The sun rising from the east marked a new day for the Crystal Empire. Unlike the moon which rose in the east and set in the west, the sun rose from the horizon of the east where it would later fall again, like a ball bouncing in slow motion.
The tendrils of the night chased after the setting moon, tearing the darkness of the sky away to reveal a beautiful blue backdrop of the sky. Hundreds of crystal ponies watched the skies, sometimes nipping at themselves to confirm that they still weren’t dreaming.
As many crystal ponies rose in the early morning to embrace the beauty of their world, one creature completely ignored the majestic nature of the planet, locked within the confides of his bedchambers in the Crystal Castle as he experimented with his magic.
Inside his room was Skeletor and a collection of red cloaks that were clumped together in a corner, the two stared at each other intently, or at least Skeletor pretended that the inanimate pile of cloaks were staring at him. He imagined that the lump of red fur was King Sombra: the pony who had cursed him by bringing him to a world of equines, the monster that had locked away his memories, the demon that he desperately wanted to kill a second time.
Skeletor’s left hand rose quickly as he struck a confident pose, spreading out his fingers as he prepared to unleash one of the magical spells he had seen in the ancient tomes that lined his bookcase.
“I have unlimited Power!” He shouted with glee as lightning leapt from his fingertips at his fabricated foe.
As the lightning struck its target, electricity began soaring through Skeletor’s veins and burned his insides. Immense pain shot through Skeletor’s body immediately as his spell began to take its toll, causing him to scream out in agony, “FUCK! That fucking hurts!”
Skeletor immediately cut off the spell and clutched his twitching arm as he felt the residual electricity run through his limb. Streaks of static and lightning flickered across his arm as he held it close to him.
“Fuck me, fuck! Fuck, okay, magic hurts like a bitch,” He said to himself as he focused on the pain soaring through his arm.
The smell of burning hair promptly knocked Skeletor’s thoughts away from the pain he felt, causing him to focus on the fire hazard that begun to grow in the corner.
“No! Stop being on fire, STOP BEING ON FIRE!” He exclaimed as he held out both of his hands towards the growing flame.
A blast of ice magic flew from his open palms towards the fire, snuffing out the fire while the bitter sting of cold magic swallowed his hands.
“Coldcoldcoldcoldcoldcold. COLD!” He shouted as he began flailing his hands to get his blood circulating through them again. After failing to get any immediate results, Skeletor began blowing in them in a vain attempt to make them feel warm before he shoved them under his armpits.
“Fuck,” he squeaked as he felt the frigid touch of death assault his senses.
Skeletor shivered as he felt the cold embrace him, his jaw clattered hysterically and his legs trembled. He quickly wrapped himself in the blanket that laid on his bed to warm himself as he shuffled back to the open book on his nightstand. After hours of reading and deciphering the cryptic and confusing passages about magic and teleportation.
From what Skeletor could piece together, there were two types of teleportation known to equine kind. The first was creating a portal that was designed to fold reality to take something a certain distance at the cost of time. This type of travel was known as “Portal Walking”, an ability only used by the most powerful of unicorn mages such as someone, or rather somepony, named Starswirl the Bearded. Portal Walking was soon replaced by teleportation once it was discovered by a mage named Clover the Clever.
Teleportation itself was the act of moving to a location instantaneously, with the only downside being that it was the equivalent of a blind leap of faith into a dark room.
While a portal would guarantee going to a location safely, a teleport was a blind leap into a place with no idea how safe it would be. If a person/pony knew the location well, then they could teleport to that location without being worried about ending up inside a wall, but that wouldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t end up inside a piece of recently moved furniture or inside a pony that happened to be in the spot the other pony was teleporting to.
The cost of teleporting to an area within the caster’s field of view was a more practical use of teleportation while traveling great distances was something more suitable for using a portal. Apparently, portal walking faded into obscurity once the ponies settled in Equestria and began using teleportation for ponies and physical objects.
Skeletor personally preferred using portals since he was too worried that teleporting could, and most likely would, make him end up inside of a wall or halfway through the floor. Once Skeletor decided that opening a portal back home would be the wiser and safer option of the two, he began looking for a means to get more power to open a portal back to Earth.
