//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Rise Of An Empire 
// by KingSombraTheTyrantRuler 
//------------------------------//

Thorax gave a grunt of frustration. Hours of searching, and he still couldn't find anything!

I haven't even found one single book on how to disconnect myself from the hive mind! I found a way to get disconnected, but it takes a year! I'm only partly disconnected from the hive mind! Thorax started to put the books back. All of these are useless! Just as he was putting the last book away, the changeling got a feeling that he should hide.

Trusting it, he began to look for a place to hide. If anyling or the Queen herself found him here in Chrysalis's chambers... He didn't even want to think about what would happen.

He ran under the bed and curled into a ball just as a portal opened, and Queen Chrysalis fell out of it, collapsing onto her bed. The Queen looked terrible. She was a mess, with blood all over her. She was without her crown, and had a look of pain on her face.

Queen Chrysalis sighed as she lay on her bed, unable to move due to both the numerous injuries she had received, and the fact that she had used all her power to create the portal.

"I was so close to taking over Canterlot! I would have, if it weren't for that mare, Twilight Sparkle. I underestimated her. The dark magic she possessed was almost as powerful as King Sombra's!" 

The bug Queen gasped as she realized something. "With that much power," she said, "that mare could destroy the whole hive! I wouldn't be able to do anything, and because the changelings were unable to get the love they needed, they- We all are doomed!"

"Maybe if I sent someling to learn of her weaknesses, we would stand a chance against her. But to find Sparkle, I would need to cast a tracking spell. And I can't even do so much as move now..."

Suddenly her eyes lit up. "One changeling may not be able to cast the spell, but a couple of changelings would. But I can't let anyling see me like this! How would I be able to get them to do it?" She paused for a few seconds, thinking. 

Then she raised an  eyebrow. "Thorax? Why are you in my room?" Beads of sweat rolled down Thorax's forehead. "Thorax? I know you're there. Even in this state I can smell you. You forgot to wash your armpits. Come out and I won't punish you."

Thorax slowly came out from under Chrysalis's bed. He was shaking as Chrysalis asked, "Why were you under my bed?"

"Um..." he tried to come up with an excuse. "It was my turn to clean today!"

"Really?" 

"Yes!"

"Then where are your cleaning supplies?"

"...I forgot them."

"Thorax, you are the worst liar that I've ever seen. You're really bad at telling lies, you know." Thorax closed his eyes and hoped that the Queen wouldn't punish him. "...But I won't punish you. Instead, I have a task for you..."




Thorax sighed as he flew to the Crystal Empire. Why does this Twilight Sparkle have to be all the way here, at the borders of Equestria?! He shivered. It's so cold...




After smashing the Crystal Heart, the door opened and millions of umbrums exited. Twilight thought, These are the umbrums? They don't look anything like what I thought they would! They look kinda like...zombies. I wasn't expecting them to look like fairies or anything like that...




The last thing that the cutie mark crusaders saw before collapsing was a castle made of crystal.

Minutes after they collapsed, Spike came out and saw them. He scratched his head in confusion. "What are Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo doing here? I better tell Twilight."




Thorax flew as fast as he could, wanting to find some sort of shelter before night fell. Just as he was about to collapse, he saw a light ahead of him.

Filled with hope of it being someplace he could stay for the night, he reached it in less than a minute. And then he let sleep take him.




That night, Princess Celestia was unable to sleep. "Things were supposed to work out!" she cried. "Twilight was supposed to free Cadance and defeat the changelings with her friends! She- she wasn't supposed to give in to the darkness! Ah, if only I had known things would turn out this badly, I would- Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and prevent this!"

As the mare began to weep, a voice asked, "But would you really prevent this if you could?" The lights turned on, revealing the speaker to be Princess Luna. "Would thou really?!"

"Of course I-" Celestia stopped as soon as she saw the expression on her sister's face. "L-luna-"

"I do not believe thou would," Luna spat. "Thou knew that Chrysalis was here, wearing the face of thine adopted niece, did thee not? And what did thee do? Thee decided to let Twilight deal with it, when thou could have done so thyself. I heard everything thou said just now, and all of Equestria is seeing this. Twilight Sparkle thought of thee as her second mother, Celestia! She loved thou as a daughter would! And this is how thee repay her? We are truly shocked." Luna's irises became like that of a cats. "Thou used her! When we returned from the moon, and when Discord broke free of his stone prison, thou used her! Hast thou ever thought about what would happen should Twilight be unable to defeat the threats?"

