//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Castle of Death 
// Story: The Prince of the Crystal Empire 
// by Prince_Dark_Bane 
//------------------------------//

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack stared at Prince Dark Bane, as he walked up to them with an evil glare as he looked at them in the eyes.
"You six have taken a great stallion from this world." Dark Bane stated as he stopped in front of Twilight and glared at her with hate.
"That great stallion as you call him was a monster." Twilight replied with a glare of her own.
"Shut your mouth wench!" Dark Bane yelled at her as he slammed his hoof into the floor that caused an explosion throwing the girls to the wall knocking out five of them.(Bet you don't know which one of the girls was able to stay awake.)
"My prince, let me destroy them for you." Trixie stated as she walked up to them with her horn light up.
"We'll take care of them later. Right now we will be taking our leave to my fortress." Dark Bane stated as he started to walk to leave the old castle as Trixie started to follow him out.
"I'm not done yet." Twilight  stated in a pained tone of voice.
"Yes you are." Dark Bane stated as he looked at Twilight then used his magic to throw her into the same wall causing her to blackout.
When the Mane Six woke up, they saw they where in a Canterlot medical room with all three princesses and Shining Armor with worry on their faces.
"Did any pony get the names of that group of ponies that ran us over?" Pinkie Pie asked her joke while she rubbed her head.
"Darlings, do any of you remember what Dark Bane said while he was leaving with Trixie?" Rarity asked as she was also rubbing her head.
"Forget about what he said, are all of you ok?" Candance asked them out of worry.
"Calm down honey." Shining stated as he moved closer to his wife to try to calm her down.
"How long have we been out?" Rainbow Dash asked as she rubbed he head.
"One day." Luna answered with a calm tone of voice.
"Good, we didn't miss anything then. Anyone know where he's going?" Rainbow asked as she looked at her friends.
"I remember Dark Bane saying something about going to his fortress. That means he's going to the Crystal Empire right?" Twilight asked as she looked at the princesses and her brother.
"Well Twilight the thing is, the history books in the Crystal Empire state that Prince Dark Bane left the empire and rarely ever came back to the Crystal Empire." Cadance answered as she had to read up on the history of her new empire with her husband.
"It's true. The only reason we got them both at once was by chance. We have no idea where he goes to when he isn't at the Crystal Empire." Celestia stated as she looked at the floor.
"I think I know where they're going. I think they're going to the Castle of Death." Luna stated with despair.
"What's the Castle of Death?" 5/6 of the Mane Six asked as they looked at their leader for the answer.
"The Castle of Death is a castle that is in the middle of a graveyard and that supposely is the home of the Grim Reaper, and everypony that has gone to look for it has never been seen agian, well that's what the legends say about it, but there has been evidous that graveyards have been made where castles once stood that's most likely how the legend started." Twilight stated to her friends who seem to know nothing of some of the most known legends in Equestria.
"Nevvver seeen again." Fluttershy stammered the majority of the sentence as she was scared to go somewhere that was in legend the home of the king of death.
"I can only think of one place that could possible be that castle. It's to the north of Canterlot. You will know you are there when a fog and mist covers the ground and sky in the middle of a forest." Celestia stated as she brought up a map of Equestria and marked the spot on it.
"Be very careful. Shortly after we stopped Sombra and Dark Bane, I sent out my best scout to find this very castle. When he came back, his mind had been shattered into so many pieces that he alone almost released Discord with the amount of chaos that was in his mind, and he was of sanest mind in my guard." Luna stated as she remembered the day he had returned twiching about, looking all over the place, and not trusting any pony except Princess Luna herself.
"You sent one of your scouts to a most likely dangerous place." Celestia stated as she just found out about this.
"I asked for a voluntary, and they knew that there was most likely danger involved." Luna explained with annoyed tone of voice.
"Well girls, let's go." Twilight stated so they wouldn't have to hear the regal sisters argue.
"Twilight, I want you, your friends, Shining Armor, and Cadance to go to the Crystal Empire. I believe Dark Bane will be going there to try and bring his father back to life." Celestia told everypony in the room.
"How can he do that?" Twilight asked out of shock.
