Chrono was in a frenzy. He had awoken early the next morning to find that Twilight was missing. Fearing she was pony-napped, Chrono woke up the rest of the party and explained the current dilemma. Alarmed, the others quickly agreed to Chrono’s plan to set out immediately.
“Oh I sure hope Twilight is ok,” worried Fluttershy.
“I hope so too, Flutter,” Chrono agreed. “I think the best place to start looking for her is in those caverns over there.” he indicated a nearby cave opening. “It’ll probably lead underground.”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t start looking in the jungle over there?” Applejack asked, pointing in a different direction. “Twilight wouldn’t want to get lost in a cave system.”
“I’m positive, Applejack. Those caverns are radiating immense magical energy. TS would be attracted to it.”
“If you say so.”
The six ponies were in the cave system for quite some time before anything was said. Now as they entered what appeared to be an underground oasis, they were simply speechless.
The massive cavern was dotted with brilliant crystal growths, the most massive of which was hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier. Light spewed from holes in the roof only to be refracted endlessly by the multitude of crystals, illuminating the entire cave. Dominating the floor of the chamber was a large pool, about twice the size of the mirror pond, with crystals jutting from it at seemingly random places and angles.
“This. Is. Amazing!” Rarity exclaimed, her excitement overriding her composure. “These crystals are positively gigantic, and i love the way the light bounces among them.”
“Glad to see you’re excited, Rare,” Chrono said. “Eh? What’s this?”
Chrono was perplexed by what looked like a large, flat slab of diamond with a handle sticking out of the top, jabbed into the floor of the cavern just before the pool. the most confusing thing was the fact that it wouldn’t respond to his psychic abilities.
“Hey, Rarity, come check this out,” he said.
“What is that?” Rarity asked.
“I don’t know, but it appears to be embedded in the ground. It won’t respond to my telekinesis. Maybe you could use your magic to pry it loose?”
“I’ll try.” Rarity began focusing her magic on the handle of the slab and began pulling up. Instantly, there was a blinding flash of light. When everypony could see, the slab was suspended above Rarity’s head and Chrono could see what the rest of the slab looked like.
The two longest sides were of different length, with the shorter of the two giving way to a slant that met the longer side at a point. the shorter side appeared to be sharpened like the edge of a sword. Chrono quickly put two and two together and figured out that the slab was in fact a large buster sword. The sword was hovering above Rarity, yet she showed no sign of using her magic.
“Fascinating,” Chrono said. “It appears that the diamond sword is a type of spirit blade, Rarity can expertly wield it with no mental or physical exertion.”
“And it looks simply marvelous,” said Rarity, as she flourishing the blade several times.
“Now, if only we could test her proficiency with it.” Chrono said.
Suddenly there was a growling rumble coming from the two exits.
“What is that Chrono?” Fluttershy asked.
“That is the sound of some of Rarity’s so called ‘friends’.” answered Chrono.
“What do you mean ‘friends’?” Rarity asked.
“Rarity, don’t you remember the Diamond Dogs?” Chrono asked in response.
“They’re here too?” she asked.
“Certainly, the term references a species name, not a group,” Chrono clarified. “Get ready.”
Chrono quickly shifted into combat mode as his ethereal whips formed. Fluttershy readied her vines and Rarity brought her sword into a ready position.
“Three… two… one…,” Chrono whispered. “NOW!”
Instantly, a horde of canine-like creatures started pouring into the cavern. With a single glance Chrono relayed his plan to the others.
Due to her speed, Rainbow Dash was all over the cavern, attacking the dogs from the air while Applejack and Rarity were back to back, attacking anything that came too close.
Fluttershy was more or less experimenting with her new-found abilities. As she was experimenting, she realized she could cause plants to violently burst out of the ground, knocking any enemy into the air. She also found out she was able to release a ball of vines from her body to ensnare any enemy caught in its path.
Pinkie Pie was using every trick she had. Diving behind crystals and disappearing, only to pop out somewhere else, rebounding like a ball if she was thrown, and generally doing things only she could do.
Chrono, being the only one with any major combat experience, was little more than a blur of thrashing whips. being able to control time allowed him to move at mind-boggling speeds, allowing him to help out anypony that needed it.
With the combined teamwork of the six friends, the Diamond Dogs were quickly defeated and driven off.
“Whew, I’m glad that’s over with,” Applejack said.
“Me too,” Rainbow Dash agreed.
“That seemed too easy,” Chrono said. “There’s usually something else, something like a giant creature.”
“That’s silly. There’s nothing else here,” Pinkie said. “What else could there possibly be?”
As those words left her mouth there was a rumbling sound as the crystals in the pool began to shudder. Suddenly, a giant claw emerged and knocked everypony except Chrono and Rarity off their hooves, knocking them unconscious. As the body of the creature emerged, it appeared more and more crab-like.
“Is that…?” Rarity started to ask.
“Yes. It is,” confirmed Chrono. “A giant, crystalline, crab-golem.”
Twilight didn’t want to admit it, but she knew there was no other reason; she was lost. She had thought to enter the cave that had a massive energy signature, but decided against it, not wanting to get lost underground. being lost in the jungle, however, was not much better.
“Ok, so now what?” she asked herself. “If I go back they’ll just tell me what I already know; I’m not needed anymore.”
Suddenly Twilight heard a strange noise coming from all around her. Before she could react, she was surrounded by strange creatures that looked like black, reanimated, pony cadavers.
“Watch out!” Chrono shouted. The crab swung its claw again as Chrono backflipped to doge. Rarity remained where she stood and parried the attack with her blade, preparing to riposte.
