//------------------------------// // Chapter 12. A Battle of Brawn and Brains. // Story: Skeletor, Master of The Empire. // by Hotel_Chicken //------------------------------// The sun rising from the east marked a new day for the Crystal Empire. Unlike the moon which rose in the east and set in the west, the sun rose from the horizon of the east where it would later fall again, like a ball bouncing in slow motion. The tendrils of the night chased after the setting moon, tearing the darkness of the sky away to reveal a beautiful blue backdrop of the sky. Hundreds of crystal ponies watched the skies, sometimes nipping at themselves to confirm that they still weren’t dreaming. As many crystal ponies rose in the early morning to embrace the beauty of their world, one creature completely ignored the majestic nature of the planet, locked within the confides of his bedchambers in the Crystal Castle as he experimented with his magic. Inside his room was Skeletor and a collection of red cloaks that were clumped together in a corner, the two stared at each other intently, or at least Skeletor pretended that the inanimate pile of cloaks were staring at him. He imagined that the lump of red fur was King Sombra: the pony who had cursed him by bringing him to a world of equines, the monster that had locked away his memories, the demon that he desperately wanted to kill a second time. Skeletor’s left hand rose quickly as he struck a confident pose, spreading out his fingers as he prepared to unleash one of the magical spells he had seen in the ancient tomes that lined his bookcase. “I have unlimited Power!” He shouted with glee as lightning leapt from his fingertips at his fabricated foe. As the lightning struck its target, electricity began soaring through Skeletor’s veins and burned his insides. Immense pain shot through Skeletor’s body immediately as his spell began to take its toll, causing him to scream out in agony, “FUCK! That fucking hurts!” Skeletor immediately cut off the spell and clutched his twitching arm as he felt the residual electricity run through his limb. Streaks of static and lightning flickered across his arm as he held it close to him. “Fuck me, fuck! Fuck, okay, magic hurts like a bitch,” He said to himself as he focused on the pain soaring through his arm. The smell of burning hair promptly knocked Skeletor’s thoughts away from the pain he felt, causing him to focus on the fire hazard that begun to grow in the corner. “No! Stop being on fire, STOP BEING ON FIRE!” He exclaimed as he held out both of his hands towards the growing flame. A blast of ice magic flew from his open palms towards the fire, snuffing out the fire while the bitter sting of cold magic swallowed his hands. “Coldcoldcoldcoldcoldcold. COLD!” He shouted as he began flailing his hands to get his blood circulating through them again. After failing to get any immediate results, Skeletor began blowing in them in a vain attempt to make them feel warm before he shoved them under his armpits. “Fuck,” he squeaked as he felt the frigid touch of death assault his senses. Skeletor shivered as he felt the cold embrace him, his jaw clattered hysterically and his legs trembled. He quickly wrapped himself in the blanket that laid on his bed to warm himself as he shuffled back to the open book on his nightstand. After hours of reading and deciphering the cryptic and confusing passages about magic and teleportation. From what Skeletor could piece together, there were two types of teleportation known to equine kind. The first was creating a portal that was designed to fold reality to take something a certain distance at the cost of time. This type of travel was known as “Portal Walking”, an ability only used by the most powerful of unicorn mages such as someone, or rather somepony, named Starswirl the Bearded. Portal Walking was soon replaced by teleportation once it was discovered by a mage named Clover the Clever. Teleportation itself was the act of moving to a location instantaneously, with the only downside being that it was the equivalent of a blind leap of faith into a dark room. While a portal would guarantee going to a location safely, a teleport was a blind leap into a place with no idea how safe it would be. If a person/pony knew the location well, then they could teleport to that location without being worried about ending up inside a wall, but that wouldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t end up inside a piece of recently moved furniture or inside a pony that happened to be in the spot the other pony was teleporting to. The cost of teleporting to an area within the caster’s field of view was a more practical use of teleportation while traveling great distances was something more suitable for using a portal. Apparently, portal walking faded into obscurity once the ponies settled in Equestria and began using teleportation for ponies and physical objects. Skeletor personally preferred using portals since he was too worried that teleporting could, and most likely would, make him end up