"He knows many dark arts so I believe he will try to get something of his father." Celestia answered as she looked at the ground knowing he was going to try to.
The Mane Six and the Prince & the Princess of the Crystal Empire went back to the empire to wait for the attack.
Prince Dark Bane and The Great and Powerful Trixie:
Dark Bane and Trixie were walking down a path in a forest that was north of Canterlot covered in mist and fog. Trixie was getting a little annoyed because she was not just promised great power but was also promised to become a general in her new prince's army.
"Where are we going my prince?" Trixie asked trying her best to not sound annoyed by the fact that her prince won't tell her anything.
"We are heading to my strong hold. You may have heard of it. The Castle of Death." Dark Bane answered with a look of emotionless.
"But that castle is supposed to be the home of the Grim Reaper!" Trixie yelled as she stopped in her tracks out of shock and fear.
"I hated being in the Crystal Empire. I was always in my father's shadow. Equestria know nothing about me." he replied as he still kept walking to the fortress.
"But no pony has ever returned from that castle!" the show pony yelled as she looked to her prince with fear and then ran infront of him to try and stop him.
"The castle is mine, and I have a spell over it to make sure no pony returns unless I say so." the prince of shadows replied still walking calmly to his castle.
"You are the pony that romes the Castle of Death." Trixie stated out of shock as she looked at his dragon like eyes that looked just like his father's.
"Yes I am." Dark Bane answered calmly.
"He's so cute, but he most likely thinks of me as nothing more but a show mare." Trixie thought to herself as she walked behind him while she looked at him with a gaze filled with love.
As the two where walking throught the mist, Trixie started to see headstones and even some tombs as she looked out at the area as she saw how the legends that Death lived in a castle was started.
"Trixie, there has been a question I been meaning to ask you for a while now." Dark Bane stated as he looked at the show pony.
"Yes, my lord." Trixie replied as she looked to her lord hoping he would say something she knew she couldn't.
"How did you find out about me?" Dark Bane asked as he looked at her with his soul piercing gaze.
"Well I found this library in that castle of the Regal Sisters and I found a dairy I think was Luna's." Trixie answered a little depressed that he didn't ask her a different question.
"I thank you for doing all this. Not only will I make you my student, but I will also make you my top general in my army." Dark Bane replied as he was still walking to his fortress.
Trixie was now very happy since not only was she now going to be powerful but if she played her cards right she might get to become a princess too. She was so happy that she didn't notice that the castle was now in view of the pair. The castle was large and intimidating with a strong gothic element to it. It had three large spires that reached for the moon or sun (hard to tell with the mist and fog) and the tallest one had a dim light at the top (or near again hard to tell).
"Pretty little Luna has lost her beauty. Now I will need to find a new mare to become my wife. That purple unicorn from before would have been a great choice, but she's the student of Celestia so she's out. Trixie here could be a great choice, but I'll have to test her to see if she can handle the power. The Alicorn Amulet should show me if her mind can withstand the power of dark magic." Dark Bane thought to himself as he made sure she couldn't see his smile.
As the two of them where nearing the castle, Trixie saw two guards standing by either side of a double door gate and was surprized to see anything guarding this place.
"Prince Dark Bane, how are these ponies still alive?" Trixie asked as she looked at the two grey unicorns stallions wearing armor that looked like the very same armor the prince was wearing with minor differences.(No cape and they wore helmets.)
"The ponies that guard and serve this castle are nothing more but crystals and my magic. They are nothing more but an extension of my will. That is the spell I used on my castle." Dark Bane answered as he stepped to the gate.
"Halt! Who goes there?" the guards yelled as the mist and fog swarled around their prince keeping him from veiw.
"Bow before your master." Dark Bane stated as he walked into a clear veiw for them.
"Master Dark Bane, it has been a long time since you've been here." the gurad on the right of the door replied as he and the other guard bowed to their master.
"Open the gate for me and my student." Dark Bane ordered as Trixie walked up to her lord.
"My lord, you brought a mare. This is the first time you brought another pony with you." the guard on the left side of the door stated as he and the other guard started to open the large wooden doors that soundlessly opened.
"For a castle that has been around for longer than the legend of Nightmare Moon, this place has been in great care." Trixie stated as she walked in with her master.
