Domed reality

View Online

Equestria sat in ruins. Its once verdant plains, strong mountains, and beautiful lakes were replaced by the ravaged temperate of the corrupt and the fallen. Discord and his chaos demons stretched from the southern part of Equestria, extending from a destroyed Ponyville. Many good memories yet remain in that place, but it was for this reason that no attempts were made to recover the small town; Among others, of course. This town had been destroyed after the elements had fallen, leaving Discord to amuse himself as he wished, but he was not the one who destroyed Ponyville.

The Everfree forest and much of the land surrounding it had been engulfed by the night, turning the whole area into a world of shade and shadow where dark abominations have grown and prospered. They wait in the darkness of the Shadowlands for an unwary traveler to add to the following of their queen.

As for the north, it has been completely overrun by crystals. The Crystal Kingdom had became the domain of Sombra after Cadence and Shining Armor attempted to stop his return, but they failed. The Crystal Heart now remains hidden forever, and the King's power rises greatly as his new avatar spreads corrupting crystals to bring in more servants and create more crystal ponies in the process. His spread did not go easily however, and some of the fiercest the king met was when his forces attempted to quickly conquer Stalliongrad. Heavy losses were met on both ends, but the fearless kommissars eventually fell, their people and country eventually going with it.

The country's capital, bearing the same name as it, was in shambles. The once enormous capital of strength and culture was now just a distant memory of what was and what might have been. The buildings still possessed their orange-red coloration from the bricks placed, but no building had been left intact. Towers had crumbled and become hollow walls, houses were torn apart while small, black crystals grew on their outer walls. Debris and rusted weaponry were strewn across the streets, with many sets of armor accompanying them suggesting something sinister laying beneath the body protection. Not one window remained intact, and often could one spot a creature wandering in the darkness behind it. Giant black crystals were a common occurrence here as well. Many had engulfed the side of a tall, collapsing building. This gave a very uncommon sight of the top of a building but off from its lower portion and rising in the air as it somehow remained intact an did not break apart. This city was one of Sombra's first conquests when he stretched from the frozen tundra towards the Crystal Mountains.

This city was not exempt from its own creatures, and many a pony having been corrupted and turned into a true 'crystal' pony roamed the streets in search of information for their new ruler. One such group had been sent in an effort to empower their disembodied master, a sudden source of massive magic having revealed itself in the once forgotten city. As such, one crystal pony of a uniform bring blue wandered the streets, his angular green eyes scoping as much as possible. A slave was not allowed to return its master empty-hooves, after all. The stallion had decided to go towards the town hall in hopes of finding the source there. Naturally, all that was left of the giant construct were portions of its back wall, a few white pillars on the front, its right wall, and just the right portion of the roof which was bending downwards.

"I hate going to these places, but the master's orders are absolute,' the stallion spoke with a tunnel echo effect. He started to toss about the shards of glass and piles of bricks everywhere, hoping to find the object easily. He was disappointed and the longer he searched, the more he started to panic. "Where is it? Where is it?! I can't find the new source my master detected. I do not want to be turned into a statue for his new pet to play with! All the others who failed him..." the stallion stuttered as he began to shiver.

While the stallion continued to panic, the town hall vibrated slightly and collapsed, scaring the scavenger and choking him with dust and debris, making him cough and close his eyes to avoid more pain.

"Ah! That hurts! Why didn't I notice it collapsing?!" the stallion complained.

He rubbed his eyes a bit more and began to check if his view was still okay. He blinked several times to lose the blurriness of his site and accidentally lost his balance while he did so, falling forward and smacking something in the process. Rubbing his head, the pony looked upwards and his eyes widened as his sight returned. There was a giant, black, crystal pony standing right in front of him and staring down at him, but this one was different from the rest. Its body seemed to be made of pure crystal. It didn't seem to have a mouth, muzzle, or eyes; Although there were rounded, white lights that glowed where the eyes should have been. In fact, the more the crystal pony looked at it, the more apparent it became that this wasn't a conventional pony. In fact, it had two horns, one being very long where the normal unicorn horn would be, and a smaller version growing beneath it. This secondary horn leaned forward before bending straight in the same direction as the first halfway through its length. What constituted its mane were masses of white crystals clumped together lining down its neck. The tail had similar features, but these were lengthened white crystals that crew upon each other. Better, still, this creature seemed to have wings made of white crystals as well. If anything, it seemed like a crystal alicorn.

"Oh colt! I made not have found the source of magic, but I found a new creature that Lord Sombra will certainly reward me for. Come along now, beast," the crystal pony ordered.

He walked along proudly, hoping to avoid the rest from his group and claim all the glory for himself. Sombra would certainly grant him a higher status for this find. The pony's smile faded when he turned around to see the entity still standing in place, its gaze fixated on the 'leader'. The stallion looked nervously from left to right quickly and said:

"Wh...What are you doing? I'm going to bring you to your new master: King Sombra! Why do you stand there like an idiot?!" He walked angrily to the creature and punched it in its left side. "Move!" he yelled.

The crystal pony turned its head towards the pony, its eyes still glowing like a faint light. The stallion yiped and fell onto his flank through fear.

"A lowly pony giving me orders? A lowly mewling creature like yourself is trying to put me under the control of a 'master' like some pitiful slave? It even tries to hurt me? If I were you, I would run from here as fast as I could."

"Y-y-y-you d-d-don't scare me! I have the power of King Sombra at my side!" the pony stood up gradually and stuck his chest out at the mention of Sombra.

His pride and courage were short lived when the creature closened its head just mere inches away from the stallion's.

"Yeeeeeesssssssssssss," the creature growled in a very low tune. "See what good that does for you when I break you under my hoof."

"What? You can't--"

The stallion was cut off indefinitely when a long hoof immediately smashed down upon his cranium, crystal flying everywhere. A flash of pure darkness even came from the base of the creature's hoof, covering the stallion's head momentarily. Once the hoof was removed, the creature noticed that flesh and fur was hidden beneath the crystalline exterior.

"Interesting. I do not know of this 'magic', but it seems similar to that created by my people. Only...it modifies their bodies too. So much seems to have changed. I have slept for ten thousand years since the Crystal Wars, yet there are dark crystals growing everywhere in this area. Perhaps another construct of these lowly creatures.I shall not stain my darkness by interacting with them," the creature spoke smugly.

It began to walk forward, inspecting the new environment and looking around curiously.

"And this sky. That dreaded sun was always impeding my race, but now...the moon remains out and there are no stars? I can also sense various bizarreties in the magical flow. There is even one stream that seems faint, yet almost familiar. Does this world yet remain or will I have nothing to co--"

The creature was interrupted by the sound of it stepping in something. It was similar to stepping in water but with the sound of crystals breaking as well. It tried to pull its right hind leg out, but it could not no matter how hard it tried. It turned out that it had stepped in some sort of puddle of tiny purple crystals that flowed out of a giant one growing along the side of a five story building. Much to its dismay, the crystals began to climb along its leg, changing its shape to a smoother and more angular form. Despite this, the creature was not impressed and still turned its head when some sort of giant, bipedal, crystalline construct holding a platform upon it arrived into view. It had come from around the corner with four ponies sitting in it. It was a sky blue color and possessed a red circle on its front for which the creature did not know the purpose.

"Hey, look. A beast, and it killed Crystalex," a mare pointed out.

"What? HOW DARE IT?! I WILL KILL IT WHERE I STA--" the driver burst out but was interrupted by one of passengers tapping her on the shoulder.

"You don't need to bother. Loo, it's already being consumed by our master," the shifty stallion said.

"It...Oh. You're right. We'll wait and take it to our master as punishment. We did not find any magic source, but we at least recovered this old walker and will bring him that trophy."

The ponies all began to laugh at the creature who was viewing the world quite different. Everything had become reddened with black figures in place of the walker and the ponies. The ponies themselves had bring, orange holes for eyes and smiling, empty mouths of equal color. The creature did not fully understand what was going on, but it heard a sinister voice speaking to it:

"I do not know what you are, but you are now in my control. Darkness will overtake you and you will pledge undying loyalty to me. Submit to the darkness. Submit. You are mine Everything you have is mine! Submit to the darkness," the voice ordered.

The creature could feel itself shrinking away in front of growing ponies and the biped. It could feel its mind and will fading away, but more would need to be taken to try and control it. Back into reality, an enormous explosion of darkness blasted the crystals off the creature's body and completely obliterated both the buildings and crystals around it into floating shards. Its white eyes were now flickering viciously and violently as the creature roared:

"I am Abstract the Dark, last of the Crystallions! I have trained my body, mind, and soul for ten thousand years, and I have absorbed darkness for the same amount of time! I have fought in the Crystal Wars and destroyed an entire race in the process! A lowly creature such as yourself dares to call ME a mere beast?! A simple creature to train and follow orders? You use modified magic of my people, yet you do not even understand the deformed, twisted version of your own magics. YOU KNOW NOT THE TRUE DARKNESS WHICH I BRING, AND YOUR MINIONS HERE SHALL PAY WITH THEIR MERE EXISTENCE! You, however, will serve me for the rest of your pathetic, lowly pony life and even beyond the grave your soul shall not taste the sweetened water of peace!"

From afar, if one looked north to the far mountains, an eruption of pure darkness somehow glowed forth in the night. Its darkness was so out worldly that it could still be perceived by even the blind. Abstract wanted to make his presence known, and he was going to announce to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, things will not be as easy as he might have anticipated.

New faces

View Online

Back in the Crystal Kingdom, a shout of pain could be heard while a dark burst of energy erupted from the windows of the throne room at the highest point of the tower. Two figures had rushed to a giant mirror-like crystal where a mass of black energy swirled. Those that stood in front of it were none other than Shining Armor and Cadence, or, more specifically, Shining Sombra and Crystance. Both had been overcome by the dark king's crystalline powers.

Shining now wore the old attire of the king complete with body armor with a red gem encrusted into the middle part of its frontal chest band, hoof armor, cape, and the red crown resting neatly behind his blue mane. Shining's horn had become a curved bladed with rectangular cuts on its front, making it a more geometrical jagged shape. From his eyes also ebbed and flowed an energy similar to that of Sombra, but it was yellow; And the stallion's eyes were not reptilian, but, rather, his scelera were an orange-yellow and his iris were a bright blue. Like all those corrupted by the crystals, Shining and his wife had taken on an angular and crystalline appearance. As for Cadance, not much had changed. Her horn bent backwards at an extreme angle when reaching the middle before going back forward and following the same path as it had been prior. Just above her muzzle and the back of her jaw bones were darker shades of pink in the shape of circles. Her ex-husband also had similar facial traits, but it was unknown if he had a darker shade of white above above his muzzle seeing as it was covered by a thing sheet of metal going across his bridge.

"Graaaargaaarg!" the mist roared.

"Lord Sombra, what is wrong? Why do you squirm so? Are you in need of more magic? MINION! Get me the 'prize'!" Shining ordered a crystal pony behind him.

The pony saluted and stumbled away before a booming voice ordered him to stay put.

"No. It is not a lack of magic. I still have much of it thanks to my 'prize'. It is the source of magic I detected in the Crystal Mountains."

"You mean the one in Stalliongrad?" Cadance asked.

"Yes. It is that one. I do not know what it was, but it resisted my control."

"Bah! So did Crystie, but she succumbed in the end to your greatness!" Shining praised.

"This one is different. It did not suppress the magic and prevent the crystals from growing, like the librarian did. This one destroyed my spell and sent a backlash of dark magic through my connection to the crystals. This creature called itself 'Abstract the Dark: Last of the Crystallions'. I have never heard of this species. Look into what information remains with us and see if there can be anything found about this species. If it truly is the last of its kind, then we can use that against it. Having it submit to me would grant me enough magic to remake my body."

"What would you have us do? Go and fight?" Shining asked.

"No. You are my envoys, and I do not yet know the extent of this being's powers. Besides, why would we waste our time directly confronting this...thing. Send in the Crystalbolts. Crystalestia should still be able to take it down."

Shining was taken aback and looked insulted.

"I wish you to reconsider, my lord. Why would you send her? She is far too pathetic for such a mundane task. She was not even capable of finishing off her own sister."

"I must admit that Shining i correct. How would she be able to kill a beast if she could not terminate her own sister? I bet she still has some 'good' in her." Cadance added.

"DO NOT QUESTION MY DECISIONS!" Sombra shouted. His voice quite literally echoed throughout the kingdom, frightening quite a few minions. "You will do as I tell you. Understood?"

"Yes, Master Sombra," the two ponies answered with a bow and a hoof placed at their chests.

Abstract looked at his hooves to see four ponies bowing to him. They were no longer crystalline and their original appearance had returned to them. Unfortunately, the walker did not survive the blast and had been torn into pieces. One of its legs were embedded in the broken half of an apartment, the top of the leg being bent onto the second floor.

"You have freed us from the tyranny of King Sombra. We cannot thank you enough," the driving mare said.

"Rise. I do not want my newly acquired slaves to grovel at my hooves. It is degrading to me."

"Apologies, Abstract."

The crystallion looked upwards to the sky and analyzed its 'surface'. He did not notice it before, but the sky had no stars. It was barren of anything but a waning crescent moon. In fact, it looked less natural than an old spell he had encountered from the past.

"I require knowledge to assess what I will be facing. Through the brief moments I moved from my training and darkness absorption, I had seen something about 'Elements of Harmony'. Where are they?"

The four ponies' looks of fierce loyalty degraded to that of nervousness and shyness. Some rubbed their legs and silently inhaled.

"Answer my question!" Abstract ordered loudly.

"They...they have fallen! They fell many years ago when Discord: God of Chaos, was released from his imprisonment. They were no match for him. Then he...he did something to them. We don't know what exactly. All we know is that there are these monstrous demon lords that have the same coloration as them and lead demonic legions and enslaved ponies. They stole my husband from me! They tore him limb from limb in front of me, and I couldn't do anything about it!" the driving mare cried.

A raspberry colored stallion stepped forward and said: "My filly was taken by the pink one when I was walking through desolated lands to Vanhoover. I try to take back, but crystal monsters attacked me when I ran after the demons. Then I become as you saw before you."

The other two were about to confess as well, but Abstract crushed them onto the floor with his dark magic.

"I do not need to hear your sob stories. They are of no interest to me. However, as you are my only sources of information, your existence is invaluable to mine...for now. Names are required."

The tearing pegasus mare sniffed a bit and looked straight at Abstract with firm, reddened eyes. "I am Amber Sweets."

Just like her name, her coat was a deep blue with an amber colored mane and tail; With her eyes being a brighter blue than the rest and her cutie mark being a strange, circular object with three bars converging on a black center. The cherry-red stallion stepped forward to reveal himself more clearly in the darkness. He was actually a very massive pony with a mane and tail colored a jungle green with two bright green stripes passing vertically through the mane and tail. His eyes were the same color as the stripes and his cutie mark represented a cement block being broken through is middle.

