Twilight had her eyes closed, as she was certain she was about to meet her demise. Yet it never came. Slowly she opened her eyes and noticed that she was no longer in canterlot castle. The shiny white walls and floor, along with how everything was bright and reflective, told Twilight exactly where she was. She was back in the Crystal Empire. As the young princess regained her senses, she noticed another pony beneath her. Seeing the Pegasus stallions orange coat, blue mane, and golden guards armor, she quickly placed the pony as Flash. He was still unconscious and bleeding from his impact with Celestia's throne.
"P-Princess Twilight? Is that you?"
Twilight turned to see two crystal guards looking at her with concerned and confused expressions. Seeing as how her fatigue was catching up to her, Twilight could only say one thing before resting her head back onto Flash's chest and slipping from consciousness.
"Please, get my brother."
With that one guard sprinted off down the hall, while the other stayed with the princess and guard.
Shining Armor was in his bedroom sleeping. It was almost midnight in the Crystal Empire and the day was rather uneventful. However he was stirred from his slumber when he heard frantic knocking on his door.
He grumbled something to himself before responding. "Who is it?"
"Your highness, sorry to wake you but it's urgent. You have to come with me right away."
"What is so important the it can't wait until....."
"Your highness there is no time!" Shining armor sprung to the door, taken back by the guards sudden outburst. He opened the door stared blankly into the guards silver eyes.
"My apologizes, but there is no time to explain. You must come with me at once."
With a quick nod shining armor followed the guard down the hall at full gallop. Within a few minutes the arrived where Twilight and Flash were lying on the floor, both unconscious. The guard who had stayed with them was bent over trying to make sure they were alright.
"TWILY!" Upon hearing Shining's scream the guard backed away and gave a quick salute as the prince rushed toward his little sister and most trusted guard. After a quick examination he was relieved to know that they were still alive. However flash was in bad shape and Twilight looked as though she had been through a lot. Turning to his guards shining gave one simple order.
"Get them to the infirmary now!"
****************
After Princess Cadence sent Twilight to the crystal empire, Nocturne got to work on the next phase of his plan. This included using his magic to literally chain Celestia, Luna, cadence, and Discord to the ceiling and back wall of the throne room. All four of them were unconscious and bound in enchanted black chains that suppressed their magic. He also put out most of the torches in the room, only the throne and area in front of it was lit. The rest of the room was engulfed in total darkness. He had shut the door to the throne room and now he waited. It had been nearly ten minutes since he first revealed himself, so now more guards should be on their way to try and kill him. Or at the very least apprehend him.
Now, he 'sat' on Celestia's shattered throne and waited. After a few minutes he heard the sound of hooves outside the large golden doors of the throne room. From the sound of it there must be nearly thirty ponies outside those doors. They began banging on the door trying to get it open. Nocturne had placed some rubble in front of the door to make sure no one got in before he was ready. After a few more loud bangs, the doors to the throne room were thrown open and guards began to funnel into
The room. Most of them unicorns, a few pegasi, and two large earth ponies.
As the guards rushed in a took their positions in front of Nocturne, four more guards slowly entered the room. Two unicorns, one with and snow white coat, and the other with a bright red coat. One Pegasus with a pale coat and deep red eyes, and a large earth pony with jet black coat. All four of them had more armor then the other guards, three had long colored capes that dragged behind them, while the head unicorn had a set of purple armor and a long gold cloak. As the four of them entered Nocturne began to clap his hands and spoke to them.
"Well done, well done. It only took you ten minutes to get here." The sarcasm in Nocturnes voice was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. "Really though what took you so long?"
The unicorn in purple armor stepped forward and spoke. "What have you done to the princesses?"
"See for yourself."
With a wave of his hand the torches in the room lit up and revealed the status of the equestrian royalty. Celestia and Luna were pined to the wall behind the throne by their hooves and wings. Discord and Cadence were hanging from the ceiling by their waist. Nocturne began to laugh slightly as he saw the shock and fear in the eyes of the guards. The lead pony just grew angry.
"You fiend. You monster! As the captain of the Canterlot royal guard i order you to release you prisoners. Surrender yourself and you will be given a fair trial."
At this Nocturne began to laugh hysterically. "Oh captain my captain. What makes you think I would do that?"
"Look around you. There are thirty-four of us in here, and only one of you. Your outnumbered."
Nocturne just chuckled. "Oh dear captain. You should get your facts right." Nocturne pushed his hand out in front of him and dozens of black chain shot from his palms. The chains flew around the room killing off the royal guards. They were impaled, crushed, suffocated, and beaten to death. All thirty of the standard guards were killed in mere seconds. After that the chain pinned the captain and the three remaining guards to the floor. Then Nocturne cast a spell the prevented the unicorns from using their magic.
Nocturne started to laugh again. "You see captain, now there are only four of you and thirty corpses painting the room with their blood."
"You monster. Your murdered them!"
"Don't act like your not to blame captain. You're the one who brought them to their grave."
The captain lowered his head. He knew that Nocturne was telling the truth. It was his fault his troops were dead. As he wallowed in self pity Nocturne came up off the throne and traveled up to the four remaining guards before stopping in front of the captain.
He took a deep breath and spoke. "Can you feel that. There is fear lingering in this room. Weather it is from you or the ponies I killed I can't tell. But it is extremely potent." Nocturne turned to the four guards who were looking at him in fear and confusion. Nocturne stood up tall before speaking. "I have need for the four of you."
The Pegasus guard spoke from behind his captain. "What makes you think we will do anything for you."
"Because I can give you what every living thing in this world wants most.......power. Power beyond imagining."
"And why would you do that?" The Earth pony guard said.
"Because if I am to build my new empire, I need some ponies to help me."
"We would rather take our own lives then pledge our allegiance to you." The other unicorn spoke this time.
Nocturne chuckled for a moment. "You say that now. But once you taste the power I can give you, you will be begging for more. You will pledge your souls to me. And in turn I will grant you the strength of gods!" Nocturne placed his hand on the head of the captain who stood in front of him. "See for yourselves."
With that the captains entire body was covered in a black shroud. His body then began to change. His body was changing into a more humanoid state, and all the while the captain screamed in agony. It sounded like he was being ripped limb from limb. And all the while Nocturne laughed. "Oh and I forgot to mention, this process tends to hurt. A lot!"