//------------------------------// // 29: The Pool of Darkness // Story: The Dark Crusader // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// Getting Nightmare Moon to agree with his plan, one that involved him 'surrendering' to Princess Rhythm so he could privately speak with her, so actually harder than Crimson was expecting. He was told, by both King Nova and Nightmare, that the last Princess was loyal to Darkstar and whatever cause she was working towards at the time. All that told Crimson was that she either had no idea what Darkstar was planning this time, or she was turning a blind eye to the fact that the destruction of everything was drawing closer with every hour. Crimson did, however, point out that Princess Rhythm was the only one that had an army that Darkstar would never see turning on her, giving them an advantage for when they laid siege to Shadowlot. After about an hour of telling Crimson that it was a bad idea to speak with Princess Rhythm Nightmare finally gave up and Nova did the same, figuring that whatever he had planned was the best course of action. He knew that they would have bent to his idea eventually, after all, they were the ones that wanted him to plan their attack on Darkstar and bring her to her knees. Even with Nightmare and her Lunar Guard, King Nova and his powers over Light, Order and his ability to use Harmony, and the Elements of Chaos themselves, there just wasn't enough of them to do battle with all of Shadowlot. They needed an army, like he had told them, and the only Princess around that could help them out was Rhythm, though he knew the dangers of his plan before they had been told to the entire group. The plan hinged on Rhythm choosing to side with them over Darkstar, though they wouldn't know until they came before her and told her what was going on. ------------------------------------------------- "My Princess," one of the Crystal Guards said, trotting into the royal throne room and saluting his leaders, "We've spotted Princess Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Chaos chasing somepony near the border of the Empire half an hour ago. Upon further inspection it appears that the pony they were chasing is none other than Crimson Flare, the Prince of Fire of the Prime Equestria. Before we could join in they had him and Princess Nightmare was requesting that she bring him to you and imprison him deep beneath the Palace." Princess Rhythm thought it was strange that Crimson Flare, the enemy of Princess Darkstar, would suddenly appear near the Crystal Empire, after stealing the Elements of Chaos no less, with Princess Nightmare Moon not far behind. It was also strange that he would suddenly be brought down the moment her guards noticed what was going on, though that could have been due to Nightmare's abilities. Still, Princess Midnight and her friends were following the duo, which only told her that they must have been after the stolen Elements, though none of this seemed right to her. "Bring them forward," she eventually replied, not sure what to make of what was going on, "I would like to speak with Crimson before I send him into the dungeons." Not ten minutes later Nightmare Moon, Midnight, and the Elements of Chaos walked into the throne room, bringing a bound Crimson in right behind them. The strange thing was that Crimson didn't look defeated, rather he had the look of somepony that was looking for specific, something that only he knew about. The two Princesses brought Crimson before the throne, but after a moment Rhythm gave the command for the guards to leave the room and sealed the door with spells that prevented eavesdropping. That was one of the great things about a paranoid leader ruling the Empire before she took over, he made sure his enemies couldn't figure out his plans. "So, you are the infamous Crimson Flare I have heard so much about," she commented, wishing that her husband had been in the throne room before the door had closed, "Let me tell you, I'm disappointed that you broke into Shadowlot, stole the Elements of Chaos, and came all the way here, only to be caught by Nightmare Moon. You should have quit while you were ahead." That was mere moments before the chains that had been keeping Crimson held down shattered, the magic fading away until Crimson was free to move once more. The strange thing that followed was that he didn't move to attack her and the other Princesses made no move to detain him once the bindings were broken. Instead Crimson pulled out a folder, from the bag that Spectra had been carrying, and levitated it over to her, dropping it on the arm of her throne. "I'm sure that you'll find the contents of that folder very interesting," Crimson commented, letting out a sigh as he resumed looking around the room, "Trust me on that, I found it very interesting when I opened it." Rhythm glanced at the folder, wondering if it was a decoy to make her divert her attention so Crimson could attack her the moment he had a clear shot, before she let her curiosity get the better of her. She opened the folder and began pulling out the pages that had been inside it, finding reports from Princess Nightmare's own personal mages that were working on Princess Darkstar's project. The first couple were what she expected, reports on what Darkstar wanted to make, how long it would take to make such a thing, and then the purpose for the creation. What she didn't expect to find was that the gateway that Darkstar wanted to make was going to be so powerful that it was going to rip the fabric of reality apart. The more she read the last few reports the more she realized that Darkstar was planning on destroying everything the moment she opened that gateway above the Prime Equestria. "You can't be serious!" she shouted, tossing the papers to the ground before growling at Crimson, "Are you telling me that Princess Darkstar is seriously building a gateway that, once activated, will destroy everything in all of existence the moment she connects it to your world?" "She's even willing to kill all of us in Shadowlot as well," Nightmare replied, "I have tried to talk some sense into my sister, but she is so blinded by her desire to destroy Crimson's world that she doesn't care about the consequences that might happen to our world. As much as it pains us to ask this, but we need you to put aside your allegiance to Darkstar and help us defeat her before she has a chance to open that gateway at all. Crimson has a plan that just might work, but we need an army that can fight against her forces so we aren't swarmed when we take the fight to her." Rhythm stared down at Crimson, trying to determine where he really stood in this conflict, but sighed as she realized that they truly needed his ability to plan now that Ebon was dead. Darkstar, by herself, was too smart for her own sister to outmatch and was too powerful for even Midnight to handle at times, which