Crystal Tears
Arc II - Chapter XI - Crystal Tears
After a long night, arriving at the Empire he has to protect just a couple of hours ago, Shiny Mercury finally kneels to his lord, Prince Shining Armor, in the castle. "My lord," he says. "Before introducing you to our new reinforcements, I want to ask you for your opinion about the thirty Royal Guards I left on the Empire to take care of you, your wife and your daughter last night. Did they do their job well, according to your words?"
Shining Armor appears in front of him, approaching the guard with his wife and his sleeping daughter from behind. "Of course," he says. "Why wouldn't they do their job well, Shiny Mercury?"
The guard sighs, tilting his head down. "Sorry," he says, "but the menace of Tenebris and his acolytes is making me paranoid. I want everything to be completely, responsibly protected."
"Every pony here is doing their job responsibly and perfectly, Shiny," replies Cadence, looking after her daughter. "We recognize it's a very dangerous menace, but you have to be focused on what you are doing, Shiny Mercury. Being paranoid will only deconcentrate you."
Shiny only nods his head. "You're right, princess... I have to be focused on what I am doing," he says, and then he turns around and introduces a guard to his emperors: Big Stomp, leader of the Canterlot Royal Guards. "Going back to where we were talking about, Celestia has ordered to bring a big part of the Canterlot Kingdom Guards with us to protect the empire, and that's why I'm introducing you to the second leader. Big Stomp has replaced Flash Sentry after his painful fate."
Big Stomp raises his hoof to the emperors. "Shining Armor. Princess Cadence. It will be an honour to protect you from these monsters," he exclaims.
"The honour is granted," replies Cadence, raising her hoof to the leader. Then, Big Stomp gives a wrapped piece of parchment to Shining Armor, surprising him.
"Um..." he says while grabbing it. "Is this a letter?"
"Yes, Sir Armor," replies Big Stomp.
He slowly opens it with his magic.. "From whom?"
"Your sister Twilight Sparkle."
Shining Armor takes a breath, feeling his back freezing while opening the letter. Once he starts reading it, tears start falling down his eyes.
"Brother:
I've also sent a letter to Mom and Dad because of this. Starlight was violently murdered and that only makes me think this menace will be more bloody than ever. Take care of yourself. Don't risk your life..."
The letter goes on and on, which makes the emperor cry while reading, at the same time Cadence and Shiny Mercury enter Flurry Heart's bedroom. The mother lets the baby sleep on her bed, not without kissing her forehead before... Shiny Mercury, the guard, only asks the princess: "Would you?"
Cadence raises her eyebrows, surprised, and leaves the room with the guard. She knows what is he talking about. They pass by the thrones, where Shining Armor is cleaning his face after reading her sister's card, and both the princess and the guard enter a small room with a gigantic window inside the castle where a shiny, heart-shaped crystal is floating over a glass platform. Shiny Mercury closes his eyes, feeling goosebumps in all of his shiny, crystal body. "The Crystal shall show you the way, Shiny Mercury," says the Princess, once she slowly touches the Crystal Heart. Shiny Mercury, with his trembling hooves, also does the same, whispering something to the heart.
".... and the Empire shall rise... over the menaces around... fed by the love and the sacrifice."
Cadence nods at Mercury's action, while the guard slowly trots away from the heart, only to stand at the door and raise a hoof to the sacred crystal shape. "Let your light shine us," he says, before coming out of the room and getting observed by Big Stomp, the Canterlot's Leader. He wants to say something...
"I mean," says Big Stomp, at the same time Mercury comes out and looks at him. "I know that I almost descended Sergeant Score because of what he said yesterday... but..."
The Guard raises an eyebrow while Cadence leaves the entrance. "But?"
"I think he's..." he says, rolling his eyes. "I think he's got a point. From my perspective, the Crystal Heart is quite unprotected inside that room."
But Shiny Mercury doesn't agree with him. "It's where it has to be. The window in the room reflects its light to the whole empire," he says furiously. "We can't move it. We can't hide it. It's the power of our love, all joined together in it. If we keep him out of the window, our hopes..."
"But... what if an acolyte, or also... the same Tenebris, finds out the Crystal Heart is there?"
Shiny Mercury shakes his head, madly. "The Heart has to be there and only there, Big Stomp. And their main objective is to get rid of the emperors, not the heart. The Heart will stay there."
Big Stomp, however, wants to keep arguing because the Heart just feels unprotected in that room... but now, at this moment, he doesn't want to fight with a partner. A partner who is against his menace too. A menace which killed his leader. Killed him with bloodthirst.
The villains, still under their invisible aura, pass by the Empire's entrance, getting nearer the town. Stone Chisel only thinks about throwing up because of how nervous he is now. He knows what's going to happen. He knows how is this going to end while looking at the crystal ponies casually entering their homes, with friends, relatives or their children. Not even the big amount of guards trotting and flying around the town, either from inside or outside, can calm him down. Tenebris is the first one who takes a look at everything. It just seems so different. There are not many trees like before... maybe this empire cut almost all of them? Arrgh!
"Don't speak," he says. "And be behind me." Then, a blue orb comes out of his mouth: Rushkwa. She only spins around him, looking at his almost broken necklace once, and ends up staying on her soulmate's loin, waiting for the plan to come true. Her plan.
Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis look at Discord now, under Tenebris' noses. Stone Chisel also does the same, and that's the moment when Cozy Glow points out at the ram, without him finding out about it. Discord only shakes his head, until all of them hear a voice.
"What are you pointing at, filly?"
Rushkwa gets out of where she was and starts spinning around Cozy Glow, making her nervous. Everyone gets frozen except for Tirek, who tries to get the orb out of the filly, but Rushkwa gets off her on time and goes back to Tenebris' loin. The ram is just there, smiling. "Calm down, Rushkwa," he says. "It's not the moment."
"I saw her pointing at something."
"She may have pointed at the castle, calm down." Everyone thinks he actually doesn't know what is happening for real, but no. Tenebris already knows what's going on here. She was pointing at him, and he has now something else to make them pay. He has just to wait. Just wait.