inside of a wall or halfway through the floor. Once Skeletor decided that opening a portal back home would be the wiser and safer option of the two, he began looking for a means to get more power to open a portal back to Earth. He learned that magic was similar to muscle in the sense that it became stronger with more use and became weaker with fatigue and age. The only way to make it stronger was to exercise it by casting more spells, and if he didn’t regularly practice and use his magic then there was good chance that it would become lethargic and possibly dangerous. Ponies who had used magic after years of inactivity would often suffer a magic attack, which was the equivalent of a heart attack in their soul. Magic attacks were almost always lethal to the caster, sending them into a coma like state known as living death where they would starve to death or die of thirst despite anyone’s attempts to help them. Skeletor was immensely grateful that one of the first signs of a magic attack was extreme fatigue, it was the only thing that prevented him from experimenting more with his magic on his first night in the castle. If he had kept using the portal spell that night then it would have been very likely for him to become another victim of a magic attack. Taking a break from his self-taught magic lessons, Skeletor flopped onto his bed to rest his body and mind. Using magic drained and affected certain parts of the body depending on what the spell uses. Transportation spells used overall physical strength and endurance as the fuel to enact the spell, elemental spells such as lightning and ice drained him emotionally, removing his sense of glee and fear respectively, and his one attempt at a levitation spell had given him a major migraine as it fed off of his conscious thoughts, causing his mind to sit still for an uncomfortable amount of time as any train of thought was diverted to physically moving an object. What was worse, was that Skeletor acted more like a mindless machine than a person while he used his levitation spell, leaving him practically defenseless until the object went to where he wanted it to go. Sombra had avoided the cost of his power by using something other than his body, mind, or emotions to pay it for him. Skeletor was fairly certain that the power he achieved was from his sacrifices, but the fact that the sacrifices, pit throws, and other atrocities happened after his initial spell to take the Empire left a large hole in his theory. Sombra had found a way to subvert the cost of his spell without sacrificing foals, meaning that Skeletor could find a way to do so as well. He wracked his brain as he tried to think of how Sombra avoided having a magic attack and there was no way he was physically, emotionally, or mentally strong enough to cast his enslavement spell, let alone keep it constantly running for three years. Enchantments like his lock spell or the spell he used to hide his staircase only needed to be casted once since they were affecting an object, if he had placed the concealing spell on himself of another pony then he would need to actively concentrate and focus on that spell to keep it intact. As Skeletor laid on his bed his thoughts drifted towards the different uses of enchantments, a soft knock at his door pulled him away from his thoughts. Quietly groaning to himself, Skeletor pushed himself off of his bed and walked towards the door with his havoc staff draped over his back with the small holder that was attached to his harness. After slapping himself in the face to wake himself up, Skeletor opened the door to see a brightly smiling Emerald Secret standing on the other side. Skeletor suppressed a yawn as he tried to greet her. “Morning, Emerald.” “Yes, it is morning, my lord, and may I wish you an absolutely wonderful morning,” she replied cheerfully. Skeletor nodded as he stepped out of his room and closed the door behind him, making sure not to reveal how much of a mess he made to Emerald as he slipped out. “Yeah, wonderful, wonderful. So, what’s on the itinerary today?” He asked. “Well first is breakfast, followed by a meeting with the master of the alchemist guild, Purity Flame, to discuss your plans for finding a new method to mass produce paper. Then court will be opened for an hour until we need to break for lunch. Afterwards, Crumb Catcher requested that you pose for your portraits so Art could paint your visage.” “Why do I need my portrait painted?” “Well, I and the rest of the council believed that you would like to have your image replace all of Sombra’s old portraits. Crumb Catcher also brought up the idea of commissioning a statue of you as well, but Avid said that it wasn’t in our budget at the moment,” she explained as she led Skeletor down the hall. Skeletor briefly considered the idea of getting a statue of himself before a stiff headache reminded him of his inability to remember his old face and what he looked like now. “I don’t think portraits will be necessary, Emerald.” “Why not?” “I… Uh… Feel like the money for the