//------------------------------// // The Winter Winds Marches // Story: The Cursed Prodigy and The Three Special-Grades // by I Ate Appiness //------------------------------// A symphony of coughs erupts from the smoke as it clears. A magic barrier cast by Starswirl shields the pillars from getting snacked on by the two giant mandibles. The Centipede curse clamps down harder to reach its prey, but when it realizes its efforts are futile, its gaze wanders onto the civilians escaping from the frenzy on the streets. Releasing its grip, the curse charges to the nearest pony available with its mouth open and inviting. However, Rockhoof stopped its advance with a backbreaking touchdown. It squealed, shimmering in an attempt to escape. "Down, foul creature!" Rockhoof yelled while clinging onto its flailing back. Flash Magnus and Mistmane wasted no time supporting their friend, jumping into the fray. But a furious blast of purple and greenish magic cratering the road stopped them in their tracks. Down descends, a unicorn was supposedly only seen in the history books. The cloak he adored fluttered in elegance. His horn still crackled with red sparks, and his eyes fumed an evil purple: King Sombra, the tyrannical ruler, the fallen, The Blackheart. "Good day. Everypony. How about becoming my slaves?" "King Sombra, I heard about you," Mistmane replied. "Do you seriously think we're gonna accept the offer?" Flash stepped up, his eyes and gears ready for a brawl. Black gigantic crystals burst from the earth at rapid speeds, hitting Mistmane in the jugular and shoving her back, but it was shy of hitting Flash. "It wasn't a request." A sudden shovel swing forced Sombra to duck; The King gave a swift backkick to return the favour. Sending The mighty earth pony hurdling back. While Sombra's attention was averted, Starswirl shot several magical shots from above as it came crashing down onto him. Sombra changed into his shadow form, allowing the magic to pass through his body. Sombra took to the skies as he flew upward, resolidifying in the air. Somnambula and Flash Magnus give him no time to breathe as they lay on pressure by diving straight toward him from either side of his body. Sombra suddenly manifests a black crystal in front of Flash Magnus's direction, causing him to crash into the hardened shield while using his telekinesis to swing Somnambula around him and smash her into Flash Magnus like a baseball bat. This act knocked the air out of Flash's lungs, sending him to the ground. Rockhoof charged at Sombra from below, accumulating strength; he leaped with enough power to crack the earth like thunder. Brandishing his shovel for a nasty down spike. On the other hand, Mistmane recomposed herself with healing magic as she shot binding crystals toward the flying umbrum. Unfortunately for both of them, Sombra deactivated his levitation and dropped down. Dodging the magic fired from Mistmane to bind Rockhoof. Sombra taunts with a faked yawn, waving his hoof in front of his opened mouth with his eyes shut, pushing Rockhoof to grit his teeth with an angered scowl. Right as Sombra's hooves touched the ground, a potion bottle filled with mysterious shimmering liquid was thrown underneath where Sombra was standing; the bottle shattered, and the liquid contents seeped into the asphalt road before sprouting a sapling; said sapling's growth quickly accelerated into a giant tree—catching Flash and Rockhoof in its branches right before impact as its trunk ensnarled Sombra from the waist down. "Quick! While he's restricted!" Meadowbrook yelled with a couple more bottled potions in her hoof. Using this window, the pillars jumped him from all angles. For the six friends, this is a perfect setup. Yet the uneasy grin coming from Sombra didn't go unnoticed by them. Especially the swelling of an unnerving energy coming from him sensed by all of them. In the heat of the moment, Sombra crossed his hooves together, chanting the phrase. "Domain Expansion:" Black crystals materialize in a radius around Sombra, large enough to encapsulate all of them in one swoop. The hardened mineral jutted up higher and higher at increasing speeds. Seeing as there's no way out, Starswirl repurposed his charged-up magic initially intended for the umbrum, and channeled it towards a teleportation spell, using it on Mistmane. His thought process is that he doesn't know what Sombra's planning is, but they can't risk having a pony with extensive knowledge of the empire's layout being in potential danger or, knowing Sombra, under mind control. As the domain's exterior finally shuts close at the summit, the interior forms a majestic throne room decorated with purple crystal, acting as both the throne itself and pillars on the sides supporting the high ceiling. A chandelier hung in the middle of the room, and a long stretch of a red velvet carpet spawned from the foot of the throne to the seemingly endless backroom where doors to the throneroom should be. The only thing allowing them to see in the dim enclosure was Green flames lit