"I am Concrete Cavel."

The other two were identical in coloration, but one was a unicorn stallion and the other an earth pony mare. Their manes and tails were a bright yellow with a strange, almost vanilla-colored lightning bolt shape passing through their manes. Their bodies were a royal blue, and their eyes were an electric green. The stallion's mark resembled red jello with a fork passing through it, and the mare's was a red flower resting on a sheet of paper. Both were very small and thin for ponies of their age, but they seemed to be interconnected spiritually and wouldn't separate from each other's side.

"I'm Blue Mellow," the stallion said.

"And I'm Rosy Notes," the mare said.

"Noted," Abstract answered. "If what you say is true, I will have no true problems dealing with the crystal ones as their magic is an offshoot of my people's. However, if there is indeed a group using chaos magic, I would have much trouble combating them indeed. The alliance in the day had chaos magic and incited our defeat. We did not know of it at the time, and my knowledge of countering it is limited, not to mention the one controlling nature itself."

"Why would you speak of your defeats, Great One? Have you no pride?" Concrete accused.

Abstract's 'eyes' slowly turned to face the stallion's direction. Cavel immediately shrunk away in shame.

"I do have pride. As a soldier, one must not only revel in victory, but in defeat as well. A true soldier who experiences only victory becomes soft and delusional. One who experiences the true occurrences of war comes out stronger and with more knowledge of the enemy. The more defeats you suffer, the more you get to know the tactics of your enemy. Their habits. Their preferences. What they will and won't do. This is the art of warfare for the crystallion race. You best remember this, because you will be sent into it when I have acquired more valuable members."

The four ponies looked at each other in surprise and awe. While Abstract continued to think, beams of light erupted around the group, scaring away the four ponies into hiding in the rubble of a collapsed building and watching helplessly as their new 'leader' stood in place, completely oblivious to the enormous beams of light erupting all around him and melting the ground they would hit. It was only when the sounds of hooves and claws grated the stoned road that the crystallion bothered to lift his head. Standing in front of him stood a griffin with a thin, black mustache; A sky blue pony with with a very fluffy and thick, ice colored mane and tail; And a white alicorn wearing red and black hoof guards, a corrupted neck decoration of the same coloration as well a tri-spiked crown nestled within her crystalline mane.

The alicorn, to Abstract's eyes, had a pastel colored mane and tail, a crooked horn and strange, pinkish patches on her muzzle and the bottom rear of her jaw bones. Her eyes looked angry, as though something had been taken from her, and long had she been serving her new masters like a good little slave, her power still being tremendous but spread equally amongst the three. Abstract wondered if she could become an asset to his endeavors, but her connection to this 'Sombra' was too strong. Whatever she was, that supposed king had a firm vice grip around her mind.

"You must be the trouble Sombra had mentioned. You don't look like much trouble," the alicorn said.

"Who are you?"

"I-i-i-i-i-t's C-C-Celestia!" Rosy Notes stuttered beneath the debris.

Celestia turned her head and exploded at the mare who yiped and hid deeper in the rubble.

"DO NOT CALL ME BY THAT NAME! I have been liberated by King Sombra and am now Crystalestia! Wait..." The alicorn narrowed her gaze. "You were four of the ponies that were sent here to bring back the magic source." Celestia huffed and looked at the crystallion with confusion and some slight hint of fear and intrigue.

"What did you do to them? How were they liberated?"

"Yes. 'Liberated'. I do not have time to waste with a mutant. Come, servants. I wish to explain my future conquests and learn more about what happened to this world."

Abstract attempted to walk forward, but the three newcomers blocked his path. Not one to back away, the stallion stood tall and stared them down. However, Crystalestia was not one to stand by idly. She lowered her head and a blast of light magic burst forth from her horn. Abstract was quick enough to raise a shield of darkness in time. The only damage he received was the pushing power the blast caused as it exploded into a shower of yellow light. The alicorn smirked at the emotionless crystal, assured of her victory. Abstract was not only short on time, but he needed to assess these new magics and powers. The mutant's were laced with something else, and he did not have the counters necessary. He wouldn't, however, have any trouble incapacitating the alicorn long enough to leave the area. This would not be an easy fight for either of them.

Sun Goddess vs Deity of Darkness

View Online

"Hm. I have no interest in fighting a mere beast. We shall make our leave. Come, slaves." Abstract gestured to the four ponies hiding behind the rubble.

Crystalestia's face twisted with anger. Her pride had been insulted. How dare this mere beast insult her pride?!

"You dare call me a weakling?! I am the ruler of Canterlot! I am a soldier of the great King Sombra! I am--"

"Uninteresting," Abstract interrupted.

Crystalestia grit her teeth together with fury and turned to the griffon standing to her right. His head reeled back instinctively when she looked directly at him.

"Deal with this creature. Use your claws."

"Dois-je? I do not vant to damage zese claws," Crystave complained as he looked at said claws with disappointment.

Crystalestia glared even harder at the griffon who shouted:

"D'accord! Okay! I vill do it! I do not vant to bring ze ire of Sombra." He stepped forward in front of the alicorn and looked directly at Abstract. Much to Crystave's frustration, it was clear that the crystallion was fixated on the alicorn.

"That's KING Sombra, knave!"

Crystave ignored the outburst and began to wave his claws in front of the crystallion.

"Hé ho! Iz anyone in zere? Allo!" Crystave's anger was beginning to boil to the point of overflowing.

The griffon did not hesitate to flap his wings once, getting enough height to plant his claws into the crystallion. His satisfaction was met with immediate confusion when a 'tink' sound occurred. His claws didn't penetrate, making Crystave look at them in confusion. He pushed the conundrum aside and decided to start slashing and cutting at Abstract continuously. Several minutes had passed, and the sounds would not stop. However, Abstract had grown tired of the noise and lift his left foreleg, trapping Crystave within a slowly barreling swirl of darkness. The griffon tried struggling his legs to be released, but all he did was slowly rotate clockwise in the. The serpentine strand of darkness continued to rotate around him and extend behind Crystave. He started to resign to his fate of levitation when a humming sound started resonating in his ears. The sound started to get louder and louder until a sudden burst a dark energy erupted from Abstract's hoof. It exploded outwards, causing the blue pegasus and the four ponies to shield their eyes. Crystalestia simply squinted very lightly.

Gustave was quite literally flung out of the spiral like a cannon and passed through several buildings in the process.

"Woah. Did you see that?!" Amber exclaimed.

"Awesome! I bet everypony will want to follow him now!" Rosy Notes cheered with her brother.

"Not yet. Crystave is a low ranker. Our new leader can't prove himself until he fights against Cryst--"

Concrete Cavel was interrupted by the sound of Abstract getting kicked strongly into the building adjacent from theirs. Celestia had teleported right in front of him with her hind legs ready to kick. The building in question carried two fragile towers just begging to collapse, and the alicorn obliged. Two whips of magic were emitted from her horn, tearing down the towers onto the crystal creature. The four 'liberated' looked in abject horror at their new leader being utterly defeated. They immediately turned back to face Crystalestia who was looking quite loudly.

"Stupid creature. You were a fool to oppose King Sombra, and you were a fool to oppose me. I don't know how you were capable of deflecting Crystave's claws, but you were lucky I was the one to point you down. I am the Goddess of the Sun! You have no power to oppose me!"

"If you are a god, what shall we call Abstract?" a voice rung from below the rubble.

"What? Well, I suppose I shouldn't have been so surprised. I guess I will simply have to end this quickly."

Abstract brushed off the bricks and debris from himself when he blocked a punch coming from the alicorn. The mare began to throw several punches that the crystallion deflected several times. At one point, Crystalestia tried to grapple him, tossing Abstract over her shoulder, but he countered by sliding his body in her grip, landing on the ground, wrapping his arms around her, then crunching her body against his chest. The alicorn yiped in pain from her spine cracking painfully. She was expecting the crystallion to laugh, but he remained as stoic as ever.

"You truly thought you could defeat me with these simplistic techniques when I have over ten millenia of military training at my disposal?" Abstract wondered.

Crystalestia recovered slightly from her panting and glared fiercely at her opponent. Her teeth were fully shown and her pupils shrunken down from her extreme fury.

"IF YOU WANT A FIGHT OF MAGIC, THEN YOU WILL HAVE IT!"

The mare's horn glowed powerfully, extreme strands of light bursting forth from it and illuminating the area everyone was standing in. Several streaks of light were swung wildly towards Abstract after their maximum momentum had been achieved. The crystallion immediately ducked from the first strand, allowing it to cut through an already damaged wall behind him. The creature dodged several more times while he used his own powers to climb on the damaged buildings. As he was about to jump, Abstract was grazed by one of the strands, burning the surface of is crystalline body. Yet, he did not react, and launched himself at his opponent. The alicorn was not swift enough to dodge and found herself flying backward from the impact the crystallion caused after impacting the ground.

Several cracks formed along the surface of the cobbled roads, many enormous ones stretching as well. One such fissure stretched all the way underneath Crystalestia, intent on intercepting her when she fell, but she was clever. She righted herself up in midair and use her wings to dodge right. Had she not done this, she would have been slice in two from the black blades that erupted from all of the fissures. The sharp edges glimmered in the light of the alicorn's horn, dragging the mare's attention from the blade to the origin point, where Abstract stood waiting.

"Hmph. Impressive parlor tricks, but they will get you nowhere," she taunted.

"For my people, these are parlor tricks," he replied.

Crystalestia narrowed her eyes and slowly walked around Abstract while being careful not to trip over any piles of debris. The mare was taken aback and her face etched with confusion when the two lights representing Abstract's eyes seemed to rotate through his head. They were following Crystalestia even when she was behind him.

"What in Sombra's name?" she thought.

In just a brief moment, Abstract was engulfed by a black, swirling shadows, disappearing once it shrunk out of existence. Crystalestia looked around to see where he went, but she was surprised by two clamps of dark magic flying towards her from her sides. She countered with a tri-headed drill into both clamps. The mare concentrated as hard as she could and gave a yell when the clamps finally broke. Using her new found strength from her sudden anger, Crystalestia flew high in the air and started to concentrate on her horn. When it sparked, she flew towards Abstract in a bid to blast him to pieces. The crystallion avoid the funnel of magic and deployed his own 'wings'. A dark cloud-like substance slowly expanded from the crystals, creating a pair of pseudo-wings, but the crystallion was more than capable of flight, and he took after the mare. Their battle was being taken throughout the devastated city, creating flashes of light and darkness as both fired different spells at each other. One such spell of darkness sliced through the the buildings above everypony, scaring three of Abstract's four 'followers'.

"That was close," Rosy Notes sighed in relief.

"Imagine if it were lower," Blue Mellow replied shaking his hoof and exhaling stressfully.

Amber started looking around their hiding spot then asked: "Where's Concrete?"

"He's next to that blue guy who stayed behind. He looks like he's--" Blue Mellow tried to say.

"Go to sleep," Concrete was overheard saying.

The blue pegasus collapsed after the huge stallion struck him in the jugular with his hoof. The other three walked out of their hidden area and looked around cautiously. Amber was the most cautious, her body scrunched up and her head jolting in every direction for any signs of danger.

"So, what do you think will happen after this?" Blue Mellow hummed.

"I don't know, but if our new master does not defeat her, then we will be executed," Concrete said worryingly. He looked up at the sky to see several more flashes and explosions illuminating it.

"EXECUTED?!" Amber screamed.

Before they could continue their conversation, Celestia was seen tumbling out of the sky above the group before stopping her descent. Her body had various marks exuding signs of darkness eating away at them. The patches looked quite similar to a burnt object from which smoke was rising. The mare looked angrily in front of her, then looked downwards and grinned viciously. She raised a hoof to summon a weapon of her own creation, but found herself caught within a grip of shadows that smashed her down into the ground to toss dirt and debris everywhere. When Abstract arrived, he too was shown to be injured. Many parts of his body were cracked and damaged. Portions of his crystal mane were broken or chipped, and one of his wings' lengthy, white crystals had been snapped off.

Crystalestia did not give up, however, and she stood back up as best she can, her mind trying to defy her fatigue and wobbling.

"Why won't you yell in pain?!" she screamed.

"Crystallions cannot feel physical pain from such weak powers."

The alicorn growled at this response and, once more, flew high into the air. However, this time, she began to form an enormous ball of light above her horn. The four walked to Abstract and pleaded:

"We must leave now, master. You are wounded WE can't--"

Amber was kicked away by Abstract's leg while he looked towards Celestia.

"My title is not just for your amusement! I have it for a reason, and you will see why all of Equestria, nay, the WORLD fears me!"

"Heheh. 'Neigh'," Blue Mellow chuckled.

Above Celestia shun an enormous sun-like ball of magic. Its arms flowed like fire and its core was a molten mess of fury.

"Foolish pony," Abstract mused.

As Crystalestia raised her hooves to push this heavy mass of magic downwards, both of Abstract's horns began to glow, and a gigantic mass of darkness rose from around the block. It converged onto the crystallion and his servants while the sun was slowly thrust towards them. The moment was slow but extremely stressful. One wrong move, and Abstract would be destroyed. He had just emerged from the surface and met with these new magics to which he had no adaptation, but he was certain that additional time in this newly changed world would allot him the necessary information he needed.

As the shadow and sun converged onto each other, the Shadow began forming arms ending in clawed hands as well as a face with hollow eyes and mouth. The interaction literally blew apart the entire city in a flash of darkness and light. The ensuing explosion rocked the world all around it, garnering attention to the lands of Sombra all around, but this was several hours ago. The four ponies now lay within an empty field covered by pink and purple crystals that were slowly growing forward.

"Ugh. My head," Concrete complained as he sat up and rubbed it. "Where are we?"

"We're in a field of crystal! Oh no! I don't want to be a crystal pony again!" Rosy panicked. She started galloping back and forth nervously.

Blue checked his hooves and noticed that nothing was climbing up his body. "Huh. Nothing's happening," he noted with satisfaction. "Hm!"

"What? It isn't?"

"Nope! Look," he said while lifting his hooves.

The three ponies inspected his hooves closely and widened their eyes in surprise.

"Stop your mumbling."

"But, leader! The crystals!" Amber pleaded.

"They will not affect you. My people used crystals and created crystal magic. These are not only those substances, but it is also a mere offshoot of our magic," Abstract said as he kicked the ground. "You will no longer be converted by such repulsive and simplistic tricks called 'magic'. Now, I must know where the closest center of purity lies. I wish to create a new domain there from which to learn and spread my influence and will."

The four stood up in unison and did the same when they turned around to point in a direction. Abstract followed their forelegs and looked to the far horizon. There, far from all of this horror, a city stood tall. It was too far away to make out the details, but one thing was for certain: The city on the horizon was a powerful beacon of light. If anything, Abstract was mentally scolding himself for not noticing that earlier.

