Nightrise

by Epsilon-Delta

Chapter 4 - Onyx

Ten years. Onyx had wasted ten years of his life in Canterlot. He had been one of Chrysalis’s top spies. He had given her an unlimited source of information, a source of influence, and the ability to sabotage her enemies. He had fooled the ponies he was tasked to destroy into freely electing him. So good was Onyx that he had even managed to fool Celestia herself into accepting him in his true form with some sob story.

What was his reward for all his skill? For all he did for Chrysalis? Betrayal. Chrysalis had planned to kill him off like some pawn. That was a mistake. Onyx vowed to make Chrysalis realize that.

He had briefly considered joining Celestia’s side for real, but decided he‘d rather take matters into his own hands. He would find an army and destroy Chrysalis with his own hooves. Onyx convinced a few changelings to defect with him, faked his death, and went off in search of a larger army.

The largest source of untapped power, he decided, was the underground. There were so many powerful creatures down here that, if united, would be a deadly force. When Onyx arrived they were ignorant and disjointed, they were weak. Onyx was like a shark in a fish tank. Subjugating them had been so easy he was surprised no one had done it before him.

He slowly built up his power and wealth through conquest underground and raiding the surface. Soon he was ready to set up his base of power, from which he would stage his attack. The perfect spot was an area on the southern border of Equestria and within spitting range of changeling territory. Neither side would dare peruse him over the border for fear of provoking the other.

He should have seen the vamponies coming, especially considering that the diamond dogs had flat out told him that the area was crawling with them. He hadn’t believed them at first, thinking they were just being superstitious, but sure enough there were seriously vamponies inhabiting the spot that he wanted. It didn’t matter, though, they were just another group he needed to conquer and add to his forces. Onyx had crushed them just like he defeated everyone else, just like he would crush Chrysalis one day.

Onyx, along with a few of his officers, was returning to their forward base along with a few hundred hostages that they had taken after their victory over the largest thestral clan. Granite, a diamond dog he had made into the puppet ruler of his species, had been rambling on for some time about how dangerous the vamponies were.

“None of that is true,” said Obsidian, “And as long as you keep your word you have nothing to worry about from me.”

Obsidian was the leader of the Blackstone clan and now was one of Onyx’s officers. Onyx had to admit that he only chose her because her name fit the rock theme that he was going for, but she was still a suitable puppet, and Onyx would need thestral puppets ruling under him if he was to secure the area. Favoring one clan and enslaving a few others also sent a positive message to the rest.

“The Blackstone clan submitted to me, and I have raised them to glory and wealth,” Onyx had explained to the thestrals, “and the Starlight clan resisted and was destroyed.”

Granite was not convinced, not even after Onyx‘s wondrous victory. “I still do not approve of this. We may defeat these ponies, but we risk bringing the wrath of their dark god upon us!”

It was just superstitious nonsense. He couldn’t say that outright with his thestral friend present, however. “I’m sure the moon god will thank me for all the good I’m going to bring to these ponies. Besides, don’t you have your own gods to protect you?”

Roach was the only one not pacified, he shot a glare at Obsidian and spoke. “Look, I got used to having these filthy dogs around, but I don’t think we should keep this vampony so close.”

“Shut up, Roach,” Onyx dismissed him, “There’s a reason I never ask for your opinion.”

“’Roach‘ isn‘t my name!“ said Roach. “And what about all that stuff you told me about how they drink blood and devour changelings?”

“We don’t eat changelings!” said Obsidian. “And even if we did I don’t see how that’s any worse than sucking the love out of ponies.”

“She’s got you there, Roach,” said Onyx. “And you heard it straight from the pony’s mouth; they don’t eat changelings.”

“But you told met they did and-,” Roach twitched, “and you lied to me about the entire plan! What else did you lie about? You told me to trust you that going in here untransformed and without weapons was a good idea, that I’d be safe! But that was just a trick! Why should I trust you?!”

Onyx sighed. “And you are safe, aren’t you? Did you get eaten? No. I always know exactly how everything is going to turn out. I knew you weren’t going to come back unscathed. I can’t believe you still doubt me after all of this.”

“How, huh? How exactly did you know they wouldn‘t kill me?” Roach asked. “How do I know you didn’t just send me off to die?”

Actually, Onyx had thought that they were going to kill Roach. He had sent Roach off to die. Still, if he was alive then Onyx might as well use him again.

