The Prince of the Crystal Empire

by Prince_Dark_Bane

Chapter 12: Assault on Canterlot

Day after Chapter 11:
All citizens of Equestria were surprised when they read in the paper that they were going to war with the tyrants of the Crystal Empire. This brought great fear since they heard that Sombra’s son had created his own army by giving life to crystals. Princess Luna was having all military forces train hard and had more patrols go through the empire. Most of the patrols went by the Everfree Forest to make sure Dark Bane kept to the forest. Some of the brave hardy cadets ran into the forest only to return saying they were attacked by both the Legion of Shadows and small imperfect clones of Nightmare Moon. With the help of the Children of Night, the military learned that they we’re told that they encountered members of the Children of Nightmare. Luna was sending her Lunar Guards to Ponyville to make sure Dark Bane didn’t go after any of the elements bearers. Twilight and friends where working out a plan to find Dark Bane’s castle and to rescue the CMC. So far the group of mares and some stallions weren’t having the best of luck with coming up with a plan. In fact, when Night Shade and Star Light heard that their son was taken caused the parents to cut themselves from socially with Night Veil packing her bags to leave the town while not telling anypony where she was going. Most ponies were wondering where Princess Celestia as she hasn’t been seen in a day or two. The entire kingdom was scared since there has been rumors had gone around saying that Dark Bane has kidnapped six children most like brainwash them to use them as spies. Parents started to follow their children everywhere to make sure they wouldn’t be taken. While the CMC were just tired of Dark Bane and in their opinion his demonic teaching.
Castle of Death, Library, 7:30 AM:
In the center of the library stood seven dark oak desks with a foal sitting in each while facing towards a chalk board with the prince of shadows standing in front of it lecturing the seven young minds about magic.
“Now by focusing your magic to one point, you can increase the power for a spell that you can cast.” Dark Bane stated as he used a pointer stick to point out what he was explaining on a chalk board.
“And I thought Twilight was an egghead, but he makes her seem almost as awesome as Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo thought as she looked at the chalk board with a bored expression while she had her chin on her hoof.
“Pay attention Scoot or he’ll have us balance on top of wood boards that are on stone balls.” Sweetie Belle whispered to her friend to make sure that Dark Bane didn’t have them do another focus test like yesterday when said pegasus fell asleep during one of his lectures and had punished all seven foals for it.
“I am paying attention! I’m never doing that again.” Scootaloo hissed back to the unicorn filly as the older pony was describing the parts of magic.
“Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, is there something that you two would like to say?” Dark Bane asked as he turned around to look at the two fillies causing them to sit straight in their seats.
“No we don’t.” the two replied in unison while scared that he may make them go through focus training again for that alone.
“Then please keep your eyes on the board and your ears open.” the prince countered as he motioned with his left hoof to Loki as he sat on a perch with his glowing red eyes staring at the group.
“That bird still creeps me out more than the Everfree Forest.” Applebloom stated as she looked at the dark phoenix with a look of slight panic.
“I can see through him, so I can tell what you’re doing remember?” the unicorn stallion asked as he looked at the group of foals with a raised eye brow and getting nods in return from all but one foal.
“All I want is to get my cutie mark and finally be able to fly. Nothing you’re teaching is going to help me with either of those.” the small winged pegasus filly countered with as she looked at him with a stare that rivaled his own.
“Have you seen that pegasus that used fire magic?” Dark Bane asked as he looked down towards the filly with a look of annoyance of a past memory.
“I’ve seen him, but I’m never going to be able to do what he can.” Scootaloo answered as she looked up at the unicorn stallion.
“When I first started to learn magic, I had a natural talent for its defensive aspect. It took long nights of reading, studying and practice for me to master all the other forms of magic there is. All you have to do to get your cutie mark is to find what you’re best at. Then there’s a strong possibility that the built up magic in your body will be released allowing your wings to grow to their proper size.” the foals’ teacher explained as he looked at the orange filly.
“Then why are my wings so big?” Blizzard asked as he looked at his large wings with a frown.
“What’s wrong with having big wings?” Silver Shield asked as he moved his glare from Dark Bane to the pegasus colt.
“They’re too big for me to fly normally like any other pegasus.” the snow white colt answered as he did a small flap.