"That's Vanhoover," Amber said.

"The location of the remaining survivors?"

"Yes."

"Then we shall travel there. Come, servants. Ignore whatever meaningless creature crosses our paths."

The path in question would indeed prove to be quite difficult. Not many ponies who had made the trip ever succeeded, after all, but Abstract was determined. He would bring back his people as well as their glory of old. The Crystallion Empire needed to be revived, even if only for vengeance.

Transport to Vanhoover

View Online

"...She failed," Shining lamented.

"I told you she did not have the ability to do it," Crystance smiled smugly.

"No. She had the power to strike it down and extract the magical essence from it. It simply wielded an unexpected amount of dark powers, but I suspect it can do other tricks," Sombra said within his mirror.

"Surely, such a simplistic creature could not contain such power!" Crystance said.

"Hmmm. I am more concerned about where it came from. There was nothing in the remaining scriptures about a creature like it," Shining pondered.

"But the oldest scripture is from a thousand two hundred and ninety-six years ago! It recites many creatures, cultures, people, countries; Many of which have disappeared."

"I recall what little I was taught in my youth, and if I am to understand, this creature is older than even I and the alicorn sisters. I can sense it crossing along my lands," Sombra interjected.

Shining hesitated to step forward many times but finally had the courage to ask:

"I understand that you have some connection to your domain, but I did not know you could sense things traversing across it."

"As much as it hurts my pride to say so, you are partially correct."

"Partially?" Crystance wondered.

"Yes. While a normal creature cannot be detected, I can detect beings with immense magical power, such as the demon lords of Discord. This...thing radiates pure darkness all around it, and it even dares to take from me!"

"How?"

"It's absorbing the crystals I so painstakingly spread across my empire! It even protects the four it dared to steal from me."

"Then should we go after it and kill it? I will see to it personally, if you would have it," Shining bowed.

"No!" Sombra yelled. "It yet awakens from its hibernation. When its powers have properly awakened, then shall I send you after it to harvest MY rightful magic and restore my body. We cannot race this. Continue to increase my forces and territory in the mean time. We must eliminate as many threats as possible to it while it 'ripens'."

Sombra's evil laughter vibrated throughout the Crystal Empire like a sharp knife digging into a wound. Shining and Cadance grinned while they shared their king's enthusiasm.

"Still. Flog Crystalestia for her failure."

"Right!" Crystance cracked her necked and wielded a smile most foul and frightening.

Abstract was still wounded after his battle with the fallen alicorn, although he did not seem to notice. If anything, while the group moved through the Crystal Wastes, the new servants noticed their leader's cracks closing and broken crystals growing back. It seemed that every time he would stop on the crystals, a piece the same width as Abstract's hoof would crack off the ground and slowly be absorbed into his body. With each step a new hole would form upon the ground and the crystallion's body would mend itself. While the four watched his wounds mend before their eyes, they noticed that thin threads of black smoke came from thin air and would be absorbed into his body.

"Should we ask him about the smoke?" Amber whispered.

"I don't know. Do you think that's something offensive for his kind?" Rosy said as she looked at her brother. Blue Mellow simply shrugged in response.

"You're all foals," Concrete sighed. The bulky stallion walked next to his leader and asked him a question. "Excuse me, my leader, but what is that--"

"No," Abstract replied blandly.

"What? I didn't even--"

"I know what you were going to ask. I needn't answer it. You are here to satisfy my requirements for knowledge. I need not sate yours."

When Abstract finished his answer, two crystal ponies came out from a ledge below the path the five were taking and lunged out. Abstract did not move his head that a whip or dark energy smacked hard into the two would-be attackers, throwing them far across the crystal plains and over the untouched lands.

"I would like to know exactly what purpose this accursed sphere holds! You have yet to answer my questions on that regard."

"We've already told you!" Rosy mused as she fluttered her eyelashes on the back of her brother.

"We don't know! It just came." Blue replied with the same tone of voice.

"When we were fleeing from the Crystal Kingdom."

"We lost our hue."

"And were imbued."

"Then we were servants to the king."

"Somepony not truly worth praising."

"We think he could no longer arrive."

"But we were not there for the arrival of the five."

"Five? They were three."

"Well, I'm trying to bring rhymes."

"They don't work if you give me hard words! Might as well say 'orange'," Blue pouted.

" 'Door hinge' rhymes with 'orange'!"

As the two continued to complain, Concrete and Amber were confounded as to how their leader remained so calm and indifferent. Anypony here would have already ripped off their ears by now. Abstract, however, did not react. In fact, he did not even seem aware of the world around him, even as he walked upon it. It seemed more and more crystal ponies were trying to capture the group, but more often than not would Abstract grab one with his dark energies and smash it painfully into the ground, leaving the victim as the center of a crater. Others would just be whacked aside rather comically. Clearly, Abstract did not think much of them, if he even thought of them at all.

Without warning, the crystallion bolted off towards what appeared to be a giant black-purple crystal growing diagonally out of the crystalline ground, creating a strange, 'natural' fence made from minerals all around its base. Concrete shrugged to Amber, and the four galloped towards their leader. While they advanced, another group of ponies were thrown into the air and into a singularity created by Abstract. Judging by the size, the crystal was at least sixty-five feet (twenty meters) tall.

"What's wrong?" Concrete asked.

"It is a chrysanthemium," he answered.

"A what? Is that the name of this crystal formation?"

"No, you lowly beast. These were our beasts of war during the Crystal War. They were extremely difficult to control, even for MY people."

"Oh? And how many rode them into battle?" Amber wondered. "A hundred? A thousand?"

"Three. One including our king."

"Say we believe you. Do you even know how to tame it?" Concrete asked.

Abstract's eyes glowed brighter for a minute while he glared at the stallion. The crystallion lift his hoof and punched the crystal powerfully, creating a resonating echo throughout the land. When the vibrations ceased, there was nothing but silence. Abstract only looked at the crystal patiently while his new followers looked around with confusion.

"What ha--" Blue tried to ask but was cut off by the sound of glass breaking.

The gigantic crystal began to shake and tremble, breaking off pieces of itself to fall on the ground below. Two very long crystals broke off the main body with a resounding shatter and smashed into the ground below. They appeared to be pushing against the ground and forcing the main body out of the ground. Another bit of crystal broke off from the main body while it lift itself from the ground. It was a head with a short, thin neck. The head was slanted diagonally upwards and pointing towards the back. Two slits opened on the sides, showing what looked like empty black spaces with an orange, reverberating line similar to those once used in old machines to measure brainwave activity. Once it was fully out, the main body rotated until it was now horizontal and looking directly at Abstract. Two more legs broke off from the body and landed on the ground, creating hind legs. Unlike the hind legs, the forelegs extended far beyond the joint connecting them to the body, creating a sort of tall, pointy shoulder. Both had sharp, pointy bases, though.

Each step it took as it turned to face Abstract and the cowering ponies shook the land and broke the crystal surface, but Abstract was not impressed.

"Silence, creature.You will obey me! Abstract the Dark is your new master!" the crystallion shouted loudly.

As he did so, an enormous blast of dark energies erupted from him in a sphere, creating strong winds with a black coloration. The four followers struggled to stay in place, but the chrysanthemium seemed to be getting compressed against the ground by tremendous pressure. It did not take long for it to finally submit, inciting the curiosity of Abstract.

"Strange. There is usually a large battle to force them to submit. Disappointing. Come, you four. We ride on its back to this 'Vanhoover' you spoke of."

"Are y-y-y-y-you sure?" Amber stuttered.

"Yeah! It's really safe and fun!" Blue and Rosy said together.

"They're already not fighting anymore?" Amber broke from her thoughts.

Concrete rolled his eyes and tossed her onto the creature by surprise. With a final hop, everypony was on board.

"Go, beast. We make for the light in the distance, then we bring it and its simplistic inhabitants under my rule."

The chrysanthemium huffed in irritation but ultimately followed what its new master ordered. Its back was perfectly flat, allowing the five to stand on it comfortable. Unfortunately, only true crystalline creatures like Abstract were capable of standing on its back. The others were struggling to not slide off after every step of this imposing beast, making it a very stressful trip for the ponies. As time went on, the four were finally given holds of dark energy by Abstract. He could not risk losing their information after all. So the ponies slumbered under the false moon of the empty black sky. Perhaps 'Vanhoover' had archives on that dome and its purpose as well as what other creatures existed.

Hours passed, and the four slept peacefully while Abstract kept a stern watch. Blue and Rosy had been thinking about what they might call the new creature while in their lucid dreaming which quickly became an awoken dream when the chrysanthemium roared in pain and tumbled somewhat.

"Wh-what's happening?!" Amber shouted. "Are we under attack?!"

"A crystalline construct is attacking my new pet with magic certainly taken from this 'Sombra' character," Abstract said.

"Then use your magic to destroy it!"

"No. My friend used his to annihilate his enemies before he fell. I wish to see if these beasts are truly worth keeping for more than cargo transport."

In front of the group stood three tripod walkers identical to the one from Stalliongrad, except these ones were firing red beams of magic at Abstract's mount. It was completely enraged now but would not act unless its new master would allow it. It looked up at him, begging for revenge. Abstract did not move, but, somehow, the creature knew the answer and stomped forward. Each angry step tossed the ponies into the air, forcing them to cling onto their 'boxes'.

"I don't know what that thing is, but we won't let your roam the master's domain unpunished!" one of the driver's proclaimed.

Another beam came from the foremost walker once more, splashing against the front of the chrysanthemium. Unfortunately, this time, it had no true effect, and the creature's left foreleg pierced the walker through its weapon and out of the other side. The construct was tossed overhead and behind the creature as it walked towards the others who did the same thing. This time, however, the mount kept its leg in the air instead of using it to pierce the hull of the machine. While Concrete watched, three shards of sharp crystal broke off the tip and extended outwards with the same thin circular crystals that connected the rest of the body. They were on all three sides of the limn and somehow managed to grab onto the walker, lift it slightly, then throw it into the one on its left, creating a resounding smash and throwing crystalline debris everywhere and tossing the crystal ponies into the air.

"Splendid. It is indeed an enjoyable mount. Now, hopefully, we shan't be interrupted as we make our way for Vanhoover," Abstract cheered emotionlessly.

"Well, after the crystal plains, the lands haven't been claimed or were ignored by everypony. Normally, we shouldn't have any trouble going there," Amber said.

"Although I think the ponies there have weird flying machines that shoot sharp magic bolts and explody ones," Rosy Notes said.

"Oh! And they have lots 'n lots of magic to keep others out. I think they even have ponies wearing weird armor," Blue Noted.

"Those are power ponies. It's best we let our master discover these things himself. Then he can speak with the heads of that place," Concrete Cavel nodded with certainty.

"Talk? There will be no talk. They either join me 'willingly' or against their will. There are no other options," Abstract spoke darkly. "None shall oppose the return of the crystallions."

Three-way battle

View Online

Aside from the little event with the walkers, the chrysanthemium was slowly making its way towards Vanhoover with the five on its back. Blue and Rose were extremely bored. They started to sigh louder and louder to the point of them sounding like foghorns. Concrete couldn't take it anymore and shouted:

"What is WRONG with you two?!"

"We're booooooooooooooooooooo--" Rose started.

"-Ooooooooooooooooooooooored!!" Blue finished.

"Then do something to entertain yourselves! I don't know...Do the 'I spy' game?" Concrete complained.

The two shrugged and looked around emotionlessly until Rose bounced in excitement and said:

"Hey, Blue. I spy with my little eye, something huge."

"Are we next to it at this moment?"

"Maybe."

"Are you calling me huge?!" Concrete growled.

"Of course not!" the two young ponies replied in unison.

The stallion was becoming redder than usual. Had he fists, they would be clenching into singularities at this very moment. Instead, he started to grind his teeth while Amber just watched with amusement.

"Combat in the distance," Abstract said.

"What? Where?" Amber asked.

The crystallion pointed towards the horizon where the city of Vanhoover was currently being besieged by some strange, giant pink thing fighting alongside what appeared to be a yellow dragon with a long, pink mane. There were several tinier creatures at their feet fighting more tiny things. Abstract was too far to see clearly. However, while he remained emotionless to the whole endeavor, his sla-er...his 'willing followers' were shaking. This didn't go unnoticed.

"Why do you tremble so, servants?" he asked.

"Th-th-those are two demon lords of chaos," Rosy stuttered as she held herself tightly to her brother.

"Pinkamena Pie: The chaos demon of Hatred; And Fluttershy: The chaos demon of Anger," her brother added.

"Chaos? Hmmm. Not possible. Interesting," Abstract noted. "I have grown bored of this travel. Not much has crossed our paths other than the slaves of the pseudo crystal magic user. I shall teleport us forward to a degree and assess the situation as we move forward."

"Do we have to go there?" Amber asked with a begging tone.

Her begging went unnoticed, and the chrysanthemium was engulfed in a bubble of waving darkness that quickly shrunk to the size of a pea before disappearing.

Vanhoover was a mighty city indeed, and its walls were high and impregnable. Not only were they reinforced with materials previously unknown to ponykind, but they were also covered by a magical spell that kept all the 'monsters' outside. It was also interesting to note that there were many fire weapons placed within and atop the walls to provide maximum firepower so long as somepony was controlling them. Large mortars were kept atop the walls where concerned soldiers fired off into the unsuspecting demons below.

"Don't let up, ponies. They will break eventually," Apple Bloom assured.

The young filly had become a fully grown mare, although she did not pass her foalhood unscathed. Her left foreleg was now a mechanical appendage that could become a wide variety of instruments for construction and repair as well as a lethal weapon. Like her foalhood friends, she wore an armor that allowed her to stand upright. Her's was red with two large, circular white lights surrounding her flanks. Atop this, the mare wore a black coat that sat, itself, below a golden armor spanning the mare's shoulders and main body. Another loss that Apple Bloom had to face was her left now which had now been replaced by an optical machine, giving her a sort of 'robotic', red eye.

The soldiers next to her were all wearing gray, leather armor with brown leather beneath. The gray leather was reinforced with a coat of very thin, iron particles, enhancing their durability, but also their maintenance.

"But, Kommissar. We cannot hold against two demon lords!"

"We have done so before, haven't we?!" Apple Bloom scolded. "Look below you, coward! The grand inquisitor fights directly against the Dragon of Hatred and the swarms of demon kind that support it. They are even fighting...Pinkie Pie," Bloom grinned.

The pink giant stopped all of her stomping and smashing to turn at Apple Bloom and glare at her.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" she bellowed.