“If I had sent you over there to get eaten alive then I would have done you a favor,” Onyx said with a smile. “Do you honestly believe that Chrysalis is just going kill you if you’re captured by her?”

That was the right thing to say. Roach’s indignation slunk back into fear, just as Onyx wanted it. It was better not to go into gory details. Roach would do a better job of terrifying himself if he filled in the blanks himself.

“Don’t forget that all of us are traitor,” Onyx reminded him. “Chrysalis has eyes everywhere. There’s nowhere in the world you can go that she doesn’t have a changeling looking for you. And it’s not just changelings you have to look out for, either. Any one of these rocks, any object in the world, could be a mimic, watching us, reporting back to Chrysalis. Of course, if you think you’re smart enough to evade her without the help of me and my armies, then you’re more than welcome to leave.”

By this point Roach had thoroughly reverted back to his cowering, submissive ways. “No! I trust you, boss! I’ll stay with you.”

For as long as Onyx wanted him to he would. Onyx had power, something that had a magnetic hold over others.

The rest of the changelings thought that Onyx would over throw Chrysalis and instill a less evil dictatorship. Obsidian thought Onyx would industrialize her tribe. Granit thought Onyx was going to make him rich. Roach thought Onyx wasn’t going to kill him.

It was cute. Once he killed Chrysalis he would just take the wealth he had made and leave them all to clean up the horrible mess he would leave behind.

As long as they wanted Onyx’s power, as long as their strength and hope came from him, they would be under his control and would do anything he wanted. Everyone was the same. No one could resist power.

There was a slightly wrong movement in the air. It wasn’t his imagination, he had felt it twice before in the past hour. Someone was following him, and they were in the dark cave just off to his left. He hadn’t expected an assassin this early.

Onyx smiled. This assassin had managed to get past his outlying forces and had enough audacity to attack him, even after the display he had just made. He couldn’t help but be endeared toward whoever was shadowing him.

“I know you’re there!” Onyx called to the darkness. “Come out or die.”

Everyone else turned to the dark tunnel with surprise. The idiots hadn’t noticed.

A vampony came charging out of the dark tunnel. When it got close it leapt into the air, unhinged two blades from one of its boots, and moved to slash at Onyx. Onyx didn’t even bother moving. Granit came in from the side and slammed the pony into the ground.

It only took the one blow to knock the fight out of the pony. Granit lifted her up with one hand.

Onyx couldn’t make much out of the pony other than that it was female and that it had a silver streak in its mane. All vamponies looked the same. Even still there was something familiar about this one.

“Wait,” Onyx said, “I remember you. You’re the one who went charging straight through my armies, right? Heh. They told me you ran right off a cliff! Tell me, what were you hoping to accomplish? Did you think you were going to take me down by yourself?”

The vampony didn’t answer; she just glared at Onyx with utter contempt.

“That’s the one I was looking for, too!” Roach chimed in. “She’s the one who tried to eat me!”

That was another point for the mystery mare. This pony had a few qualities that Onyx thought he could work with, and it was true that he would need more thestral officers if he was to secure his command over them. If nothing else it would be fun to see if he could recruit a pony boiling with hatred towards him.

“Shut up,” Onyx said to Roach before turning back to the mare. “You know, I actually kind of like. What clan are you from?”

She continued with the silence.

“Don’t test me. I suggest you answer before I lose my patience.”

“The Crescent clan,” the mare reluctantly answered.

That was a lie. Onyx wasn’t even sure how he knew, at this point he could just tell if someone was lying or not. “If you lie to me again I’m going to kill you. Now tell me your name and clan.”

Even at the threat of death she hesitated. “Silverstar. Of the Starlight clan.”

Sadly her name wasn’t a type of rock. That was strike one.

“Ah! I’ve met the rest of your clan. So were you hoping to kill me? Or were hoping to follow me until I showed you where they were? Well I‘m sorry but all the clans I took hostage are located far from each other. The starlight clan was split into two groups and unless you managed to free both of them simultaneously the other half would die.”

“Hahaha.” Granit laughed. “Pony will be back with her clan in the work pits soon!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” said Onyx. “I may be able to help you out, actually. You see I’m looking to get a few more of you ‘thestrals’ on my side. How would you like to be one of my officers?”

Silverstar’s face flashed into surprise and then back to disgust. “What? No! Why would I work for you? You enslaved my family!”