He learned that magic was similar to muscle in the sense that it became stronger with more use and became weaker with fatigue and age. The only way to make it stronger was to exercise it by casting more spells, and if he didn’t regularly practice and use his magic then there was good chance that it would become lethargic and possibly dangerous. Ponies who had used magic after years of inactivity would often suffer a magic attack, which was the equivalent of a heart attack in their soul.
Magic attacks were almost always lethal to the caster, sending them into a coma like state known as living death where they would starve to death or die of thirst despite anyone’s attempts to help them. Skeletor was immensely grateful that one of the first signs of a magic attack was extreme fatigue, it was the only thing that prevented him from experimenting more with his magic on his first night in the castle. If he had kept using the portal spell that night then it would have been very likely for him to become another victim of a magic attack.
Taking a break from his self-taught magic lessons, Skeletor flopped onto his bed to rest his body and mind. Using magic drained and affected certain parts of the body depending on what the spell uses. Transportation spells used overall physical strength and endurance as the fuel to enact the spell, elemental spells such as lightning and ice drained him emotionally, removing his sense of glee and fear respectively, and his one attempt at a levitation spell had given him a major migraine as it fed off of his conscious thoughts, causing his mind to sit still for an uncomfortable amount of time as any train of thought was diverted to physically moving an object. What was worse, was that Skeletor acted more like a mindless machine than a person while he used his levitation spell, leaving him practically defenseless until the object went to where he wanted it to go.
Sombra had avoided the cost of his power by using something other than his body, mind, or emotions to pay it for him. Skeletor was fairly certain that the power he achieved was from his sacrifices, but the fact that the sacrifices, pit throws, and other atrocities happened after his initial spell to take the Empire left a large hole in his theory. Sombra had found a way to subvert the cost of his spell without sacrificing foals, meaning that Skeletor could find a way to do so as well.
He wracked his brain as he tried to think of how Sombra avoided having a magic attack and there was no way he was physically, emotionally, or mentally strong enough to cast his enslavement spell, let alone keep it constantly running for three years. Enchantments like his lock spell or the spell he used to hide his staircase only needed to be casted once since they were affecting an object, if he had placed the concealing spell on himself of another pony then he would need to actively concentrate and focus on that spell to keep it intact.
As Skeletor laid on his bed his thoughts drifted towards the different uses of enchantments, a soft knock at his door pulled him away from his thoughts. Quietly groaning to himself, Skeletor pushed himself off of his bed and walked towards the door with his havoc staff draped over his back with the small holder that was attached to his harness.
After slapping himself in the face to wake himself up, Skeletor opened the door to see a brightly smiling Emerald Secret standing on the other side. Skeletor suppressed a yawn as he tried to greet her.
“Morning, Emerald.”
“Yes, it is morning, my lord, and may I wish you an absolutely wonderful morning,” she replied cheerfully.
Skeletor nodded as he stepped out of his room and closed the door behind him, making sure not to reveal how much of a mess he made to Emerald as he slipped out.
“Yeah, wonderful, wonderful. So, what’s on the itinerary today?” He asked.
“Well first is breakfast, followed by a meeting with the master of the alchemist guild, Purity Flame, to discuss your plans for finding a new method to mass produce paper. Then court will be opened for an hour until we need to break for lunch. Afterwards, Crumb Catcher requested that you pose for your portraits so Art could paint your visage.”
“Why do I need my portrait painted?”
“Well, I and the rest of the council believed that you would like to have your image replace all of Sombra’s old portraits. Crumb Catcher also brought up the idea of commissioning a statue of you as well, but Avid said that it wasn’t in our budget at the moment,” she explained as she led Skeletor down the hall.
Skeletor briefly considered the idea of getting a statue of himself before a stiff headache reminded him of his inability to remember his old face and what he looked like now. “I don’t think portraits will be necessary, Emerald.”
“Why not?”
“I… Uh… Feel like the money for the artist would be better spent on expenses for the Fair and other things,” he lied.
Skeletor didn’t know how he was able to look at his reflection in the water or in the dining hall, but he did know that he didn’t like it. He was unnerved by his own reflection, disgusted even. Having portraits and paintings of himself hanging all throughout the castle would have only been a constant reminder of the monster he became.
Sure, he was glad that he was more muscular and could do magic, but that didn’t make up for the fact that he was a legitimate monster.
