Cutiemark Crusaders 10k: The fourth deity

by The Psychopath

Domed reality

Equestria sat in ruins. Its once verdant plains, strong mountains, and beautiful lakes were replaced by the ravaged temperate of the corrupt and the fallen. Discord and his chaos demons stretched from the southern part of Equestria, extending from a destroyed Ponyville. Many good memories yet remain in that place, but it was for this reason that no attempts were made to recover the small town; Among others, of course. This town had been destroyed after the elements had fallen, leaving Discord to amuse himself as he wished, but he was not the one who destroyed Ponyville.

The Everfree forest and much of the land surrounding it had been engulfed by the night, turning the whole area into a world of shade and shadow where dark abominations have grown and prospered. They wait in the darkness of the Shadowlands for an unwary traveler to add to the following of their queen.

As for the north, it has been completely overrun by crystals. The Crystal Kingdom had became the domain of Sombra after Cadence and Shining Armor attempted to stop his return, but they failed. The Crystal Heart now remains hidden forever, and the King's power rises greatly as his new avatar spreads corrupting crystals to bring in more servants and create more crystal ponies in the process. His spread did not go easily however, and some of the fiercest the king met was when his forces attempted to quickly conquer Stalliongrad. Heavy losses were met on both ends, but the fearless kommissars eventually fell, their people and country eventually going with it.

The country's capital, bearing the same name as it, was in shambles. The once enormous capital of strength and culture was now just a distant memory of what was and what might have been. The buildings still possessed their orange-red coloration from the bricks placed, but no building had been left intact. Towers had crumbled and become hollow walls, houses were torn apart while small, black crystals grew on their outer walls. Debris and rusted weaponry were strewn across the streets, with many sets of armor accompanying them suggesting something sinister laying beneath the body protection. Not one window remained intact, and often could one spot a creature wandering in the darkness behind it. Giant black crystals were a common occurrence here as well. Many had engulfed the side of a tall, collapsing building. This gave a very uncommon sight of the top of a building but off from its lower portion and rising in the air as it somehow remained intact an did not break apart. This city was one of Sombra's first conquests when he stretched from the frozen tundra towards the Crystal Mountains.

This city was not exempt from its own creatures, and many a pony having been corrupted and turned into a true 'crystal' pony roamed the streets in search of information for their new ruler. One such group had been sent in an effort to empower their disembodied master, a sudden source of massive magic having revealed itself in the once forgotten city. As such, one crystal pony of a uniform bring blue wandered the streets, his angular green eyes scoping as much as possible. A slave was not allowed to return its master empty-hooves, after all. The stallion had decided to go towards the town hall in hopes of finding the source there. Naturally, all that was left of the giant construct were portions of its back wall, a few white pillars on the front, its right wall, and just the right portion of the roof which was bending downwards.

"I hate going to these places, but the master's orders are absolute,' the stallion spoke with a tunnel echo effect. He started to toss about the shards of glass and piles of bricks everywhere, hoping to find the object easily. He was disappointed and the longer he searched, the more he started to panic. "Where is it? Where is it?! I can't find the new source my master detected. I do not want to be turned into a statue for his new pet to play with! All the others who failed him..." the stallion stuttered as he began to shiver.

While the stallion continued to panic, the town hall vibrated slightly and collapsed, scaring the scavenger and choking him with dust and debris, making him cough and close his eyes to avoid more pain.

"Ah! That hurts! Why didn't I notice it collapsing?!" the stallion complained.

He rubbed his eyes a bit more and began to check if his view was still okay. He blinked several times to lose the blurriness of his site and accidentally lost his balance while he did so, falling forward and smacking something in the process. Rubbing his head, the pony looked upwards and his eyes widened as his sight returned. There was a giant, black, crystal pony standing right in front of him and staring down at him, but this one was different from the rest. Its body seemed to be made of pure crystal. It didn't seem to have a mouth, muzzle, or eyes; Although there were rounded, white lights that glowed where the eyes should have been. In fact, the more the crystal pony looked at it, the more apparent it became that this wasn't a conventional pony. In fact, it had two horns, one being very long where the normal unicorn horn would be, and a smaller version growing beneath it. This secondary horn leaned forward before bending straight in the same direction as the first halfway through its length. What constituted its mane were masses of white crystals clumped together lining down its neck. The tail had similar features, but these were lengthened white crystals that crew upon each other. Better, still, this creature seemed to have wings made of white crystals as well. If anything, it seemed like a crystal alicorn.

"Oh colt! I made not have found the source of magic, but I found a new creature that Lord Sombra will certainly reward me for. Come along now, beast," the crystal pony ordered.

He walked along proudly, hoping to avoid the rest from his group and claim all the glory for himself. Sombra would certainly grant him a higher status for this find. The pony's smile faded when he turned around to see the entity still standing in place, its gaze fixated on the 'leader'. The stallion looked nervously from left to right quickly and said:

"Wh...What are you doing? I'm going to bring you to your new master: King Sombra! Why do you stand there like an idiot?!" He walked angrily to the creature and punched it in its left side. "Move!" he yelled.

