Canterlot Crashers

by Orkus

Making Some New Allies

"I WIN!" The sound of Blue's voice was as loud as the injured and defeated moans and wails of his three friends, who now lied on the ground. He walked past them and up to Princess Cadence with a look of pure glee on his face, kicking aside one of his comrades in the process.

He soon stood in front of Derpy and the princess. Bowing his head to the latter, he spoke; "Since I have bravely rescued you, might I be able to get a big kiss on the lips for my efforts? It is all I ask for thanks in my-"

"Sorry, I'm married," Cadence spoke back, quickly interrupting him and still visibly surprised by what had happened. In the background, the still-hurting Red could be heard laughing hysterically the moment he realized what she said.

"Oh. Oh! My apologies..." Blue said in an instantly regretful voice. "Could I... get a kiss on the forehead or something, at least?"

"I... guess that's acceptable," the princess agreed. Blue, with a much more passive expression, knelt down while Cadence approached and looked at him. With an unsure visage painted onto her face, she placed a small, quick peck on Blue's oversized, vaguely rectangular head, still wondering why this strange creature so desperately wanted one anyway.

"Heheheheee!" Blue laughed out loud as he jumped back to his feet, his pale cheeks now blushing red. His allies had recovered by the time he finished his reaction, eyeing him with jealous contempt.

"What happens now?" Derpy then asked, from where she stood behind the princess.

"Now we find my husband," Cadence responded. "I know he's held up somewhere within the castle, but I know not where. This place is enormous and has many hidden passages, so it could take us a fairly long while to find him."

"Are you suggesting that we ask the fish-person where he is?" Orange said, motioning to the frozen statue behind him.

"Yes," she replied, albeit in a reluctant tone.

"Hmph. Well then, let's bust her out..." Red sighed, lifting his mace. He started to approach Undyne, but Cadence saw what he was about to do before he could get too close.

"Don't do that!" she warned. "If you get her out like that it might shatter her."

"Oh," he said, turning back to her. "Then how do you propose I do it?"

"Please, allow me," Orange spoke in cocky form, pushing Red aside. Pulling his sleeves back, he rubbed his hands together and then let a small flame appear between them. Putting it to the ice, which was after he had leapt up to where Undyne's frozen face was, it slowly began to melt away into water, which dripped to the ground below until her now unfrozen face was peeking out. With a stiffness in its movement, Undyne appeared to shimmer back to consciousness.

"Ugh... what... what happened to me?" she asked quietly. She tried to move her body, but found it unresponsive, and soon came to the realization that she was fully encased in ice.

"You lost," Orange chuckled. "And we want some answers."

"Answers, eh?" she muttered, now more fully awake, focusing her one eye on the otherwise dwarfish figure right in front of her. "Why should I give anything to you?"

"Um... because you're working for a big, mean, evil dragon that we want to stop?" Derpy commented, lifting a hoof. Undyne raised a brow in confusion.

"Wait, so you're telling me that you guys are the good ones?" she questioned.

"Chya," Red scoffed. Undyne rolled her eye, which was one of the only appendages she could really move at the moment.

"Yeah, right. Give me proof," she demanded. Her view turned to Cadence, who stepped forward.

"What has that dragon told you?" the pink alicorn asked.

"That this land has been forcefully taken over by you evil 'alicorns'," she replied. "And in return for helping him get rid of you so that he could peacefully negotiate with the populace, he would send me and my friend back to our world."

"And what has he made you do?"

"Guard you, so that you can't use your magic to convince your people that he's evil."

"While he...?"

"Forcefully took over the land with... his armies."

"And where was his negotiating going to take place? Surely he was sending his armed, violent, and very dangerous creatures out to gather the ponies, when he could so easily fly to each town to talk to them himself?"

Undyne went silent. She hadn't really bothered to ask Sablewing why she didn't see very many pony soldiers while she was here, or why he sent huge regiments of soldiers out to neighboring villages just before sending her to this 'Crystal Empire' place, but she deemed such a question as being unimportant. She just wanted to get back home.

"And what would he plan on doing after? Did you expect him to not wish to become the lord over the land? Didn't it ever cross your mind that he might have been trying to use you as a means to an end, while he subjugated the ponies of the land himse-"

"Okay, okay!" Undyne suddenly interrupted. "I get it! The dumb lizard tricked me."

"So... does that mean you'll answer our question?" Green inquired.