Pinkie Pie had been warped by the hand of chaos. No longer was she the jovial pink pony. She was now a demon lord. She stood on two, back-kneed legs ending in three toes that possessed a dark pink, sharp claw. Her lower body was completely exposed and stretched into a very large tail behind her. The upper body was covered by a black armor with a red center covered by a lighter colored plate of armor with an appearance to the a flattened, top portion of a griffin's head. Two black plates of armor covered her flanks, and two shoulder guards with red centers gave off the appearance of a face forming on the demon lord's armor. Of course, the shoulder guards looked like eyebrows with a second 'brush' rising upwards at their middle. To keep to her form, Pinkie now used a white war hammer with similar designs to her armor in conjunction with her four-fingered hands. Finally, her neck was protected by a collar. The pink demon's face was always angry and dark. Even the puffy mane now drooped limply over the demon's left eye, and growths protruded backwards from her jaw and forehead. The jaw growths in a downward facing 'sword' shape, while the head growths looked like the blade of a crescent-shape war axe.

The demon raised her war hammer high above her head and struck it down upon the wall, making the new soldiers scream in terror. Apple Bloom just smirked when the weapon bounced off a barrier made by the Inquisitor and made the demon fly off a short distance before landing on her back. Pinkie had a short fit before jumping up and getting blasted in the head by explosives launched from flyers still making their rounds.

"Raaaagh!" Pinkie shouted.

While Kommissar Bloom enjoyed the scene, a scout came to her from her left and gave a letter to the pony before immediately galloping off. Apple Bloom's eyes widened with every line she finished, her horror being fully realized. She immediately crumpled the paper and shouted:

"Everypony! Ah need our reserves ta get to the left side of the walls. Sombra is attackin' us with an unknown walker and creature."

Soon, slits within the walls opened up as cannons and heavy automatic weaponry slid out to face the incoming, giant walker. Everypony on the left waited patiently while the walker's steps became louder and louder with every passing moment. It was already surprising enough that it could heard with everything currently being done against the demons of chaos. When the walker finally came in range, it disappeared in a black bubble, shocking and surprising everypony. They started to look around frantically to spot, but, instead, saw Pinkamena rising and baring her sharp teeth at them.

She swiped her hammer across the ground, tossing both demons and armored soldiers into the air. Then she yelled:

"This time, your inquisitor won't stop me from destroying you!"

Before she could execute her threat, something grabbed her by the throat and squeezed hard enough that it shattered the metal collar and squeezed the throat of the demon tightly. Pinkamena dropped her hammer, crushing several demons and ponies in the process. She tried her best to pull the grip off of her, but was thrown over head like a rock.

"Lowly demons, surrender to Abstract the Dark or be torn apart, molecule by molecule," a voice shouted.

Everypony stopped fighting, although the small, yellow dragon still picked up a few demons and soldiers and began to eat them. Naturally, the demons protested with a loud roar that was soon muffled by a black object falling from the sky and colliding into the ground, blast a pitch black wave of energy everywhere. It quite literally tore many of the demons and ponies to pieces, spreading them everywhere, although the trees and bushes comprising the landscape were not affected. The next thing the impacting object did was bolt out of the cloud of dust and meet hoof with claws when the yellow dragon saw the attack coming. The sudden impact created a sound wave, disturbing the trees nearby.

"What is that thing?" one of the guards atop the walls wondered aloud.

"It matters not. Let it and that thing fight the demons. By the time they are done, they will be weakened enough to be destroyed come their turn," Apple Bloom spoke coldly.

Back on the field of battle, the four ponies were hiding behind a tree, bringing the ire of Concrete.

"Why are we hiding like some sort of 'comedic value' characters in some poorly written story?"

"I don't see what you mean by 'we'?" Rose asked innocently.

"Yeah. You're clearly all the comedy we need. We get a good laugh just looking at your facial expressions," Blue added.

A pony's mind is a fragile thing

View Online

Far away, in lands touched only by chaos, Discord watched the battle atop a green hill. His telescope was excellent at providing him what he needed in terms of amusement. Sitting next to him was none other than the Queen of Chaos herself: Twilight Sparkle. Like Discord, she too had become a draconequus, although she was less randomly built and fluffier. She now had four wavy horns extending from her skull and pushing backwards. These were very close to each other but spread apart when their ends were reached. Her hooves had now become arms and hands with four digits of an unknown creature, although they did have the combined similarities of a feline appendage mixed with a bear's and a bird's. Twilight perhaps never became an alicorn, but she still owned two wings: A bat wing and that of a pegasus. Finally, her eyes had become similar to a serpent's.

"What is it, Discord?" she asked. Twilight was half bored.

"Ooo! Oh ho! Pinkie Pie was just blasted aside by Rarity's little sister and those stupid things she calls 'Sisters of Battle' or somesuch," Discord nagged.

The draconequus was bouncing around a lot in excitement, his upper body somehow remaining perfectly still. He constantly talked about what he was seeing while Twilight preferred to read one of her books whilst lying down on a bed of pony-turned-demon and pony slaves. Without warning, however, an explosion of black briefly shrouded the horizon and all light. Twilight immediately jolted up and looked around in excitement.

"What was that?! I felt a tremendous surge of unknown magic," she exclaimed.

"Well, it looks like some weird, giant crystal thing got the slip on Pinkie and threw her over its head. That's some huge strength. Oh, and what's this? Fluttershy is fighting against something. What is it? So exciting." Discord adjusted his telescope to zoom in through the trees where he could now spot every single detail. "Wait...that's...a..."

Discord fell onto his rear with utter disbelief on his face. Twilight looked through the telescope, ignoring the draconequus, to see what exactly was so interesting from afar. Much to her curiosity, Fluttershy was now fighting what looked like a crystalline creature.

"Oh. A new creation of Sombra's?"

"No. I thought they were all dead," Discord said while cradling himself in a fetal position.

"You know what it is?"

"It's a crystallion. It's the reason why I'm the last of the draconequi." Discord had a sudden epiphany and stood upright. "Wait, but they were also wiped out. If that one is still alive, that means it's the last of its kind."

"So?"

"I can destroy it and have my revenge."

"Revenge? I thought you liked being the only god of chaos."

Discord nodded and shrugged in agreement.

"Then it's not revenge you want?"

"You're right. That would be too 'normal'," Discord spat the word with a disgusted tone. "When Fluttershy is done with, then you can keep it as a pet."

"Why not a lab test subject?"

"Ehhhhhhh-I don't see why not."

"Yes!" Twilight fist pumped.

In front of the gates, many of the soldiers were watching the crystallion with surprise and shock. It was fighting hoof-to-claw with the demon lord. How? Only the grand inquisitor was ever able to fight one single hoofedly. When Fluttershy broke out of the hold and threw a punch down, the black cloud that had been seeping out of Abstract's body grabbed a hold of the dragon's arms and seeped into it, causing her great pain and discomfort. Slowly, the arm lost all strength and drooped limply to the side of the yellow creature.

"What did you do to my arm?" she bellowed.

"I drained your magic. It is mine, now."

"I--"

"Silence."

An enormous vortex of dark energy spiraled from behind Abstract and impacted into Fluttershy with full strength; Deforming her stomach momentarily, knocking the wind out of her, burning her scales, and throwing her far away into the corrupted lands of Equestria. The chrysanthemium, however, was losing its battle against Pinkie Pie. While it had most certainly wounded her quite profoundly, judging by the bits and pieces of armor broken off as well as the wounds littering the demon's body, the Chrysanthemium was at its limit, and it was collapsing under the many blows being dealt to it.

However, several of the flying machines, also know as Thrandwin, of the ponies made another flyby and dropped some magic-laced bombs on top of Pinkie. The ensuing blue explosion dropped over her like a light, silk cloth and caused her form to distort uncontrollably. The pink demon went into a loud spurt and ran away while swinging one arm and holding her head in another. The demons took this as a queue to retreat, leaving the soldiers to shout in victory. The cheers were short lived when Abstract stepped forward towards them. Practically all of them lift their guns and melee weaponry at the crystallion. Even the wall mounted turrets were fixed onto him. The black cloud seeping out of him formed a barrier on his left to protect from the potential hail of damage, and Abstract literally broke every single weapon in front of him by projecting his dark energies into them. The ponies were then smacked aside to let their 'future ruler' enter their city. Unfortunately, the crystalline creature was blocked off by a pony wearing a strange outfit. She was accompanied by several others wearing similar, although less extravagant, outfits. Three soldiers appeared from behind her with the four servants being held captive. Perhaps leverage?

This pony was wearing white power armor with gray-white mage's robe over it and a wizard's hat on her head. That itself was encrusted with an unknown, purple, diamond-shaped gem into its front. The mare's white coat fit perfectly with her outfit, and her mane and tail, both a mixture of bubblegum pink and faded purple, were long and well maintained. Her eyes, though, no longer held pupils. Instead, the iris were a complete green, although white circles of magic seemed to serve as substitute pupils while magic was being used. As a weapon, she held a violet staff in her right foreleg. Its gem tip glowed brightly in the presence of the crystallion. Just like Abstract, her face was stoic and devoid of anything but neutrality, wisdom, and concentration. However, unlike Abstract, she actually had facial features to display these ideals.

"While I appreciate the help, we do not need a beast of Sombra coming here to give terms of a 'truce'," the pony said.

Abstract said nothing. Instead, he looked to see the chrysanthemium resting and letting the nutrients from the ground repair its wounds. His gaze also set upon the four servants being held captive by the armored ponies.

"Release my servants at once," Abstract calmly ordered.

"No can do. We're keeping them as leverage. Sombra might not care much about his slaves, but I know that several of you develop some sort of camaraderie."

Abstract's head tilted to the right with a crack.

"I am no toy to that pseudo-crystallion. I will not repeat myself, pony."

"Crystallion?"

"Understood."

Abstract's 'eyes' glowed brighter as they fixated the three guards. The four started to notice the guns against their backs were starting to vibrate, and the vibrations were getting stronger and stronger.

"What's wrong with you? Guys?" a sister asked.

The ponies started to shiver tremendously and started to scream. They dropped their weapons and grabbed their heads in a strange attempt to stymy whatever was attacking them. One, a unicorn, even tried to erect a field of energy around her head, but the magic simply faded. One guard was in such intense pain that he was now on the ground, his back arcing upwards. After a few moments of this horrid display, their eyes turned and they began to foam from their mouths before dropping limply onto the ground.

"Ponies. Your minds are so simplistic it's a surprise you have even managed to evolve from grazing grass," he mocked.

The four quickly scampered behind him in a bid of getting into a safe spot. Unfortunately, Abstract did not see it his way.

"Amber. Speak to this pony and tell it that I am now its ruler. Vanhoover shall be the debut of the crystallions' reconquering."

Sweetie Bell chuckled a bit at the comment.

"Do you really think we would give ourselves over to the likes of...whatever you are?"

"Crystallion."

"Right."

"No. I do not. I have learned from the errors of my fallen kind that imposing absolute dominance and enforcing misery on the lower life forms will result in mass rebellion and internal struggles."

"Really? If we are 'lower life forms', why would you bother to conquer us or rule over us?"

"In the same way minotaurs use giant boars to farm their lands, I too require cattle to be sent in battle in my stead so that I may learn and develop myself."

One of the surrounding guards stepped forward and pointed his weapon at the crystallion.

"How dare you call us 'cattle'! You may even say you aren't part of Sombra's army, but you most certainly came from his magic!"

"Mint, don't!" Apple Bloom yelled from atop the walls.

Mint fired her weapon at the crystallion, flashes and smoke shrouding the being standing in front of her. There were tears in the mare's eyes while she watched her clip empty. When it finally was, there was nothing left but a thick sheet of smoke.

"There. I've avenged my family. Now I can rest in p--"

Mint was cut off by the immediate view of Abstract's face up close to her's. He was but a few millimeters away from her and was extremely imposing seeing his appearance. The mare only stuttered and tried, uselessly, to fire her weapon at the creature staring at her. Sweetie Belle and her sisters of battle immediately raised their staffs at Abstract while the guards aimed their guns at him. For a moment, there was naught but silence and the stressed breathing of Mint.

"Abstract!" Amber whisper-yelled. "Stop!"

"Intriguing. A weapon that fires off explosive, metal projectiles? I only know of the repeating crossbow. How technology has advanced."

The crystallion moved away from the mare, allowing her to remain paralyzed in place without his presence.

"What did you do to those three?" Sweetie asked.

"I removed their minds from their bodies. They defied me. Slaves do not disobey."

Sweetie stared at the crystallion. Externally, she was still expressionless, but internally, she was seething with anger.

"What's going on here? Isn't the battle over?" a voice asked from the giant, golden gates.

"Empress Scootaloo!" the guards all shouted.

Each and every one of them bowed to the coming pony. All but Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, of course. However, the four ponies hiding behind their master only gave a gentle wave but did not bow.

"You are their leader?" Abstract asked.

What is this?!

View Online

"Yes. Who are you to these four hiding behind you?"

"I am their master and their lord: Abstract the Dark. To whom do I speak?" Abstract asked.

"I am Empress Scootaloo, protector of the people of Equestria."

"Equestria? What is this?"

Scootaloo's eyebrow rose a tad, but she did not show much of her intrigue in front of her subjects. "So you do not know where you are?"

"I am aware of my geographical location upon this world. I was unaware that this tiny city was now considered a country."

"No. Um...if I may?" Amber asked Abstract who did not say anything. She took this as an 'okay'. "All of this land was once known as Equestria. Now, it's just Vanhoover."

"And it is a refuge for ponies, if I have understood correctly," Abstract replied.

"Not just ponies. Changelings as well as the minotaurs, griffins, and diamond dogs who were here when the veil coated the world."

Abstract's composure twitched ever so slightly. It was a movement that no normal being could notice no matter how hard they would have tried, but Scootaloo's eyes were far more refined then anypony else's.

"Is there a problem?"

"What is a changeling?"

"Hey, Scoots. Why don't ya just off 'im so we can get back ta takin' care of everypony? Ah've already tested the new birds 'n they're doin' great."

Scootaloo turned towards her friend atop the walls and yelled: "Apple Bloom, this creature cannot be killed as easily as you might think. The grand inquisitor can attest to my claim." Sweetie Belle nodded when she was looked at by the empress. "In any case, we must welcome this individual with open forelegs and welcome them and his refugees to our home."

Several of the guards rabbled in protest and a few came up to Scootaloo to openly share their displeasure:

"Empress, if I may be so bold as to say that you're crazy? Look at what he did to those three," the guard pointed.

Scootaloo was quite displeased with what she was seeing. Three guards who were simply foaming at the mouth and not even reacting to the healing magic of the sisters.

"Return them to normal," Scootaloo ordered.

"I will not," Abstract answered blandly.

There was a long moment of silence and tension in the air as the army looked at the two rulers staring eachother down.

"Uhhh, maybe we should listen? I'm kinda hungry, and you did say that you wanted to learn a more subtle way of domination, did you not?" Blue said.