Rushkwa calms down but doesn't shut up. She gets out of her soulmate's loin again but stands there. "Next time I see you pointing at something and I'll rip you off that tiny tower mark you have on your loin."
Cozy gets mad at what Rushkwa told her. "HEY!" she shouts, and that only alerts everyone with her. Four Royal Guards who were walking around heard that too. Everyone remains silent and Cozy blushes, realizing what she has done. The ram looks at her with anger but doesn't do anything. Then, he looks at how the four guards are getting nearer the place.
"Did you hear that?" says one of them.
Tenebris' attention gets specifically attracted to the ponies' bodies. He saw them before...but never focused on how they looked like. They are shiny and almost transparent. They are not normal at all. Despite he is completely surprised at how are, he doesn't say anything. Is this a way to show him how things have changed? One of the guards looks behind him, while the others, without knowing, are directly looking at the ram who is looking for his lands, along with the villains who want the kingdom on its whole. "Shall I call Shiny Mercury for this?"
"What?" says another guard. "Of course not. He will get mad if we call him out just because of a sound."
"I want to investigate further."
"Really, Gallops?" says another immediately after hearing that. "It was just a stupid sound. Maybe it was something out of our mind... let's go back to work."
However, Gallops decides to investigate anyway. Tenebris closes his eyes, trying his best to not kill this guard who starts messing around the place. "Gallops!" shouts one of the guards. "Get out of there, you dumb! Shiny Mercury will get mad if he finds out!"
Meanwhile, Gallops is not hearing them. He felt something near him. A certain warmth. A certain smell. A couple of whispers and strange sounds. He knows something is there, but he can't just see it. On the other side, Stone Chisel is literally next to Gallops. If it wasn't for just a couple of centimetres, Gallops and Stone Chisel would have already touched their heads. "Hey!" shouts the guard who's investigating. "There's something here but..."
"Something?" says one guard, almost laughing. "Stop imagining things, you stupid. Come here."
But no. There's someone else who has an opinion about all of this. Stone Chisel turns his head to his left, where Gallops is staying, about to crash their heads. He slowly moves his hoof, trying to push him away, despite being this a risky decision. However, once he is about to push him away, Tenebris turns around and looks at him. He thinks he is about to smash him, to break him in pieces for what he is trying to do... He feels goosebumps when the ram nods his head. Everyone, even Discord, feels it. He wants to. He wants him to do it. That's the moment where he looks again at the guard, at now, having that fucker's consent... he can do it with no trouble.
"Gallops! Come the b---"
But Gallops suddenly trips over, and a second later, a wall rises from the ground. Then another one. And another one. Finally, four walls of dirt rise from the ground, blocking something. Something they can't see. "Holy sh---!" shouts one of the guards. "LEADER! LEADER!"
Pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies, crystal or not, approach the recently raised dirt walls. Some pegasi guards even find out a roof has been also made, so they plan to attack until Shiny Mercury and Big Stomp appear. "STOP! STOP!" shouts Shiny Mercury. "DON'T OPEN FIRE! DON'T OPEN FIRE!"
Now everyone, almost in silence, looks at the dirt cube. Big Stomp is the first one who dares to shout: "WHO ARE YOU, STRANGER?"
However, inside the cube, everything is different. All of them are almost squashed because of how small is the cube and the only light that can illuminate them is Rushkwa. Discord has the worst part, being squashed and bent like a snake all over the ground, stepped on by everyone. Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow are stuck to each other while Stone Chisel is in another corner with Tenebris. "Why did you close us?" asks Tirek, angrily. "At least... can this be not seen? I hope your answer is yes, you moron."
"He started it!" shouts Chrysalis, pointing at Stone Chisel. "He pushed away that crystal pony."
"I told him to," he answers, defending the colt. "And I rose this because I need to ask something before, just to don't be misinformed."
"What?" asks Cozy Glow.
"Discord..." Rushkwa's orb is now flying around Discord's face, illuminating him. "I forgot to ask you something... In which building stays that Crystal Heart?"
The God of Chaos just smiles while his whole face is light blue because of the orb's flash. "You said my comments didn't have any value at all."
Tenebris laughs, and says while chuckling: "You don't want me to look it for myself."
Discord laughs back. "Because you would destroy anything, like always."
Tenebris smiles, but this time doesn't laugh, and just a second later, he has something in mind. Suddenly, all of those white auras everyone had just disappeared. They are not invisible. Not anymore...
CRASH!
Discord's face comes out from one of the walls and bleeding, this time, some kind of fruit juice. Everyone recognizes who is, and a second later, the walls suddenly bury in the ground again. The roof disappears. That's when everybody can see them. All of them.
- Tirek, the wicked lord.
- Cozy Glow, the manipulative filly.
- Chrysalis, the evil queen.
- Stone Chisel, the robber.
- Discord, the God of Chaos.
- A strange light blue orb.
And most importantly...
Tenebris, the Night Ram.
Everyone gets in silence, even the villains. It's a tense, awkward duel of sights. A horde of dozens of guards looking at villains. Villains looking at guards. Shiny Mercury and Big Stomp look at Tenebris, while others look at Discord and Stone Chisel, linked together with a dark crystal chain, where the God of Chaos is lying on the ground, bleeding fruit juice. "Good morning," says Tenebris. "I've been thinking about what I should do with you, land takers... uh... but I'll try to talk to you peacefully for the first time."
"You," interrupts Shiny Mercury, putting his helmet on. "You genocidal, psychopathic, sadistic... bloody monster, beast, murderer... why would I want to talk peacefully with you?"
The ram raises his hooves. "It's the best way for all of us... You give me back my lands, and I'll give you a chance to live."
Shouts are heard everywhere from the Guards. Clearly, they are furious. Tenebris sighs and turns around, looking at everyone, while all of the guards are insulting the villains' crew. Then, he looks at Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow and nods his head. They nod their head too. "I'm afraid we'll have to do it in a bad way."
