Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,
I’ve attempted to start this letter over a dozen times now and I’ll try for this one to be my last. First and foremost, the Empire is in desperate need of medical supplies at the moment. It was brought to my attention that the immune systems of the crystal ponies may be incredibly weak when compared to a modern pony. Because of this, I fear that brining more guards to reform the Empire would cause a greater risk to the citizens of the Empire. I would like to formally request for a small number of well-trained doctors and nurses to be sent to the Crystal Empire with vaccines for modern illnesses, pills and spell for building up immune strength, and possibly a team of specialists who are well versed in mental manipulation spells.
Also, I regret to tell you that the Empire is also facing a financial decline. We’ve begun a plan to restabalize the Crystal Empire by exporting a new type of metal called steel, and we plan to also export the remaining vault bits to private collectors and museum owners to rebuild the Empire’s finances.
Finally, there is one prevalent issue in the Crystal Empire that has caused me inadvertently made it difficult for myself and Shining Armor to be accepted by the crystal ponies as their new prince and princess. Before we were able to arrive, a demonic creature that called himself “Skeletor” killed Sombra and claimed the throne of the Crystal Empire. After we crossed the barrier over the Empire and went to the Crystal Castle, Skeletor abdicated the throne and told us that Sombra’s spirit is still roaming the Empire, and has possessed one of my subjects. I don’t know how much credence to put in his words, but as of now, I cannot afford to allow this warning to go unheeded. There’s still much I don’t know about him, so I won’t go into too much detail about his claims, just that he says that he’s from another planet and is looking for an alien creature called a “Human.” I’ll update you with more information about him as I uncover it.
Sincerely, Princess Cadence
P.S. Aunt Luna, I’d really like to talk with you personally. We’re still trying to find the enchantment that is preventing you from entering the dreams of ponies in the Empire, so could you possibly come here sometime soon? I also have a few personal matters that I'd like to talk about as well, if you have the time.
The parchment paper that delivered the warning of her adoptive niece was abandoned next to the leg of a desk. Nearby, a chair was overturned and resting on the floor where it pointed towards a pile of dark blankets on the bed that were quivering.
Princess Luna, the most dreadful monster in all of Equestria, shivered in fear as she hid from the world. She was buried under a pile of blankets like a foal, acting as if the thin sheets of cotton and wool would offer her some form of divine protection from the inevitable.
Flashes of memories played across her mind as she felt the shadow of the newest demon in Equestria crawl over her, watching her as if she was its prey. The name of the demon rang in her mind like a large bell, crashing into her soul each time his name echoed in her mind. It taunted her with his inevitable arrival, with the promise that he would come and take everything away from her once more just like the Nightmare had.
She was haunted by memories of the past and fears of tomorrow at the same time, cowering in fear as she tried to forget about the silver tongue that had verbally lashed her for a thousand years on the moon. Luna needed to forget them, to move on and not think about what she had done with the demon that possessed her.
She had gotten better. Luna had reconnected with her sister, found friendships that would last lifetimes, and she found herself falling in love once more. It wasn’t the sick and perverted abomination that Nightmare had tricked her into thinking was love, it was different. She felt like she was completed, that they helped each other grow and experience new things. It was completely different than what she had felt for the past nine hundred years.
In a sick and twisted way, she learned to love her captor. She yearned for the insults that made her break down in tears, she begged for the Nightmare to twist the knife that was buried in her back, she needed to suffer at the hooves of the demon. And, when she was freed from her prison on the moon, her mind and body had become completely devoted to the demonic parasite.
Luna allowed herself to become a puppet of flesh for her abuser to play with, a doll for the Nightmare to use as a tool of death and despair. Then, against all odds, she was freed of the demon by six young mares that represented each of the remaining tribes of ponies. Of course, being hit with the full power of the Elements of Harmony hadn’t fixed everything immediately. That honor had gone to her therapist and all the ponies who helped her stave off the memories of the Nightmare.
It was only because of them that Luna felt like she could embrace Celestia’s affection, that she could hold her head up high and act as a princess, and that she could find the courage to court a pony who had helped her through most of her journey.
She wondered how easily the demon could undo her work, how long until she fell for his honey-suckled words and turned back into a monster? Worse yet, she feared what would happen if the demon didn’t try to sway her.