“You just answered you own question. Because I enslaved your family,” Onyx said. “As we just established, you’re not a one mare army who’s going to tear apart my entire organization by herself. You’re not strong enough to get rid of me. My rule is here to stay. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do. You can still minimize the damage your clan takes from this regime change. Think about it. Who do you think would be a nicer overseer to your clan? You? Or that guy?” Onyx motioned towards Granit.

The mare was clearly considering it. She didn’t like the idea, but she was thinking about it. Onyx took out the necklace of starstones and threw it in front of Silverstar, as though it was worthless.

“And let’s not forget about your own personal gain. Between my raiding and mines I can afford to pay you more than most Equestrian nobles make. That necklace alone is worth more than what most ponies make in their lifetimes. Join me and that will just be the start.”

“I don’t care about jewels. Maybe they‘re worth something to you, but not to me,” Silverstar said.

“But surely there is something that you like. These gems are money. Maybe you’ve been in this cave too long to learn this, but money can get you anything you want. Food? Cloths? Toys? Servants? Stallions? You can have anything you want.”

“What I want is my family back!”

Onyx frowned. She was one of those types, wasn’t she? He might still be able to deal with her disagreeable personality. All ponies were the same. Once they got a taste of power they loved it and would do anything to keep it. As long as her power came from Onyx he would be able to twist her into anything he wanted. He could give her a small concession for now.

“Alright,” he said, “I’ll release them.”

Silverstar blinked with amazement. “R-really?”

Silverstar wasn’t the only one surprised. Granite asked him if he was seriously that desperate for this mare’s help. Onyx just dismissed him with a wave of his hoof. He had a thousand ponies working for him, he could let go of four or five.

“Yes, really,” he said. “Just name them and they’ll be free to go to whatever cave they want.”

Silverstar looked at the ground with a look of confliction on her face. She was going to do it. In a moment he would have a second thestral willingly serving him. He was excited about working on such a willful pony.

After a long time she lifted her head and said, “My entire clan is my family! Release them all and I’ll- I’ll do anything you want.”

Onyx frowned. That was the wrong answer. “Look. I said I liked you but you’re not worth nearly as much as you think. You’re not greedy enough to jump at my offer and you’re not smart enough to pretend to take it until you get the chance to kill me. You missed your chance. Shut her up.”

Granit put his free hand over her mouth before she could say anything more. Silverstar tried to struggle, but it was completely ineffective.

“Did you think you were going to be a hero? Well I’m going to teach you something about heroes; they’re always the first to die.”

Onyx pointed to one of the nearby pits, one that was too deep to see the bottom of. “Throw her in there.”

Granit obeyed and the thestral disappeared down the hole. Onyx took an explosive charge form one of his diamond dogs and walked to the edge of the pit.

About then Silverstar regained control and took flight toward the top of the pit. She didn’t get far before Onyx lobbed the bottle into the tunnel. The last he saw of Silverstar was her flying back into sight just before the bottle shattered. The whole pit disappeared in a flash of light. When he looked down again only debris was visible, the entire pit had collapsed into rubble with Silverstar at the bottom.

“You’re aware that that might not have been enough to kill her, yes?” Granit asked.

”No, it is,” Onyx said. He turned back to his officers with a wide smile on his face. “It just might take a little while. You, guard this spot for a couple days to make sure she doesn’t miraculously dig her way out.”

The diamond dog obeyed. Obsidian just looked back and forth between Onyx and the pit, her jaw slack and eyes wide with terror. At least this encounter wouldn’t be a total lost is would make Granit and Obsidian understand that he was not to be crossed.

“Is this really necessary?” Obsidian asked. “You said that you wouldn’t cause any more harm than necessary!”

“I also said that if anypony tried to assassinate me I’d start killing my hostages,” Onyx reminded her. “I’m nice enough to overlook this, but I can’t allow myself to appear soft. If I do then I may lose control, and then your clan may lose its new found prominence.”

She didn’t have an answer to that. Obsidian knew where her power came from.

Roach stepped up to Onyx‘s side and said, “Well, I guess she went out with a bang, huh? Huh?”

Onyx slapped Roach.

END.

Author's Note:

Next time: Lyra!

Comments

[Griseus]

No one likes a joker, Roach, on team vengeance.

[Epsilon-Delta]

3987522

I'm sure Roach will get the last laugh. Well, probably not. I'm sure someone will, though!

[Kapuchu]

Now I'm just waiting for Starlight to get out somehow, find Midnight and get to the surface and get Celestia to help them and roll over these insects and stray dogs