Cutiemark Crusaders 10k: The fourth deity

by The Psychopath

A new game piece

Discord was busy playing with his giant gaming board. Sombra an Luna were in their respective 'zones', and every 'important' piece was moving randomly upon it without his input. A relatively new bust displaying Abstract's head was sitting next to the former CMC, a cracked bust of Pinkie Pie, and a melted Celestia. The draconequus took his chin off and started to pet it while he was trying to understand the significance of Celestia's piece having been warped in such a manner.

"I wonder what this is supposed to mean," he mumbled. "They-them don't want to explain it to me."

Twilight groaned loudly and put her book in a floating cube of water. She teleported next to Discord, scanned the table a moment, then spoke to him.

"What's wrong this time, Discord?"

He pointed to Celestia's piece. "That."

Twilight narrowed her eyes and put a claw to her mouth. "You left it out in the sun for too long to give a sense of irony?"

Discord stared at her with a blank expression. "What? No!"

Twilight shrugged. "Just trying to lighten the mood."

"Then turn yourself into a balloon."

The lavender draconequus slow-clapped in response. "Ah ha. Funny. Joke. So why are you really upset?"

"BeCAUSE of Celestia's piece. I have no idea what happened to it. It suddenly went from that stupid crystal form to her normal self, then it melted. When someone dies in this little game, the piece shatters, but hers didn't." He groaned loudly and hit the sides of his head in frustration. "I can't figure out what this is supposed to mean."

"You don't think they managed to free her, do you?"

Discord shook his head. "No. Of course not. There's no way those ponies would be able to break Sombra's curse. It already took this white one," He poked Sweetie Belle's piece. "Nigh three decades or so to lock the Crystal King out of those few crystal ponies they have with them."

"Well, Applejack told me that she was going to spy on the ponies for a while. She can't get inside the city, but she can fly above discreetly."

"Oooh. The liar actually had foresight." Discord pulled at his 'collar' and waved some air towards his face. "That's a terrifying aspect."

"Hey, the table is doing something."

Next to Abstract's piece appeared a bubble that warped and changed into another crystallion lookalike, but it had an uncanny resemblance to an overly happy Celestia. The two were dumbfounded at the sudden appearance and couldn't say anything while their minds tried to wrap around its meaning. If Applejack hadn't arrived, they would have stood there like trees for days on end.

"Twilight, I've got news for ya."

"A-Applejack?"

"Yeah. Guess what ah just saw."

"This thing?" Twilight pointed to the piece.

"Yeah! Ah saw that thing 'n ah rushed over 's fast as ah could."

'"What is it, serpent?" Discord grabbed the former farm pony and shook her violently. "TELL ME!"

"If'n ya let me go ah'll tell ya!"

"Oh. Sorry."

The serpent rubbed her sides to get rid of the brief moment of pain and glared at Discord. "That crystal sumfin' created another one of his kind, but it don't look right. Nothin' like 'im 'side from its body."

"We noticed," Twilight said.

"Turns out, that Abstract fella drained Celestia of her magic ta make it."

"HE WHAT?!" the two draconequui shouted in unison.

"Y'all heard me."

"That explains why Celestia's piece reverted from its crystal state." The draconequus looked back at the table. "It doesn't explain why her piece melted, however."

"Maybe she was transformed into that thing?" Twilight pondered.

"No, no. If that were the case, the original piece would have warped as well." He looked at Applejack through the corner of his eye."Do you know anything else, Applejack?"

"Not a thing. Ah can't see anything that ain't on the surface of that city."

"Darnit. Guess we'll just have to watch Abstract and his little creation and see what comes of all this."

---

From a distance, one could see the crystals jutting out of the palace was slowly folding in and substituting the bricks. Iviesta was taking care of the repairs of her birth's aftermath. Meanwhile, Abstract was already creating a second orb, and he had many black crystals from the shards jutting out of the wall of 'colors' floating around it, ready to flood it with the magic gathered from the forest.

Knocking on the door to his room brought the crystallion mare's curious attention, interrupting the repairs.

"Who is iiiiiiit?" she sang.

"It's Scootaloo."

"What do you wAAAAaaaaant?"

"I want to warn your...f...father about going after Luna."