above metallic torches attached to the supporting pillars on the far sides of the chamber. Which also seemed to span back infinitely as far as the five ponies could see; regardless, the further the torches were, the less light they provided. Creating a shadow gradient effect the further they went. "Court of the Obsidian King," Sombra uttered with a smirk, pleased with the result. "I had planned to use this move on Twilight and her friend. But you lot will do just fine." The sure hit effect granted to the domain activated, forcing all its occupants onto their knees. Even the strongest of the bunch, Rockhoof, cannot resist its effects. Black smoke pooled and hovered on the floor of the domain as it began to enter their bodies through the external orifices on their heads. This reaction caused them to have involuntary seizures, as blood pooled from the corners of their eyes and drooling and salivation from their mouths uncontrollably. "Arghh!!" Flash grunts, trying to force his body back into his control. He could feel his blood boiling and his vision fading. "Gaaahhhhh!!" Somnambula and Meadowbrook cried in unison, and heart palpitations after heart palpitations resulted in shortness of breath. Their heads were pounding so loud they could hear the flowing of blood arteries from the back of their necks. Starswirl shuffled through his mental library to find a solution to counteract the effects, but a ferocious nosebleed caused him to get light-headed. Staining his beard a crimson red, his knees buckled. Before all of them had liquid metal start to manifest around their heads. "M-mind controlling Helmets!?" Starswirl pieced together. "That's right! Though, this isn't any ordinary mind controlling helmet, I've perfected it. With this configuration and my domain's sure hit, the helmet will fuse to the inside of your skull. Ensuring a permanent enslavement to me. You have approximately one minute to remove that before it attaches itself to you, but of course, such a refined spell requires it to be close throughout the implantation process." Revealing his hand, or rather, hoof, met the conditions of a self-binding vow, speeding up the effectiveness of the enslavement process. The five of them powered through the pain, trying to move under the intense weakening smoke. But it was futile, the last thing they could see aside from the red tint from their blood washing their sclera was the helmet's fumes infiltrating their peripheral vision and a satisfied Sombra laughing maniacally. "Y-you won't get away w-with this - Arghhhh!!" Flash Magnus attempted to retort, cut off by a new wave of pain surging through his cranium, blood leaking from his ears. "The elements will come, t-they will stop -*Hrrk!*" Meadowbrook's speech was cut short by a crystal punching her from the ground up. "Oh, please. Still defiant til the very end are we? Heh, losers truly don't know when to give up. Pathetic." The liquid metal starts to flow into the folds of their sockets, as the five let out screams of agony. "Heh, I just love Cursed Energy." Sunlight streamed through the high stained-glass windows of the Crystal Castle, painting kaleidoscopic squares on the polished marble floor. A gentle chiming filled the air, echoing off the cavernous walls, but Princess Cadance barely registered it. She sat slumped on her crystal throne, its facets catching the light and throwing diamonds of brilliance around the room, yet failing to ignite even a flicker of sparkle in her own eyes. Boredom, that insidious foe, had once again wrapped its numbing tendrils around her. The Crystal Empire hummed with its usual quiet efficiency, its crystal ponies flitting about their tasks with clockwork precision. Every cog fit perfectly, every gear turned smoothly, leaving Cadance, the supposed heart of it all, feeling strangely superfluous. She twirled a lock of her lavender mane around her hoof, its pearlescent sheen seeming to mock her own dull mood. The once-thrilling routine of royal pronouncements and ceremonial ribbon cuttings had become a monotonous dirge. Even the crystal ponies, usually so eager to please their beloved princess, seemed to operate on autopilot, their smiles practiced, their bows perfunctory. A sigh escaped her lips, misting the air in front of her. In this sparkling, sterile castle, she felt more like a jewel on display than a ruler with a purpose. Well to be fair, it isn't all true with the recent emergence of curses all around Equestria and the sudden spike in visitors for court hearings, worried ponies asking for reassurances against the unknown foe. Their worries weren't unfounded, however, as the sightings of curses in the local region outside of the crystal barrier had increased in recent weeks. Exponentially more in recent days. To ease their minds, she had sent a message over to Twilight requesting to amp up security on her end. Never had she thought she sent over the Pillars of old over to defend the Crystal Empire. Suddenly, the chamber doors creaked open, a soft melody trailing in like forgotten