“Ah. Well, my lord, there’s nothing to worry about. Art is more than willing to do it for free. In fact, I think that he’d pay you for the chance to paint your portrait.”
“W-well… What about your previous princess?” He asked.
His sudden question caused her to trip over her front hooves for a moment before she caught herself. “What about her, my lord?” She hesitantly asked.
“Well, you ponies looked up to her, right?” Skeletor asked in a leading tone. Emerald simply nodded in response as Skeletor continued speaking. “And I assume that Sombra removed any art of her, right?”
“There are only a few pieces of art left of her. Anything that wasn’t built into the foundation of the castle was stripped from the Empire and burned to ash or smashed into rubble.”
“So, wouldn’t the crystal ponies feel better if they had art of the former princess again? I mean, I know I would certainly like to see what my predecessor looked like,” he said with a knowing smile as he watched Emerald’s ears stand at attention and her tail swished back and forth happily.
“In fact, why don’t we honor her memory. Does the Crystal Fair happen on the same day every year?”
“It did, before Sombra took over. The last Crystal Fair was supposed to be a month ago.”
“Then we’ll make this Friday the official day for the Crystal Fair, and we’ll call it… Uh, what was her name?”
“Princess Amore.”
“Prrrrincess Amore Memory Day!” He announced while rolling his r’s and pointing a finger to the air. “In fact, we shall honor the memory of all those who died under Sombra’s cruel reign. What do you think, Emerald?”
“That sounds wonderful, my lord! I’m sure the citizens will love it!”
“GREAT! Go find Art and tell them of my plan, I’ll find my own way to the dining hall, I’ll be fine without a guide.”
“At once, my lord!” She stated before she turned to gallop away from the path to the dining hall.
Skeletor chuckled at his success to avoid having any reminders of his face hanging around the Empire while also finding a way to make the ponies happy as well. The happier they were, the less likely he’d be taken to the gallows.
Briefly looking back to make sure Emerald was out of earshot, Skeletor cleared his throat to get the attention of one of the guards who stood nearby while he was talking to Emerald.
“I require a guard to escort me to the dining hall,” he said with fake confidence.
“Um, didn’t you say—"
“Never-mind what I said, just do what I said,” Skeletor firmly stated with fake anger, causing the guard to shut up and lead Skeletor to the dining hall since he failed to remember how to get there himself.
Cannon Fodder slowly rose from his mattress as he wiped the crust out of his eyes. He yawned loudly as he stretched his legs and arched his back to pop his spine. His eyes lazily took stock of the few things in his spartan room. His armor was meticulously placed on one of the spare training dummies that matched his height and build almost perfectly. A weapons rack of spears, his gladius, and a battle axe that was passed down from his father’s father back from when his grandfather, Glass Cannon, had served as a member of Princess Amore’s royal guard.
Even though Cannon Fodder didn’t know how to properly wield his grandfather’s battle axe, seeing it brought a smile to his muzzle as he carried on his family’s tradition of serving Princess Amore. That smile quickly vanished as soon as he remembered how he was the last of his family to serve her, that he was the one responsible for her dying. He didn’t jump in front of her, he didn’t defend her, he let his guard down and she paid the price, and now he was forced to serve a demon.
Cannon Fodder hopped off of his uncomfortable mattress as he stared at the blank picture frame that hung over his weapons rack. The bismuth frame once held a beautiful portrait of Princess Amore, painted by his mother when his father served the royal guard. Cannon Fodder, like everypony else with a painting or piece of art of Princess Amore, was forced to take any art or memorabilia of her to the center of the Empire for Sombra to incinerate them.
He scowled at the memory of Sombra’s arrogant smile as he watched the fire consume her image. The bastard forced all of his enslaved subjects to watch their possessions burn in a column of fire that nearly blinded them with its bright flames. It only became worse once he forced the few ruva and thestral slaves he had to throw themselves into the fire and dance around on the streets and in the air.
Cannon Fodder wondered if Dice, Star Shine, and Torch Wind were commanded to burn themselves that day or if they were fortunate enough to be among the first batch of ponies who threw themselves into the pit. He hoped that their deaths were quick, that they weren’t tortured by the monster that had murdered Princess Amore.
A rhythmic knock from his door took his attention away from the blank picture frame to the stallion standing at his opened door. Cannon Fodder frowned at the blue stallion that came into his room unannounced.