“You’re like the exact opposite of me, but you still can’t fly. Maybe we can be friends after all. That is if you weren’t part of some evil colt.” Scootaloo stated as she looked at the other pegasus.
“I was born into it, and everypony sees me as the next leader since my sister is blind. They expect me to be perfect, and they expect me to know everything a pegasus can do without any help.” Blizzard replied as he placed his head on the desk.
“I will then get the both of you flight trainers to help you. They will be waiting for you after this.” Dark Bane stated as he turned back to his chalk board and used his emerald colored magic to pick up a piece of chalk and continued his lesson on healing magic.
Unknown to the seven foals was that Dark Bane was getting a large strike force ready to begin the first part of summoning the Elements of Nature so he could use them.
Canterlot Castle, 8:00 A.M.:
The many guards of the castle didn’t know what to think of when they saw a group of 6 mares, 3 stallions, 2 dragons, and 1 zebra walked by them. Some guards didn’t even bat an eye at the sight since they got use to this kind of stuff a few years ago from all the potential world ending events.
“25 bits that they’re going to use the Hammer of Friendship on this Dark Bane stallion.” a grey unicorn guard whispered to a white pegasus guard. (A nickname I’ve decided to have the guards call the Elements of Harmony.)
“30 bits that they won’t.” the pegasus whispered back as he leaned a little to his friend.
“Hey you two, you’re still on duty! Get to work!” yelled a red earth pony rounding a corner who was their sergeant.
“Sir Yes Sir!” both replied as they quickly continued their patrol that they seemed to stop to make said bet.
The group of 12 made their way towards the throne room. When they got there, they saw Princess Luna sitting on the throne with a solemn look on her face.
“You wanted to see us Princess Luna.” Twilight stated as she looked at the alicorn of the night.
“Yes. It seems the poison that Dark Bane used on my sister has eluded our doctors. I would like Zecora to take a look at some they have recreated.” Luna replied as she used her magic to levitate a small vial of a glowing yellow liquid to the zebra.
When Zecora grabbed the vial, both her and Flame looked at it with calculating stares. After a minute, Zecora lowered her head with a frown on her lips.
“I am sorry. But without my home, this poison I cannot cure.” the zebra stated as she had a defeated look in her eyes. (I hate writing/typing in rhymes.)
“Good thing I’m a brew master as well, and from the fact that it’s glowing, I can tell he has infused it with magic.” Flame stated as he took the vial of poison.
“How long will it take you to make a cure?” Luna asked as she looked at the pure green pegasus.
“Let me see.” Flame stated as he shook the vial then removed the stopper while taking a sniff of the vial liquid.
“So, how long Flame?” Scale asked as she looked at her friend with a raised an eye brow.
“I would have to say 2 weeks at most.” Flame answered as he replaced the stopper.
“If you need anymore, simply ask me.” Luna stated before one of the medical stuff from the medical wing came running in.
“Princess Luna, your sister is fully healed, but something is off about her!” the nurse exclaimed as she looked at the lunar alicorn.
Luna immediately took flight with the others following her down the halls to see the elder sister. When they got to the medical wing, they saw that Celestia was sitting upright on the bed while looking out the window to look at the edge of the Everfree Forest that the mountain city was built on didn’t block. No pony knew what to do as Celestia really wasn’t acting like herself.
“Sister, are you ok?” Luna asked as she got closer to her sister feeling something was different with the older alicorn’s magic.
“No, but thanks to Dark Bane’s attack, I now see the truth about him. I will be in my room readying myself for the battle that is to come.” Celestia replied as she turned and left for her room while no pony saw her eyes turn dragon like with the whites replaced with a light purple for a split second.
“I don’t know what has happened to me sister, but Dark Bane is the reason for it.” the younger alicorn sister stated as she looked to where her sister went with worry.
“We could really use the help of that one group of heroes.” Pinkie stated as she looked at the others with her hoof to her mouth.
“What is this group called and who are in it?” Clockwork asked as he had a feeling he just gave everypony a headache from asking.
“I don’t remember any of the names, but one member wears a high-tech suit, another one is a super soldier that was created during something called a world war, then there’s the god of thunder and he has a hammer, then the super spy and her partner that’s never misses with his bow and arrow, and then there’s the strongest one of them all where he gets stronger the angrier he gets. Now if I could only remember their names and what they call themselves.” Pinkie Pie stated as she held a hoof to her chin while the others just looked at her like she was crazy. (I made a promise to myself that I would reference them.)
