//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 - Big Bad Duumvirate // Story: The End of Time // by Leondude //------------------------------// In the present, Whooves was still standing with fear while Kronos looked on. "Perhaps you didn't hear me clearly," Kronos said, his tone switching back to his false courtesy, "I said, if you revolutionize and save lives, why did you flee?" "You weren't there," Whooves said, his tone a mix of fear and anger, "You were hiding away in your office. You never saw what was born. The Realm Ravagers, the Clockworkers, the hordes of travesties, the Disordered Hivemind, King Lavan and his Lava Demons, the Alicorn of Death and his army of Necro-ponies! The war turned into a nightmare!" "It's a matter of perspective, really. Anywho, I'd love to stay and chat but I've got more important things to attend to. So let's say we get a move on." Kronos then switched off the ray shield and everyone began to reluctantly follow Kronos, carrying an unconscious Rainbow Dash along the way. They arrived to the prison cell, which had unoccupied chains and bloodstains on the walls. There were also rings designed to be placed on a unicorn horn to prevent any magical escapes. When Kronos' new prisoners entered the cell, Kronos released Sunset from the Fiducia Compelus spell, as per their agreement. The release, along with the amount of psychic torture Sunset had to go through before Kronos used the spell on her, caused her to immediately collapse onto the floor. "Oh, she'll be alright," Kronos said in a jovial tone, "After all, what better way to cure months of agonizing interrogation and mental torture than a good old memory spell." As some of Kronos' guards entered the cell to chain everyone up and place the rings on any unicorns present, the cell door closed and Kronos gestured to some of his other guards to move Sunset's unconscious form into the control room. But before he walked off with them to erase Sunset's memories of her time spent here, Kronos opened the cell door in order to get somepony that he would assume would be beneficial to his plan. "Oh, one more thing. I would like to have a word with Princess Luna. Meet me in my office." The guards then ceased to lock Luna up and Luna followed Kronos as he ran ahead to the control room. Thing is, it wasn't Luna, it was someone else occupying Luna's body. Suddenly, Kronos's holocommunicator began to ring. "Oh bugger, not him again!" Kronos grumbled. "No, Starscream, I will not support your bid to overthrow Megatron as leader of the Decepticons, now stop calling me!" Kronos angrily ended his call and sat down in his chair, turning it around to face "Luna". "Ah, sorry about that. I think you know why I've brought you here...Sanies." "How did you know I was in control of Luna?" Sanies asked. "Well, for starters, it was the way you disposed of my forces. And then there was that green glow in her eyes that sealed the deal," Kronos said. "If you wish to inform me of your plans, my former master has already done that." "Really? Including the bit where you control Luna and murder everypony if they tried to escape?" "No, because I'm betting you came up with that on the spot." "What can I say? I'm an opportunist." Kronos spun around in his chair and put his hooves up on the desk. "That may be, but what makes you so certain that I would ally myself with you? Especially considering I am now literally in possession of an alicorn." "Because I can find a way to make that possession permanent, if that's what you desire." Kronos' snake-like eyes glowed brighter for a moment when he emphasized the word "permanent". Luna's eyes glowed the same yellow colour as Kronos' eyes for the exact same time as Kronos' before rolling up into the back of her head. She grimaced and struggled for a moment before her jaw dropped a bit. And as soon as her eyes rolled back down, she immediately raised her jaw back up and observed her surroundings. "Where am I?" Luna asked. "On the Entropy, my dear." Luna looked towards the pony who said that. The unicorn sitting before her had a goatee, a pair of yellow snake-like eyes and a devilish grin. He also had a black slicked-back mane and a grey coat, along with a cutie mark that resembled a clock. "Kronos, I presume," she said. "I wonder what gave it away. Was it the cutie mark? Or maybe it's because I look like the bad guy. Anyhow, it appears that you don't remember what Sanies did while controlling you so allow me to give you a quick recap. I allowed you and your allies to decimate my forces so it would make it look less like a trap. Then I trapped you and imprisoned your friends after they surrendered to me." "Impossible! We would never surrender to you!" Luna bellowed. "Willingly. You would never surrender to me willingly. Which is why I had a former pupil of your sister, I believe the pupil's name was Sunset Shimmer, taken hostage and threatened to snap her neck if they did not walk into their prison cell. And then me and Sanies had a little chat." "I suppose that 'little chat' involved you two striking a deal that involved him pretending to be me and then striking everypony down when they least expect it." "Well, that's one part of it. Weirdly enough, he has no interest in working with me. But luckily for me, I'm a very persuasive pony." Kronos' eyes glowed brighter when he said that sentence. Unlike the last time Kronos used some sort of trigger word, Luna's eyes glowed a slight green this time for just a brief moment. And then her face turned to an emotionless expression. "Never do that again," Sanies said, back in control of Luna. "Out of curiosity, when I'm not using my own powers of persuasion to force you two to switch places, how long do you two have each?" "We agreed to an hour per turn," Sanies replied. "Do you two communicate when none of you are in control?" "When this vessel is asleep? Yes, I tell her everything that has transpired and she tells me everything that has transpired. But of course, I had my fingers crossed when I made that agreement." "Interesting. Right then, here's the deal: I suppress Luna's consciousness from her body and you can take up permanent residence in it. But first, you must help me find the seven Seals of the Planets. And the best way to do that is, if my new prisoners escape, you follow their every move because, well now, they are more likely to find the seals than my incompetent forces are!" "And if they find all seven seals?" Sanies asked. "Well, isn't it obvious?" Kronos grinned sinisterly. "You kill them!"