“What are you doing here? Did you come to talk about polishing my armor again?” Cannon Fodder asked as he began placing his armor on his body.
“And good morning to you too, General Fodder,” Crumb Catcher replied as he trotted into the room and closed the door behind him.
“You better have a damn good reason to be in my room, Crumb.”
“I do actually. I’ve come to speak with you about something very dire, something that could threaten the security of the entire Empire,” he cryptically told Cannon Fodder.
“And what would that be?”
“Regicide,” Crumb Catcher said as he ran a hoof over the dusty chest that held Cannon Fodder’s spare blankets. “I know about your plans to kill Lord Skeletor.”
“What are you talking about?” Cannon Fodder asked, not allowing his sudden change in emotion to manifest physically as he kept his voice calm and continued putting on his armor.
Crumb Catcher chuckled humorlessly as he wiped the dust off of his hoof with a rag. “You seem to forget, General Fodder, I’m the not only the head of the staff, I’m also the Royal Spy Master. Even if it's something as mundane as an empty bowl next to a crystal pot, I hear about it. My one goal in life is to not repeat the failures of my predecessor. She should have been able to see Sombra’s attack coming and informed you so the guards could stop it. But she failed, she let Sombra slip past her eyes and the princess paid for Star’s inability to do her job.”
“You take that back you prick! Star was a damn good pony, better than you!” Cannon Fodder shouted at Crumb Catcher as he took up a fighting stance, completely prepared to literally beat some sense into the thick headed stallion for insulting the precious Royal Spy Master.
“Be careful what you say, General. It’s not smart to openly insult the stallion who holds your fate in his hooves. All it would take it a word and Lord Skeletor would be on you in an instant,” he threatened with a vile smile.
“Then why don’t you? In fact, what’s stopping me from cutting your head off and saying you were plotting against him?” He asked as he glanced at the spear that was leaning against his wall.
He was physically stronger than Crumb Catcher, if necessary, he could beat him to death and claim self-defense, but he had no idea how many ponies besides Crumb Catcher knew his secret. The only way Crumb Catcher could have known about his plans was if one of the maids overheard him, which meant at least one other pony knew about his plan. For all Cannon Fodder knew, the entire castle staff was informed of his treachery and they were waiting for Cannon Fodder to kill Crumb Catcher before they went to warn Lord Skeletor.
“Because you’d be no use to me if you were dead and you would be down a possible ally if I died. And since you’re planning regicide, you need all the friends you can get,” Crumb Catcher stared as he made a point of looking at the weapon with a bored gaze. “While hoofing you over to Lord Skeletor would definitely put me in his favor, I believe having you as an ally instead of an enemy would help me more-so, especially with your inane plan to place Emerald on the throne,” Crumb Catcher elaborated.
“What do you mean? What do you get out of this?” He asked skeptically.
“I get to be on the right side of history if Lord Skeletor is actually evil. In all honesty, I like him but that doesn’t mean I trust him. He’s an unknown creature who wandered into our lands and managed to kill a monster even the solar diarchs couldn’t defeat. And speaking of the beloved princesses, we still have no idea what happened to them. While many ponies are willing to accept that they’re dead, I am a bit more…”
“Hopeful?” Cannon Fodder guessed.
“Fearful. Yes, that’s it, fearful,” Crumb Catcher stated firmly. “If they are still alive then I have almost no doubts that they’d want to remove Lord Skeletor from the throne. And, as much as I like him, I like being alive and on the princesses’ side more. There's absolutely no way I'll be standing next to him if or when the Princesses arrive.”
“So, you want to get rid of Skeletor then?”
“Lord Skeletor, and I want to be prepared. I don’t want him to be evil and I don’t necessarily want to get rid of him, I simply want to be alive at the end of all this.”
“... So, what’s your plan now?”
“Simply to watch for now until something happens. So far, watching him from a distance has revealed a lot of interesting things about him. Do you want to know something about our new lord?” Crumb Catcher coyly asked. Before Cannon Fodder could reply, Crumb Catcher whispered to him in a conspiratorial manner, “He hides his messes under the bed, he destroyed a few books from his personal collection, he doesn't use the chamberpot under his bed, and I don’t think he likes his reflection.”