The crystal pony turned its head towards the pony, its eyes still glowing like a faint light. The stallion yiped and fell onto his flank through fear.

"A lowly pony giving me orders? A lowly mewling creature like yourself is trying to put me under the control of a 'master' like some pitiful slave? It even tries to hurt me? If I were you, I would run from here as fast as I could."

"Y-y-y-you d-d-don't scare me! I have the power of King Sombra at my side!" the pony stood up gradually and stuck his chest out at the mention of Sombra.

His pride and courage were short lived when the creature closened its head just mere inches away from the stallion's.

"Yeeeeeesssssssssssss," the creature growled in a very low tune. "See what good that does for you when I break you under my hoof."

"What? You can't--"

The stallion was cut off indefinitely when a long hoof immediately smashed down upon his cranium, crystal flying everywhere. A flash of pure darkness even came from the base of the creature's hoof, covering the stallion's head momentarily. Once the hoof was removed, the creature noticed that flesh and fur was hidden beneath the crystalline exterior.

"Interesting. I do not know of this 'magic', but it seems similar to that created by my people. Only...it modifies their bodies too. So much seems to have changed. I have slept for ten thousand years since the Crystal Wars, yet there are dark crystals growing everywhere in this area. Perhaps another construct of these lowly creatures.I shall not stain my darkness by interacting with them," the creature spoke smugly.

It began to walk forward, inspecting the new environment and looking around curiously.

"And this sky. That dreaded sun was always impeding my race, but now...the moon remains out and there are no stars? I can also sense various bizarreties in the magical flow. There is even one stream that seems faint, yet almost familiar. Does this world yet remain or will I have nothing to co--"

The creature was interrupted by the sound of it stepping in something. It was similar to stepping in water but with the sound of crystals breaking as well. It tried to pull its right hind leg out, but it could not no matter how hard it tried. It turned out that it had stepped in some sort of puddle of tiny purple crystals that flowed out of a giant one growing along the side of a five story building. Much to its dismay, the crystals began to climb along its leg, changing its shape to a smoother and more angular form. Despite this, the creature was not impressed and still turned its head when some sort of giant, bipedal, crystalline construct holding a platform upon it arrived into view. It had come from around the corner with four ponies sitting in it. It was a sky blue color and possessed a red circle on its front for which the creature did not know the purpose.

"Hey, look. A beast, and it killed Crystalex," a mare pointed out.

"What? HOW DARE IT?! I WILL KILL IT WHERE I STA--" the driver burst out but was interrupted by one of passengers tapping her on the shoulder.

"You don't need to bother. Loo, it's already being consumed by our master," the shifty stallion said.

"It...Oh. You're right. We'll wait and take it to our master as punishment. We did not find any magic source, but we at least recovered this old walker and will bring him that trophy."

The ponies all began to laugh at the creature who was viewing the world quite different. Everything had become reddened with black figures in place of the walker and the ponies. The ponies themselves had bring, orange holes for eyes and smiling, empty mouths of equal color. The creature did not fully understand what was going on, but it heard a sinister voice speaking to it:

"I do not know what you are, but you are now in my control. Darkness will overtake you and you will pledge undying loyalty to me. Submit to the darkness. Submit. You are mine Everything you have is mine! Submit to the darkness," the voice ordered.

The creature could feel itself shrinking away in front of growing ponies and the biped. It could feel its mind and will fading away, but more would need to be taken to try and control it. Back into reality, an enormous explosion of darkness blasted the crystals off the creature's body and completely obliterated both the buildings and crystals around it into floating shards. Its white eyes were now flickering viciously and violently as the creature roared:

"I am Abstract the Dark, last of the Crystallions! I have trained my body, mind, and soul for ten thousand years, and I have absorbed darkness for the same amount of time! I have fought in the Crystal Wars and destroyed an entire race in the process! A lowly creature such as yourself dares to call ME a mere beast?! A simple creature to train and follow orders? You use modified magic of my people, yet you do not even understand the deformed, twisted version of your own magics. YOU KNOW NOT THE TRUE DARKNESS WHICH I BRING, AND YOUR MINIONS HERE SHALL PAY WITH THEIR MERE EXISTENCE! You, however, will serve me for the rest of your pathetic, lowly pony life and even beyond the grave your soul shall not taste the sweetened water of peace!"

From afar, if one looked north to the far mountains, an eruption of pure darkness somehow glowed forth in the night. Its darkness was so out worldly that it could still be perceived by even the blind. Abstract wanted to make his presence known, and he was going to announce to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, things will not be as easy as he might have anticipated.

Author's Note:

No. He won't be overpowered. He's just capable of fighting Sombra and the crystal ponies efficiently.

Comments

[The1templar]

I am.......... intrigued.