"Yes," she said.

Hearing Undyne's words, Cadence still held her unwavering gaze as she talked. "Where is my husband, Shining Armor? You said a friend of yours was guarding him."

"Let me out and I'll show you," Undyne swiftly responded. "And please do it quickly. It's freaking cold."

After receiving a slow nod from Cadence and letting another flame, much larger than the last, appear in both of his hands, Orange set to melting the rest of the ice that was covering Undyne. It took a few minutes, but soon the last of it was a puddle on the crystal floor, and left Undyne free. She stretched her cold limbs out as each of the knights readied their weapons just in case the monster would go back on her word, but all Undyne did was brush her long, red, and greatly-soaked and disheveled ponytail back and stare at them.

"Follow me," she said, walking in the direction that led into the castle, passing in between them all. Shrugging to one another, the knights each did as she said, and were promptly followed in turn by the ponies.

---

It was fifteen minutes later that they all began to make their way through the old tunnels beneath the castle. As they moved about through the maze-like area, Derpy couldn't help but look around in awe of just how well-crafted the place was, as every wall seemed to gleam with the smooth crystal they were made of. She had always wanted to come and actually explore the Crystal Empire, but never really found the time to until now, however ironic that was. Suddenly, the pegasus was snapped out of her thoughts as she noticed each of her allies slowing down once they turned to another tunnel; one that ended in a wooden door.

A bout of interest went through her mind as they approached the door, and her head perked up the second she heard two voices go out through the air, both coming from behind it.

"NYEH HEH HEH! GOT ANY TWOS?" the first voice asked in a high-pitched laugh.

"Go fish," the other, much deeper one said. A sound of cards being shuffled around went out once the group neared it. With a sharp kick, Undyne sent the door swinging open, instantly revealing what lied within.

The first shape was a male unicorn with white fur and a blue mane, sitting in a cage with a set of cards held in his hooves. The second shape, a tall, lean, and very much humanoid-shaped skeleton was wearing a white, apparently custom-made torso piece with various golden trims while a large, scarlet, rag-like scarf was wrapped around his neck bones. It also was wearing a pair of blue briefs and long, red boots on its legs. In its red gloves, it too held a set of cards. Upon hearing the racket, both turned their heads from their game and looked to Undyne.

"UNDYNE," the skeleton greeted in a voice much too warm to dislike. "HOW ARE YOU? I'M JUST PLAYING A FEW ROUNDS OF GO FISH WITH THE PRISONER. HE'S REALLY GOOD."

"Hey, Papyrus," Undyne grunted back in reply. "I'm afraid to say that there's been a... change of plans."

"OOH. WHO ARE YOUR FRIENDS?" Papyrus asked as he witnessed the others start to enter from behind her like a group of ants emerging through two separate cracks in a wall. The second Shining Armor and Cadence saw each other, the latter ran up to him without a second though while the former expressed a face of both relief and concern.

"Cadence!" Shining said as their hooves touched each other. "Are you okay? That fish person hasn't hurt you, has she?"

"I'm fine, dear," she smiled back. "And... I think she just might be on our side now."

Pushing the crimson scarf that adorned his neck back, Papyrus wore a perplexed, though no less mirthful expression on his fleshless face as he examined the four knights and Derpy, rubbing his chin with a red, mitten-like glove that were of an equal shade as his boots. "HMM... YOU ALL CERTAINLY LOOK HEROIC. I CAN SEE WHY UNDYNE CHOSE TO LET YOU IN! GOOD TO MEET YOU ALL. I'M PAPYRUS."

"That dragon lied to us," the eyepatch-wearing monster sighed, placing a gauntleted hand on his shoulder as he finished his sentence, prompting him to turn his head to her. "These horse-things aren't the evil ones of this land, Sablewing is. He duped us into doing his dirty work for him."

A look of shock burst onto Papyrus's face, and he clasped his cheekbones. "I KNEW HE WAS UP TO NO GOOD! I JUST KNEW IT!" he exclaimed, before looking to Shining and Cadence. "I'M SUPER SORRY ABOUT LOCKING YOU UP, MR. ARMOR. HERE, LET ME GET YOU OUTTA THERE."

He took out a key from his pocket and set to opening up the cage. The moment it was unlocked and sent ajar with a loud squeaking noise of the hinges, Shining stepped out and properly hugged his wife in a loving embrace.