“What makes you say that?” Cannon Fodder asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn't understand why the demon would be afraid of its own reflection, but if Crumb Catcher was telling the truth, then perhaps Cannon Fodder could find a way to use that to his advantage. He had definitely noticed how Lord Skeletor kept stealing long looks at his reflection in the dining hall, giving Crumb Catcher's last statement some credence to consider it possible.
“Because he covered it in one of Sombra’s old cloaks.”
“And how do you know that?”
Crumb Catcher scoffed as he waved a hoof dismissively. “Please, General Fodder, as a servant to Lord Skeletor, it is my duty to clean up for him, especially his private bedchambers. After seeing his spotty attempts to hide the signs of his outburst, I decided it would be best to leave the room the way it was. I once heard a rumor that Silver Spoon had swept up all of the rose petals in Princess Amore’s room and the princess was absolutely livid. So, I’d rather not take my chances and accidentally upset a being who caved in Sombra’s head with a decorative stick. For all I know, he might like having a broken window in his room and closing it could earn his ire. I didn't even dare to touch whatever mess he left in the top drawer. I'm going to play my cards right and not step on anyone's tail, especially his.”
With a swish of his tail, Crumb Catcher smacked Cannon Fodder’s muzzle as he turned around to leave Cannon Fodder’s room. “If you insist on being a moron, then I’ll drop our deal and tell Lord Skeletor everything. For now, play nice and do as Lord Skeletor says and everything will be fine,” he told Cannon Fodder as he wore a smug smile on his muzzle. “I trust you can do that, can't you General?”
Cannon Fodder glared at Crumb Catcher as he gave a stiff nod to him. Crumb Catcher’s smile only grew at Cannon Fodder’s obvious reluctance and anger as he trotted out of the room, leaving a livid Cannon Fodder alone in his own room once he left.
Once the door was closed, Cannon Fodder waited for a few moments before drew his gladius from his weapons rack and stared into the eyes of his reflection. He berated himself for letting somepony find out about his plans and briefly wondered if Copper Plate told somepony, or worse, somepony overheard him talking to her in the dining hall. He had made sure to keep his words below the quietest of whispers as he spoke, only raising his voice by a hair whenever one of the other tables was being obnoxiously loud.
He stomped a back hoof as he snorted, throwing a seething glare at his door as he reevaluated what he knew about Crumb Catcher. Before Sombra came to power, he was nothing more than a common butler for the higher up nobles, the only reason why Emerald and Copper Plate suggested him for the position was because he was one of the few ponies who knew how to read and write. Cannon Fodder didn’t think Crumb Catcher had what it took to be part of the council, and Avid Value was only with them because of his tutelage under Torch Wind.
Cannon Fodder would have never expected one of the green horned council members to blackmail him, let alone find out about his plan. If it weren’t for Crumb Catcher’s position on the council, Cannon Fodder wouldn’t have hesitated to silence him permanently. For all he knew, Crumb Catcher had a plan in place in case he died where one of his little spies would go to Lord Skeletor and tell him about Cannon Fodder’s plan.
How much would he tell him? Would he tell him about Emerald? He thought fearfully. He didn’t care about his own safety, but if his actions got Emerald killed as well, or worse, if she was the only one punished for his plan then he wouldn’t be able to live with that guilt.
Crumb Catcher had Cannon Fodder in his hooves, his life and possibly the life of Emerald rested in his grasp. Cannon Fodder sulked for a brief moment before he embraced his rage and stabbed the wooden dummy in his room, burying his gladius deep into its chest as he pictured Crumb Catcher’s horrified expression. He refused to be anypony’s puppet.
He had spent three years being a plaything for Sombra, he wouldn’t allow that to happen again. Just like he had done with the demon, he can act like he was on Crumb Catcher’s side. The arrogant stallion would eventually drop his guard, and Cannon Fodder would take the upper hoof to kill him and Lord Skeletor in order to protect the Empire. He wouldn’t fail the ones he loved again, he’d fight the entire guard if it meant keeping the citizens and his friends safe.
He just needed to bide his time, learn Crumb Catcher’s secrets and use them to get rid of Lord Skeletor. It was only a matter of time until his plan came to fruition, all he had to do was wait. Sooner or later, he’d get his chance to save the Empire, and when it came, he’d take it without hesitation.