"I am done with thou, Celestia! I am done! From this day onward, thou are no longer my sister!" As the Lunar Princess said that, she flew out. Not as Luna, but as Nightmare Moon!




The following morning, Celestia was awoken by the sound of shouting. When she looked down from her balcony, she gasped. For in front of the palace were citizens from all over Equestria, including her guards, the mane five, and Shining Armor. 

They were chanting, "Execute Celestia! All hail Heartbreaker!" 

Celestia was petrified by shock and horror as she looked at her adopted niece. Cadence's fur was now black, and her mane was darker than it had originally been. The aura of dark magic was around her eyes, and only then did Celestia realize that her actions had many consequences. Cadence had given into the darkness and was now Heartbreaker.




King Sombra was halfway through his dinner when a guard ran in, panting for breath. "Your Majesty!" he gasped. "I was patrolling the Empire when I came across a changeling!"

The King's eyes narrowed. "Where is this changeling now?"

"I-We put the changeling in the dungeons to be safe."

"I trust you put an inhibitor ring on it?"

"Yes Sir."

"Well then, let's go see it."




When Thorax awoke, he found himself in a cell. He gasped. "I-I've been captured!" Just then, the guard unlocked the door, and King Sombra entered, with two guards behind him for protection. The door was locked, and Thorax jumped.

In a harsh and cold tone, the King spat, "What were you doing here, changeling?"

Thorax gulped and stuttered, "Q-queen Chrysalis s-sent me here to keep track of T-twilight Sparkle."

"And why is that?"

"S-she fears Twilight. She fears that as this Twilight Sparkle has dark magic, she'd be able to destroy the whole hive and we'd be unable to do anything." Sombra read the changeling's mind to check if he was telling the truth, and found that he was. Thorax began to beg, "P-please don't kill me. Please."

King Sombra smirked as a plan formed in his mind. "I will not kill you, but in exchange for your life, you will provide me with the location of your hive. And you shall also give a map of its insides. Deal?"

"D-deal."

"Good. Intrépido, you will go with this changeling."

The umbrum saluted. "As you wish, Your Majesty."

Thorax was shaking as he thought, The umbrum are freed?!




Nightmare Moon and her batponies had reached the Crystal Empire, and were standing outside its gates. A few guards followed her in, while the others stayed with the batponies. "Let's hope that King Sombra will accept Our offer."




Princess Celestia was petrified by shock. The mane five, Shining Armor, her guards, and everypony in Equestria wanted her dead!

And none other than her adopted niece was leading them! Her niece, who was now corrupted! 

Heartbreaker smirked and flew up to the Solar Princess. "Hello Auntie," she said. "Like my new look?" When Celestia didn't respond, the corrupted mare laughed. "You knew what was going to happen, didn't you? You thought that Twilight would get rid of the changelings, save me, and that today would have ended with a 'Happy Ever After', didn't you? Well, this isn't some fairy tale, and look what happened, you pathetic mare!"

Heartbreaker held Celestia's neck in a magical grip and said, "As much as I'd love to snap your neck right now, I think somepony else deserves the pleasure of killing you. But don't worry Auntie, I won't kill you, but I can have lots of other fun with you."

She chuckled as Celestia's eyes widened in horror. "Now, you don't need these wings, do you?"

Ponies from all over Equestria could hear the screams that followed.




"The King will be with you shortly."

As soon as those words had left the guard's mouth, King Sombra arrived. Nightmare Moon rose and held out her hoof, which Sombra shook. "King Sombra."

"Nightmare Moon." The two locked eyes, gazing into each others soul until Sombra smiled. "I see you've left your pathetic excuse of a sister. May I then ask, what brings me the pleasure of meeting you this fine evening?"

Nightmare chose her words carefully. "You still wish to conquer Equestria, do you not?"

"And you are correct."

"Well then, I shall help you."