Would they honestly believe that a weak hearted fool like her would be able to resist the demon? Would her sister and the Elements believe she had fallen back to her old ways and began colluding with the monster? Would they banish her back to the moon, or would they just kill her outright? She refused to even imagine how the one she loved would react.
Luna’s breaths suddenly began to grow shorter as she allowed her fears to overwhelm her. Her head felt lighter than it usually did, and her tongue began to taste like she had kissed a balloon full of helium. Her eyes suddenly began to strain in the darkness of her covers, searching each fold in her blanket as she waited for something to slip through her defenses and snatch her away, leaving everypony to suspect that she had abandoned her duties as a princess to frolic with a demon. The scenes in her mind became more violent with each breath, flares of phantom pains shot through her body, and the world around her slowly grew hazy as she thought about all of the pain she was bound to cause.
After quickly recognizing the symptoms of her latest episode, Luna realized that she was having another anxiety attack. With a quick flash of her horn, Luna teleported herself to the bathroom that was connected to her room and tore open the cabinet to search through her assortment of medications and self-care products. After finding the object of her salvation, she took a pair of pills out of the bottle and laid them on her tongue before placing her head under the faucet of the sink to wash them down. She didn’t bother to waste any time grabbing a clean glass and filing it, or making sure that she took the pills one at a time, she just needed to take her medications as quickly as possible.
After swallowing the pills and turning off the faucet, Luna sat on the floor of her bathroom and waited for the pills to take effect. She knew that her medication was only supposed to be taken in the mornings, and that it would take at least an hour for the desired results to be seen, but she didn’t care. Just knowing that the medicine was inside of her was enough to steadily calm her. Luna allowed her thoughts to return to the many blissful moments she experienced since returning to Equestria, filling her head with soothing memories of her friends and family.
She silently muttered a mantra under her breath, reminding herself of who she was and where she was. She was a princess, she was loved by others and she loved them. She was a princess, she was safe and she could be happy.
She didn’t believe that anypony would trust her.
She was a princess, she was loved by others and she loved them. She was a princess, she was safe and she could be happy.
She wanted to just forget about it.
She was loved by others and she loved them. She was a princess, she was safe and she could be happy.
She wanted to move on with her life.
She was safe and she could be happy.
She wanted to cry.
A demon had disturbed her family once again.
Princess Celestia, the mare with far too many titles in her humble opinion, idly thought of adding “Demon banisher,” to that list as she sat in her office chair re-reading the letter her niece had sent with her spare dragon fire matchsticks. Her eyes lingered on the name of the creature Cadence met, allowing her gaze to drift to the words that followed after his moniker.
The demon in the Empire had, allegedly, killed Sombra’s body but failed to stop him from possessing an innocent crystal pony after his soul left his corpse. Those few sentences didn’t hold as much of her attention as the small hoofnote that was shoved in between the explanation of Sombra’s death and subsequent revival. For some reason that the princess didn’t know, Skeletor had abdicated the throne to her niece, willingly at that. Cadence didn’t mention much about what led to that development, but considering that her report didn’t contain any details of a fight or any injuries then it was probably more peaceful than she imagined. Still, Celestia wouldn’t trust the words of a demon so easily.
She had trusted demons in the past, and she would regret that for the rest of her life. She stupidly trusted the arrogant demon that called itself The Nightmare to help Luna with her duties as the princess of the night. If only Princess Celestia knew, if only she attempted to spend more time with her sister and listened to her instead of allowing her to make “friends” with a prideful demon that wouldn’t even reveal its real name. Her personal experiences with Scorpan had tainted her view of demons, allowing her to believe that there was a good deal of demonic entities that weren’t shackled to the beliefs of their ancestors. Scorpan was the exception to that rule, and the only exception she expected to ever meet.
Princess Celestia had tried to make peace with demons, even after she was forced to banish the Nightmare and her sister to the moon. She tried to see the good in them, she tried to talk with them, have tea with them, she tried to understand them. But, each experience only served to disprove Scorpan’s words time and time again. After seven hundred years of searching desperately for a single demon that could hold up to the standard that Scorpan had set, she gave up on actively trying to find a nice demon. If she couldn’t find another genuinely kind-hearted demon in the four thousand, five hundred, and thirty-eight hideous and deplorable demons she met that migrated from Tartarus after the Nightmare, then she doubted she would ever find such a creature.