So.. are the Princesses dead or.. ? Stop teasing us, lol. Also ah yes, standard empire politics.. the Spy Master's loyal to no one. Makes sense lol
10183888
I'm pretty sure that this takes place shortly before season 1. As in Celestia is currently the sole ruler of Equestria, Luna is still trapped on the moon, etc. It'd explain the odd behavior of the sunrise and sunset, at least.
10183996
OBJECTION! They never mention the 'mare on the moon' Skeletor would have made a comment on the weird unicorn face on the moon's surface
Crumb Catcher is realistic and logical
While he could have his own plans to usurp the throne, he doesn't want it
He is a neutral who really wants to keep citizens safe
10184034
I would say we have a couple of months before Celestia and Luna will take any action
I hope they aren't complete idiots and will send a scout and later take diplomatic action (seeing a new ruler and freed crystal ponies) and won't send Cadence and the rest
But we have Discord and Changelings events before it happens
10184034
Well then, maybe it's early season 1 and Luna is still recovering? Either way this is all just speculation until the author reveals it.
Good good. Now I require another.
10184041HA! Depending on how close to canon we go, tia will send a full military contingent to "secure" the Empire. Destroy the evil that killed Sombra in cold blood using the viciously murdered pony in a demonic wright and install Candy-ass as regent as to finally bring the Empire into Equestria's domain.
10184064
10183996
10184041
10184071 I NEVER said that any one would succeed at removing him. I'm just saying that if we end up very close to canon, that is likely what tia would TRY for.
10184079
While I have a bad opinion of Celestia and Luna because of many stories depicting them in various bad ways
I just hope this Celestia won't be one of them and will be at least smart enough to be diplomatic and friendly
You know I really like the council they remind me so much of Dragon Age Inquisition
10184064
If you think more about it she really doesn't heavy any right to the throne, even in canon, show
1.
She doesn't have any birthright
If I remember right from some other IDW comics, Cadence was once a pegasus in a normal village
2.
The only thing that connects her to the Crystal Empire is a Spanish name
3.
Cutie Mark problem
(for some people this is the most valid point that makes them think they are right about Cadence deserving the throne and being "destined" to rule Crystal Empire)
In short her, cutie mark isn't a valid point and doesn't count
(with their concept and their "destiny" I completely hate for being cheap a lazy plot device to give everyone a purpose)
Why?
Because her cutie mark isn't exactly Empire's Crystal Heart but just another heart made of crystal, there can be million cutie marks like these of different meanings than "I'm destined to rule Crystal Empire"
Cadence's Cutie mark
i.pinimg.com/originals/7c/63/6e/7c636eb9d40465b5162ad541c1905b48.jpg
Empire's Crystal Heart
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/de7bad04-3493-441d-9f60-c34ffcb5195d/d9zdd48-3c6cdde0-ae81-4f1b-b106-324d2a19afaa.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2RlN2JhZDA0LTM0OTMtNDQxZC05ZjYwLWMzNGZmY2I1MTk1ZFwvZDl6ZGQ0OC0zYzZjZGRlMC1hZTgxLTRmMWItYjEwNi0zMjRkMmExOWFmYWEucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.3JFfPcUAOZXK72Ch5Lk2DjA6ZaTgRSVXpbaF28EnPyM
So the only reason left why she would rule Crystal Empire is that she is an alicorn, with is the stupidest reason to give someone throne
Cannon Fodder is actually starting to worry me a bit. He's so razor focused on all the bad, he has blinded himself to everything else. A fanatic, as it were, who can only see their own beliefs to be the truth. That's quite unfortunate. I have been hoping he would get a wake up call that maybe things are not actually as he thinks, but I'm not sure he'd even acknowledge such a thing at this point. I hope he does and slowly begins to come out of his trauma, but I'm not really confident at this point. He's letting it consume him, rather than try to heal.
10183888
Do remember that the citizens of the Crystal Empire are not aware that (potentially) a thousand years have passed since they were frozen in time. They simply fell asleep one day, then the next the Princesses and all their troops were gone. They are out of their own time.
I love this story!
I'm geting a game of thrones feeling here. Xd
Great chapter dude!
10184142
They could be dead in this dimension and the ponies raise the celestial bodies for all we know.