“Oh. It. Is. On.” she said as she leaped into the air, blade crashing down as she executed a perfect Braver slash, stunning the crab. Before it could recover, Rarity slashed viciously at the seemingly vulnerable underside. Rarity jumped back when she noticed the crab was showing no signs of pain or damage.
“This crab isn’t ‘organic’,” Chrono shouted. “It”s made entirely out of stone and crystals. The crystals act like an impenetrable shell around the rock. You’ll have to find a way to break the crystal exoskeleton to deal any damage.”
“Then let’s try this!” Rarity said as she used her magic to levitate a boulder and hurl it at the crab-golem.
Rarity was surprised as the boulder was batted aside by the crab’s claws. Sensing weakness, the crab closed in on Rarity.
“Right idea, wrong timing,” Chrono said. “Use a Braver or Sky slash to stun it, and segue into the boulder toss.”
Rarity nodded in acknowledgement as she leaped into the air again. On her way down, she tucked and started spinning in a bladed circle as she flawlessly pulled off a tricky Sky slash. Dazed, the crab couldn’t react in time as a boulder larger than the first came crashing down on top of it, cracking its crystalline exoskeleton.
“Ha-Ha. Take that you ruffian!” Rarity said, launching herself back into the air as she performed another Braver slash, aimed right at the crack in the shell.
When the blade made contact, Rarity twisted it, causing the shell to split and fall in two. Angered and in pain, the crab lashed violently at Rarity, who blocked or dodged most of the attacks. The crabs final strike, however, made contact with Rarity, who was thrown across the length of chamber and hit the opposite wall. The impact caused her left foreleg to sever from her body.
The blow was so forceful that the entire cavern shook, blocking all exits with a shower of rocks. the cavern was plunged into blackness as the natural skylights became blocked. Everypony in there was trapped, trapped with the killer crab.
Neither Twilight nor the creatures made a move for some time. A sudden tremor caused the creatures to attack, quickly subduing Twilight before she could react. Her last thought before she blacked out was: We are not alone.
The tremors and sudden darkness caught Rarity, Chrono, and the crab by surprise. Chrono was used to sudden blindness; but the shockwave scrambled any sense of coordination left. The crab had no need for sight, given the years of his slumber, and could easily navigate the total blackness. He lumbered toward the hapless form of Pinkie Pie, claw raised to kill.
Rarity was the first to recover. She was surprised she could see, but was even more so when she turned her head and saw herself, eyes glowing, body floating in midair.
Chrono was next to recover and immediately grasped what was happening. “Rarity!” he shouted, “This is your True Power! You are seeing with the crystals, They are your eyes!”
Rarity quickly became used to her new vision and saw the crab about to kill her friend. She looked around, trying to find some way to help her friend. She noticed a cluster of crystals and thought to herself; I-de-a!
The crab swung its claw down, but the attack was deflected by a crystal that slammed into the falling claw.
“Ha-Ha. Take that you ruffian!” shouted Rarity as she switched to her normal vision and began pelting the crab with more and more crystals.
“Yes, that’s it,” encouraged Chrono. “Feel your power growing and unleash your deathmove!”
Rarity did as Chrono said, letting her power increase until she could no longer contain it. “Now, foul crustacean,” she cried out, “embrace your fabulous demise!” Suddenly, thousands upon thousands of small portals blinked open and shut. Each time a portal opened, a single, small, razor-sharp gemstone flew from it, striking the crab and dealing massive damage.
“Behold!” said Chrono, “Crystalline Assault!”
The barrage only lasted about three seconds, after which the crab seemed almost ready to crumble to dust.
“It’s still not dead?!” exclaimed Rarity.
“It will be shortly. one more crystal and it’s over.”
Rarity concentrated and used every last ounce of her remaining magic to cause a single, small crystal to fall from the ceiling and hit the crab like a pebble. Instantly the crab shuddered and collapsed, turning into dust.
Rarity smiled in triumph as her body lowered. The moment her hooves touched the ground, there was a blinding flash of light. When Chrono could see, the cavern was illuminated by the remaining crystals, Rarity was unconscious, and the other ponies were beginning to stir.
“Ugh, what happened?”
“I don’t know. All I remember is a giant claw.”
“If you’re all done over there,” Chrono said, “Rarity is hurt.”
Twilight awoke to find her fore- and hind-legs were bound by some sort of webbing, worse still was the fact that her horn was encased in pure shadow, rendering her magic useless. As she thrashed at her bindings, she was surprised that the webbing seemed to solidify the more she struggled, then return to its original state when she relaxed.
“This webbing has properties that I have never seen before.” Twilight marveled.
“Yes isn’t it amazing what my Blanks are capable of?” a female voice agreed. “In fact, they can do anything I tell them to do, short of mass-genocide, of course.”
“Who’s there?” Twilight said, trying to emulate Chrono’s confidence, yet failing. “Show yourself!”
“Of course, how rude of me,” The voice said as a dark alicorn emerged from the darkness beyond Twilight. “Allow me to introduce myself, I am Obscura, Princess of shadow and future ruler of Equestria!”
The alicorn was pure black, with with eyes of a pure, dark, purple with energy lancing out of them. Her mane and tail flowed like those of Celestia and Luna, yet Obscura’s were pitch black. As Twilight looked into them, she felt like she was staring into the Abyss.
“If you’re quite done ogling me,” Obscura said, “I thought I wouldn’t have to say this; I’m not a lesbian, I’m bisexual, yet I have no interest in you or your body. You are here because I don’t take well to trespassers, and your magical energy is so powerful, I just couldn’t kill you.”
“Then what are you going to do to me?” Twilight asked.
“Simple,” Obscura said, a malicious glint shone in her eye, “you’re going to be… converted.”