"The servants here maintane my home at all time." Dark Bane stated as the two unicorns passed a couple of grey earth pony maids who bowed to their master after adding wood to a burning fire that has been burning for who knows how long.
"My prince, why are all the servants grey coated and without cutie marks?" Trixie asked as the passed a couple of grey pegasus ponies dusting a chandelier.
"Because this very fortress was built over a magical crystal mine. The crystals in the mine never end but the crystals are all grey." Dark Bane stated as he stood infront of a large painted section of the wall with his father standing over a large amount of crystals.
"Who's that?" Trixie asked as she looked at the picture of the unicorn that looked like her prince.
"That's my father. King Sombra." Dark Bane stated as he looked to her.
"You look just like him." Trixie stated as she looked at the picture still.
"Yes, I know. Where are all of my guards?" Dark Bane stated and then asked one of the maids as she was walking past.
"I'm sorry my lord, but Diamond Dogs kept attacking wanting the crystals that we are made of and the only ones left are the ones that are left where at the gates." the unicorn maid answered with a bow.
"I really hate those muts." Dark Bane stated with annoyed tone.
"My prince, how do you make these ponies?" Trixie asked as she looked at all the servants.
"Follow me and you will see the creation of your soilders." Dark Bane stated as he walked to a spiral stair case that leads down.
Trixie followed her prince closely as they walked down the stairs to show large a amount of earth ponies where mining large amounts of grey crystals that where growing out of every surface and seemed to be repairing themselves as fast as they where being mined.
"Our lord has returned!" one miner yelled causing all of them to stop and bow to him.
"Wait, who's that mare with him?!?" yelled a stallion pulling a large wagon of crystals .
"This is my new general. This is General Trixie and you will bring me the finest crystals for me to make her legion." Dark Bane ordered as he glared at the miners.
"Yes our prince!" all the miners replied as they bowed to their lord.
The miners started to bring in crates full of almost perfectly clear grey crystals to their lord, but he didn't look to happy at the amount they brought him.
"I've been gone for centeries and this all the you have." Dark Bane stated as he glared at all of his miners.
"We're sorry our lord, but the Diamond Dogs attack us at least ounce a year and after 50 years we where down to only the two guards at the gate, so we started to give the dogs crystals to leave us alone." one of the miners stated as he cowarded to his creator.
That's when a maid came running down the stairs looking very scared.
"My lord, the Diamond Dogs are coming. What should we do?" the pegasus asked her lord out of fear for her and the other crystal ponies of the castle.
As Dark Bane walked to the gates of his castle, his servants banged for him to stay in the castle, but he contunied to walk to the gate. When he got out of the castle, he glared at the muts before him that where laughing at him.
"So the ponies made of crystals plan on stopping us." one of the dogs stated as he walked up to the prince.
Prince Dark Bane used his magic to unleash a blast of fire at the dogs that freak at the sight.
"But these ponies can't magic!" a dog yelled as the rest started to freak out as Dark Bane started to use his father's magic to bring out tendrals of magic that struck out at the dogs.
"Leave or die." Dark Bane ordered as the dogs started to ran away.
"Run! We'll find another source of crystals!" the one that most likely was in charge yelled as they ran away.
Dark Bane walked into his castle and then went to the crates to make Trixie her troops. Trixie watched as her lord started to channel his magic into his horn as the crystals started to float into the air. The crystals started to melt and change as they formed a single large pool of liquid crystal. The pool started to form around 60 bodies, and from the looks of it there was an equal amounts of earth, unicorn, and pegasus ponies forming. When the 60 ponies where formed, they looked like the basic military stallions without their armor (imagine Shining Armor without his armor and all grey with no cutie mark), then by their creator's magic their armor formed out of thin air (armor looks just like the guards at the gate).
"I'll give you more when they find more high quality crystals." Dark Bane stated as he started towards the stairs.
"Prince Dark Bane, when while I start my first lesson?" Trixie asked as she and her legion followed him up the stairs.
"Soon my student, but first maybe you can tell your troops to stop stocking us." Dark Bane answered as he looked her in the eyes.
"Oh. Um...All of you keep watch of the surrounding area of the castle and keep any pony from coming close." she ordered as she turned to her troops.