explained why they had sought out Crimson. It also explained why they wanted her help as well, as the Crystal Army was large enough to fight the forces of Shadowlot to a draw, though with the Lunar Guard they had more warriors than Darkstar did at the moment. There was one other thing that they could have come to the Crystal Empire for, the source of power that allowed Darkstar to fight on a higher level than the rest of the alicorns of this world. "So, you came to destroy the Pool," Rhythm commented, noticing that Crimson was the only one to nod while the rest of them looked at her with confused looks on their faces, "Yes, if you get rid of it then we should be able to weaken Darkstar, maybe enough to make whatever plan your creating actually work in our favor. I do hope you have a plan for blowing it sky high, because I tried the first day I took over the Empire and its still standing." "Yes, I have something in mind," Crimson replied, making sure not to tap the gemstone he was wearing with Ebon's lost jewelry. "If there was anypony that could destroy that blasted Pool I'm sure it would be you," Rhythm said, sighing as she got off the throne, "Very well then Crimson, follow me to the source of Darkstar's powers and let's see what you can do to it. I shall leave the rest of you here, to tell my husband of our plans and get the soldiers ready to march on Shadowlot. The sooner we leave the Crystal Empire the sooner we can bring an end to the construction of that gateway." Crimson followed the Princess around the Crystal Palace, knowing that there had to be a thousand thoughts going through her mind at that exact moment. It was hard to ask her to turn against Darkstar, to turn against everything she had been taught and use the skills she had been taught against the pony that had taught her. It was also devastating to learn that said pony was trying to build a gateway that was going to, literally, destroy all of existence, including the world they lived on. Rhythm had to make a hard choice, but Crimson was glad that she had chosen the right path in the end. They weaved through the palace, guards saluting them as they passed, though many of them stared at Crimson as they went by, apparently not knowing what was going on. He knew that they'd be on the field of battle soon enough, charging up the Shadowlot to fight those that still stood with Darkstar before she succeeded in her plans. He knew that, even with this army, there would be no way to stop her if she was still tied to the Pool, which is why it needed to be destroyed as soon as possible. Crimson had to admit, he had no idea what was going to happen when he destroyed the source of Darkstar's unnatural powers, but he was sure that all the alicorns would feel it. Eventually they made their way to a large ebony door, located under the streets of the Crystal Empire, that had only one lock on it, which Rhythm presented not a moment later. Only, before she unlocked the door she paused as if she wanted to say something. "I'll warn you about this now," Rhythm said, her voice breaking for a moment, "but the moment I open this door Darkstar will know about it and she'll likely assume that I've betrayed her. There are two possibilities to this; either she comes to stop us, or she'll decide that she doesn't care. Either way, you'll need to act fast before she makes up her mind." Crimson nodded and the door opened, though the moment it was open he could feel the darkness pulsing from where he was standing and it nearly knocked the breath out of him. The sheer power was unbelievable, though Crimson now knew exactly how Darkstar was able to command the Darkness to do exactly what she wanted when Glimmer had opened that gate in his own world. Without wasting another second he charged into the abyss, following the tug of the gemstone while trying not to fall over from the icy feeling in the air. Then he found it, resting in what he assumed was the direct center of the massive cavern, the tarnished silver pool that was filled with an eerie black liquid. Despite its massive size, and no doubt the same for the depth, Crimson knew that it had to bee the pool that Darkstar drew her unnatural power from, the very thing he came to destroy. Crimson flared his wings and leapt over the water, soaring towards the direct center of the pool and charged his horn, waiting till he was directly above it before loosing his spell. He summoned a large fireball and sent it straight down at the pool, causing an explosion that rocked the very foundation of the structure around him. The water went crazy, rushing at him from two sides as if the Pool wanted to be rid of the intruder that was disturbing it, but then the magic really happened. The gemstone around his neck flared, causing the two waves to suddenly converge on where he was and pool into the stone as it greedily soaked it all in. Even though he wasn't on the ground he could feel the Pool shake and crack from the pressure of its magic being taken away from it, though he was positive that many more could feel it as well. Once he had all of the water, and thus all of its power, bound up in the gemstone he landed on the empty center of the Pool and the structure around him shattered into a hundred pieces of tarnished silver. He fell to his knees for a moment, taken aback by how much power the stone had taken, and moaned slightly as he pulled himself back to a standing position. "We need to move now," Crimson said, eventually returning to Princess Rhythm, "before Darkstar has a chance to finish that gateway of hers and open it." ------------------------------------------------- Darkstar was proud that her workers were nearing completion of her gateway, though as she stared at it she was hit by something she was not expecting. The Pool had been destroyed, but she had absorbed enough of its power over the last thousand years to give her the ability to naturally draw on the Darkness without the Pool. Still, only Princess Rhythm knew of the Pool's existence, but she did not possess the power to harm the Pool, much less completely destroy it like she had felt a moment ago. No, Rhythm had betrayed her and had allowed whoever destroyed the Pool access to one of the world's greatest treasures, one that she would have destroyed the moment she was gone using it. There was only one other pony, across all of the worlds she had walked through and conquered, that could have wormed his way into the Crystal Empire and, against all odds, destroyed the Pool. Crimson Flare was alive and well, which meant that he had killed Glimmer, stolen the Elements of Chaos, and broken the Pool of Darkness. She knew that he'd be coming to Shadowlot soon, which meant that her army would need to be ready for the exact moment he decided to show himself. This time she would ruin him and shatter his bones upon the stones of Shadowlot, before she shattered his world completely.