"Hunger...I had forgotten that lowly creatures required sustenance and areas to expel the waste created in their bodies. Fine. I shall return them to their original state, but on one condition."

"What is that?" Scootaloo wondered.

"You will step down as leader and allow me rightful ruling over these creatures. I must remake the empire my kind had created so long ago."

Almost everypony exploded in a brouhaha of anger and objections. Scootaloo pondered over the matter deeply and gave a counter offer:

"I will not step down. However, as I have just learned from one of your subjects, I can make an exception and consider you as my successor so that you may learn the best way to rule over ponies. This will take time, unless you plan on assassination."

"Assassination is for cowards, as many of my brethren learned the hard way."

"Oh? Well, you can either accept my counter offer or we can start battling." Scootaloo placed herself in a standing stance indicating she was ready for combat. "However, nopony will accept you willingly if you overthrow me and force yourself into power. As much as I hate it, you will be forced to kill many, many subjects, and that will hurt your plans, will it not?"

Abstract did not move and preferred watching the pony standing right in front of him. He was considering every word she said carefully and was passing several scenarios through his mind. No matter what tactic he tried, this irritating creature was right. How annoying it was to have such creatures stay to their own minds, but he hadn't the power to control all of them. There was no 'atmosphere' for it.

"Fine. I will abide, but not by choice."

The stallion's two horns glowed in unison, creating a sort of black tear between them which shot out and hit all three ponies at once, creating a small shockwave, tremor, and causing them to bounce and gasp as if they were just resuscitated from a heart failure.

"There. Now lead us within these walls."

Scootaloo nodded and smiled in her sort of endearing, motherly way, and signaled to the guards on the walls to lower the gates. Apple Bloom rolled her eye in irritation and disappeared from view. A few seconds passed by before the doors slowly screamed opened as loudly as they could, sirens blaring all the while. Scootaloo put a hoof forward, inviting the five to enter the city. Several guards had already taken up position in front of the gate. The first line thrust their spears at the crystallion while the second raised their rifles at them. Abstract did not react. Instead, a strange humming growing progressively louder started emanating.

"What is a creature of Sombra doing here? Who let it through the gates?"

The ponies started to rise slowly in the air without noticing until it was too late. Several fired their weapons in random directions, but the few bullets that hit Abstract simply bounced off, and the whole group was engulfed within a rapidly spinning tornado of dark energies. THey were all randomly tossed in all directions so that Abstract could pass without hindrance.

"Get the paramedics here to help with the wounded," one of the sisters shouted.

Sweetie Belle calmly strode forward next to Scootaloo and whispered in her ear:

"Is this wise? He is clearly an unknown creature surrounded by powerful and unknown magic closely resembling that of Sombra's."

"Hmhm. I have a feeling that his ego is too big to let us out of important information like that. Perhaps, with a bit of taunting, you could get him to speak?"

The grand inquisitor walked next to the crystallion, ignoring the four behind him taking in the surroundings. She was about to speak to the tall crystallion, but noticing something rather peculiar in the glowing lights representing his eyes. Their glow was erratic; Flickering from bright to dark. He was confused by this enormous world in front of him. Technology he had never seen, architectural advances that he knew not were possible. He was standing in front of the entrance to Vahoover which was a widened area devoid of anything but brown bricks tiled into the ground in an arc facing away from the door. To his left and right were barracks built into the walls. They were tall, made from darkened bricks with a cement block base, and the second floor was reachable via an exterior stairway.

Further along sat a mass of buildings suffering from a lack of uniform design. Many of them were tall, others were short and wide, and all of these buildings had a wide variety of colors added to them. Street lights were placed on the sidewalks, both which Abstract had never seen in his life. The Crystal Kingdom should have been his first conquest. All of this was so...strange and confusing. Buildings stretching as high as possible without collapsing or swaying on the winds. Granted, the artificial sun above the whole city was somewhat familiar, but he did not recognize anything else. There were even carriages being drawn without the aid of slaves, yet there was no magic involved.

"Is something wrong?"

"What is this...madness? What magic is utilized in the support of these inconceivable structures? By what method have you created an artificial sun? What weaponry is this that you can expel metal balls from?"

Sweetie Belle was internally baffled. The minions of the tyrants knew very well what this technology was, but this creature did not? What exactly was he, anyways? Concrete Cavel stepped forward to explain everything to Sweetie.

"Oh, Grand Inquisitor, might I humbly beseech your beauty to listen?"

Rosy laughed behind his back. "He's in love."

"Pfffff," Blue answered.

The white pony looked at the chuckling ponies, then back at Concrete. She so wanted to laugh along. "Go ahead," Sweetie replied.

"Thank you," Concrete replied with a tone of half-annoyance. "Our master, Abstract the Dark, rescued us from our subjugation to the dread King Sombra. Once he freed us, we--"

"Wait. He FREED you?!" Sweetie interrupted.

"Yes. Why?"

The grand inquisitor looked at the stallion in front of her with wide eyes, then she looked towards Abstract who was still nervously observing the heavily urbanized landscape in front of him.

"Please continue."

"Right. Well, when he freed us, we felt a sense of duty to follow him in thanks and help him around. He awoke from a ten thousand year period of meditation and energy absorption, so I would assume that he still hasn't freed up all his powers."

"I see. Anything else of interest about him?"

"He fought on equal hoofing with Princess Celestia," Amber interjected.

"He what?"

"He wasn't unscathed, but he did block that sun spell we were all afraid of."

"Really? Interesting."

The three were interrupted by a mare shouting for somepony going near Abstract.

"Essence, no!" yelled a changeling queen.

A tiny pupa with a red mane, red eyes, and a tannish chitin had hurried over to Abstract in curiosity and was poking and prodding his right foreleg. It broke him out of his trance, and he looked down to his hoof to see the tiny thing look back at him with an innocent grin and intrigue about him. For a long moment, there were no sounds or sudden movements from the immediate vicinity. The mother was too afraid to get close to it despite all her instincts telling her to run towards her daughter, and everypony behind Abstract were just observing him and waiting to see what he was going to do.

"What is this tiny thing? It looks defective. It must be disposed of," he said coldly as he lift his foreleg to crush the pupa.

Towers of protection

View Online

"DON'T!" Amber shouted at the top of her lungs.

Abstract stopped in his place and watched the pupa look at his hoof curiously, then laugh and hoofbump it playfully. He tilted his head slightly, then turned to look at Amber.

"For what reason should I not terminate this defective entity?"

The mother stayed at a distance, as did the guards, but they dared not move close to Abstract for fear that he might drop his hoof on the pupa.

"It's not defective. It's just a pupa. A baby."

Amber was approaching her master very calmly and carefully. During the short time she was with him, she knew how he could be, as did the other three, but his reaction surprised everypony around. He first tilted his head gently to one side, then to another until he straightened up and looked at the tiny creature booping his hoof. "Ba-by? What is a bay-bee?"

Apple Bloom chuckled quietly under her breath. "He lauds himself our new supreme leader yet he doesn't even know what infants are."

A great commotion attracted everyone's attention away from the scene. Abstract's new 'pet' was climbing over the walls and kicking over equipment and stone. Apple Bloom wasn't pleased at all with the situation.

"Oh come on! Ah just fixed that yesterday!" She jumped over the guards, slid down the wall, then jumped in front of the behemoth and stared at it straight in its eyes. "Hey! Who do ya think ya are, bustin' mah walls like that? Ah built 'em with mah sweat 'n elbow grease, 'n yer just-woah!"

The chrysanthemium swiped at the pony with its foreleg to get her away while it stomped over towards a large, squarish patch of grass in the area and collapsed onto it. Its body slowly condensed together until it resembled a mound of black crystals. The whole affair allowed the changeling queen to sneak in and take her baby back. Humorously, Abstract was actually watching her the whole time. Analyzing this proved...confusing. What is a 'baby' and why was this 'female' intent on protecting it? There were more problems to these inferior creatures than he had thought.

As Scootaloo smirked a little and watched Apple Bloom start kicking and shooting the mound, to no avail, she was interrupted by a pegasi flying down from the sky. He was very scrawny and colored a strange shade of amber for his coat and a fuchsia for his mane and tail. He was panicking and sweating quite profusely.

"It's King Sombra! His forces are here in the city!"

"What forces?"

The pegasus stared at his emperor with confusion. "What? What do you mean 'where'? It's right there!" He gestured towards Abstract with both forelegs.

Scootaloo chuckled. "If you think he is a part of Sombra's forces, you should ask him that yourself."

"What do you mean?"

Scootaloo gestured the pony to turn around. He hesitated several times and pointed to the direction behind him, to which Scootaloo consistently nodded calmly and and with care. The pegasus yiped and found himself hiding behind the orange pegasus.

"I am not a creation of the false crystallion. It tries to use our magic, but barely even knows the base functions of it."

"Is that all?" Scootaloo asked.

"N-n-n-no. Th-th-there's news that Sombra's forces broke through a portion of Discord's defenses and have started seeping towards Vanhoover. We've tried everything we can, but we can't stop it."

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle came together to discuss a method of dealing with the impending threat, but it seemed they had no other choice but to entrust their protection to the source of all crystal magic, or so he says. They were surprised to see he was forcing the guards to bring water and food to his subjects. Strange, considering he treated them like something similar to slaves. After taking a deep breath, Scootaloo walked up to the crystallion who had returned to its subjects, and said:

"Abstract, we require your help in removing an impending crystal threat coming from Sombra."

There was a moment of silence, but Abstract huffed. "And why would I perform such a task for one who considers herself a great protector? Your powers should be sufficient."

Sweetie Belle stepped in and put herself in front of her friend. "We have already tried to stop it with our own powers. We failed. We require your guidance and insight in the power of crystal magic."

"Plus, the people here would take your coming as a good sign. This would facilitate your transition to a true ruler and a conqueror of this city. You would not have to worry about issues of the past," Scootaloo added.

Wind flowed through the air, brushing through the few trees in the enormous entrance grounds. Abstract never gave any signs of caring much for anything, especially due to his lack of breathing and facial images. The best Scootaloo could do was follow his 'eyes' and analyze them based on their brightness. She was surprised to see a bit of movement coming from them. The crystallion stood so that his side would face the pony, but she could still see his eyes looking a little bit to the left, then back towards her.

"Fine. I already have a solution to this 'magic', and it will cement Vanhoover as my first conquest."

Sweetie Belle's body tensed just a little, but she let Scootaloo deal with it.

"Great. We shall immediately depart for the Town Hall."

Abstract knew not this term, but the building standing in the middle of the city was still an enormous construct not dissimilar to a manor. There were buildings far taller than it all around the city, but it mattered not. He could increase its size to fit his needs whenever he would be required to do so. Before he could analyze it, Scootaloo spoke:

"We based it off of Canterlot Castle. The towers are directly connected to the building now and don't veer off into crazy directions like the original did. We streamlined the exterior, making more stacked, sturdy, and streamlined. The windows are a little smaller, but it was worth it to make it more appealing to the eyes and both the interior and exterior decorator. As you can see, above on the third floor stands a balcony to adress everypony--"

"Sufficient. Call my subjects. I shall wait there."

Abstract activated his magic, allowing him to immediately arrive at the balcony in question and stand there. As he waited, he looked down at the railing. It was held up by rounded pillars thinning at their ends but spreading out into two folds which also curled down and inwards. The white stone was appealing to the crystallion, and he much appreciated pillars within his architecture. Abstract was left to his thoughts while a call was sent throughout the city, and within moments that giant, round yard below and the skies above were filled with all manner of creatures, one of which was unknown to Abstract the Dark. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom walked up behind him, silence on their lips, although the country pony wasn't very happy with the current situation and wasn't afraid of showing it judging by her scowl and crossing her forelegs in a pout.

"You may start," Sweetie Belle said.

Abstract's voice was surprisingly loud and echoed not only through Vanhoover, but quite a bit beyond it as well. "Citizens of Vanhoover, I, Abstract the Dark, will be your future ruler when the time is right. My race had once conquered many lands but had succumbed to their own foolishness and cruelty. I will revive my race, but I must learn how to become a trusted leader in the mean time. I possess four servants who shall aid me with the acquisition of this information as well.

It has also come to my attention that my first territory is at risk of falling to the false crystal magic of the fool Sombra. I will show you all the power of true crystal magic, and then I shall take my leave."

The crystallions two horns conjoined their magical energies which started to spin between each other at tremendous speeds. Somehow, it was affecting Vanhoover itself as winds began to kick up violently and the ground began to shake. Four gigantic, black pillars of crystal rose in front of the midsection of all four walls. They rose higher and higher into the sky with their bases becoming larger and larger until they reached well over twenty-five meters above the walls. They started pulsing with magic, rings of dark energy rising towards the tips. This continued, and the humming became louder and louder while the pulsing became faster and faster, and then the pillars erupted, throwing a shockwave of pure darkness throughout the lands and covering the city in a transparent bubble of protection. It was far more efficient than the previous version created by obviously inferior beings.

The encroaching crystal 'moss' nearby Vanhoover's lands were almost immediately destroyed, and then some. Nopony aside from Abstract and his four servants knew much of what happened, but the crystallion cared not for the petty whims and needs of his subjects. As long as he faked his kindness to them, he would get what he wanted. That was all that mattered, and now his first conquest was secure. He would leave the rest to the three 'saviors' and return to the entrance where his chrysanthemium was. The mount was rare and very important to his plans. At least he wasn't aware of the little black creatures following as he flew away from the castle and the balcony.

Twilight comes to visit

View Online

The guards keeping watch over the four ponies and the crystal mound were staring at their location, mouths agape. Abstract had just returned and created a massive mess; He had started digging a massive hole in the concrete and the garden, tossing dirt and rocks everywhere. Blue Mellow and Rosy Notes would help out by grabbing as much dirt as they could and throwing it into a far away pile...and would throw it on Concrete Cavel who obviously became angered. Said pony with anger management problems and Amber Sweets would carry the pieces of rock and stone into another pile, although Amber would fly up and drop her's at the top of a pile and adjust them accordingly. She did seem to have a strange obsession with arranging things in a perfectly balanced position. Concrete noticed this and sat down after releasing another stone; Wiping his head in frustration.

"Why are you constantly trying to rearrange those rocks? Just dump them in a pile and go get the others!" He scolded.

Amber started to panic and began to nibble on her hooves while her eyes darted from left to right. "N-no! They must be aligned correctly. They...They just have to be!"

"Why?! They're just rocks!"

"I...I don't know! Ever since I was liberated by Lord Abstract, I have been getting weird needs, cravings, and obsessions. Did he do something to my mind? No. Of course not. He wouldn't harm us."

Concrete tapped his chin pensively and was about to speak when Blue spoke first: "Maybe she got the OCD when Abstract freed us?"

"What?" Amber said.

"Yeah. Maybe it damaged us all and we don't even know it. What he does it on purpose? Maybe he's aware of it? Who knows?"