"Well, that makes two princesses," Green mentioned. "That means two are left."

"We were told to go for every princess before Celestia," Derpy went on. "Do you guys know where Sablewing locked up Princess Twilight?"

"I have no idea," Shining Armor mumbled in a dispirited way, looking to the gray pegasus.

"Neither do I," Cadence sighed. "I was out for a while after I encountered a trap in Canterlot. When I woke up, I was here."

"Shiitake mushrooms. That bounces us back to square one," Orange cursed, looking to the nearby alicorn as he stroked his chin. "Princess Luna said you might know after we rescued you. Since you don't, what do we do now?"

"If you guys are talking about that purple alicorn-thing, I know where she is," Undyne spoke up from the background, raising a hand. Everyone turned to her instantly with looks of extreme interest.

"Where?" Cadence inquired, walking up to the fish-esque monster with a curious expression.

"A few miles southward from here," she started, nonchalantly. "If I'm not mistaken, it will be about a day-or-two's travel on foot."

"And who, exactly, is guarding her?" Blue then asked.

---

Night, freshly drawing darkness and stars over the world like a curtain, had consumed the land in its still shadow. By extension, it had also blanketed the shape of a small castle; a twisted castle of smooth stone and brick.

Inside the castle's interior, lying in a large room, there was a jagged mound of rock that jutted up from the ground like a miniature mountain, and the blocky stairs lining it lead to a bent and warped throne that rested on its top. Sitting on it, its hands clasped together as if in deep thought, was a small figure whose features were mostly concealed by the dark. The only thing one with normal vision could see about him was that he was wearing a robe of sorts on his small body.

Over the small shape, a white orb of energy floated and spoke in the voice of Sablewing, clearly acting for him as a means of long-range communications.

"And you say that they bested all of the lackeys you summoned for me until now? Including that Undyne character?" the dragon asked next.

"Undyne and her associate were beaten yes..." the cloaked being slowly replied. "But not only that, but through my vision I have sensed that both have joined up with the ponies and their knights."

"You know of these four characters, don't you?" Sablewing spoke, noticing how he pronounced the final word in a hiss. The figure let out a small laugh.

"Yes... yes, I know who they are," he replied, stepping off of his cold, stony throne, and letting his feet touch onto the ground. "They were a plague when I first faced them. A thorn in my side that became infected before I could remove it. They most likely think me dead, but that gives me the advantage for when they inevitably come here."

"You sound like you think you can defeat them. Are you sure of that? They don't seem very phased by what you have done so far."

"The odds are in my favor for this upcoming fight. But make no mistake, dragon. When I finish them off, you shall be next to suffer. One does not simply instill one like I into your indentured servitude."

"Your lack if ability to harm me with your power makes that unlikely," Sablewing scoffed in a rightly-arrogant tone. "Or did you so quickly forget that the reason I was able to acquire your services so very easily was because of that fact? You know you cannot beat me, so don't even attempt to, lest you wish for an untimely demise."

"We shall see..." he puffed back. With those words, the glowing orb of energy from above him vanished into nothing, and the figure began to walk down from the rocky mound that was his lonesome throne.

Finishing the small descent, he came upon a similarly-sized shape that had been apparently waiting for him at the bottom. This new person looked like quite the foreboding individual with the way he had dark armor covering every inch of himself, from his big, horned, helmeted head to his legs; their colors all equally black as pitch. His red eyes peered out of the shadowy haze of the visor they were concealed in, staring intently at the outlined shape of his cloaked master.

The robed figure faced him and whispered something to his associate with an important vigor in its tone. With a small nod, a pair of metallic wings suddenly sprang up from the armored character's shape. Flapping them, he took to the air and vanished like a gust of wind. The robed one watched as he left, then resumed his trek to the other side of the room, where a large window lied.

"Come, brave warriors, and do come soon," he whispered, stepping into the moonlight that shined through his window, showing off his short body and the brown-and-red robe he was cloaked in, while the symbol of a yellow crescent moon lied on its chest. His eyes, glowing a malevolent yellow color, peeked out from the murky darkness that lied behind his hood, watching the desolate, lifeless landscape outside while a hand gripped a magic wand with great anticipation.

"A certain wizard awaits to seal your doom..."

Comments

[Mkchief34]

OH SHIT. That is not good. Great chapter, though.

[SCP-096]

Okay now the necromancer arrives,let's see how this goes.