//------------------------------// // Gathering Shadows // Story: The Crystal Vizier // by Lich-Lord Krosis //------------------------------// "Sh-she knew..." Shining shook violently, his colossal wings ruffling themselves. If she did know... and let Cadence and I go through... THIS... Kel'Thuzad floated nearby, the duo occupying the courtyard of the Crystal Palace, all entrances sealed off by a combination of frozen wards and straight-up walls of ice. The snow that was falling gently did little to faze Shining. According to Kel'Thuzad, he was nearly immune to cold and frost now. Kel'Thuzad was sympathetic, of course. True immortality was far superior in most ways to the cursed blessing of lichdom... While he had originally planned on telling his master directly after dinner, he stumbled across his sovereigns'... 'celebration', and decided to wait until the morning... Morning turned to night, as Celestia's sister had arrived, complicating the scenario. She was skeptical of the Archlich, but was... more open to the idea of necromancy than her sister, seemingly interested in the field... "My lord... I do not know for sure..." the Archlich began. "Kel'Thuzad, I want you to take Frostmourne... and take it as far away from this Palace as you can..." Shining growled. "The less temptation, the better..." Kel'Thuzad had taught him what limited knowledge he knew of the sword, but the rest was closely guarded by his predecessor. From what they both could quite quickly realize, the Lich King and Shining Armor WERE two separate entities... Whether they were anymore, remains to be questioned. Since his ascension into Alicornhood, the prince had still yet to experience one of his 'rages'. Kel'Thuzad was quite insistent on him avoiding stress from the night of the transformation, at least until he could study the Helm of Domination further. Shining was... skeptical about the helmet, to be honest... Every time he neared, or even walked PAST Kel'Thuzad's chambers, he literally FEEL the Helm calling out to him, begging to be with him... It was enticing... but he had to wait. Kel'Thuzad had told him that it was likely fragments of the previous Lich King's souls inhabited the Helm, and that they might leap at the chance to have a body again. As dangerous as it was to leave the Helm unattended... it was necessary. "My lord, I do not think it is wise to... "That is an ORDER, Kel'Thuzad..." Shining commanded. He hated being so... stern, with his archmage. He had been through more than Shining can possibly imagine. Any more stress upon him for the time being that could be avoided, would be. "Yes, master. As you command." Kel'Thuzad bowed, and retrieved Frostmourne, which was impaled cleanly into a solid marble statuette nearby, a remnant of the Prince's rage upon hearing that his Auntie may be hiding quite crucial information from them... "What of Lady Cadence, my lord?" Kel'Thuzad asked, drawing Bloodsurge from it's sheathe, before cleanly cutting a portal to a remote mountaintop in the distance. Shining looked back at him. "What of her?" he asked. "Will she take this well, if it is true?" "She'll take it better than I will..." ......... "YOU KNEW?!?!" the Lich King roared, the table's crystalline surface frosting over instantly, the braziers lining the walls of the dining hall extinguishing rapidly afterwards... The alicorn sisters froze from momentary shock, and the Elements turned to their princesses "Yes. I did. I will not hide it." Celestia proclaimed. Luna, on the other hand, was shocked to the core. "Why would you not tell them, sister?!" Luna accused, her muzzle degenerating into a scowl of anger. "I... I thought it best for them to..." Celestia shivered and stammered, the temperature of the room FAR below what it was when they entered. "TO WHAT, FIGURE IT OUT ON OUR OWN?" Shining's nostrils flared, the Lich King's presence alarmingly apparent as a frigid wind howled through the large room, knocking plates from the table. "I DIED, CELESTIA! I WILL NEVER BREATHE AGAIN, BECAUSE OF YOU! CADENCE WILL NEVER KNOW MOTHERHOOD BECAUSE OF YOU! he hissed, the amplification of his voice distorting it greatly as the sentence drew on... "Auntie... why?" Cadence sobbed, her thoughts scrambled and crushed to bits inside her head. The prince, however, roared in fury, launching himself forwards with one powerful beat of his massive wings. He impacted the solar princess square in the chest, the alicorn yelping as she was slammed into the ground behind her chair. A spout of crimson erupted from her mouth, the impact shattering and puncturing her lungs, the ribs surrounding them collapsing like twigs before a hammer... Luna and Cadence quickly responded, attempting to pry the enraged prince off of their fellow princess. Shining, however, was unresponsive. With a furious snarl, the Lich King brought his right forehoof down upon the Solar Alicorn's muzzle, breaking it with ease, Celestia's once divine visage scarred and collapsed, blood exploding from her nostrils. Time slowed down, and pain left his system... All that stayed was fury. With a battering storm of kicks, stomps, punches, and slams, Shining Armor went to town. He snapped Celestia's long, spiraling horn like a stale soda cracker when one of his forelegs clipped it... Celestia sputtered and coughed in agony as he slammed his back legs down upon her hips, smashing the normally unyielding alicorn bones to dust beneath his hooves, the sickening squelching of flesh and bone rending and tearing fueling his rage. He tore her wings to shreds, the claws adorning his own ripping and carving their way through the soft, yielding flesh, splitting it into flaps of heavily bleeding skin... In a final roar of utter fury and rage, he brought his forehooves down... *CRACK* With a sickening, blood-curdling screech of bone on bone, Celestia's skull caved in, the now lifeless alicorn slumping down, and lying still. Brain matter and bile flowed freely from her shattered head, pooling quickly on the crystal floor... With a grin, he retracted his hooves, and folded his wings. The LICH KING laughed, creepily at first, then it quickly morphed into a whirlwind of madness-induced guffawing, the blood of the solar alicorn still dripping from his ivory coat... ......... Shining jolted upright, Cadence's slumbering from falling off of his barrel, yelping as she impacted the bed. "Shiny, what's wrong?!" Cadence squealed, before she was crushed by the larger alicorn, his wings wrapping around the couple so tightly that it became difficult to breathe... "Cadence... I... I... I killed her... I destroyed her..." Shining sobbed, retching horribly as he buried his muzzle in her mane, inhaling the comforting scent of his mate, squeezing her tighter. Cadence squirmed, and responded in kind, wrapping her forehooves around her husband's shaking form, comforting the prince with gentle words and caresses... "Shiny... shh... I'm here, honey, let it out..." she cooed, ignoring the shortness of breath she was feeling, the male alicorn's embrace much stronger than usual, probably fear-induced... Whatever nightmare he had had, it could wait... She needed to calm him down first...