artist would be better spent on expenses for the Fair and other things,” he lied. Skeletor didn’t know how he was able to look at his reflection in the water or in the dining hall, but he did know that he didn’t like it. He was unnerved by his own reflection, disgusted even. Having portraits and paintings of himself hanging all throughout the castle would have only been a constant reminder of the monster he became. Sure, he was glad that he was more muscular and could do magic, but that didn’t make up for the fact that he was a legitimate monster. “Ah. Well, my lord, there’s nothing to worry about. Art is more than willing to do it for free. In fact, I think that he’d pay you for the chance to paint your portrait.” “W-well… What about your previous princess?” He asked. His sudden question caused her to trip over her front hooves for a moment before she caught herself. “What about her, my lord?” She hesitantly asked. “Well, you ponies looked up to her, right?” Skeletor asked in a leading tone. Emerald simply nodded in response as Skeletor continued speaking. “And I assume that Sombra removed any art of her, right?” “There are only a few pieces of art left of her. Anything that wasn’t built into the foundation of the castle was stripped from the Empire and burned to ash or smashed into rubble.” “So, wouldn’t the crystal ponies feel better if they had art of the former princess again? I mean, I know I would certainly like to see what my predecessor looked like,” he said with a knowing smile as he watched Emerald’s ears stand at attention and her tail swished back and forth happily. “In fact, why don’t we honor her memory. Does the Crystal Fair happen on the same day every year?” “It did, before Sombra took over. The last Crystal Fair was supposed to be a month ago.” “Then we’ll make this Friday the official day for the Crystal Fair, and we’ll call it… Uh, what was her name?” “Princess Amore.” “Prrrrincess Amore Memory Day!” He announced while rolling his r’s and pointing a finger to the air. “In fact, we shall honor the memory of all those who died under Sombra’s cruel reign. What do you think, Emerald?” “That sounds wonderful, my lord! I’m sure the citizens will love it!” “GREAT! Go find Art and tell them of my plan, I’ll find my own way to the dining hall, I’ll be fine without a guide.” “At once, my lord!” She stated before she turned to gallop away from the path to the dining hall. Skeletor chuckled at his success to avoid having any reminders of his face hanging around the Empire while also finding a way to make the ponies happy as well. The happier they were, the less likely he’d be taken to the gallows. Briefly looking back to make sure Emerald was out of earshot, Skeletor cleared his throat to get the attention of one of the guards who stood nearby while he was talking to Emerald. “I require a guard to escort me to the dining hall,” he said with fake confidence. “Um, didn’t you say—" “Never-mind what I said, just do what I said,” Skeletor firmly stated with fake anger, causing the guard to shut up and lead Skeletor to the dining hall since he failed to remember how to get there himself. Cannon Fodder slowly rose from his mattress as he wiped the crust out of his eyes. He yawned loudly as he stretched his legs and arched his back to pop his spine. His eyes lazily took stock of the few things in his spartan room. His armor was meticulously placed on one of the spare training dummies that matched his height and build almost perfectly. A weapons rack of spears, his gladius, and a battle axe that was passed down from his father’s father back from when his grandfather, Glass Cannon, had served as a member of Princess Amore’s royal guard. Even though Cannon Fodder didn’t know how to properly wield his grandfather’s battle axe, seeing it brought a smile to his muzzle as he carried on his family’s tradition of serving Princess Amore. That smile quickly vanished as soon as he remembered how he was the last of his family to serve her, that he was the one responsible for her dying. He didn’t jump in front of her, he didn’t defend her, he let his guard down and she paid the price, and now he was forced to serve a demon. Cannon Fodder hopped off of his uncomfortable mattress as he stared at the blank picture frame that hung over his weapons rack. The bismuth frame once held a beautiful portrait of Princess Amore, painted by his mother when his father served the royal guard. Cannon Fodder, like everypony else with a painting or piece of art of Princess Amore, was forced to take any art or memorabilia of her to the center of the Empire for Sombra to incinerate them. He scowled at the memory of Sombra’s arrogant smile as he watched the fire consume her image. The bastard forced all of his enslaved subjects to watch their possessions burn in a column of fire that nearly blinded them with its bright flames. It only became worse once he forced the few ruva and thestral slaves he had to throw themselves into the fire and dance around on the streets and in the air. Cannon Fodder wondered if