"Oh?" She turned to face Abstract and whispered indiscreetly to him. "Who's Luna?"

"Look. Take as much magic from the forest as you want, but don't attack her. She isn't evil. She's just..."

"I care not whether something is deemed 'evil' or 'good'. If it aligns with my end goals, then I will take the problem in my own hooves."

Scootaloo audibly cursed at Abstract's apathy towards everything. "Fine, then listen to this: She's the one holding up the bubble that's keeping everypony trapped in Equestria. If you drain her of her magic, then you're going to destroy the bubble, and Sombra and Discord will go free."

Abstract's molding ceased after hearing those words. "She is the holder? Then she will be removed last. I cannot have the crystal fool and the corrupted ones roam free in the world. There's no telling what other 'threats' with their same agendas have been up to during these millennia, and to have potentially dozens of powers clashing would be a poor turn of events." Abstract resumed his molding. "That being said, I will still enter the forest and drain the dark magic that resides there. I require it for my end goals."

"Then leave Luna for last."

"Acceptable. I will leave her for last."

"Good. Thank you very much."

The door opened slowly, much to the surprise of Scootaloo and the two guards, revealing Abstract's glowing 'eyes'.

"Be aware that these aren't the only 'threats' that exist. Even if I eliminate them all, there is no guarantee that another force does not await outside of the dome. Are we understood?"

"Don't you think I've thought of that possibility? But we need to focus on the 'now' rather than the 'then'."

"A true ruler lives the present, thinks of the future, and studies the past, thus they do not experience 'surprise'."

"Right..."

"One more thing."

"What is it?"

"How do you know that it is Luna that made the barrier?"

Scootaloo retained her composure, but Abstract could tell, by her breathing, that she was stressed out by the question.

"I see. Continue your ponyisms. I will take my daughter out of the city to train her powers after preparations are complete."

"I HAVE POWERS?!" Iviesta shouted. "Oh! OH! CAN I FLY?!"

Abstract mentally groaned at the question, and Scootaloo couldn't help but let out a breath to discreetly 'laugh'.

---

Sombra's crystal had been inert for a long time, leaving Crystance and Crystal Shield to run things since Celestia became separated from the King's will.

"Well, can't say I miss my 'auntie'," Crystance huffed.

The two were standing in the old war room of the tower. The center piece being a huge, oval table made from polished crystal. Being ponies, they didn't really need any chairs, so these had been removed. Banners bearing Sombra's frightening eyes on a background of darkness covered the walls and left the six tall windows free to let the white light of the arctic in. The room was high enough that six ponies could stand on each other's backs and still wouldn't be able to reach the ceiling.

"But not having her magic anymore sets us back by quite a bit," Crystal Shield sighed. "What did the King say?"

"Nothing I'm aware of."

"And our spies?"

"I received a message that they would be sending us something soon, so we should be patient."

There was a moment of silence while the former royal couple thought deeply. "Well, how has our assaults against the clown's been going?"

"We've been taking territory from them, but the pink one has shown herself to be weaker than usual."

"I noticed."

"Did you know that she broke down in the middle of one of her tantrums in our territory and just...she just started to cry!" Crystalance exclaimed.

Shining blinked in disbelief. "What?"

"I know! Apparently, as soon as she broke down, she resumed destroying everything. Our troops managed to push her back, but it seems that even Discord's armies are suffering instability as well."

"What, so that stupid crystal guy can attack the forces of chaos as well? What's with him?"

"I don't know, but our spies said that he didn't actually fight Pinkie. He jumped at her, vanished, then she remained immobiile as if paralyzed."

"I think we need to reevaluate him as a priority target if he's capable of taking down a chaos lord."

Crystance scoffed at the prospect. "Pinkie was one of the two weakest of the chaos lords. Don't you think that's why he attacked her? He didn't even kill her."

Crystal Shield looked away from his wife. "Oh. You're right."

"You need to focus. This sudden loss of Celestia's magic has you all riled up for nothing."

"You're right. We're making progress on destroying the clown and his corrupted minions. I'll just have a specialist team formed and have them kill Abstract whenever they get the opportunity."

"And I think I have an idea on whom to send," Crystance mused aloud.

