//------------------------------// // Frostbite and Shadowfire // Story: The Crystal Vizier // by Lich-Lord Krosis //------------------------------// "A-Auntie..." Cadence whimpered, tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes once more. She gazed over the dormant remains of her aunt, and sobbed once, her form hugging her neck as tightly as possible, wishing life back into her... ......... "I must say, I did not expect so many complications this time around..." Celestia laughed, her voice distorted and amplified. Shining grasped the hilt of Frostmourne, ready to hoist the runeblade into action if the need was desperate. "All of you naïve fools thought that the 'Elements of Harmony' could stop me?!" Gone was Celestia, her soul suppressed and all but negated by the invading Nightmare Moon. Her unmistakable, booming voice shrouded the hall in darkness, the braziers that lit the room falling to pieces as the baritone of her laughs shook them from the walls with no difficulty whatsoever. Kel'Thuzad had teleported Twilight and Cadence away during the villain's monologue. The mentally scarred Twilight would be little to no help in a fight against a goddess, let alone the mare she had known as a parent figure her entire life. Cadence would likely try to reason with the demon infesting the solar alicorn, and possibly escalate things further by being possessed herself... No. Violence, as much as Cadence would hate him for it, was the only option. And if that meant ripping Celestia's body limb from limb to purge this demon... Then so be it... "Nightmare, I will give you ONE chance. You may leave this world now, PEACEFULLY." Kel'Thuzad boomed. "Or die." Nightmare looked to the lich, ignoring the prince for the moment, the stallion still hesitant on attacking one of his aunts, let alone one of his rulers. "YOU were the most unpredictable obstacle of all, Kel'Thuzad..." she sneered, molten crystal hoofprints left in her wake as she strutted slowly towards the archlich, who's chains reacted violently when she grew close, the brittle edges of the rusted serpents lashing and swirling around Kel'Thuzad's robes, BEGGING to cut open the encroaching threat. Not yet... "You single-handedly forced my hoof. Impressive. For that, I will give you a quick death." The lich nearly laughed at that, but snarled instead, his claws unfurling themselves, an ice bolt ready in one hand and a blizzard ready in the other. "You thought your silly 'magics' would be enough to suppress the soul of an alicorn?! HA! Not even close..." "You... have... nothing!" "If I die, Celestia comes with me. Then Equestria will have NO princesses..." Kel'Thuzad grinned. She stepped right on it. Below the Alicorn of Darkness and Fear, a simple rune crackled with arcane energy. Realizing her mistake, the mare tried to back up... But it was useless. Arcane energy is far faster than mere organic reaction time. With the arcane tendrils of the rune wrapping around her legs... There was a snap like a whip... The three were gone. Marrowfrost... I release you from my service. ......... With an explosion of ice and arcane energy, the lich opened his arsenal upon the alicorn, her form barely into this realm of existence, still fazing in from the teleport rune. A frostbolt connected with the surprisingly durable skin of the alicorn's side, digging in only several inches. Two of his chains all but enveloped the demon with lashings of frigid and sharp metal, slicing bloody paths through the resilient skin and flesh of the alicorn it inhabited. With a quick muttering of incantations, and a single hand gesture, the air around them froze, a blizzard howling into existence around them for several dozen yards in every direction, forcing Nightmare to stay grounded. Were she couldn't see a thing... Using the ice and snow of the blizzard he conjured, Kel'Thuzad froze the forelegs of the dark alicorn to the ground. Nightmare roared in pain, the splintering and popping of ice far too cold for the goddess' body entering her flesh heard throught the field. With a roar of his own, Kel'Thuzad launched an orb of frost from each hand, the swirling spheres of ice accelerating through the air towards the rooted alicorn, before bursting at the seams with icicles... HUNDREDS OF THEM. Nightmare screeched demonically in pain, her wings attempting to shield her face and neck, bloody swathes and holes punctured through the feathers and flesh of the once pristine limbs. In pure panic and obvious desperation, Nightmare launched a trio of half-formed fireballs, glowing white with heat. The first and second missed the lich by several feet, and the third was intersepted by an incredibly well placed and crafted ward, Kel'Thuzad making a quick mental note to thank his ruler for his help, however small. Nightmare, continuing to crumple under the vicious onslaught of snow and hail, was once again assaulted by the lich's arsenal, volleys upon volleys of frostbolts leaping from his gesturing hands, the black tinge of rot adorning his spells as his combat instincts leapt into overdrive. With a muttering by the archlich, and an arcane hum that shook the air, a glaringly bright crack in the earth appeared below Nightmare. With a deafening boom, the skin all around Celestia's possessed body was scorched by shadowfire, the demonic invader roaring and screeching in agony as it's host's body melted before the pressing heat. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the alicorn made her move. With her eyes glowing with fury and malice as she channeled all of her host's and her own might into her horn, she cast her spell. "ENOUGH!" In a torrent of flames and shadow, the blizzard around her all but faded, and the lich was hit with a wave of smoldering heat, the gilded ornaments adorning him melting and cracking as he was catapulted across the field at the base of Canterlot mountain. Kel'Thuzad slammed into a boulder that adorned the field, his right arm fracturing from the blow. He yelped out of instinct, swiftly returning to his full height. As another wave of heat rocketed across the field, the lich threw up a single ward, halting the worst of it in its molten tracks. "You'll have to be quicker than that, Nightmare..." the Archlich growled, his arms bathing themselves in arcane splinters of frigid ice once more. Snorting, Nightmare launched a ball of shadowy magic at his form, the archmage retaliating with a flurry of icicles, aimed at the alicorn's wings. Once again, the mage's projectiles hit heir mark, the wickedly sharp missiles ripping into the princess's body. His massive form barely dodged the shadow bolt, however, the energies burning away some of his kilt's petals. Choosing a more simple approach this time, Kel'Thuzad teleported further away from the alicorn, launching volleys of shadow bolts of his own with both claws as he did. Instead of attempting to use her host's wings for flight, however, Nightmare charged the lich once more, her feathery aings folded before her, a simple ward protecting their battered surface from major damage. With a blistering alicorn charging at him, and his prince incapacitated by disbelief, he called upon the one thing he chose this field for. He summoned up the last of his energy, the blizzard and explosion admittedly draining him immensely. He slammed his hands to the ground... "MINIONS!" "SERVANTS!" "SOLDIERS OF THE COLD DARK!" "OBEY THE CALL OF KEL'THUZAD!" ......... The ground shook with the power of the arcane wave, the trees and grass in the immediate vicinity all but disintegrating and decaying from the power of the spell. The winds howled, frigid as the frozen wastes of Northrend. The alicorn stopped her charge, in wonder of the lich's... The ground shook... And they obeyed. ......... Kel'Thuzad was always interested in warfare. It was one of his favorite studies as a boy, still attending the Institute of Dalaran. When he left Dalaran, and founded the Cult of the Damned, he was given all reports as to what his necromancers and commanders did in the field. He was WRITING that which he loved to read. One report, however, caught his wandering eye one morning. He squinted, the handwriting sloppy and faded... 'Scourge minions are relatively fragile and easily dismantled by surviving forces of the Nerubian Empire. Increased use of the soldiers that have fallen have given rise to clumsy and fragile minions, until the process reduces our force into naught but piles of necrotic, decaying flesh. A new strategy is needed for continued success.' Thus, the staging of key battles began. The Scourge would target chapels, cemeteries, crypts, weakly defended villages, and ancient battlefields as holding points or command posts. The already considerable numbers of the Scourge war machine could be safely and reliably replenished with the amount of corpses held within these positions, overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers and force. When Kel'Thuzad was released from his bindings, and he stumbled across that bookshelf in his chambers... One book caught his attention exclusively... The Battle of The Moon's Fall. The tipping point of the Solar and Lunar War. The initial defeat of Nightmare Moon. Fought on the field behind the Solar Capitol of Canterlot, the seat of power for Princess Celestia herself. Solar Forces: 1,768 Lunar Forces: 792 Total Casualties: 2,558 Two survivors... Kel'Thuzad knew those survivor's identities now... And those 'casualties' would defend Equestria once again... UNDER ONE BANNER... Master... forgive me...