I feel like it would have helped skelemang if he had cried over the children, or his accidental murder in front of one of the ponies.
skely needs to cast some protection spells
10183996
I thought the movements of the sun and moon made that immensely self evident myself.
But what do I know, I'm just a simple tailor.
10184402
Possible, but unlikely. The spell the Sisters cast was to banish the Crystal Empire until someone who could destroy Sombre appeared. Thus when Skeletor was shat out of a dimensional sphincter and into the Frozen North did the Empire return.
I suspect that Equestria is preparing the Canon expedition to the Crystal Empire at this moment without knowing what has occurred in the meantime.
Course I could be wrong and you right in the Sisters being dead, but I don't think the story will diverge THAT heavily from canon just yet.
10184087
Well, Cadence and Shining were coming first, Twilight was the second wave of incursion, while sisters stayed home. It's Shining who worries me, other two are reasonable enough
Awesome
Disappointed,if he had said yes to the portrait thing he could have reenacted so many skelator memes and some of his most famous poses. It's literally just an excuse to show people skelator memes.
10184557
Have these as compensation.
leganerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/not-now-skeletor-9.jpg
cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VK4_Wu9WdBMmtKlk-y2LTs9j7LY=/1400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12368205/06a6556e6ec01ca3c28abb71def83ff5_original.0.jpg
cdn.trendhunterstatic.com/phpthumbnails/114/114703/114703_8_600.jpeg
cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4PkQ5DFOtDEbPd6z5T764LQ-aFE=/1400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12368211/f8c4b66248dc806c3687a2572e17933f_original.0.jpg
neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/tumblr_llxwvsl0z71qketc0o1_r1_1280-500x372.jpg
cdn.trendhunterstatic.com/thumbs/not-now-skeletor.jpeg
cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ho6bYiwd94t5eV-1KgVl26yjNIE=/0x0:497x284/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:497x284):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12368219/d4a3d57ad191d9943b6a41f10e65d977_original.0.jpg
cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CL5WyOSVLMVQmFSlJBlEDFwjQSg=/0x0:600x456/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:600x456):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12368217/d35b950b011cd26a42d08772a2a0520b_original.0.jpg
cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NXUvz_IwHtDr2Hm74_hG71gmGrA=/0x0:640x436/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:640x436):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12368209/cf8e17770c02c37102d05f30870a3e1f_original.0.jpg
2.bp.blogspot.com/-AVDkM9tcZdo/TfC_GEAzROI/AAAAAAAAFOI/IMs9nD6VbxE/s400/2.jpg
I really would love to see a Ponny with the name Beastman interact with Skeletor
Another amazing chapter, as usual.:D
I can see Cannon Fodder managing to pull his plan, but then he screws up a bigger event majorly.
10184566
Why is the image on the top skelator creeping up on kids?
10184679
Wrong lever kronk
10184943
The one on the far left is his son.
considering he is learning all his magic from pony study, it would be nice t see he assumed wrong at some point and magic isn't universal, I mean we know the 3 pony races use magic differently, same goes for zebra's, it would be nice to see him think pony magic is the universal law of magic when it is different for every species, at least in some regards, but I doubt that will happen based on what we have seen so far. which is a shame, I love seeing people make the wrong assumptions and it bites them in the ass down the road
10184091
you may have noticed the ponies are very biased towards immortal alicorn rulers
10185007
My friend, you have just given me a slew of ideas. In fact, you inadvertently fixed a problem for a later chapter that I was having. Thanks for that!
mememaker.net/api/bucket?path=static/img/memes/full/2018/Sep/26/5/skeletor-thanks-you-35.png
How long till the mirror in his bedroom bites him in the ass?
He can see his reflection in every surface EXCEPT that mirror. I smell magic shenanigans. Possibly of the portal/secret door variety.