The conversation was briefly interrupted by a sudden flash of darkness that came from the hole. It awoke the chrysanthemium that quickly resumed its normal form and started digging deep into the hole. Massive rocks and enormous mounds of dirt were flying everywhere, causing everypony in the vicinity to flee. Abstract's actions were simply too strange to understand.

A few hours had passed when the three ex-crusaders arrived at the gate entrance to see the guards all staring down what seemed to be a abysmal chasm of pure darkness in the ground. Apple Bloom nearly burst a pipe when she saw the damages. She ran towards the hole and yelled at Abstract whom she was certain was down there, asking him why he was doing this and other rather tasteless words. While she did that, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle walked towards the four ponies sitting at the edge of the hole and waiting.

"So...Mind explaining what's going on here?"

The four shrugged. "He's been digging down there with the chrysalimium since he came back," Rosy spluttered.

"I do believe it's chrysimethium, dear sister," Blue corrected.

Rosy rotated on the spot then faced him. "No, I am most certain you are mistaken."

"How dare you?! I have done thorough studies in the chrysmithiums all my life!"

Sweetie Belle Leaned towards Scootaloo and whispered in her ear:

"Those two are lively, don't you think?"

"True, however, we need to welcome our future guest that will be arriving tomorrow. Guards!"

"Yes, Empress!" All the guards around saluted Scootaloo.

"Get the workers to clean up this mess, and tell them to avoid the hole. I wouldn't want anypony to get hurt. I must tend to the confusion of my people and reassure them further. The Grand Inquisitor shall keep watch over Abstract and his creatures." While several of the guards galloped away into the city, Scootaloo walked past the four and gestured them to follow her. "Come with me," she added. The four quickly scampered up and, although hesitant to leave Abstract's side, still followed the empress. "So, tell me; Were you really liberated by Abstract? Were you truly crystal ponies?"

"That's right m'am. I don't really know about these three, but I was trying to reach Vanhoover when I was captured," Concrete answered.

"I see...And you are completely freed from Sombra's magic, then?"

"W-Well...We aren't entirely certain. Blue thinks that our 'liberation' might have damaged our brains."

Scootaloo tilted her slightly towards Concrete. She was concerned. "What makes you say that?"

"Amber's got OCD now and says she never had it before," Blue spoke cheerfully.

"But is she lying?" Pink added.

"Maybe she is. She's always nervous," Blue teased.

"I NEVER HAD IT BEFORE! ...And I'm never nervous," Amber pouted.

"Hmmm. Well, to be certain, I will send you to the Sweetie Sister's laboratory on magic research. They will keep you for the night where you will be scanned and have various medical examinations performed so that we may not only register you as full time Vanhoovian residents, but also make sure you do not have any diseases or remnant of crystal magic within you. Then, we will rehabilitate you to life with ponies and other creatures as well as our technology simply with a few guides and overnight classes. I will mention this to Abstract when he leaves his hole or whatever that is."

The four all agreed on the procedures and happily walked alongside Scootaloo through the city. Her concern was greater than the calm smile she wore on her face, and they were all connected to this bizarre creature who had just now appeared. What was it that made such an ancient being rise from its slumber now, during the worst of times? What was it hiding, and what truly is its purpose? What was its past? Several of the minotaurs and griffins, though not all, exploded into a riot of anger and rage when they saw him. Just what had he done in the past that brought about their ire, and how did he free the ponies from Sombra's magic when even Sweetie Belle and Fleur de Lis failed? This could be the solution to aid their friend who is in need of it.

The following day, Scootaloo and several Chosen ponies wearing the latest in power suits covering their whole bodies and inscribed with anti-chaos rites stood in front of the gate. Sweetie Belle stood next to her friend as the mighty Grand Inquisitor while Apple Bloom stood in the hangar, ready to send out the flying attack craft at any moment. Everypony was tense and the atmosphere was stringent and tight with stress, but they were prepared. On the horizon appeared three mysterious figures that were getting larger and larger as time passed. After half an hour, the figures stopped in front of the welcoming party. Everypony but the Power Guard, the empress, and the grand inquisitor, tensed up. Sweetie Belle's faced scrunched up slightly from disgust.

"Hello, Rarity," she hissed.

"Hello, sister," Rarity replied without care.

Twilight Sparkle and Rarity had arrived and, in Twilight's claws, was a metal chain connected to a collar around a stallion in a sorry state. He had clearly been underfed and forced to work on long nights. Rarity's feline-esque form was very thin and delicate, althoug hher purple mane and tail were still obsessively well kempt. Like Twilight, she also possessed paws, although these were more akin to a cat's. Her horn was much longer and the base was surrounded by a golden ring. Additionally, she wore a spiked, golden headband whose six spikes shortened and curved more inwards the closer they got to their center; She also wore a golden neckband that extended, just a bit, onto her back. Under both of her eyes was a purple, triangular shape that made her appear as though she had slept poorly, but these did fit with the occasional purple stripe on her white body.

"As promised, we came here to talk, and we brought an ex-prisoner to prove it," Twilight spoke. "First, we'll see who he prefers. Me, his queen and 'friend' who took great care of him, or you; Complete strangers who couldn't care less about his life. Go ahead now," Twilight said. She released the pony with a begging smile on her face, ready to receive the stallion who would jump into her arms for a hug, but to no avail. Practically microseconds after his release, the unicorn fled behind Scootaloo and began trembling like crazy. Twilight frowned and appeared to be on the verge of crying, but the moment passed just as quickly.

"Why would you come here, Rarity? I thought you would satisfied enough to cower behind the tail of Discord," Sweetie said.

Rarity simply chuckled. "You jest. I am a diplomat. Without me, Discord would be nothing," she chuckled.

"Hmph. Don't try anything funny. You once tried to attack Vanhoover all at once, and failed, not to mention your two friends who came yesterday and were utterly crushed. Plus, we have additional spells and protection in place."

Twilight looked around and nodded. "I can see that, but I don't recognize these towers. They're not emitting Sombra's magic, that's for sure."

The lavender demon stopped speaking for a moment when she saw the door open and guards escorting the ex-slave into town. Before the doors were closed, she got to see a gigantic black claw rise from the ground and drag the slave into whatever pit it was in, terrorizing the guards that were escorting him. Twilight's eyes widened in excitement when she saw that.

"Judging by that roar I heard, I would surmise you have a new pet?" Rarity asked.

"No." Scootaloo simply shook her head in response. "So, why would the Queen of Chaos want to have a simple diplomatic meeting? I know you enough that this certainly has nothing to do with Discord's poor decision making."

"You got me! Haha!" Twilight floated slightly and chuckled. "I only wanted to see this creature that came from Sombra's domain unharmed. I hear it's a creation of his."

"You're mistaken."

"Then can I meet it? I'm certain you can drag that gigantic beast out here." Twilight rubbed her forepaws together in anticipation and even started to drool.

"Ew. Twilight, you're drooling again." Rarity rolled her eyes.

The queen suddenly came to her senses and wiped her mouth. "Eheheh. Sorry about that."

"Sorry indeed. The beast is under its control. It is not the one you want."

"Oh? Then who is?"

"I would introduce you, but he doesn't seem--"

The gates opened again, revealing a crystalline equine walking towards the whole group. The guards quickly stepped aside from him and let Abstract through. He went to the left of Scootaloo and decided to stand there, waiting. The empress went ahead and presented him.

"This is Abstract the Dark: A crystallion."

"A crystallion? Ooo. I've never heard of your kind. It's not in any books I've ever read, and I've read a LOT of books."

"What manner of pathetic being is this?" Abstract asked.

"Pathetic? That's not very nice. Plus, I could flatten you in an instant if I-WAAAH!"

Twilight tried to poke the crystallion, but when her finger made contact, it immediately dissolved and caused the rest of the hand to appear to shift from solid to potentially explosive for just a short while.

"Do not touch me," he calmly ordered.

Not old chaos

View Online

Twilight grabbed her hand and massaged it gently, trying to blow away the burning and steam and calming herself down.

"Wow. I didn't think that anypony would be capable of hurting me like that who wasn't a demon."

Abstract huffed. "You underestimate one who already went to war with beings of chaos in the past."

"Oh?"

"I'm assuming that the one who gave you these powers is showing its pseudo-omnipotence by displaying its large eyes behind myself and whispering how I am a threat to it," Abstract spoke calmly.

Through Twilight's eyes, it was true. The giant yellow, reptilian eyes of it/they/them stood firmly behind the crystallion and whispered to the now-demon Twilight Sparkle.

Kill it

It's a threat to our/my plans

Its kind have already thwarted chaos once

It will destroy you if it gets the chance

"It thinks I'm unaware of its presence, but crystallions and draconequus have fought too long for my kind to not instinctively sense chaos around us. A primitive power, to be sure."

The ponies around the city gate started whispering to themselves as they didn't understand what was happening.

"What's he talking about?" Sweetie Belle whispered to Scootaloo. Her friend shrugged in response.

"So why exactly are you here, to take vengeance upon the worthless trash that attacked this city days prior?"

Twilight chuckled. "Of course not, silly. I'm here to learn more about you and your species. I've never heard of crystallions until today."

Her speech came at no surprise to Abstract. He was fairly certain that if all traces of his race on the surface hadn't been destroyed by the griffons and minotaurs, then it would be by time and nature itself. Unlike the other creatures, however, he did not flinch upon hearing that. In fact,he couldn't care less. The legacy of the crystallions was not one to go through the ages. Rather, it should be the crystallions themselves.

"I have no time for some trifling filly trying to write in her diary about whom she encountered today," Abstract explained.

The crystallion turned around to return back into the city, but Twilight wormed her way around him with her strange body and blocked.

"Awwww, come oooon. I just want to know!"

Abstract's hooves glimmered a faint sheen of white briefly and disoriented Twilight after a forced teleportation further down the hilly plateau upon which she ended upside down. Sweetie Belle grinned ever so slightly at the sight and found her intrigue of magic returning after so long.

"Are you sure that will last long?" she asked Abstract who passed by her to return to the city.

"I don't care," he answered stoically.

A small tornado of purple appeared in front of Abstract and slowed down to reveal Twilight Sparkle, her eyes and mouth stopping first just to reassert themselves on her face.

"Hey! That wasn't very ni--"

She found herself underground in a cave while Abstract checked his hooves and stretched a bit.

"My powers are slowly but surely returning," he observed.

"So I take it that's it?" Scootaloo asked. Abstract did not answer. "You know," she started. "If you really want to be the next ruler of this place, might I suggest that you start answering the questions of your subjects?"

"I did not answer because the answer is obvious. Like order, chaos cannot be stopped indefinitely, and I have no envy nor reason to do anything with those lower life forms. I have more pressing matters to attend to up north, where some fool thinks to control vastly weakened versions of crystallion magic."

Sweetie Belle blinked a few times in response to what she heard. "Vastly weakened?" she repeated. Her near quiet quiet voice conflicted with the barely hidden anger on her face. "Those crystals have corrupted many a friend and family member against their own, all because of that self-proclaimed king!"

"I'm aware." He said. "If you hadn't noticed yet, I brought for ponies from the north as a sign of good will."

"No you didn't," Sweetie spat.

Abstract turned his head slightly to look at the pony from the corner of the glowing circle serving as his 'eye'. "Hm?" he hummed.

"I don't know what you did to them, but they seem to worship you, and they're still covered in the crystals. How do I know they're not still under Sombra's influence?"

"Because they were corrupted by infantile magic spells, and because this 'Sombra' of yours has brought about my ire with the defamation of my race's magic." He stomped forward and seemingly towered over Sweetie for a quick moment. "He is my first target, and he will be subjugated by my crystalline hooves as a reminder for those who would dare oppose me in the future."

"He can't be touched! we've already tried invading his lands to save a few of our own."

"You're very adamant about ignoring what I've been saying."

"But--"

"We will speak of this no further. I have already said my piece and explained the situation. When my powers fully awaken from dormancy," he checked his crystal wings. "and they have, then I will 'liberate' my future subjects. Until then, I will take into your experience with this unusual world and learn about the minor inconveniences that this pseudo-crystal magic causes unto the populace, as mentioned before."

Sweetie just let him walk away, knowing that any further altercations would end poorly. Still. "I don't like him," she mumbled under her breath.

"No pony does," Scootaloo interjected. "But, as long as he fights on our side."

Sweetie Belle nodded. "I would still prefer that he got a better attitude."

Discord threw the glass orb with which he watched the transaction occur into a flying tree behind him and leaned back in the air. "Hmmm. I've never seen that kind of magic. He disrupted the chaos around Twilight and made it randomly teleport around." He leaned forward and joined his fingers. "Interesting."

Exploration

View Online

"So what is this?" a crystallized pony asked.

There was a large team of ponies standing upon the ruins of Stalliongrad where Abstract emerged. His arrival brought about the gradual growth of black crystals to fill the hole the creature had made, and no pony managed to damage the mineral structures, so Sombra sent some scouts forward until Crystalestia arrived. She DID succeed in fighting the creature to a standstill, after all.

"Looks like a crystal."

The first pony facehoofed. "Yes, I can see that. What I wan to know is why this thing is here and why no pony has managed to destroy it yet."

"King Sombra should be able to do so with ease...if he had a body."

A loud thud resonated behind the two ponies, making them jump away in fear.

"What are you fools doing here?" a female voice demanded.

It was Crystalestia, and the two crystal ponies trembled in her presence; her shadow engulfing even the surrounding darkness created by the black clouds overhead.

"W-w-we were waiting for you a-a-and trying to understand it s-so that King Sombra would not need to bother hims-self with it," the second crystal pony stuttered.

Crystalestia angled her head and frowned at the pony. She casually absorbed his magic, turning him completely into a crystal statue. The remaining stallion yiped in fear.

"You forgot to say 'Great and Mighty', fool," Crystalestia spat. She turned to face the pony still free from her ire. "Is this the item?"

"Y-yes, m'am. Our machines can't destroy it, and our magic can't affect it. We thought that somepony with your strength with be more than capable of destroying the structure and discover what's down below." There was a long pause until the stallion spoke rapidly to correct himself. "A-all for our king, of course. You will be given all the credit as well."

Celestia snorted in response and looked onward to the towering structure of black crystals stretching skywards with smaller towers growing from and around the centerpiece.

"You had trouble with this?" Celestia laughed.

She fired a beam of crystal magic at the structure from her horn. Her smirk faded when she noticed that her power had no effect. She tried multiple times to destroy the structure with her simple magic, but nothing happened. Angered, she rose to the air, gathered all the magic particles in her forehooves, making them glow a bright blue, then slammed them together. A massive explosion of blue crystals and dust engulfed and illuminated the whole city, but the structure did not budge. Panting, the former princess stared agape at this unusual creation.