"What do you desire in return? I do not imagine you would join me without a price."

Nightmare chuckled. "You are right. I wish for two things. The first being that my batponies shall have a portion of Equestria to themselves."

"And the second?"

"Once you successfully conquer Equestria, all shall stay awake during the night."

King Sombra was surprised. "You do not wish for eternal night?"

"I have matured since my first transformation, and decided that I do not wish to bring all ponies and creatures to extinction."

"Very well then." Sombra shook her hoof. "I accept your conditions."




The very second she had been told about the fillies, Twilight rushed out of the castle. "Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo?" she asked while tapping the fillies with her hoof.

When none moved, she cast a spell to revive them. Apple Bloom began rubbing her eyes. "Twilight?"

"What are you fillies doing here?"

"We decided to disown our sisters and came to the border of Equestria so that they wouldn't be able to find us," Sweetie Belle answered.

"We want to join your side!" Scootaloo declared.

"Are you sure fillies? This means you might have to fight against your sisters someday on the battlefield," Twilight informed them.

"Them sacks of horseapples ain't our sisters no longer, Twilight! We don't care if we'll have ta fight 'em. And if we ever meet 'em on the battlefield, we're gonna destroy them!"

"Yeah!"

Twilight couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Well then, if that's the case, I'm sure King Sombra will be more than happy to let you join us."




Thorax said, "The hive is here."

Intrépido smiled. "Good. Now give me a map of the hive's insides, and I'll take my leave."

"Okay." Thorax flew inside the hive and came out a second later with a map which he gave to the umbrum. "Here's the map."

After checking it, Ira held her hoof out which Thorax shook. "Until we meet again." And then she flew off.




"Queen Chrysalis!" Thorax gasped as he flung himself into the Queen's chambers. 

"Thorax?" Chrysalis was confused. "Why are you back so early, and why are you so... panicked?"

"The umbrum have been freed!" he exclaimed dramatically.

"What?" Did he just say the umbrum have been freed?

"I know it's hard to believe, Your Majesty, but the umbrum have been freed!"

Chrysalis thought for a moment before saying, "Go and tell Pharynx this news." 

"As you wish, Your Majesty," Thorax said before flying out.

Just then a thought struck Chrysalis. Thorax will probably tell the whole hive! "Thorax, wait!" But it was too late. Thorax was already gone.




Pharynx was walking around in circles, worried. Queen Chrysalis had used the hive mind to inform him of the news, and he had been unable to hide his anxiety.

"Pharynx?" a small changeling asked. "Why are you so worried?"

"It's none of your business, Ocellus," Pharynx snarled. "Go and play with your dolls or something."

Queen Chrysalis had used the hive mind to tell Thorax not to warn Pharynx, but as he was partly disconnected from the hive mind, he had not heard her. 

"Pharynx!" another changeling shouted. "The" he panted. "The umbrum have been freed! Have you heard the-" he stopped upon seeing Pharynx's glare. "What?!"

Pharynx simply pointed a hoof to Ocellus. "I. Was. Trying. To. Keep. That. From. Her!"

"Oh." Thorax's ears drooped.

They remained in silence until Ocellus innocently asked, "What's an umbrum?"

"It's nothing you need to know about," Pharynx snapped.




Twilight and the fillies walked to the throne room, and entered when  permitted to do so. Twilight bowed, and the fillies did the same. "King Sombra," she began, stepping forward. "These fillies have come from Equestria and wish to join you. They are Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, and used to be sisters of my former friends."

"Used to be?" the King asked.

"They disowned their sisters, Your Majesty, in order to join you."

"King Sombra," Scootaloo said "can you please let us join your army? We want to fight for you!"

"Yeah! Please King Sombra, let us join your army and fight against Sunbutt and others that wish to be enemies to you!"

Sombra chuckled. "I'll give the three of you some tests, and if you pass, I'll let you join my army."




The following week, Twilight received a letter. It read:

Dear Twilight, where ever you may be, I invite you to come and end Celestia's pathetic life. You might be confused now, but when you come, I'll explain everything.

Eagerly awaiting your arival,

Queen Heartbreaker of Equestria, formerly known as Mi Amore Cadenza.