"BUCK YOU!" shouts Big Stomp, putting his helmet on and preparing to attack. "BUCK ALL OF YOU, MONSTERS!"
"GUARDS!" shouts Shiny Mercury, preparing his magic. "OPEN FI---"
BOOM.
But he couldn't even finish that sentence.
Suddenly, Shiny Mercury is not there anymore, and, instead, there are shards of crystal on the ground. He literally blew up in front of everyone. All of the guards stop and get silent... nobody attacks, even Big Stomp, even the villains. Some of the crystal shards are cut or buried inside the Guards' bodies, but they are so shocked they don't care. "You have one last chance to go back to a good way."
But no. They don't want to go in a good way. Their leader is dead now. He killed their leader. He did it. He killed Flash Sentry. And now he has to pay. For everything he does. For everything he did. For everything, he will do. All of the guards start looking at each other, nodding their heads. No matter how powerful the enemy is, they will attack anyways because that's who they are: Royal Guards. They are there to protect their beloved emperors and kings. They will sacrifice everything they have for the emperors. From the magic to their hooves.
A swarm of Crystal Guards, Canterlot Guards, everything they imagined of... go for them. Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow start to defend themselves, this time fighting together, because of how many are the guards. Tenebris, along with Rushkwa, starts fighting on their own, only using his magic, although still being limited by the necklace. However, there is another case which is different. Stone Chisel runs away, this time going inside the town, to take cover, and Discord gets mad at Stone's behaviour...
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he shouts. "WE'VE GOT TO GO BACK!"
"Are you kidding me?" he shouts. "They'd freaking kill me!"
"WE HAVE TO GO BACK!" he shouts. "TENEBRIS IS FIRING HIS BEAMS! WE CAN DESTROY THESE BOULDERS!"
And now he realized he has done it wrong. "But... but... but..."
"GO! GO! GO NOW! GO! GO! GO!"
"AARGGGHH!" shouts Stone Chisel, smashing his head against the ground, while crystal civilians are running away or hiding in their homes. "FUCK THIS!"
Stone Chisel runs faster than nobody ever could. He runs and runs, looking straight at the ram. At Tenebris. Nevertheless, he feels something. He hears something flying near him on his back, and a second later, a hoof punches him in his head and buries him into the ground.
"TAKE THIS!" shouts someone who is certainly familiar. Sergeant Score with his royal armour, along with his guard partner Hoops, start beating him up. "YOU MOTHERBUCKER!"
"Wai..." tries to shout Chisel, but Hoops kicks him on his mouth, making it bleed.
Discord tries to do something. "WAIT! STOP! HE'S GOOD! HE'S GOOD!"
But they didn't understand what he tried to say. "Calm down, Discord!" shouts Hoops. "We'll get you out of this chain!"
"NO! I MEANT---"
No. No time for answers. No time for words. For Tenebris, there's no time for those two guards. He jumps onto them, not even caring about those who are actually following him... to kill him, to hurt him... He jumps onto them and smashes their heads so fast they can't even say their last words. A second later, Stone Chisel rises from the ground, with his bleeding mouth and a purple eye, and with the silver ring on his ear, broken. His silver ring is no longer with him. Then, he looks at Tenebris, standing on those poor smashed heads, while looking, above him, at a horde of pegasi coming at him. The ram doesn't care, though. He keeps looking at Stone Chisel. "RUSHKWA!" he shouts. "HELP!"
The light blue orb quickly appears over the ram's loin and starts spinning around the pegasi while the beast's necklace starts trembling again, creating a sphere which ends up locking them on its inside. Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis are still fighting, defending themselves and together while getting nearer Tenebris. They have to act now.
Luckily, the sphere Rushkwa made spares the three of their lives in a way. Quickly it starts bouncing on the ground, smashing all of the pegasi and guards who were fighting against them. Big Stomp, while observing this, tries to run to the ram, but trembles while realizing the shadow under him suddenly becomes bigger and bigger. He looks at how the light blue sphere, filled with a fiery red colour on the inside, with shouts and cries... comes to him. He swallows saliva, takes a breath and jumps to get out.
Sadly,
SMASH!
he didn't make it. Few drops of his blood land on Chrysalis' legs, while she is looking, along with her allies, at the few guard survivors. A part of them are just trying to save their friends from inside that sphere of hell Rushkwa likes to create, while others try to attack Tenebris. However, Stone Chisel observes there is steam coming out of the necklace again. The ram closes his eyes, concentrating on what he has to do. He growls, turning around, looking with his dilated pupils at those who want to attack him... and a second later...
One falls. Another one falls to the ground. And another. Another. Another. And every time someone falls, a deafening sound is heard on the sky. CRACK, CRACK, CRACK. A couple of broken necks on the ground.
And suddenly...
there is no opponent to fight.
Villains are right behind the bubble of hell where pegasi are begging for their lives. Cries and shouts are heard everywhere, Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow are behind the ram and its soulmate, the flying orb, while the stallion and the God of Chaos are in front of him. The three villains, the so-called Legion of Doom observes Stone Chisel with shock and anger, who knows he ruined a chance to stop Tenebris. If he hadn't run away, Discord's boulders may have been broken, and he could have set himself free. However, the ram turns around, getting his hooves out of the two guards' smashed heads, and looks at the three villains observing him. Chrysalis knows something is happening while Rushkwa, the orb, starts slowly flying around Cozy Glow. "What's..." she says. "What's wrong?"
Tenebris, however, remains silent, while Stone Chisel and Discord, from behind, look at how his long dark horns are getting covered by an almost invisible purple aura. Stone Chisel slowly stands up, with his face bleeding, and tries to tackle the ram from behind, but once he touches him, a purple, magical beam gets fired at Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen finds that out at that moment and dodges it on time. Tirek and Cozy Glow, instead of doing something, remain frozen, along with Stone Chisel, who falls to the ground again. "HEY!" shouts the queen, angrily. "IT WAS ME!"