"How does it resist me when that creature was barely strong enough to face me on equal footings? Is it the source of its power?" she thought to herself.

The stallion approached the crystal and narrowed his gaze, noticing a teensy little crack. "At least you started damaging it here," he commented.

The mare glared at him and swiped him aside. "What are you?" she yelled at the crystal whilst approaching it. "Why can't I destroy y--"

Celestia's face contorted to a mixture of pain and fear when her forehooves touched the surface of the crystal.

"Hm?" Abstract hummed and stopped in his tracks at the entrance of the city.

"What is it?" Scootaloo asked.

"Hmmmmmm..." Abstract continued.

Crystalestia suddenly found herself floating in an engulfing darkness, a freezing fear running through her veins and preventing her from moving. "What is this?" she said. "Where am I?"

"Why did you do it?" a familiar voice asked. "Why did you betray them all?"

"Who is that? Show yourself!"

"You gave her your word, but you gave up on her, and you gave up on them all. I thought you were better than this! You gave your word so long ago!"

"What are you talking about? I serve the great and glorious King Sombra!" Crystalestia proclaimed.

Celestia broke through the shadows, showing her disappointment to her present, corrupted self. "Look at what you've become!" A mirror slid in front of the mare, revealing Crystalestia's form.

"What about it?"

"Chained like a dog, you serve your master at the whip of your leash," Celestia spat. "Without you, the Elements of Harmony lost their sheen and became corrupted."

"No! They did that to themselves!"

"You were their guide! Their lamp in the darkness, but then you went out, left them to become lost on the trail."

"N-no! I didn't! I tried!"

"THEN WHAT IS THIS?!" Multiple images revealing the demonic forms of the Elements of Harmony causing havoc and destruction in the sealed off Equestria. "This is your handiwork! Your neglect created this and corrupted their souls!"

"Be gone, vile apparition!"

Celestia bumped foreheads with her crystallized self, looking her dead in the eyes, then pushed her away. "You can't get rid of me: Your true self. I will come back to MY body, whether you want me to or not."

Abstract the dark appeared from the darkness, his hooves resting on the mare's shoulder's. His eyes shined faintly above the bright white of the alicorn, looking down at the once mighty pony before him. Crystalestia finally let go of the crystal then collapses to the ground, a seizure engulfing her mind. Crystance and her husband both looked at her in disdain.

"We came to see why Crystalestia suddenly disappeared from our king's vision, but it seems it was only caused by a seizure." The pink pony clicked her tongue in disappointment.

Crystal Armor amused his imagination by gazing longly at the black crystals. "I'd rather believe it was caused by this crystal," he stated.

"How are you so certain?"

"Because she froze when she touched it," the 'surviving' crystallized pony interjected.

"I see," Crystance said. "Then until we can figure out how to destroy this thing, keep this place off limits. It if starts expanding, then we'll take it as important. Until then, it is to be observed and hindered without physical contact." She looked back down at Crystalestia and tapped her head. "I wonder if she'll ever recover from this."

Back at the city, Abstract laughed at what was revealed to him. "So they DO have weaknesses through their shells, and those truly aren't their bodies."

Everypony around were worried about the state of Abstract's mind, so Sweetie Belle stepped forward to demand an answer. "What are you talking about?"

Abstract looked at the white mare from the corner of his 'eye' then turned his gaze. "The fools up north touched the crystal growing to protect my source, and the one who touched was the white alicorn I fought when I first awoke."

A brouhaha started forming around the entrance. "And?" Sweetie Belle continued. "How is that important?"

"Because I now know her weakness and can destroy her from the inside-out." The crystallion walked away calmly and laughed one more time. "Destroying a mighty wall does not require one to punch its chest in hopes of it eventually collapsing from exhaustion," he added.

You're stuck in the underground

View Online

Crystalestia sat in her room in Canterlot Castle: an empty bowel of crystal devoid of anything but the reflections of light and Sombra's sight, but someone else was watching through them and staring at a wide-eyed alicorn staring at the blue floor. She was clearly horrified, and no pony would enter the room for fear of being destroyed right then and there, and yet...

Crystalestia heard a low hum and looked up to see that a familiar, faint white light was staring at her from every facet of the crystals, and looking around proved it. Her breathing became erratic and she bared her teeth while focusing the magic in her horn.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" she bellowed.

She let loose several crescent-shaped beams of magic from her horn; crescents easily capable of cutting anything in two, but these were Sombra's crystals, and they were only bouncing off of them with nary a dent in their forms.

"Having a temper tantrum, former princess?" somepony asked. Crystalestia spun around to find she was face-to-face with a disappointed Celestia. "Look at you," she spat. "Absolutely pathetic."

"Shut up!" Crystalestia shouted. "You're just the remains of my weak past. With this power I'm stronger than anypony!" Her magic flared up and made the room tremble.

"But power comes with a cost, and the stronger you become, the more expensive the pay."

"Shut up!" Crystalestia threw another crescent of magic at Celestia, but the missed. It curved upwards to the right and hit the roof.

"See? You can't even hurt me because you're afraid."

"Afraid of what? You? I'm better than ever."

Celestia scoffed. "Do you really think I would believe you? Now you're openly lying! Are you going through the stages of grief? What's next, depression? Anger?"

"I would only go through those stages if I had anything to feel them."

"But you do, and I'm proof of this."

Crystalestia spoke in a calm manner. "No! You're just a spell used by that crystalline creature to psychologically torment me." She walked towards Celestia. "But if I approach you and attempt to touch your muzzle," she explained when she stretched a hoof to the alicorn in front of her. "then I will see that...that..."

Celestia's muzzle was as solid as could be, and no matter how much Crystalestia patted her, the solidity wouldn't fade. Crystalestia felt a new sensation of terror boil up inside her.

"You will that what? That I'm real?"

"Not...true..."

"You're the imposter here, born from the twisted magics of Sombra."

In the mighty throne room of King Sombra, Crystance and Crystal Armor both noticed the cloudy form of their ruler in his crystal turning and twisting about.

"Graaaah!"he roared.

"What is, my king?" Crystance asked.

"I cannot see Crystalestia any longer, and I have attempted to recontact her for two hours."

"What?" Armor said.

"Every facet is corrupted. Controlled, by something else, and it dares to try and defy my will!"

"But how is that possible? You have absolute control over all things crystal."

"Go in there and take her out. I can't lose that valuable asset," Sombra ordered.

Crystance and Crystal Armor both hurried to the door of Celestia further in the castle and saw that a large group of crystal ponies had already been trying to blow down the doors to her room with magic and brute force, and they were failing.

"You've come to help?" one of them asked.

Crystance ignored the pony's question and looked at the crystalline door. "Why isn't this destroyed yet?"

The crystal pony fumbled with their hooves. "Well...we're trying, but we can't get through it. The crystals won't break, let alone the door!"

Crystal Armor put his ears to the wall and could hear Crystalestia yelling at someone. "Has she been like this for long?"

"Yes, sir. She's been talking to herself for two hours now."

"Hm. That's as long as King Sombra said."

Back in the room, Crystalestia had been unleashing torrent after torrent of magical spells at Celestia and missing them all. She was slouched on the floor and gasping for air.

"Are you done with your tantrum?" Celestia sighed. Crystalestia didn't answer. "This is pretty much all you do nowadays. When something doesn't follow what you want, you have a tantrum, like when the crystal couple stomped on your face when you recently became this..." she gestured to the crystal alicorn's form. "thing. You thought you had so much power, but when the mind is corrupt, there is no power, only poison." She looked outside the window to see a familiar pathway on the castle walls. "Why, I recall when you sacrificed yourself to save your sister, but-" She picked up a piece of broken crystal and analyzed it. "-the second you became surrounded in a sheet of minerals, you tried to kill her."

"Because she defied my Lord Sombra's will!"

"At least SOMEONE here has a will," Celestia taunted.

"I HAVE MY OWN WILL!"

Celestia shook her head and spoke with a very low-tone voice. "Pfff. I've yet to see that."

"I--"

"And because you couldn't maintain your own mind, your sister was forced to become corrupted by the nightmare within her, further tainting and destroying the land." She stepped forward and pointed at Crystalestia. "All because of your weakness, fear, and incompetence. You clearly weren't fit to be a ruler if you couldn't stop a simple bit of corruption, and if you can't rule Equestria anymore, then you can't be trusted with your link to the sun."

Celestia reached into Crystalestia's chest and started to pull something she got her hoof on. Crystalestia started howling in pain and tried to get Celestia off of her, but the alicorn was too strong. With a final tug, a white orb emerged from the crystal mare and stayed in the hoof of the alicorn.

Crystalestia stared at it in awe. "What is that?"

"What I was given to control the sun. It's what connects ME to that celestial object."

"But I can't control the sun anymore."

"Of course not. You lost that privilege when you gave you in to the crystal jerk. You lost it when you lost your identity and rejected your sister and tried to kill her." Celestia bared her teeth at Crystalestia and spat at her. "You're no pony. You're just some animated golem of crystal, and I WILL recover MY birthright for my people, something you never did."

The room entrance blew open, ejecting crystal shards everywhere and letting Crystance and her husband to enter the room and try to discern the issues.

"Who were you talking to, Crystalestia?" Crystal Armor asked.

The crystal alicorn didn't answer and patted her chest. "I feel...empty..." she thought.

Crystal Armor grabbed her mane aggressively and pulled her to his face. "I ASKED you a QUESTION!" he bellowed.

In the city, right next to the chrsyanthemium, Abstract had been keeping to himself while the creature jittered in place. Everyone around avoided him as much as possible, and not many were still in the streets what with it being sleeping time soon, but everyone gasped when they were blinded by the bright light coming from Abstract. More specifically, he was holding a white orb whose surface slowly shifted like ink in water.

The crystallion stared at it for quite a long time and ignored Sweetie Belle focusing and guiding strands of magic with her forelegs to contain the light and alleviate the pain everyone's eyes were getting.

"What are you doing? What is that?" She pointed.

The light of Abstract's right 'eye' moved to the right of his face to look at the pony. "Using your bizarre machinery again, pony? Your kind standing on two legs is a strange sight."

"You're technically a pony too," she rebutted.

"It is not because a snake has scales that it is related to the fish."

Sweetie Belle rubbed her temples and groaned. "Okay, what is that?" she asked.

Abstract twirled the orb above his hoof. "This is a large portion of what Celestia had that linked her to the sun. 'Solar Essence', as some would say."

"Solar...So, if we had it all--"

"We could control the sun and break the bubble of darkness surrounding your world."

"How did you even get a hold of that?"

Abstract surrounded the orb with a crystal and fused the two together, created a pure white gem with an undulating surface. "The same way I'll get the rest of it."

The forest beckons

View Online

Abstract, preferring to remain outside with his chrysanthemium, amused himself with the magic he stole from Celestia. Had she not touched that crystal, he thought, then she would have never started the downfall of Sombra, for crystallions are stubborn, and to steal from their race while the most powerful of them all recovered his powers after centuries of focus and absorbing the darkness around him meant certain doom, or so one thought.

The inner lights of the city were dimmed just enough to create a simulacrum of morning for the inhabitants just waking up, and the CMC were always the first to do so, for important reasons. However, Empress Scootaloo found Abstract's obsession with the magic he stole worrisome. He had been tinkering with the magic in the crystal the whole 'night', and it didn't look like he was about to stop any time soon.

"What are you doing?" Scootaloo asked him.

"None of your concern, pony."

Scootaloo ignored his aggressive response and sighed. "You should get some sleep."

"Crystallions do not require sleep like you organics do."

The Empress blinked a few times. "Is this how you were capable of fighting and conquering the races in the past?"

"No. It was but a minimal advantage."

Scootaloo smirked. "Really? I hardly believe that such a tremendous advantage over us 'organics' would have been just a 'minimal' factor in your conquests."

"It was. Having no use for sleep does not grant one the ability to scale walls or travel deep moats."

The orange pony nodded in agreement and pursed her lips. "Fair enough."

Abstract did not continue the conversation and continued to fumble with the crystal containing the magic orb. Being so close, Scootaloo had a better vantage point from which to see the crystallions work. His two horns would occasionally zap the crystals, changing their shape and molding the magic inside in a similar manner. Some protrusions on the crystalline surface would disappear while others would grow out. The magic would also warp in appearance and sometimes change color. It appeared Abstract was trying to smooth the crystal out, but wasn't successful so far.

"Listen, I have a team prepared to go into the Night Woods to search for anypony there that isn't corrupted by the creeping miasma. I--"

"Do not care."

"But it would create a good image with the ponies when you succeed me."

"I am not interested in creating a 'good image'. I am only interested in preventing rebellion."

The pony sighed and facehoofed. "Okay. This forest is filled to the brim with darkness, and I recall you saying you need that for survival, and the--"

"More the better." He stopped fumbling with his crystal and faced the 'small' pony. "Fine. I will go with your rescue team."

Scootaloo her head. "Thank you. Before you leave, however, if you come back without them, don't expect to come back inside."

"I can force my way inside."

"But nopony would ever trust you afterwards, then how would you 'rule' over the remaining, non-corrupted ponies?" Scootaloo smirked.

Abstract stared at her amused expression and became irritated. "Fine," he growled. "If any losses are incurred I will tell you, but I will not be protecting them indefinitely."

"Are you going to take those four you rescued from Sombra?"

"No. Let them continue their menial activities without me," he huffed. "When do we leave?"

"In one hour. They'll wait for you outside."

Spike, now a well grown adolescent dragon, was a bit on the scrawny side, but he was still a strong reptile. His green spines had grown and one now hung in front of his face like an angler fish's bait. One thing that made him stand out from the crowd was -aside from him being a dragon- his left arm. Completely blackened with a purple sheen, it denoted a partial corruption by the Night Woods from which he was found by the CMC. Charming though it may be to find an old friend, it never explained what he was doing there or how he only came to be partially corrupted, and his memories that lead to that point were nonexistent. He and five ponies armed with rifles and carapace armor awaited the alleged 'Supreme Being' outside the gates.

"I bet he won't even come," one of them commented.

"Even if he does come, it'll be three hours late or something," another complained.

Sure enough, Abstract was arriving, but not by hoof. His chrysanthemium vaulted over the tremendous walls once more and stopped in front of the ponies and single dragon.

"I have no time to waste," Abstract said. "Get upon this creature and direct me to these 'Nightly Winds', or however you ponies name things."

The chrysanthemium lowered itself, allowing the rescue group to hoist themselves onto the gigantic beast and nearly tumble over when it got back up. Spike wasted no time directing Abstract.

He pointed towards the horizon. "It's down there," he said. "Just follow the black glow."

"You keep talking about this 'black glow', Spike, but we never see it, especially with Equestria being completely engulfed in this dome of darkness. Grand Inquisitor Belle already told you it's all in your head." The dragon didn't respond, creating some concern amongst the ponies. "Spike?"