Castle of Death Gardens, same time:
“Princess Celestia has finally fallen and my new weapon has awakened. She shall be known as Terror Nova.” Dark Bane stated as he already sent the kids away and had Scootaloo and Blizzard start their flight training and then went to his gardens.
Trixie looked at her husband as she walked into the gardens to see if her husband knew anything about alicorns that way she could take care of Nightengale better.
“Honey, you had trouble controlling Luna. What makes you think you’ll have better luck controlling Celestia?” the ex-show mare asked as she looked at the powerful unicorn stallion that she loves.
“Luna doesn’t have the same level of magic as her sister, but she had greater will than her sister. There’s a reason why they ruled together. Celestia is too soft by herself, while Luna is too hard by herself.” the dark stallion answered as Trixie realized what he was saying.
Suddenly, the sky of the forest went black with thunder and lightning tearing it apart. The black clouds gathered around the castle. After about a minute, rain started to lightly come down on the two ponies. As Trixie left to get back into the castle, Dark Bane stayed out longer letting rain fall on him for about a second before he used his magic to raise a shield to protect his gardens in case if the rain becomes a thunderstorm. With his garden protected from the worst of the potential storm, the dark stallion rejoined his wife who looked a little startled at the sudden appearance of the falling water.
“I know the Everfree Forest contains wild magic, but I didn’t think that it would affect the weather this much.” Trixie stated as she used her magic to dry her husband while he looked at the raging rain storm.
“This is not the forest’s power at work. It is nature. It is enraged at an unbalance that Equestria has created.” the dark prince stated as he used his powerful magical skills to reach out to try and find out why nature became angry now of all the ages.
“Maybe it had something to do with you controlling Celestia like she’s a puppet.” the princess stated as she finished drying her husband and started to nuzzle his neck with her head.
“No, it’s not that. Just have to widen my search.” the prince stated as his horn started to glow with his emerald magic as his eyes closed to let his magic have his full attention at the moment.
After about 30 seconds, the two unicorns got startled by Night Veil as walked up while she seemed to be searching for something herself.
“Must you creep like that?” Trixie asked as she glared at the blind unicorn.
“I’m trying to find out why Equestria’s magical field changed. It’s causing problems with my sixth sense spell. Everything is blurred, and by the way, if you’re glaring at me, I can’t tell even if my spell was working correctly.” the scholar mare stated as she turned her head towards the two but seemed to have troubles telling them apart.
“Nature hates imbalances. Princess Celestia and her rule has made this land too ordered. There needs to be chaos and the Everfree Forest can no longer give the needed chaos.” Dark Bane stated as he looked at the worsening storm as he sent an order for the unicorn members of his legion to form a barrier around the castle.
“My lord, I do have a question for you.” Night Veil stated as she was starting to get used to the strange vision.
“Speak it and make it quick. I have work to do.” the unicorn stallion replied as he looked at the blind mare.
“You say that you have studied many forms of magic and yet you only seem to use dark magic, the magic every unicorn can use, and Changeling magic. Why don’t you use all the magic you know?” the colt mare asked as she could tell that he had the strength to use many more different types of magic.
“It is true that I have studied most known forms of magic, but I had just learned how to use Changeling magic before I was turned to stone, but I was able to learn more about it while I waited for my freedom. However, the main reason I studied so many different forms of magic was to be prepared. I don’t fear the mage that has practiced a thousand different spells once, but I do fear the mage that has practiced a single spell a thousand times. The more you know of a spell the better you can use it.” the dark lord answered as he turned around and headed towards the crystal mines to create more Legion of Shadow warriors so his father would have his own strike force to use.
“Thank you my lord. I’ll keep your words in mind.” the blind mare replied as she turned around and walked into a legionnaire.
“Are you Night Veil?” the legionnaire asked as he helped her up.
“Yes I am.” she answered as she rubbed her head while trying to figure out how she didn’t see him.
“King Sombra has asked for your presence in the war room. Will you need an escort?” the shadow pony stated as she could now tell that he was a large earth shadow pony.
“Yes. I’m having a hard time navigating at the moment and a harder time seeing ponies, so please stay close to me and make some noise every once and a while.” the cult mage replied as she saw mostly the chaotic magic of the Everfree Forest at the moment.