The ram only growls and answers: "I know."
And in that right moment, her horn starts glowing green: "YEEEEARGH!" she shouts, about to jump onto the ram, but the orb of Rushkwa appears to the rescue and locks up the queen in a bubble. A bubble of hell. Cozy Glow opens her mouth, shocked, while Tirek looks at the ram and the orb, furiously. Discord and Stone Chisel get up, but this time it won't be to take a look.
"YOU BUCKER!" shouts Chrysalis from inside the bubble. "DAMN YOU! MONSTER, FOOLISH, STUPID, DAMN YOU, IDIOTIC RAM! I'M GONNA KILL YOU! BUCKING BUCKER!"
Tenebris and Rushkwa find out they have enemies from one side and the other. Tirek and Cozy Glow run to them, just for the attack, while Discord and Stone Chisel jump at the same time, trying not to trip over, to do the same. Tenebris saves himself and his soulmate from the centaur and the filly, hitting them with the bubble that has Chrysalis locked up... but he ends up being hit by Discord on his face. The god of Chaos crushes one of the boulders against the ram with so much strength it can be heard like an explosion. The beast crashes onto the ground, opening his eyes a second later, and finding out he is bleeding. His nose is cut, being wet because of a light blue liquid which is his blood, while almost all of his teeth are broken. "You... nand'i'é saffar... I'm gonna cut you in half, you IMBECILE DRACONEQUUS!"
Stone Chisel tries to bite the ram's ear but gets expelled by a light blue beam that came out of Rushkwa's orb, and if he gets thrown away, Discord too. Both creatures fly away, getting inside a crystal house, and now the ram and the orb's main attention gets driven to Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis locked up in a bubble. The centaur and the filly are trying to get the changeling out of it, but everything stops when both Tenebris and Rushkwa levitate the bubble and send it to the skies, making Tirek and Cozy Glow turn around and look at them. The monster, cleaning up his bleeding, broken nose, winks an eye at the orb, which makes her spin around both villains. Cozy Glow wants to attack her while Tirek tries not to get distracted by the light blue light which comes out of Rushkwa...
... but everything stops when an explosion is heard in the sky. A deafening shout is heard inside a ball of green fumes which evaporate in heaven, and at that right moment Cozy Glow shouts that name for the first time:
"CHRYSALIS!"
"You motherbucker..." shouts Tirek, looking at the ram. "I was right! I WAS RIGHT!"
"Shut your mouth up, you centaur," says Tenebris with a low voice, trying to breathe from his mouth and not from his now broken nose. "You think I was oligophrenic enough to let you turn your back on me?"
Cozy Glow gets quite shocked after hearing that but doesn't say anything. "So you knew it all this time..." says Tirek. "You damned genocidal monster... I told you and I was right... I told you you were so crazy you would eventually start killing all of us... as you did with the changeling..."
"And with all of you."
"SHUT UP, YOU STUPID ORB!" he shouts, angrily. "YOU THINK I'M GOING TO BE YOUR VICTIM? FOR THE HORNS OF GROGAR I'LL NEVER BE! NOT EVEN THE FIRST, NOT EVEN THE LAST! I'LL CONSUME YOU LIKE TRASH, GARBAGE!"
And something starts shining red. Everyone was so closed in their own mind and angry, all of them forgot there was actually a bubble of burning pegasi right next to them. Tenebris and Rushkwa look at the bubble and then look at the city. Only one destination. Only one chance. Tirek also shares the same looks as them... while Cozy Glow hides behind the centaur. "You..." whispers the filly. "You will..."
"Wait, prince Shining Armor," says one of the few guards who are staying in the castle, looking at everything through a window. "They are..."
"They are what?"
"Fighting each other."
Shining Armor now looks at the window. Lots of crystal ponies, civilians, running away or hiding in their homes, while at the entrance there is a crew of villains fighting each other with a big blue bubble in the background, where nothing on the inside can be seen from that view, and another one, much smaller, where they can see the shadow of something. Cadence also dares to look for a few seconds and then she grabs her husband's face. "Please," she says. "We need to go."
"Go!" he answers loudly. "Flurry Heart and you have to be safe now. I've already prepared a Royal Carriage with two pegasi waiting for you."
"But..." she says, crying. "Where is the big one, Shining Armor? Only one adult pony can get inside that carriage. It's too small. I---"
"I'll stay."
"Stay?" she shouts, crazily. "STAY? SHINING ARMOR, PLEASE!"
"I can't leave the place I built with my love, Cadence," he replies. "I will fight against Tenebris."
"Sir!" shouts the guard. "You can't do that. You know that ram's power---"
BOOM. An explosion is heard, which makes Flurry Heart cry in her room. The small bubble is not there, anymore. Now there is a strange green smoke on the skies... and Shining Armor finds out something: "Chrysalis... Chrysalis is not there anymore... she's..."
"Dead?" shouts Cadence. "Shining! SHINING! WE HAVE TO GO! WE HAVE TO GO AWAY! WE HAVE TO KEEP FLURRY SAFE!"
"WE CAN'T LEAVE!" he shouts. "All of the civilians, our people, still trapped in their homes! I have to get them out of there with the guards... and then we will fight the one who dared to kill us!"
"NO!" shouts the guard. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS, EMPEROR! YOU HAVE TO GO AWAY SO WE WILL DO IT FOR YOU!"
"NO!" he shouts, and then he turns back at Cadence. "PLEASE, THE CARRIAGE IS ON THE BACK BALCONY! GRAB FLURRY HEART AND GO!"
"I WON'T GO WITHOUT YOU!"
"BUT YOU HAVE TO BE SAFE!"
"AND YOU TOO!"
"AND FLURRY HEART HAS TO!"
While the discussion gets louder and louder, the two pegasi with the small carriage enter Flurry Heart's room and get her in the carriage, trying to calm her down. Cadence finds out they are doing this and runs to them. "WAIT!" she shouts. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
"WE HAVE TO GO NOW!" says one of the pegasi. "COME ON, MI AMORE CADENZA, MAJESTY, GET IN!"