Dice, Star Shine, and Torch Wind were commanded to burn themselves that day or if they were fortunate enough to be among the first batch of ponies who threw themselves into the pit. He hoped that their deaths were quick, that they weren’t tortured by the monster that had murdered Princess Amore. A rhythmic knock from his door took his attention away from the blank picture frame to the stallion standing at his opened door. Cannon Fodder frowned at the blue stallion that came into his room unannounced. “What are you doing here? Did you come to talk about polishing my armor again?” Cannon Fodder asked as he began placing his armor on his body. “And good morning to you too, General Fodder,” Crumb Catcher replied as he trotted into the room and closed the door behind him. “You better have a damn good reason to be in my room, Crumb.” “I do actually. I’ve come to speak with you about something very dire, something that could threaten the security of the entire Empire,” he cryptically told Cannon Fodder. “And what would that be?” “Regicide,” Crumb Catcher said as he ran a hoof over the dusty chest that held Cannon Fodder’s spare blankets. “I know about your plans to kill Lord Skeletor.” “What are you talking about?” Cannon Fodder asked, not allowing his sudden change in emotion to manifest physically as he kept his voice calm and continued putting on his armor. Crumb Catcher chuckled humorlessly as he wiped the dust off of his hoof with a rag. “You seem to forget, General Fodder, I’m the not only the head of the staff, I’m also the Royal Spy Master. Even if it's something as mundane as an empty bowl next to a crystal pot, I hear about it. My one goal in life is to not repeat the failures of my predecessor. She should have been able to see Sombra’s attack coming and informed you so the guards could stop it. But she failed, she let Sombra slip past her eyes and the princess paid for Star’s inability to do her job.” “You take that back you prick! Star was a damn good pony, better than you!” Cannon Fodder shouted at Crumb Catcher as he took up a fighting stance, completely prepared to literally beat some sense into the thick headed stallion for insulting the precious Royal Spy Master. “Be careful what you say, General. It’s not smart to openly insult the stallion who holds your fate in his hooves. All it would take it a word and Lord Skeletor would be on you in an instant,” he threatened with a vile smile. “Then why don’t you? In fact, what’s stopping me from cutting your head off and saying you were plotting against him?” He asked as he glanced at the spear that was leaning against his wall. He was physically stronger than Crumb Catcher, if necessary, he could beat him to death and claim self-defense, but he had no idea how many ponies besides Crumb Catcher knew his secret. The only way Crumb Catcher could have known about his plans was if one of the maids overheard him, which meant at least one other pony knew about his plan. For all Cannon Fodder knew, the entire castle staff was informed of his treachery and they were waiting for Cannon Fodder to kill Crumb Catcher before they went to warn Lord Skeletor. “Because you’d be no use to me if you were dead and you would be down a possible ally if I died. And since you’re planning regicide, you need all the friends you can get,” Crumb Catcher stared as he made a point of looking at the weapon with a bored gaze. “While hoofing you over to Lord Skeletor would definitely put me in his favor, I believe having you as an ally instead of an enemy would help me more-so, especially with your inane plan to place Emerald on the throne,” Crumb Catcher elaborated. “What do you mean? What do you get out of this?” He asked skeptically. “I get to be on the right side of history if Lord Skeletor is actually evil. In all honesty, I like him but that doesn’t mean I trust him. He’s an unknown creature who wandered into our lands and managed to kill a monster even the solar diarchs couldn’t defeat. And speaking of the beloved princesses, we still have no idea what happened to them. While many ponies are willing to accept that they’re dead, I am a bit more…” “Hopeful?” Cannon Fodder guessed. “Fearful. Yes, that’s it, fearful,” Crumb Catcher stated firmly. “If they are still alive then I have almost no doubts that they’d want to remove Lord Skeletor from the throne. And, as much as I like him, I like being alive and on the princesses’ side more. There's absolutely no way I'll be standing next to him if or when the Princesses arrive.” “So, you want to get rid of Skeletor then?” “Lord Skeletor, and I want to be prepared. I don’t want him to be evil and I don’t necessarily want to get rid of him, I simply want to be alive at the end of all this.” “... So, what’s your plan now?” “Simply to watch for now until something happens. So far, watching him from a distance has revealed a lot of interesting things about him. Do you want to know something about our new lord?” Crumb Catcher coyly asked. Before Cannon Fodder could reply, Crumb Catcher whispered to him in a