Wondering why he isn't at least entertaining the idea of searching for the Alicorn Princesses. He has this kind of mindset that he wants the best for the crystal empire but has no fucking idea how to do so. So finding the princesses would be the most logical option
10185034
aww, you're welcome ^-^ glad my monologuing helps someone
10185609
1. I don't reckon he knows how important the princesses are
2. he may think the princesses are like some kind of religion almost, with how the ponies describe them
3. he may 9rightfully0 fear the princess would execute him for any number of reasons he can imagine
he still felt the ponies would execute him for killing their tyrant king for a long time so he may think these princesses may want blood
I just caught up, enjoying the story. I expect a time jump of a few weeks to a month after the festival as the ponies dig their way out and begin rebuilding their homes. There is a glacier sized burden on the hearts of the survivors, and our main skull has several deep problems of his own that the ponies will likely sniff out. Their PTSD won't blind them forever. As long as Skeletor grinds a high honor score, it will serve as armor against most of his pony foes. If the alicorns showed up today, he would likely surrender on the spot, wave his hand at the broken empire and its terrorized ponies and say "Thank you, it's all your problem now!". He is not tied to his crown and it's both natural and a big problem. He still wants to run away, and who could blame him?
I'm liking Crumb Catcher, he's playing it smart
I have to ask the question because I entirely forgot but is he a demon or a necromancer or a monster very curious.
10187168
he's a 90s badguy. That's all we need to know
10187168
I think...if I remember correctly. He is half-man, half-demon. (Father with sucubuus maybe?) He's not technically a necromancer, because he isn't a lich. The only reason he actually has a bone head, is because acid melted his head entirely. He is only sustained by his spirit now. This is why his skin is blue, because his spirit is possessing his dead body, and somehow making it work like it used to with immense magical power. Thus, he was left with his only burning passion intact, without any memories from when he was alive, stealing the throne for his kingdom, by birthright, from his brother, He-man. Or at least, that's my remembering.
10187382
After that first reply I didn't expect an answer because they brought up a good point, considering the shows from the 90's I shouldn't really expect an answer, but thanks for the he-man knowledge also from what I'm getting here he's an undead but that's obvious. Thanks again Jesus Christ how is your memory so good
10187417
Well, once I saw that there was a 2002 remake that came out, I had to watch it. Helped me brush up on lore. For some reason my memory's like that. Can't remember the important stuff for shit, but trivia. Trivia I can do for some reason.
10184499
I forgot about that first bit lmao.
Let's hope it doesn't go the dark route though.
I think what he really needs to do is future-proof his position to both gain trust and prevent possible ramifications of surprise alicorns.
The idea is that, under a written decree approved of by himself and the council, he would step down as ruler in the event that the council unanimously agrees he should be dethroned.
However, for this to be properly enacted, there have to be two conditions:
After being dethroned, the ruler will be pardoned of their crime and would be given support until they receive the means to sustain themselves. The conditions are:
Failure to step down would result in the current ruler being seen as a tyrant. However, they can choose to challenge the decision with the council and verbally defend their case to stay as a ruler after a three day period to prepare.
A bit wordy, but with this, he won't be legally responsible to hand over his position as king to any alicorn that wants the position, that would be on the council's heads. This would leave Skeletor free of legal bureaucracy. This would give Cannon an option to dethrone him without resorting to violence and set up a scene that would bring everything together into an explosive climax that would leave the entire party in awe of the resulting hot political mess that gets spewed all over the place. Leaving Skeletor in the back to enjoy the show. Especially when they find out that Celestia had forgotten about them and made no actual plans to save them over the course of 3000 years.
10189209
Umm, he's not in any position to think about that.. there are more pressing matters. He's also a new into the whole ruling thing so he wont think of that sort of big scale thing . That sounds complicated, and they're already have their hooves full with fixing thee economy and other things
Cannon Fodder is seeming like more and more of a villain
Now I am developing a head canon that the phrase "Green Horn" has a unique entomological origin in Equestria. Like a hazing ritual at some famous Unicorn university involved getting first years to perform a spell that they are told will make it easier to study/get stronger magic faster/some other student shortcut, but instead turns their horn neon green for a week.
Of course since there are no horned Crystal ponies on the counsel, I am guessing "Greenhorn" was the desired phrase in its traditional english meaning. Of course, since dark magic is ofton depicted as green (with or without purple and black), "Green Horn" could also be making a reference to how he sees the other council members as untrustworthy. (Can I has No-Prize?)
10228238
More like soon to be dead psycho. He slowly looses his mind to his paranoia... but you likely already know the answer and I have yet to read it.
Canon Fooder will get himself killed one way or another... Hes just a Darwin Award winner first grade.
Great chapter!