Shining Armor turns around, listening to his, but, from one second to the other he finds out the whole room now is dyeing red. His skin is red. His mane too. "What is ha---"
And then he sees it. A red, burning bubble filled with crying pegasi is on fire, about to crash on his beloved town. The town he brought up. The town he saved. The town he loved so much. He closes his eyes, with a lump in his throat and whispers:
"Celestia... save me..."
💥BOOM💥
"Aaargh..."
He is the first one who opens his eyes and finds out his whole body is filled with crystal shards. Stone Chisel slowly gets up in shock, looking at the sky being surrounded by a strange red smoke with a really strong smell. He tries to look around.... to realize that there's nothing around him. Just shards, and shards and shards of crystal. However, the Empire's Castle is still standing, although its dome doesn't exist anymore. It's now broken into pieces on the ground.
He slowly gets up, without saying a word, and finds a piece of his own ear on the ground, bleeding. Then, he finds Discord behind him, lying against a broken house of crystal, also filled with shards over his whole body. He ignores what happened and also his severed ear, and tries to help Discord. Wait, he thinks... there's something else gone.
There's no chain. Both of them are free, and furthermore, both Discord's boulders are broken in half and the chain on his feet is now dust. He's free. "Discord..." he whispers, finding out he has a piece of crystal on his tongue while talking. He spits it with blood. "Discord..."
The God of Chaos slowly opens his eyes, but when he looks at the whole place, he opens them for complete and very, very widely... He looks everywhere and then, he finds the castle, whose dome is completely broken, but the entrance and the first store are still there. He realizes he's free, so the first thing he does is get off both Chisel and all of the shards in their bodies, with just a finger snap. Then, with no commentaries at all, decides to fly over the destroyed city, looking for the enemy he has to destroy. Stone Chisel, meanwhile, takes a look at the city's entrance and finds something. Tirek is hiding behind a broken house, still standing. Chisel runs to him and finds one of his horns is broken and he has several cuts and injuries over his loin, arms and hooves. "Tirek," he whispers, touching him. "Tirek, come on..."
"That... ram... is a..."
"I know... I know..."
And then the centaur, in the middle of the silence, looks at the stallion. "And you too."
He raises his eyebrows. "What?"
The centaur pushes him away. "You fool... you did this... you set him free..."
"I... I..." He doesn't know what to say. "Uh... look, uh..."
Tirek covers the stallion's mouth. "Don't... say... shut the... buck up... would you."
And then, at this right moment, Discord appears, holding Cozy Glow in his arms. She's not hurt, but very shocked. She can't even move. "I... I can't find him..." he says, with a shocking gesture. "Neither him nor the orb..."
"Me... neither," whispers Tirek. "I tried to but..."
"He's..." whispers Cozy Glow, getting off Discord's arms and falling to the ground filled with shards. "at... nowhere."
Actually not. He's not at nowhere. He exactly knows where he is. The ram, with his almost broken necklace, still standing, and the orb is messing around the broken castle in silence, while Rushkwa keeps spinning around him. "I've got to thank you for that."
"I protected you. That's what soulmates do."
"It was not a bad idea," he says, while the orb stops.
"Of course it wasn't. If it wasn't for that shield you made, we could have become a deadweight with that explosion."
Tenebris nods his head."Yes," he says while passing by a guard's corpse.
"Um..."
"What?"
"I just wanted to ask you if you are still OK... you know, because of your nose. Discord hit you really bad... it's broken..."
Tenebris raises an eyebrow, surprised. "Yes... um, it hurts but... I can fix it once I destroy this stupid necklace. You know I have more important things than this."
She sighs. "Oh, yeah... putting up with pain, such a Tenebris thing... and your neck? I've heard it burning while you were making that shield. Does it hurt? Are you OK?"
The ram just smiles. "Nice from you... to care about me."
"Uh... You know I always care about you."
"Yes, I know, but... It's the first time someone tells me that in... like a thousand and a bit more years."
She laughs. "By the day of tomorrow a whole community will care about you."
However, Tenebris doesn't answer her. He looks at a piece of something made of crystal. Everything around is just shards of crystal but this... this looks different. He looks around, trying to find something that may look like this particular piece and finds something special... there's a living pony, trapped under a broken column. A still-living pony with a blue mane, white skin and a broken horn. He has been trying to shout but he can only gargle with his mouth full of blood... Shining Armor is suffering.
Rushkwa also looks at him. "How stupid..." she says. "How couldn't I see him? Did you see him before while walking?"
"No."
Shining Armor looks at the ram and the orb, with fiery eyes, not being able to move or use his magic. He only gargles the blood inside his mouth while saying:
"You are going to die... you are going to die..."
Tenebris turns around and finds a small room, also broken in pieces. However, then he finds another shard of crystal which looks like the strange piece he found seconds ago. He turns his head back again and looks at the fallen prince. "You're confused, dear pony... we're not going to die today..."
A hoof slowly moves and starts flying around the prince's head, slowly... and slowly... and slowly... and slowly... and...
SMASH!
And slowly... and...
SMASH!
And...
CRASH!
And then... the final one...
CRACK!
Broken neck. Smashed head. Shining Armor is dead. "... you are."
Tenebris, finally, enters the room where he found that second piece and finds something which calls his attention. Despite all of the floor being covered with crystal, there's something big that is still on a piece... well, almost. Half of it is completely broken, but he swears, he knows... he realizes it has the shape of a heart. His eyes dilate once he sees that. "The..."
"Crystal Heart?"
"Maybe..."
"It's broken...... but... it looks like a heart."
The ram softly touches it with one of his hooves, and at that same time, his necklace starts vibrating. The gem's colour, which was dark grey at the moment he entered the castle in the middle of a crystal mess, is now turning to a lighter grey. "But... uh... what do I have to do?"
"Pass it over the necklace, maybe?"