Never-the-less, there was a marginally small possibility that Skeletor would be the second exception to that rule, and she would be remised if she didn’t try to find the truth in her old friend’s words. She had told herself it would be the "last time" she would try for over three hundred years, and she didn't believe that Skeletor would be her "last time" either. There would always be that small seed of hope that Scorpan planted in her mind, waiting to bloom with proof that not every demon from Tartarus was a wicked monster.
After taking a few moments to tell herself that everything was under control, Princess Celestia prepared two letters to send. One would go to her, inquiring about Skeletor and confirming that she would send well trained doctors to the Empire as soon as she could allow. The other however, would go to a certain purple mare in a small town called Ponyville. If Skeletor should prove himself to be as horrible as the many other demons she met with after her sister’s banishment, then he just wouldn’t remain as an issue for much longer.
With both notes written, she sent them off to her niece and student before moving away from her desk. Above all else, Celestia wanted to check on her sister and see how she was doing. She had seen Dr. Ear’s notes about Luna’s wellbeing, and she knew that the sudden appearance of a demon would do nothing to help her state of mind. Celestia had already failed once by ignoring her sister, and she vehemently refused to fail her again in that regard. She would do anything to help her sister, even if it meant battling all of the forces of Tartarus itself to bring Luna peace of mind.
While the princesses of the modern age were dealing with a possible new threat, and the many ponies of a forgotten Empire fretted about their new leader, an old stallion with a crimson coat focused solely on the dethroned demon who still walked through the halls of the castle.
General Cannon Fodder seethed in silent anger in the bowls of the Crystal Castle, hidden from the eyes of the world inside a damp dungeon cell. The bars that stood in front of Cannon Fodder looked more different than he would have imagined. He had spent his fair share of time working the dungeon shift when he was still a green horned guard and he had always been too disgusted with the ponies behind the bars to pay too much attention to the cells.
Being on the other side of the bars allowed him to see how different they were for the prisoners that he used to guard. The walls of the cell didn’t form a perfect square and shrank the farther back they went. In the far-right corner was a chamber pot that was chained to the wall, and a small cot that felt harder than the stone beneath his hooves. The metal on the bars were covered in a thick coat of rust that ate away at them, rotting the iron from the inside and tearing away at the bolts that held the bars in place. If it wasn’t for the shackle that held onto his neck, Cannon Fodder would have taken the chance to buck the old bars down and gallop to the council room.
With his plans of escape being nothing more than a fantasy, Cannon Fodder allowed his eyes to drift back to the five guards who forcefully “escorted” him to the dungeon when he trotted to the entrance of the Crystal Castle. His demands to be released were ignored, and any attempts to order them were only met with stern silence.
The general thrashed about as they carried him off, struggling against the iron chains that bound his legs together for a short period of time. Cannon Fodder briefly worried that the demon had found out about his attempt at regicide or that Crumb Catcher had failed at his own attempts and blamed Cannon Fodder. Either way, the crimson colored stallion was fairly certain that he was going to be unfairly executed by the demonic monster.
Each of the guards were fairly young and wore the old armor of the Empire, refusing to don the steel bastardization of their armor that Skeletor created. Since they weren’t visibly loyal to the demonic beast, Cannon Fodder could only assume that the guards that detained him were ordered by somepony who had been a thorn in Cannon’s cutie mark for too long.
It took hours for his suspicions to be confirmed, and he wasn’t any happier knowing who had placed him in a cell.
His scowl grew as he peered through the darkness and saw the familiar black tailcoat and light blue fur of the large stallion that Cannon Fodder had slowly grown to hate. Crumb Catcher, undeterred by Cannon’s vicious glare, trotted to the bars of the general’s cell with a delighted smile on his muzzle.
“Good evening, General Fodder. I apologize for making you wait so long, but the life of a Spy Master is quite a busy one,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
The Spy Master, then glanced to the silent guards who stood nearby before he waved his hoof slightly in the air. “You may leave us. I’ll fetch you when I need you services again, just make sure that nopony comes down for the moment,” Crumb Catcher ordered.