conspiratorial manner, “He hides his messes under the bed, he destroyed a few books from his personal collection, he doesn't use the chamberpot under his bed, and I don’t think he likes his reflection.” “What makes you say that?” Cannon Fodder asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn't understand why the demon would be afraid of its own reflection, but if Crumb Catcher was telling the truth, then perhaps Cannon Fodder could find a way to use that to his advantage. He had definitely noticed how Lord Skeletor kept stealing long looks at his reflection in the dining hall, giving Crumb Catcher's last statement some credence to consider it possible. “Because he covered it in one of Sombra’s old cloaks.” “And how do you know that?” Crumb Catcher scoffed as he waved a hoof dismissively. “Please, General Fodder, as a servant to Lord Skeletor, it is my duty to clean up for him, especially his private bedchambers. After seeing his spotty attempts to hide the signs of his outburst, I decided it would be best to leave the room the way it was. I once heard a rumor that Silver Spoon had swept up all of the rose petals in Princess Amore’s room and the princess was absolutely livid. So, I’d rather not take my chances and accidentally upset a being who caved in Sombra’s head with a decorative stick. For all I know, he might like having a broken window in his room and closing it could earn his ire. I didn't even dare to touch whatever mess he left in the top drawer. I'm going to play my cards right and not step on anyone's tail, especially his.” With a swish of his tail, Crumb Catcher smacked Cannon Fodder’s muzzle as he turned around to leave Cannon Fodder’s room. “If you insist on being a moron, then I’ll drop our deal and tell Lord Skeletor everything. For now, play nice and do as Lord Skeletor says and everything will be fine,” he told Cannon Fodder as he wore a smug smile on his muzzle. “I trust you can do that, can't you General?” Cannon Fodder glared at Crumb Catcher as he gave a stiff nod to him. Crumb Catcher’s smile only grew at Cannon Fodder’s obvious reluctance and anger as he trotted out of the room, leaving a livid Cannon Fodder alone in his own room once he left. Once the door was closed, Cannon Fodder waited for a few moments before drew his gladius from his weapons rack and stared into the eyes of his reflection. He berated himself for letting somepony find out about his plans and briefly wondered if Copper Plate told somepony, or worse, somepony overheard him talking to her in the dining hall. He had made sure to keep his words below the quietest of whispers as he spoke, only raising his voice by a hair whenever one of the other tables was being obnoxiously loud. He stomped a back hoof as he snorted, throwing a seething glare at his door as he reevaluated what he knew about Crumb Catcher. Before Sombra came to power, he was nothing more than a common butler for the higher up nobles, the only reason why Emerald and Copper Plate suggested him for the position was because he was one of the few ponies who knew how to read and write. Cannon Fodder didn’t think Crumb Catcher had what it took to be part of the council, and Avid Value was only with them because of his tutelage under Torch Wind. Cannon Fodder would have never expected one of the green horned council members to blackmail him, let alone find out about his plan. If it weren’t for Crumb Catcher’s position on the council, Cannon Fodder wouldn’t have hesitated to silence him permanently. For all he knew, Crumb Catcher had a plan in place in case he died where one of his little spies would go to Lord Skeletor and tell him about Cannon Fodder’s plan. How much would he tell him? Would he tell him about Emerald? He thought fearfully. He didn’t care about his own safety, but if his actions got Emerald killed as well, or worse, if she was the only one punished for his plan then he wouldn’t be able to live with that guilt. Crumb Catcher had Cannon Fodder in his hooves, his life and possibly the life of Emerald rested in his grasp. Cannon Fodder sulked for a brief moment before he embraced his rage and stabbed the wooden dummy in his room, burying his gladius deep into its chest as he pictured Crumb Catcher’s horrified expression. He refused to be anypony’s puppet. He had spent three years being a plaything for Sombra, he wouldn’t allow that to happen again. Just like he had done with the demon, he can act like he was on Crumb Catcher’s side. The arrogant stallion would eventually drop his guard, and Cannon Fodder would take the upper hoof to kill him and Lord Skeletor in order to protect the Empire. He wouldn’t fail the ones he loved again, he’d fight the entire guard if it meant keeping the citizens and his friends safe. He just needed to bide his time, learn Crumb Catcher’s secrets and use them to get rid of Lord Skeletor. It was only a matter of time until his plan came to fruition, all he had to do was wait. Sooner or later, he’d get his chance to save the Empire, and when it came, he’d take it without hesitation.