The ram snorts while levitating the heart with his magic. "If only I asked that stupid draconequus..." he says, and starts rubbing the broken heart on his necklace...
... Nothing happens. The necklace is still vibrating. The gem is still in that grey. What does he have to do? "Come on!" he shouts, furiously. "You are going to show me," he says while throwing the heart on the floor, breaking a small part of it in pieces. "I'm going to find your key, stupid thing!"
"What if you stepped on it?"
Now, Tenebris looks at his soulmate, surprised. He looks at the orb, then at the Heart. Orb. Heart. Orb. Heart. Orb. Heart. He slowly moves his hoof again, as if it was Shining Armor's head, and smashes the heart in pieces with just one step.
The Crystal Heart is broken, and at that time, something blue starts climbing Tenebris' hooves. The necklace around him starts trembling again, but this time small shards of postcrystalline start getting out of it. The blue thing, however, turns into a ball and gets inside Tenebris' mouth. "NO!"
The ram feels drowned by the time the blue ball gets into his body, but then he feels from his insides, how that power, how those strange, mysterious, blue flumes start getting on with his strength, his being, his mist. His essence. His eyes change their colour to a clearer blue, while his broken nose automatically, at the same time, stops bleeding and goes back to normal. All of his broken teeth are reborn again, once the necklace breaks into pieces. The mysterious gem which was on his necklace falls to the floor and stays there, now with a dark, completely black colour. It's off.
So long without feeling something like this. So much time without feeling that indescribable chaos in his intestines. It's like a knife. The sharpest knife on his back helps him to go on. Which helps him to breathe. He's back. He's back now. And he feels it. Oh, damn... he never felt it that good. So long without feeling this kind of power... this divine representation...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!"
Rushkwa, however, gets desperate at hearing that shout. "TENEBRIS!"
"AAAARGH! SO LOOOONG, RUSHKWA! It feels... so good after such a long TIIIIME!"
Sadly, unfortunately, at that same time Tenebris feels his real being in his heart... somebody realizes it while entering the castle. Stone Chisel is the first one which observes the inside, looking at Shining Armor swimming in his own death. "NO!" he shouts, once he looks at the poor stallion. "NO! SHINING ARMOR!"
He wants to check him out. He wants to check if he's alive or not. He wants to save him. Save him? After laughing at his booty on the trial? Hell yeah. He wants to save him because that's what he has to do now. However, once he starts running to him, a strong hand grabs him in time. "Not so fast!" shouts Tirek. "TENEBRIS! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU MOTHERBUCKER? WE'VE HEARD YOU!"
And at that right moment where Tirek asks that question, Rushkwa appears. The orb starts flying around Shining Armor's corpse, without making any commentaries. Discord, however, takes advantage of his freedom and decides to trap Rushkwa with two magical chains. "Where is him, Rushkwa?"
She's acting different this time.... "I won't tell you."
The God of Chaos rises his eyebrows. "You won't tell me?"
"No... why don't..."
Discord's anger is now visible. "Why don't what?"
And in that same moment, the orb starts increasing its size, breaking the two magical chains with her strength. She slowly turns from a light blue orb with no eyes, no mouth and just light to a light blue night ram with small white horns and red eyes. A real Night Ram. A real appearance. In that right moment, Discord and everyone knew something was really, really wrong. "Why don't you ask the REAL Rushkwa?"
Discord doesn't breathe for a second trying to think about how Rushkwa turned into her older self, but his thoughts get interrupted when he gets surrounded by a black aura. Black Aura, he thinks. Black Aura. No. It can't be. He takes a look at the room where the Crystal Heart has to be... only to find out there's no Heart. There's no Crystal. There's no hope. Tenebris is Chaos again, and he is now under his magic.
The draconequus feels his air coming out of his throat for just one second. From one second to the other, he becomes the weakest creature in the world, at the same time Tenebris appears right above him.
Tirek wants to attack. Cozy too. Stone Chisel also wants to, but no one of them can do anything right now. The centaur tries to move his hooves, his human arms, his face, his mouth... but he can't. He just can't. He feels how he has just turned into a statue. Cozy wants to move her wings and Chisel wants to trot the faster he can, but no one can move anything. They only can look. Look at Tenebris and Rushkwa stepping on Discord.
The God of Chaos tries to snap, to do something, but nothing happens. All of his air, his power, his essence... drained in one second. "Too late," now says Tenebris, with a new tone. A new identity. "I am you now."
Discord, with shivers down his spine, for the first time in his life, feels he can't control chaos anymore. This has gotten out of his hands, and the only thing he can do is to pray... For whom? He doesn't know... but he has to pray. He looks behind him. To Tirek, to Cozy Glow and to Stone Chisel, especially. "Stone..." he says, almost whispering. "Stone Chisel, you've got to solve what you started---"
But sadly, Tenebris is not the kind of creature who doesn't want to let you finish your sentence. Suddenly, Discord stops talking and his whole face turns blank. With no expression at all. Just a few seconds later, a strange sound is heard, and everybody can look at how Discord's long, stretchy body... has turned into dices of every kind of colour. Red, blue, yellow, white, black... Discord suddenly is nothing. Has become nothing else than a couple of dices. "Dice-cord," says Tenebris, stepping on the dices. "Such a stupid wordplay I came up with last night... Isn't it, Rushkwa?"
The now real Rushkwa nods her head. "Yes, my love."
"Good, my soulmate... just something else and I get my lands back."
Suddenly, the three statues are getting moved and...
VROOOOOOOOOOOOMCRASH!
The three statues now can move... while staying outside the castle after getting expelled by the ram's new almighty powers of chaos. He is not only a chaos magic user but literally, he has just turned into...
THE GOD OF CHAOS...
The three survivors get up and find out they are from the other side of the castle, where they can clearly look at the river where Tenebris used to live, according to him. At that right time Cozy Glow finds out something which is happening on her forehead:
"MY HORN!" she shouts. "IT'S... IT'S LITERALLY TURNING INTO..."