"Yes General Trixie." all of her troops replied as they went to guard the castle.
"My prince, you didn't tell them anything so how do they know I'm your top general?" Trixie asked as she looked at him.
"While I'm making them, I can put what ever I want into their minds allowing me to give them all the information at once." Dark Bane replied as he continued to lead her to a room.
"Where are we going?" the ex-show pony asked as she was now a little scared of what he could do as she remembered what he did to the Diamond Dogs.
"I'm taking you to my study. I need to give you a test." the prince answered as they where now going up grand stairs to one of the towers.
"Y-Your study, but why?" Trixie asked with a blush forming on her face.
"I need to see if you can handle the power that I will grant you. It can strain the mind a bit." Dark Bane answered he looked at the door they where aproaching.
Dark Bane opened the door using his magic and had Trixie go in first. As they walked in, Trixie saw a king sized bed that could fit most likely six ponies at once. She looked over at the roaring fire place and saw that there was a phoenix there, and as soon as it saw Dark Bane it fly over to him and landed on his back. Trixie had to admit it, she never got to see a phoenix this close up before, but this one was completely black and its eyes where as red as its master's horn while they glowed. When she looked over to the desk that was by the fire she saw a table with an amulet in the shape of an alicorn. It was made of silver and ruby.
"What's that amulet?" Trixie asked as she got closer to it.
"That would be your test. That amulet was made by me. It gives the wear the power of two enraged alicorns, but it can cause the wearer to become power hungry. The test I'm giving you is to last at least three hours with this on." Dark Bane answered as he walked over to said amulet and begain to move it towards Trixie.
"How will this show you anything?" Trixie asked as he was about to put it on her.
"The magic I'm want to teach you has negative effects on the mind and if you use too much then you will be overwhelmed by its power. This amulet has the same effect on the mind but far more powerful. If you last at least three hours, you can use dark magic without a problem." Dark Bane answered as he put the amulet on her.
"I don't feel different. What do I do now?" Trixie asked as she looked at her teacher.
"It doesn't matter if you use the power it gives you. We just have to wait." Dark Bane answered as he took off his cape and placed it on a table.
"Prince Dark Bane, what's with the black phoenix?" Trixie asked as she looked at the bird as it seemed to glare at her.
"He's my pet. His name is Loki. He is the last the dark phoenix on this planet." Dark Bane answered as said bird went to a perch.
"Why is he the last one?" Trixie asked as she eyed the bird that still seemed to glare at her.
"The princesses of the sun and moon had the rest exterminated because they increased the power of dark magic. I was able to save him before Celestia got to his egg." Dark Bane stated as he looked at Loki.
In the end Trixie was able to withstand almost four full hours of wearing the amulet.
"You should feel proud of yourself. You lasted almost as long as me. In fact you lasted longer than Prince Luna did when I placed it on her." Dark Bane stated as he placed a glass dome around the amulet and then placed a spell on the dome keeping it in place.
"If you say so, but I feel like I just got bucked in the face." Trixie  stated as she rubbed her head.
"I'll show you to your room then so you can rest." the prince replied as he got up and lead her to another room in the same tower.
"My lord, why isn't your room at the top of the tower?" Trixie asked as she was now too curouis.
"That room is for my father if he ever comes here, and since he won't be able to rule his empire after I bring him back, he will be staying here." Dark Bane stated as if he was annoyed.
Dark Bane openned the door for Trixie who walked in to see that it looked kinda like Dark Bane's room but didn't have the same sized bed (the bed was about half the size).
"Rest, for tomorrow we will begin your training." Dark Bane stated as he walked out of the room and closed the door as Trixie went to the bed.
"I will do anything to make sure I can get as close to you as possible. I will become your wife." Trixie said queitly as she fell asleep.
Dark Bane was walking back to his room with a single goal on his mind.
"I need to bring my father back, but that requires two powerful unicorns in the same family. I will make Trixie my bride and show my father that I can make my own choices, and Trixie is beuatiful, even more so than Luna. I believe Father will approve of this, and I will make sure my child knows their mother unlike me." Dark Bane thought as he walked into his room and then went to his bed to sleep.