around eleven years old, surrounded by hoof drawn pictures, the insides colored vibrantly, even staying inside the lines. Oblivious to the approaching pair, he releases a discouraged sigh, continuing to sketch in his book. As Blackjack reaches the stand he glimpses at the foal's drawing. It's a simple picture of Spike holding aloft the crystal heart, his scaled foot placed triumphantly atop a defeated shadow beast. To his surprise, the foal is coloring with a surprising amount of detail and shading for his age. "That's really impressive," Blackjack remarks, prompting the foal to jump in surprise, sending several unfinished pictures scattering all over. Rarity's eyes widened, her horn sparking with a purple hue as she grabs the flying papers in her aura, stacking them neatly before the colt with a sheepish smile. "Uh..." the foal stammers, still reeling from the sudden surprise of the human's appearance. Blackjack wears an apologetic smile, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that," he chuckles as the ivory mare next to him watches, intrigued. "Mind if I take a look?" he asks with a sincere smile. "Um. Okay! But they're not much though..." the nervous foal responds, although he perks up somewhat "I wouldn't say that," he says, assuring, looking through the stack. Each one was a more than decent illustration of key figures in the crystal empire. Spike, Shining Armor, Cadence and the Crystal Captains. Hmm not much in terms of accuracy, but the attention given to the linework and coloring is quite impressive, Rarity critiques internally before she glances at Blackjack, seeing the joy rise on his face. "These are pretty good," he comments, flipping through the creations. "Y-you really think so?" the colt looks up with curiosity at the human, a young, appreciative smile on his face. "Yeah, I can tell you really put a lot of heart into these." he says flipping the pictures toward their creator before pointing to one of the images "you're style may be simple but your depth and shading are really good. That tells me you payed attention to the details of what you're trying to draw and brought it to life by bringing out the detail through the colors rather than the image itself." he hands the wide eyed foal his art before pulling out a small bag of gold coins. "I'll take one of each" Really? the foals eyes widened in shock "Yeah" "O-Ok!" the foal joyously begins putting a copy of each print inside a folder This caused rarity's eyes to widen before calming into a proud smile, she knew Blackjack was a artist but she was pleasantly surprised to see his generous and nurturing side as well as the young foals passion for creation. "may I buy one too" she asks the foal holding a bag of bits" "of course thanks so much" he responds with eyes glowing like the crystal heart. Rarity looks over the pictures and spots one with the crystal heart surrounded by the snowflake sigil of the empire with a borealis color pattern surrounding it. "I'll take this one please." the foal nods places one in the clear bag. " Also I don't mean to pry but could we have your name? "Chrome...Chrome Flare." "I'm Rarity and this is Blackjack." "Wait the Element of generosity Rarity?" He asks star struck before flipping through his sketch book before showing them a picture of her and the main six surrounding spike holding up the crystal heart with another borealis pattern in the background. "Wow!" Blackjack was impressed by the drawing it resembled a more detailed version of one of the Princesses stain glass windows. "When you saved the empire I made this then my cutie mark appeared" he says pointing to the mark of a pencil with a blended rainbow draw line coming from the point." I can't believe I finally got to meet you." he says excited "And I'm happy to have met you as well, I do hope you'll keep creating these lovely works I'm sure they'll be desired by every pony" Tears form down the colts eyes before nodding confidently."I will!" Blackjack begins to walk off "Can't wait, See ya round little Chrome and use more references it'll work wonders" he says waving. "Au revoir Chrome" Rarity says before catching up to Blackjack. "I'm impressed" "I know right? the kids got a lot of potential" " Well yes but not that, with you." Blackjack raises his eyebrow in confusion. "You made that foals day and even inspired him to continue his passion with new found enthusiasm." Blackjack shakes his head and smiling " I just contributed to his sales, You. Made his day." Rarity smiles happy with his response as they continue to stroll the Arts fair while young chrome begins a new sketch featuring the tall dark man and the fashionista posed back to back with Rarity in the foreground and Blackjack behind her Northern mountains, 5:18 pm <01:05:42:56> The Dark chieftain proved to be a powerful warrior, Within mere hours he'd sieged and conquered numerous clans. Breaking the Long horn and Sharp tusks Clans and subjugating their survivors had increased the army threefold than when it first marched and after slaying each of the clan heads with the dark axe the Chieftain's Skill grew from a barbarous monster to a true warrior. Now only one clan remains in his path of completing his conquest The Stone Teeth,a robust clan of innovative yeti more developed than the other clans, developing tools and weapons of stone and wood. Their home rest higher in the mountains, a mass construction of stone and wood built into the side of the mountain its appearance resembled that of a rough imitation of Yakyakistan. It has repelled attacks from the other clans before given the large amounts of claw marks and yeti skulls lining the walls of the compound. The