Yes... Stone and Tirek look at how the little filly's horn turns into dust, fading in the air, at the same time Tenebris and Rushkwa appear in front of them, literally rising from the ground filled with crystals. Both night rams think they will attack together, but Tirek, however, has something else in mind. He wants to take charge of this. To show the rams what he is made of. Cozy Glow now, for the first time, feels completely scared of the night rams and hides behind the centaur. At that right time, the centaur clenches his fists and looks at Stone Chisel, who is still standing with his bleeding face and severed ear. "You," says Tirek, looking at Stone Chisel. "Run."
Now the stallion is shocked. "What?" he says.
"You, stallion. You, filly. Run."
"TIREK!" she shouts, hugging her friend's leg. "NO! NO!"
But the centaur gets mad and shouts at her: "RUN! RUN! I'LL SHOW THESE WHAT I'M MADE OF."
"You are doing wrong, Tirek," exclaims this time the ram, seriously. "Alone? Against me?"
Stone Chisel turns around and looks at the river... can they run? He may have one chance, so he decides to grab Cozy Glow from her back hooves and start to run... but she doesn't want to leave her friend. "COZY!" he shouts. "COME ON!"
"NO!" she shouts, now crying. "TIREK!"
But now Tirek is in another world, another reality. For the first time in his long life, the wicked lord needs to show the world what's his real face. He slowly opens his mouth, frowning and observing widely the rams. At the same time, Tenebris' horns start glowing orange. Someone's trying to consume his magic. "Oh no... you won't do it, you damned centaur!"
Rushkwa tackles Tirek and covers his mouth, not letting him consume her soulmate's magic. and Cozy Glow dares to attack the creature who threatened her a while ago, but Tenebris easily throws both her and Stone Chisel away. Tirek, trying to resist, grabs Rushkwa from her neck and throws her away, making her crash against the weakened castle's walls. The centaur knows Tenebris didn't like that, so he tries to go for him the faster he can. The ram is just standing there, not moving, so Tirek, trying not to get too close, decides to fire a magical beam at him. In the background, Cozy Glow and Stone Chisel are fighting each other.
"You can't!" shouts Chisel. "We have to go away!"
"NO!"
"But we can't do anything to them!" he shouts, holding her back hooves. "Please!"
But she doesn't want to listen. She only cares about her friend. "TIREK!"
Tirek looks at how the magical beam is slowly flying, walking to the ram's eyes, but from out of nowhere, the beam turns around, not even touching the ram. The centaur, with no words, tries to dodge the beam, but it hits him on his chest, throwing him away, near Cozy Glow and Stone Chisel. "TIREK!" she shouts, looking at her friend on the ground, crying. "TIREK!"
The centaur opens his eyes, this time really furious. "FILLY! YOU HAVE TO RUN!"
"I DON'T WANNA LEAVE YOU ALONE!"
"RUN!" he shouts, madly. "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? RUN, FILLY!"
"But..." she says, looking at her friend standing up, while Stone Chisel touches her from the back. "No..."
The centaur, out of his attitude, oddly starts rubbing the filly's hair with his hand. "Would you run?" he says, angrily. "Would you?"
"But... we have to be to---"
"We don't have to," he interrupts. "We don't have to be together, filly. Go away! I'll show them who am I, this is not for you!"
"But..."
"He said it!" shouts Stone Chisel, something that makes her mad, so she punches him with a hoof. "HEY!"
Tirek turns his head to look at the ram, only to find out the face of the beast is literally touching his face. At that right moment, he feels the world falling apart. A strange pain in his chest calls his attention, which ends up in something cold entering his body. All in less than a second, a hoof of Tenebris has made a hole in the centaur's chest. The world now is white and black for the centaur, which only spits blood while trying, without knowing why, to defend the filly and the stallion. He is just there, however, to show the ram who's messing with.
Tenebris gets down while having Rushkwa on his back, waiting for the centaur to fall dead on the ground. Cozy Glow knows something's wrong right now, and she dares to attack. She gets off Stone Chisel and jumps onto the ram, but fastly the beast throws her away, crashing her against the stallion on the ground covered with crystals. At that same time, something cold grabs his neck, something that sends shivers down Rushkwa's spine. The centaur's arms, fading from a red tone to a grey with no soul at all, start strangling the ram. "Not the first... not the last..." he says, whispering.
Tenebris, however, can say something while being strangled. "You... YOU!" he shouts, and then Tirek's sight, Tirek's point of view of life, suddenly fades out. Another cold, hard object suddenly gets on his chest, this time getting through his heart, the one who makes him keep living. He throws up his blood all over the ground and this time, trying to think properly for the last time, knows he won't stand up after this. The hoof of Tenebris is as red as his chest, while he is getting much and much weaker, shrinking his size and turning his skin grey. The ram looks at the lost sight of the centaur, trembling and stuttering. "You were right," says the ram. "Not the first, not the last. You are the second on the list."
"Buck... you..." whispers the trembling, weakened centaur with a hole on his chest, lying on the ground. He grabs the hoof which got through his heart and tries to break it in half, as he would do it in his ultimate form, but, after a couple of seconds, the hand slowly gets weaker... and weaker... and weaker... until he stops moving. The black eyes with not even yellow pupils, but a dark grey, blank sight, are looking to nowhere. The centaur's life suddenly doesn't exist anymore.
Cozy Glow opens her eyes and looks, from far away, at his centaur friend suddenly becoming into a dark grey sack of bones. She opens her mouth in shock, while tears start rolling down her eyes. Stone Chisel also gets up and looks at what's happening, so he tries to grab Cozy Glow and run away with her, but no. She doesn't want to. She has something else in mind.
"NO!" she shouts, now flying to the killer rams. "I WILL DESTROY YOU!"
"COZY GLOW!" shouts the stallion. "WE HAVE TO GO!"