The nameless warrior/guard grunted in agreement as he made sure that she was following him first before leading her to the war room. He only had to make a noise three times before they got to their destination. She thanked the legionnaire pony before he left and then turned to look at the lord of fear and dark magic. Night Veil was slightly panicking since she could clearly seem him with her spell since he used dark magic so often that it scared his magical field to take on a darker look.
“I must ask you something.” the king stated as he looked at the young mare.
“How may I help you?” the blind mare asked as she made sure that he wasn’t trying to influence her with dark magic.
“I want your opinion on my son’s resent behavior. I haven’t seen him like this since he was a child.” Sombra answered as he looked at the mare that’s around the same age as the one that got pass his traps.
“All that I have seen shows me that he is very protective. From what I’ve heard of him, this is very strange since he was willing to sacrifice anything to win.” Night Veil replied as she thought about what she heard about the lord of rage and hate.
“I was afraid of this.” Sombra stated as he turned his back to the mare.
“Afraid of what my king?” the young mare asked as she noticed that there were no legionnaires in the war room at the moment.
“Before my son and I started the war with Equestria, he had me cast a spell on him that made him look and act differently than he did during the war, but now I think that the spell is weakening somehow.” the lord of fear lied as he started to think up a plan. “I either have to recast my control spell on him, or send him into a state of rage that will make him my weapon once more. I’ll have to send him into a rage.”
Night Veil couldn’t tell what was going through the dark lord’s mind, but she could tell that he was thinking of something do to his magical field changing.
“I must be careful around this one. Sombra may be more power crazed than we thought.” Night Veil thought as she kept her body ready to move at a moment’s notice.
“My legions, prepare for battle! We leave for Canterlot in one hour. Those of the Children of Nightmare that wish to come either keep up or stay behind. I will not have my military operation ruined this day.” Dark Bane’s voice sounded throughout the castle as the sound of hoof steps sounded.
With Dark Bane:
The young prince of old stood before a group of 10 unicorn stallions that were the same size as an average earth pony stallion. These legionnaires were difficult to make since he knew that his father would want them all to be unicorns and strong as well. They would also need his father’s magical signature to truly finish them. They would be separate from the hive mind and only take orders from his father.
“Hopefully these are to my father’s standers.” Dark Bane stated as moments later his father appeared from a dark magic teleport.
“Are they finished?” the king asked his son as he looked at the small group of shadow ponies.
“Not quite. I already gave them everything they needed, but you need to use your magic on them so they know who their one and only commander is.” the younger stallion answered as he looked at his father.
Nodding to this, Sombra summoned his magic and sent non harming beams at them. As soon as they were hit, all 10 of them stood ram rod straight and waited for orders.
“Father, have them go to the armory. I had their armor made and waiting for them there. We will soon be sitting on the throne of this empire.” Dark Bane stated as he started to walk off
Sombra knew that his son would allow him to mentally command this strike force and had them go to the armory, and gave them a command to be ready to leave for Canterlot soon. As soon as they disappeared, the lord of fear went to find his daughter-in-law. He soon found her reading a story to the foals. (Blizzard and Scootaloo had to stop their flight training because of the storm.)
“We will be beginning our attack soon. I suggest you get ready.” the unicorn stallion stated as he glared at all of them.
“Grandpa scares me.” Nightengale whispered to her mother.
“You’re not the only one scared of him.” Trixie whispered back.

Author's Note:

Me: My computer hates me.
Prince Dark Bane: What happened this time.
The Great and Powerful Trixie: Who cares?
Nightengale: That's not very nice mommy.
The Great and Powerful Trixie: Stop calling me that. I'm a different from that faker in this story.
Me: At least Pinkie Pie and Flame aren't here.
Flame: Sup.
Me: I'm not even surprised any more. Who brought you?
Flame: Princess Luna.
Luna: I simply used the mirror from those Equestria Girls movies. I simply used a little magic on it and was able to come here.
Me: Did Pinkie Pie come with you?
Flame: No she said something about brushing Gummy's teeth.
Me: She just gets crazier and crazier every day.
Flame: Just like Ponyville.
Me: I know the chapter name is misleading but I tend to do that I love to mess with people.

Comments

[chrisharte97]

Interesting chapter.

[Prince_Dark_Bane]

6370016 thank you

[chrisharte97]

6373565 You're welcome

[Prince_Dark_Bane]

7751623 No that's just the name I gave him and the Siths go with Darth with their titles.