dark chieftain could only grin, seeing this new challenge excited him as his grip tightened on the axe. "Forward!" he roars pointing his weapon toward the enemy. The Army charged their roars echoing throughout the area. The Stone teeth responded hurling large rocks at the attacking horde. The frontline yeti were struck down one by one by the falling rocks but the chieftain ran forward cleaving one in half with the blade and shattering another with his fist. the stone teeth were left in awe before deciding to focus their fire solely onto him. Seeing the next barrage he stops before slamming the axe into the ground creating a wall of black ice pillars right in front of him, the boulders shattered against the wall and once the barrage was quelled the pillars receded and he resumed his sprint with his army close behind. Another roar escaped his mouth as he leaped for the gate his axe wound behind him before delivering the blow cleaving the gate as if it were paper. With their defenses breached the Stone teeth responded to the invaders armed with their stone weapons. As the Clans clashed the chieftain ran through the compound cutting down every enemy in his way before arriving to a large cave with a mammoth skull mounted above it. A toothy grin grew on his face as he twirled the axe in his hand before planting the handle in the ground as if taunting the enemy inside. The fighting slowly ceased as heavy footsteps began to approach. all yeti drew their eyes to the cave as the stomps grew louder causing icicles to fall from the cave ceiling. Emerging from the cave was a massive yeti a full head taller than the dark chieftain covered in armor made from the bones of numerous creature the most identifiable being the large Yak skull mounted atop his head with horns as large as an arm. in his hand was a large blade crafted from Stone and covered in sharped teeth giving it a saw like appearance. The dark chieftain gazed up to his opponent his grin still lining his face as he pulls the axe from the ground right as the Stone chief made the first strike slashing from above, the dark chief dodges retaliating with a slash of his own cleaving the bones off his opponents arm but inly dealing a minor flesh wound. Stone responds punching dark to the ground before gripping his blade in both hands bringing it down in a heavy slash, but rather than the crackling of bone all Stone heard was a loud clank. Beneath his large blade, Dark held the saw at bay using all his strength and the Axes pole to keep the razor teeth from piercing his flesh. as he began to lift it Stone push his weight upon the blade causing the lower teeth to puncture Dark's chest. The intense pain and adrenaline cause dark to roar aggressively as he pushed with all his might pulling the teeth from his flesh and pushing the saw off staggering stone and allowing him to regain his footing. Dark steps back grasping his wounds as Stone licks the blood from his blade with his own toothy grin. Dark's anger reaches boiling levels before suddenly cooling as he feels the pain of his wound cease removing his hand from his chest he finds his wound closed by a patch of his own frozen blood. As Stone begins to charge aggressively with his blade high to the sky. every part of Dark's survival instincts were telling him to flee as the Stone chief closed in ready to butcher him yet he stood there, his body no longer feeling his burning adrenaline but a chilling calmness his pants slowing to deep breaths as he griped his axe winding it back in anticipation. Stone, using all his strength brought his Blade down upon his enemy and in a single motion, Dark parried the attack sending the blade to the side before dropping his axe upon Stones arm severing it in an instant. The Yetis stare in awe as Stone's blood curdling roar echoes throughout area as blood erupts from his severed arm before suddenly freezing in place. lifting his head he gazed into the red eyes of dark hoisting his axe into the air with the poise of an executioner a cold fog escaping his mouth before bringing it down cleaving his head from his shoulders. Silence. The wind being the only noise in the air as all the yeti stand idle, still processing everything they'd seen while Dark grabbed Stone's severed head raising it to the sky before speaking. "Join...Him" he flicks the helmet causing the head to fall from it's grip. "Or join me!" Left with their ultimatum the Stone teeth dropped to their knees bowing their heads in submission as Dark Roar in celebration of their victory Northern Caverns. 7:43 pm <01:03:17:09> The Yeti were hard at work using their new plunder and united clan, with the innovations of the Stone teeth the once barren cavern was transformed into fortified stronghold decorated in the bones and pelts collected from the conquered yeti clans. Armored Yeti guarded every entrance while the Snow wolves patrolled each cave, the once barren central cavern was now a well lite throne room complete with bonfires, pelt rugs and beast skulls the ideal throne of a barbarian warlord. Sombra sat in his now pelt padded throne with a pleased expression on his face as his champion kneeled before him eagerly awaiting his next word. "Raise your head my champion" the king states with a light tone. " You've proven your strength and valor and for such I will reward you". he steps off his throne and approaches the yeti placing his hoof on his head. "In the Name of the Dark Father and The King of Monsters, I name you Frost Maim, Lord of the Yetis." Frost Maim stood proudly as the surrounding yeti cheered. "Now we can truly begin" Sombra points to the small tear in realty showing the Crystal Empire.