But the little filly with all of her hair messed up and dishevelled, and having a few cuts on her body because of the crystals in the ground tries not to hear him. He pushes him away and shouts: "YOU TOO! I WILL DESTROY YOU TOO! YOU ARE GUILTY OF EVERYTHING!" and then she starts crying louder. "YOU ARE GUILTY OF MY ONLY FRIEND'S DEATH!"
And Stone Chisel feels quite guilty thinking about that. Cozy Glow starts flying to the ram but no, he can't let her go so easily. She has to live. Nobody else has to die because of this. Starlight, Flash, Shining Armor, Chrysalis, Tirek... no one else. No one. He doesn't want to cry any other crystal tears no more. "COZY GLOW!" he shouts, chasing her, the faster he can and could. "COME BACK!"
Nevertheless, it's now too late. The rams always knew they were running onto them. Always. That's when, while observing how the two ponies are getting nearer and nearer, one chasing the other, the female ram fires her last magical beam. The strongest one, and suddenly it's all a blackout. An explosion comes out of it.
A Stone Chisel, filled with dust and shards of crystals gets sent to the skies because of the explosion, not being able to hear Cozy Glow's sobs anymore. She doesn't hear her anymore. Where is she? Is she? Is she not? She has to be! She has to be alive! Nobody else has to die.
"COZY GGG---" he can't shout anymore. He gets inside cold waters, while a current starts taking him to nowhere. Once he opens his eyes, covered with dust, crystals and blood, he finds out the river is taking him to nowhere. That river. The same river where Tenebris lived his childhood, was a part of his life. "COZ... CO... COZY GLOW!" he shouts, but no one can hear him. No one can help him now. He's not dead, but he will be soon. If it's not the ram, then it would be the river. If it's not the river, then it would be something else. He tries to get to the surface, to the ground, but the current doesn't let him. That's why he decides to give up and lets the current let him go, just because he's done. His life has stopped, suddenly, from one minute to another, from one day to another one...
... Stone Chisel has no salvation.
Stats
Page generated in 0.022 seconds
Total duration
1,008 users online
328,743 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
What do you mean by “transition from the first half of the story to the second”?
What does the rest of the letter say?
What is he talking about?
What’s the problem with hiding it?
Just because they’re targeting the emperors, now. Doesn’t mean they’re not gonna destroy The Chrystal Heart on their way in/out.
Her plan?
He has a snake like body, so I’m pretty sure he’s fine.
Where did the chrystal shards come from?
How is she fighting? She’s an orb.
Was the ring important?
What did he just call him?
Will what?
I thought the shield protected them?
Why is she screaming no?
What happened?
So, she wasn’t completely scared before?
Why is he talking like that?
Also, there is no way I’m expecting you to reply to all of this, because not even I would.
Damn...
10584412
, although I'll do it in parts.
Don't worry, I'll take my time to answer them
All of the chapters before this one, Crystal Tears, basically were written to introduce the characters, the villains and also the main plot, which reached its climax on this chapter. The next chapters that will follow this one will be written to solve the plot, leading to the story's second part, the conflict's resolution.
No idea.
I'll leave it up to your interpretation.
After he asks that, she takes him to the room where the Crystal Heart stays.
Shiny Mercury doesn't want to, because he considers the Heart's light as the enlightenment of the crystal ponies. If he hides it, then there would be no hope and love, according to him.
Yeah, but Shiny Mercury doesn't want to understand that sometimes.
10584412
Rushkwa had the idea of killing them in the Crystal Empire. Tenebris was just convinced by her.
Yeah, but being squashed and stepped on by a ram and a centaur has to hurt a bit.
Shiny Mercury's crystal body basically blew up in pieces.
She can't fight... but can help Tenebris by using magic.
Nope. It was just something he had on his ear.
10584412
Something from his language. You'll later find out.
Cozy already knew what were they going to do with the city.
What do you mean? If the shield protected both rams? Yes, it did.
Something strange and blue got into her soulmate's mouth.
She turned into her real self. From an orb, she changed into a real animal with fur, eyes and hooves.
Nah... she's Cozy Glow.
Tirek was really mad at that moment. I wouldn't approach him if I were there.
10584504
10585384
So, there are different arks?
10585392
I didn’t know he was getting stepped on.
Their bodies are made out of crystal?
10585406
I would say yes. I tried to say that in the comment but didn't know how to. The word didn't come up to me.
The first ark finished on this chapter, and the second ark will begin after this one.
10585398
I meant, wasn’t there a barrier around the castle?
So, when he’s angry he talks like that?
10585408
Yeah... he was all over the floor inside a tiny, dark cube of dirt.
10585415
Maybe, but that explosion was so strong it destroyed everything around.
Maybe. I could say yay.
10585412
Well, at least you got the word now.
10585416
Yea, but I thought the reason they called them crystal ponies was because they shine like crystals, you know like a metaphor.
10585417
That’s making me have a theory for tirek. I don’t know what the ya is for, but ok.
10585424
Yeah, at least.
I also thought the same, so that's why I decided to do some research before in the MLP wikia. I read their bodies were literally crystal, but when they were ruled by Sombra they had the same appearances as an earth pony.
I decided to look it up again, to verify it, and I came across comments that said it was just a crystalline appearance they had but never said they were literally made of crystal. Nevertheless, I decided not to change this, because Tenebris' magic, although having the necklace, was able to blow him up into crystal at that moment.
Really?
Which one?
10585453
I’m thinking that maybe that tirek was born around the time they talked like cavemen, but over the years learned to talk normal, and when he’s angry he goes back to talking like he originally did. Kinda like how someone could be talking English one minute and start yelling in Spanish the next. Or how some actors accents would slip. Do you mean which yay?
10585463
Yeah, I agree. Sometimes you let your old jargon go while angry. Tenebris also did the same thing.
No, what I meant with yay was yes, but just Fluttershy-styled. I wrote that dialogue in that way, and your theory just gave it depth.
10585492
Oh ok
Time to die, Billy goat.
What is it that makes everyone's fight or flight instincts turn to kamikaze?
11215627
Don't know.