As he turned back to face the imprisoned stallion, he wasn’t surprised to see Cannon Fodder lunge at him, only to choke on the iron chains that were locked to the metal collar around his throat. Despite nearly strangling himself, his rationality didn’t stop his rage from driving him to struggle against the chains that were holding him down like a wild animal.
“General Fodder, would you please—”
“Shut the buck up you traitor!” Cannon interrupted. “Get his Faust Abandoned chain off my neck right now, or I’m going to peel your flank like a potato!”
“… Charming,” Crumb Catcher replied in a droll tone. “Gen—”
“I swear up and down to Faust, you had better let me out of here right bucking now! If you think my guards are just going to sit idly by, then you’re dreaming of grey rainbows! They’ll find out and—”
“Open up your eyes, general! They already know!” Crumb Catcher interrupted, planting his forelegs against the bars as he stood up on his hind legs. “Faust Abandoned, do you ever shut up? You have no power here, not even your title of general carries any weight of authority right now, and I’m only taking time out of my schedule, to give you a warning. And how do you repay me? By nagging my ear off and ordering me as if I was an actual butler.
“Don’t you dare order me, because I know what I need to do and what I should do. What I should do is tell Mi Amore Cadenza that the general of the guard returned and acted hysterically, so I had no choice but to send him to the Medical ward where he had an accident. I should have taken your guards aside, had them create a story about your demise outside the barrier, and scattered your ashes over the farms. I should tell them all that you committed suicide after your plans at regicide were exposed. But I won’t. Instead, I’m wasting my precious time attempting to convince a stubborn stallion that he shouldn’t do something insanely stupid,” he berated.
Cannon Fodder had taken Crumb Catcher’s tirade as a small break to catch his breath before he shot back at the well-dressed stallion.
“Something stupid? Says the pony locking up his accomplice. As soon as the princess hears about this, she’ll have your head.”
Crumb Catcher only sighed in annoyance as he lowered himself back to all four legs. “General Fodder, did you not just listen to a word I said? Your position means nothing to the guards or her, Mi Amore Cadenza has no reason to give your words any thought. The fact remains that you attempted to start a coup against Skeletor when he still held power. All it would take is a few words and I could convince Mi Amore Cadenza that you would attempt to usurp her power as well.”
“What?! I would never try to hurt an alicorn!”
“True, but she won’t know that. Besides, even if she believed you were loyal to her, I could still convince her that you would pose a significant threat to Skeletor if you were released.”
“And why would you do that? You need me to help kill that demon!” Cannon Fodder reasoned. Once again, Crumb Catcher gave him a look that reminded the general of a father being quietly disappointed in their colt for saying something stupid.
“That’s where you’re wrong General Fodder,” Crumb Catcher began to explain. “Firstly, I don’t need you. I’ve successfully taken hold of whatever sway your position offered, I’ve made sure to enforce myself as the leader over Colonel Kernel, and I’ve divided the guard so that it could better suit my needs. Also, as a second note, I don’t plan on killing Skeletor any time soon.”
Cannon Fodder’s words died in his throat for a moment as he stared at the large stallion on the other side of the bars. After he quickly replayed the words in his head, Cannon Fodder yelled at the Royal Spy Master to demand an answer.
“What? Why in the name of Amore wouldn’t you want to kill him?!”
“Because current circumstances won’t allow it, General Fodder. For the moment, Skeletor remains out of my reach and even the reach of the princess. If something or, in your case, somepony was to threaten or possibly even kill him then that would only hurt the Empire. The princess and her consort would be blamed, the Empire would fall to ruin from conflict that arose within, and I doubt the barrier would last for even a moment in the face of a revolution.
“To say that things have changed since our initial arrangement would be a gross understatement. When we made an agreement, a good number of guards and ponies were still against him. Ponies thought he would wear their fur, horde their stolen souls, and perhaps even eat their young. Of course, opinions of him were slowly changing and ponies began favoring him, so much so that he was becoming deified by the Empire’s subjects. Then, his ‘selfless’ decision to hoof over the crown to an alicorn pushed most of the remaining non-believers to see him in a grander light.