---

Iviesta and Abstract were standing outside of the city walls; The first time for Iviesta, but yet another foray for Abstract. The land was still pockmarked with burns, craters, and the unfortunate remains of those that came before Abstract. The crystallion crushed said remains underhoof without care. They were just ponies and other creatures, after all.

"Iviesta, I want you to just release the magic inside you. Let's see what you can do and to what extent. THEN we can work on helping you control everything from that point."

The crystallion mare eagerly danced on all four hooves as she thought of the prospects. Any newborn filly would have no real way to control her magic, let alone have a large amount of it. Iviesta Porravon, however, was not a newborn filly in the classical sense. She made no effort to summon the magic at her disposal, creating a blinding, huge light of blue. Multiple 'missiles' blasted off from her horn and stated destroying everything around her. Some of the missiles even dug underneath the land, throwing dirt upwards as they exploded.

"And try not to attack the city."

"Okay!"

She jumped into the air and hovered for a moment. Abstract hadn't paid attention to it, but his daughter's wings were actually transparent the whole time. They simply showed themselves physically when in the city, something he found odd. He was gladly surprised when he saw the mare summon two blue suns above her hooves, half the size Celestia usually summoned, and raised them above her head. The suns started applying their gravity to each other, forcing a push-pull dilemma that started focusing their matter into several thin streams of blue gas into the center of empty space between them.

Iviesta then threw the interlocked orbs at a hillside. With something like this, Abstract was sure that an impossibly wide mass of land would be disintegrated, but when the orbs struck, they sputtered and vanished. The crystallion mare lowered herself back to the earth and dropped her head in sadness.

"I wanted a big explosion."

"Huh. Looks like her magic is still both unstable and not fully settled in. Your physical strength is still fully developed. Looks like you will need a lot more training in focusing."

"Does that mean sitting around being immobile?"

"Yes."

Iviesta screamed her frustration to the heavens.

Comments

[mitchboy]

8266057

but then, Abstract will takeover Equestria.

[ChazMLPFIM]

8266471
Yes, but i not sure when he is going to do it.

[mitchboy]

8266513

If he met Tirek a long time ago, I don't think Abstract will stand a chance.

[The Psychopath]

8266531
If he met Tirek a long time ago, Abstract would have an entire army of Crystallions, their king, and the subdued races fighting Tirek together.

[ChazMLPFIM]

8266531
You made your point.

[mitchboy]

8266544

That or they could be partners for a long time.

[The Psychopath]

8266575
Not really. People like Tirek go against Abstract's views.

[ChazMLPFIM]

8266625
Yes, Tirek would try to stop Abstract.

8266575
I had to agreed with Psychopath, Tirek will try to stop Abstract and his views.

[mitchboy]

8266625

His origins must be a mystery and whatever it is, must be dark and will keep you awake at night

[The Psychopath]

8266844
Abstract's origins are explained in this story, aren't they? Like, at the very beginning? I'm sure I put them there.

[mitchboy]

8267627

Oh. Say, what if Abstract meets Dr.Doom?

[The Psychopath]

8268041
They'd probably start off by saying what THEIR accomplishments are by titles of introduction, then gradually one-up each other verbally then start using actual events that they accomplished successfully.

[mitchboy]

8268051

That would mean they would join forces.

[The Psychopath]

8268054
N-no. One-upping means they're trying to say that they're better. Doctor Doom is far too egotistical to consider someone to do anything but serve him, and Abstract believes non-crystallions are inferior in every way.

[mitchboy]

8268076

Abstract must be super strong when he's not using magic and he can best Shining Sombra and Crystalence in a fight.

[The Psychopath]

8268239
Original Sombra, yes. Not suped up Sombra. Trying not to make him OP without justification.

[mitchboy]

8268285

since Celestia is now good will she get her full powers back to fight King Sombra?

[The Psychopath]

8268355
HA HA HA HA no. Abstract drained them. Iviesta has them. They're Iviesta's now, foo! >:B

[mitchboy]

8268358

I hope they find away to defeat them.

By the way, here's the CMC's Theme

[ChazMLPFIM]

8269096
Nice music, that was very good.

[mitchboy]

8269406

Thanks. It sounds kickass

[ChazMLPFIM]

8269486
You welcome.