sunshine. A young Flurry Heart entered, her mane now cascading past her shoulders in shades of light cerise and violet, her mane naturally curled with a shimmer. "Momma!!" Flurry Heart skipped across the marble floor, her hooves barely tapping a rhythm against the smooth surface, a paper in her magical grasp. "Look!" She said shoving the paper into Cadance's face, a glint of pride shone in Flurry Heart's big blue eyes as she held up the drawing, careful not to smudge the vibrant crayons. The paper showed Cadance, Shining Armor dawned in his signature golden armor, and Flurry Heart in between them, all holding hooves with bright big smiles on their faces. "Flurry Heart, this is beautiful! But why's daddy got his armor on?" Flurry Heart beamed, her hooves fidgeting with excitement. "Because we're going on an adventure! I spent a lot of time on it! I still remember when Auntie Twilight used to tell me stories of her adventures along with her friends. Soon, I wanna go on adventures too!" Cadance chuckled, brushing a stray curl from her daughter's forehead. "You have such a wonderful imagination, my little princess. But soon, you'll have adventures of your own, even if they're not quite as magical." Her tone turned gentle, yet laced with a bittersweetness Flurry Heart couldn't quite grasp. "You're growing up, my dear. Soon, it will be time for you to go to school," School. The dreaded word of any 8-year-old. As much as Cadance's would've liked to have home-schooled Flurry, she thought it would be best for her to experience friendships and interactions with ponies other than those in the crystal castle. "But mommmm." "No buts Flurry-" Then, it came. A thunderous boom, the crystal windows vibrated, and a tremor ran through the castle floor. Flurry Heart, startled, scrambled back, her fear instantly eclipsing her worries about school. Cadance rose with a swiftness that belied her usual grace, sweat beading down her forehead, "Flurry Heart," she commanded, her voice hard with urgency, "stay here. Don't leave this room, do you understand?" She didn't wait for a response. In a blur, she was out of the door, signaling to the guards guarding the entrance with a look anybody in the military could understand, all the while casting a protective barrier magic around the throneroom, her hooves beating a staccato rhythm on the polished marble; like fingers drumming a table. Flurry Heart, left alone in the suddenly vast throne room. The aftershocks continued, each boom echoing her mounting fear. Reaching the main balcony, Shining Armor was already standing on high alert. Dawning his armor and helmet hooked around his side. Outside, panic clawed at the Crystal Empire's pristine streets, pillars of inky smoke, like malformed inkblots on the once-clear sky, choked the horizon. From their depths, grotesque figures materialized, their forms shifting and writhing like nightmares given flesh. Some curses were large enough to tower houses, others were soaring through the skies. Screams, both high-pitched and guttural, tore through the air, a cacophony of terror. Crystal ponies fled in panicked herds, their polished coats marred by soot and scratches. The once-gleaming spires of the castle were shrouded in shadow, ominous whispers swirling around their crystalline peaks. "How did those things infiltrate the empire!?" Cadance shouted. "I don't know, but we need to act! I've already deployed multiple squadrons down below. I'll be joining them soon, I won't allow any of those monsters to come close to the palace." Shining Armor promised. "What about the pillars? They should've arrived already." "They're probably helping below, I'll try to get in contact with them. In the meantime, I'll erect a barrier around and stay in the castle to protect Flurry Heart. And bring any refugees in, we'll shelter them." Shining Armor nodded in response. As they were conversing, Cadance was multitasking by scribbling in a scroll a message for Twilight alerting her about the current situation before setting it aflame in pink flames. Down below, the guards were preoccupied with fending off the curses from coming close to the castle. Usowamoto took the chance to appear through a portal close to the Crystal Heart, each step feeling oddly heavy to them for some reason, a weird burning sensation running throughout their body, triggering some nasty memories they had when they were human. Usowamoto shook away the thought, stepping closer to the Crystal Heart. Yet, each step they took worsened their condition even more. "What is this..?" Deciding not to waste anymore time, Usowamoto decieded to just command a portal to open below the Crystal Heart from where they stood, dropping the scared jewel through it into some unknown abyss. From the skies, the barrier that once withheld the freezing winters from touching the empire drops. Giving the greenlight for the dark clouds and freezing winds of the north to begin creeping in, their march to reclaim the warm teritory of the Crystal Empire growing near. Now, the second act has begun.