“There are still those who hate him, fear him, and those who praise our new princess. But, they are far too few in number to be of much use to me. I worry that, should I allow you to trot out of this dungeon cell, you’ll single hoofidly ignite a civil war in the Crystal Empire. And I cannot allow that to happen, General Fodder.
“When we first joined forces, I thought that Skeletor’s life would end at the gallows. I envisioned an Empire where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna fully unified the races and absorbed the Empire into their kingdom. I had grand dreams of an Empire that was under the leadership of the diarchs of Dream Valley.
“However, none of that came to pass. Instead of having the solar or lunar diarch as our princess, we’ve been told by a new alicorn that she is entitled to the crown because of her blood and her ascension. For now, I’m biding my time to see how she acts, and if she proves to be better for the Empire, then and only then will I decide on whether I will support the princess or not. If she fails to gain the love and admiration of the crystal ponies, then I’ll simply need to placate them by placing Skeletor back on the throne.”
“You’d… You’d actually put that demon back on the throne?”
“For a while, at least. I doubt that either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would be pleased to know that a demon stole their cousin’s Empire. I also doubt they’d be happy to hear how their ‘niece’ has been treated,” Crumb Catcher added with a more somber tone. “I’m not an idiot like you, General Fodder. While I may not like the idea, I’m not completely adverse to supporting Skeletor if the need arises. In fact, I was prepared to do at least that much ever since I met with Purity Flame.”
“What does that mean?” Cannon Fodder asked.
The smile on Crumb Catcher’s muzzle only grew at the general’s inquiry. A soft chuckle passed his lips as he looked down at Cannon Fodder, savoring the confusion plastered on Cannon’s face.
“Some time after you left, Skeletor learned of our, or rather your, attempts to discover the secret behind his placebos. However, that was all that he learned thanks to my… Growing relationship with Purity Flame. Having the Master Alchemist on my side would serve my purposes greatly, and I couldn’t convince her to align to my ideas or threaten her, so I chose a new method of gaining allies. I expanded my views and approached her as a believer in ‘Faust’s Skull Torn Champion’,” Crumb Catcher couldn’t help but to lightly chuckle at the title. “It’s such a silly little name, but they’re a very interesting group of ponies.”
“You joined his bucking cult?!” Cannon Fodder demanded with rage filling his lungs.
“I would hardly call it a cult. Still, I can see the potential in allowing them to grow into one, it would certainly serve me nicely to have more tools at my disposal,” he thought aloud.
“… You’re a sick bucking monster,” Cannon Fodder observed. “They’re a bunch of crazy bucking cultist, but they’re still ponies. How can you talk about them like they’re a bunch of objects?”
“The same way you can speak of murder without feeling a trace of pain, because we do what we must for the Empire,” Crumb Catcher stated, dropping any of hiss earlier bravado and superiority as he continued to speak. “You may not believe me, General Fodder, but I truly want what is best for myself and the Empire. Whether having Skeletor on the throne would be for the best, or having him meet an unfortunate demise would help is still unknown, so, I’m choosing not to hit the ore vein too hard for the moment.
“Unfortunately, I can’t trust that you’ll have as light of a touch as I do. I worry that, if given the opportunity, you will destroy everything I’ve worked to build. That said, however, I’m willing to give you a chance to prove that you can see past your misguided anger. I’ll give you some time to reflect on what I’ve said. If you can convince me that you won't step out of line, when I return, then I'll see to it that you're returned to your position. However, if you fail to live up to my standards, then I will be forced to take matters into my own hooves. I’ll see to it that you have nicer accommodations for the moment, General Fodder, but I can’t allow you to trot through the Empire freely… I hope you can understand why I’m doing this,” Crumb Catcher stated before turning to trot away from the only prisoner in the Crystal Castle’s dungeon.
Despite the rage that burned inside him, Cannon Fodder bit his tongue and held back any shouts or demands. Instead, he only seethed in his own bitterness as the guards from earlier returned to their posts. Eventually, the anger inside of him boiled over and he let loose a cry of outrage to the stallion who wouldn’t hear it, to the demon who would be oblivious to it, and the world that would ignore it.
“BUCK YOU!”