The chrysanthemium started moving in the direction Spike pointed at, attracting the ire of the same pony.

"What are you doing?" he yelled.

Abstract turned his head slightly to face the pony that would yell at him, and his 'eye' glowed intensely for it. "Do not speak to me with such a tone."

"E-E-Empress Scootaloo told you not to k-kill us."

"Perhaps, but there are ways other than death that can put someone in line." He looked path to the path. "And I can see this 'light' he talks of."

Spike crossed his arms and smiled. "See?"

"It means you're tainted with darkness," Abstract explained.

Spike rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know that."

"Then you should also know that you will be overtaken by it eventually. Creatures not born into it do not live through it unscathed."

The dragon gulped. "A-and what does that mean?" he stammered.

"It means you'll likely become a mindless beast and serve whatever spawned that creeping black. No need to worry," he said. "You probably have a decade or so before it overwhelms you."

Abstracts words had no hint of teasing or mockery, terrifying both Spike and the ponies.

"I-is there a way to reverse it?"

"I can absorb it."

Spike threw his arm at the crystallion. "Then do it. Please!"

"No," Abstract replied.

"Why not?!"

"I have no obligation to do so nor am I interested in the little clump of protracted disease that passes for a corruption by darkness."

"But--"

"If the darkness of the forest fits my tastes and, more importantly, my needs, then I will reconsider, but until then, you will have to sit about my refusal."

Spike frowned. "You know, if I become a monster, then I'll certainly destroy the city. Dragons are--"

"Mighty creatures? They are no more mighty than their size gives. Clumsy and dramatic. Any dragon can be easily killed with the right attacks at the right places at the right time. You are no more a threat to me now then you will be as an adult. You aren't the first dragon I fought."

The purple dragon scratched his chin and grinned mischievously. "But you never fought one of us without the help of the others like you, have you?"

"..."

Murky Depths

View Online

Abstract and his chrysanthemium stood in front of a massive expanse of black leaves and pale, white bark. The humidity and heat that rustled between the wooden bodies, accompanied by a foul, sour odor, brought about images of a murky swamp to mind.

"Interesting," the crystallion though aloud. "There's so much of this primitive darkness that it's warping the landscape." He turned to face Spike. "Unless this was already a swamp."

"N-no. It wasn't."

Spike had trailed Abstract to the forest, intent on making sure the creature healed his arm and didn't simply shy away from his duties, but...

"I don't like this place. My arm. It's...tingling the closer we get." Spike grabbed his shaking arm and looked on towards the darkness seemingly stretching out to envelop him.

"Well, let's get going, then. I have interest in these shadows."

"But--"

"You come or you stay. It's irrelevant to my interests."

Spike stomped the ground lightly several times as he fought against the need for survival and the need to keep his own mind without the corrupting darkness. Survival won, and he barreled in after the crystal giant. Much to his surprise, the inside of the forest was more neon colored than he thought. Much like the books on sea creatures of the lowest depths of the ocean, there was a multitude of bioluminescence of varying colors of yellow, purple, and green. Much of them slithered away when Abstract approached while others remained, their hosts training their eyes upon the crystal construct.

"This is a veritable plethora of darkness. It reminds me of the days of old," Abstract said. "Yet, it leaves me wanting more."

"Maybe b-because it's not really like your old home?" Spike wondered. He kept his back arched forward like a hunchback or a cautious feline.

"Perhaps."

One of the eyes moved in front of Abstract's path, although its shape was camoflauged. Higher, higher did the eyes go, but less and less did the crystallion care. Unfortunately, the creature was obscuring the crystallion's patience, so he emitted his own darkness, one that engulfed even the bioluminescence around. Spike shielded his face from the wave of black, and it felt like he was in a sand storm.

"What are you doing?" he shouted.

"Getting rid of some blockades."

Abstract contracted the cloud within him and noticed that the vast majority of darkness around him had dissipated, giving the forest a more 'nightly' aspect. Spike looked in awe.

"That was...amazing. How did you get rid of the darkness?"

"I didn't," he answered cautiously.

"Who enters my domain of darkness? Is it a creation of the corpseless Sombra?" The shadows shook around the trees and their leaves as they coursed with rage. "Tell your master to leave this place. His crystals have no belonging."

Abstract snorted. "Abstract has no master but himself. I have no interest in a weakling that uses a bastardized version of my people's magic." The voice remained silent. "Nor do I have interest in darkness painted blue."

"What?"

"I can sense the corruption of this darkness by your own fear." He looked at his own hoof to watch the darkness slide off like sloppy mud, then his 'eyes' glowed. "You cannot control this darkness," he spoke in sudden realization. "You corrupt this darkness with your tears." He turned to face the dragon, and Spike could swear that the cloud brightened up to form a smile under the crystals. Such a sight paralyzed him. "You have my full attention now, dragon. This type of darkness." He looked on and nodded. "Yes. It could feed me greatly and let my powers reawaken from their long slumber almost all at once, but I need this battery myself."

"You mean Princess Luna?"

"Is that the name?"

"I am not Princess Luna! I am NIGHTMARE Luna!" the voice bellowed

"Your name doesn't interest me. The important thing is to capture you and drain you like fruit."

Nightmare Luna's voice became low-toned, clearly a sign of her suppressing her anger. "You come into my home, insult me, then threaten to cage me up like some sort of animal?!"

Abstract replied calmly. "I do not 'threaten'. I assure. You WILL be coming with me and give me the darkness that seeps from your soul. You yourself are nothing to me."

Spike started grunting and grabbed his arm.

"I may not be able to influence you, but I can influence the darkness in that small drake behind you. He will kill you on my behalf."

Spike's arm started to bulk up and grow, just as did the rest of his body as the darkness expanded, but Abstract bolted next to the dragon and pierced his right pectoral with his two horns, causing the dragon to freeze in pain and the spasming of his body to cease. His arm returned to normal but retained the dark color and outline as it always had.

"You think I didn't conceive that such a thing would occur?"

Spike tapped his chest and noticed nothing was there. "No wound? Did you drain it?"

"Yes."

"But...Why is my arm still dark?"

"Because I replaced it with my own."

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Spike shouted angrily.

"Don't you want to know what the darkness fused to your body is capable of?"

"No! It's a curse!"

"And, in time, curses become a gift."

Spike was about to yell at him, but a swirling vortex of darkness smacked him in the head, making him stumble forward. It reformed in front of Abstract as the snarling head, torso, and forelegs of Nightmare Luna. She wasn't too separated from Nightmare Moon's look, save for her flowing mane of blue being reminiscent of Luna's, and the black edge of her mane oozing out mists of darkness. Her white fangs seemingly dripped with venom for the crystallion standing before her.

"So YOU'RE the one who insults me, then damages my darkness?" She eyed him hoof to horns. "What in Equestria even are you?"

There was a long silence where the two stared at each other, then Abstract spoke. "Ahhhh. Yes. Darkness filled with so much negativity."

"What?"

"I taste sadness and fury mixed within it. It is most divine to have such a meal, but I find it can marinate a little more."

"What are you talking about?"

"The only reason you wouldn't be able to control this expansion," Abstract pointed to the floor. "Is because your transformation was both a hasty one and you were filled with multiple negative emotions. Fear, anger, sadness, frustration. These all swirl in the darkness like a soup, and this soup needs to be placed over the fireplace a little longer."

"I...I don't have--"

"Be silent, pony. Your people tire me with your denial of the truth."

Nightmare Luna's eyes glowed a bright, sky-blue as her anger was rekindled. "And what about you, then?" she started. "Are you 'perfect'," she emphasized. "No emotions for the walking mineral deposit? Am I to assume as much?"

"No. I have troubles, but unlike you ponies, I don't suppress them. I embrace them. I use them. They fuel my desires and my action whereas yours roots your minds into place an prevents rationality." He stomped the ground, absorbing a massive portion of the darkness created by the pony before him. Luna was surprised at what she had just witnessed. For a split second, she stopped creating darkness. How unfortunate that she did not notice. "Had you only been upsetted by the sudden transformation, then your darkness would have subsided by now."

He turned his tail and walked away, confusing Spike. "What, you aren't going to have a fight?" he shouted. "Really? Everypony kept saying you were so strong and stuff." He hurried back to Abstract and patted him on the shoulder. "So we came here to see if you would like the darkness, and then you stopped the disease in my arm?"

"It was no more a disease than a parasite to control you. It layed dormant for quite some time."

"Then you removed it?"

"Yes and no."

Spike tilted his head. "What do you mean."

"I removed one and placed another, as I said earlier, but this one should be more under your control."

"But why--" Spike sighed and slid his hand down his face. If he was going to get answer out of him, it wasn't now that would happen. At best, Sweetie Belle would know if this new 'gift' was less or more dangerous than what he already had. He had another question gnawing at the back of his skull first, however. "And what of this passiveness? Weren't you aggressive?"

"I came here to delect in the ionizings of darkness. I did not come here to fight moreso than I came here to scout this other threat that your leaders mentioned to me."

"So you came here for..."

"Several reasons. I delight in performing multiple things at a time rather than finishing one task and going to the next. It is quicker and much more efficient in this manner."

Spike tapped his claws together and looked at his traveling companions multiple times with hesitation. "So then, what--"

"I will return here regularly to absorb the excess darkness that seeps from this place. Both to feed me and protect my eventual subjects. Now continue to the city. I have better things to do than continue talking with you."

The meeting

View Online

Abstract the Dark had taken the crystals filled filled with Celestia's corrupted magic to a personal chamber given to him by the CMC. His brainwashed followers were given the task of spreading his likeness around the city. How they did it was up to him, and if anypony came up accusing him of negative things, he only had to raise his muzzle and accuse them of taking their worship to fanatical levels.

Aside from the large crystal and the multiple smaller ones growing all over the room, there was nothing decorating the chamber. No furniture, no lights, no paintings. It was just Abstract, the crystals, and his stolen magic which he worked tirelessly upon. His forehooves would rise up and down, side to side, and even in elaborate directions, and the bubble of corrupted magic would twist, bend, and warp under his touch. The door to his room opened slowly, leaving way for Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom. The empress closed the door slowly behind them whilst Abstract continued his work.

"You wanted to see all of us?" Scootaloo asked calmly.

"Yes," Abstract answered.

A minute of silence passed by, annoying the Master Engineer to an extreme. "Well?" she bellowed. "What is it?!"

Abstract did not answer, but the grand inquisitor found interest in his craft and leaned to the side to see better what the crystallion was doing.

"What are you doing?"

"Crafting the magic I stole from the white pony of crystal."

"You mean Celestia?! H-how did you get that?"

"That is my personal information. You do not warrant the appropriate value to receive such things."

Sweetie Belle raised pulled back and raised an eyebrow. She was quite clearly insulted. "Then why did you call us all here?"

"I want you to tell me more about these 'chaos' creatures that attacked your city when I first awakened."

"They're chaos lords, not just chaos creatures," Scootaloo corrected. "And if you want such important information from us, then you must concede important info of your own." She smirked. "What are you doing?"

Abstract remained silent and stoic as he continued to 'craft' the magic. "I am reworking and purifying the magic I stole from Celestia."

"For what purpose?"

Several small crystals that could fit into a hoof broke off the immense pillar and onto the floor. When Sweetie Belle reached for it, Abstract stopped her.

"Do not touch those. They are filled with the impurities of the crystal magic mimickings. You will become attuned to the fool who thinks me a toy created by his weak crafts."

"Then how do we remove them?"

"I don't know. I'm occupied."

Apple Bloom scratched her head in confusion and put her hooves on her hips. "Wha' in the world would ya wan' magic from a crystal pony traitor? A weapon? Poison? A new spell?"

"Far more than something so puerile, and I felt a source of extreme darkness where the drake took me. I will appropriate this magic too and work on a second one." He shot a few thin beams of bright darkness into the large pillar from his two horns then resumed talking. "This will ensure the survival of my race. I have no other chances. Does this satisfy your request?"

"It does," Scootaloo answered. "Thank you."

"Now inform me of that benign threats that plague this entrapped land."

Scootaloo was interrupted by the engineer before she could even speak. "How come ya never jus' left after ya woke up?"

"My powers were still largely dormant, and treasure chest buried so deep in the ground tends to have very interesting things within it. I just needed to remove the code locks on it."

"As I was about to say, Discord took the Elements of Harmony somewhere. We're not sure what happened to them, but they came out like that."

"And then they tricked us..." Sweetie Belle looked down angrily. Had she a fist, it would be balled right now.

"What are the consequences of such powers? The chaos of now is far more...interesting than that of the past I confronted."

Scootaloo continued. "The Elements were the only thing that could stop chaos, but as Discord corrupted them, we thought they had been lost forever. Without them, we couldn't fight Discord or his crazed corruptions."

"One-by-one they came, "Sweetie Belle continued. "Evey army sent their way was destroyed; Corrupted or killed. It didn't matter. Every day they gained ground, and every day we lost more ponies."

"This all when we were foals," Apple Bloom added. She turned to look out the only window not covered by crystals and sighed. "Ah'll never ferget when it happened. Twahlight Sparkle bringin' everypony in town ta its center then zappin' 'em with her beam of light. Ah ran as fast as ah could to the tree house where ah found Sweetie Belle 'n Scootaloo."

"I remember that day too. And shortly afterwards, Trixie found us," Scootaloo reminisced. "She helped us grow and survive."

"Without her help, we would have never found this place," Sweetie Belle added.

They looked at Abstract who had quite clearly been ignoring them for an extensive period of time.

"Oh. Ah fergot. 'E don't like when we talk about our lahves," the engineer sighed.

"Well, then, anything you all want to share that could help our 'friend'?" Scootaloo asked.

"Preferably related to something useful like these 'chaos lords'," Abstract emphasized.

Apple Bloom spat on the floor."Well, ah do recall that the one who dragged everypony ta the center of town was the thing what took mah sister's appearance. She's right obsessed with her family. She caught Granny 'n Big Mac, but ah'm the only one she can never get, yet she still tries ta trick me into joinin' 'er or some stupid horse apples lak that. The face she made, though..." The mare started trembling. "So horrible, like she only wanted me to fill 'complete'. Ah could see how empty here ahs were and how cruel she really was." The engineer shook her head. "But she's part of the reason why ah wanted ta become an engineer."

Abstract stopped moving for a moment at the information then resumed. "Interesting. So this 'Applejack'. Which one is it?"

"The orange serpent," Sweetie Belle answered. "I also know of my sister. It was..." Scootaloo put a hoof to her friend's shoulder to comfort her. "Well, to see a family member so close to you being warped so extensively and not even being remorseful of their actions...It's a dark abyss into which I looked; One filled with greed and avarice. She might have had those traits before, but they were overshadowed by her love and generosity. Just seeing her made me feel horrible. I thought she had actually come back to help us. I was all giddy at the sound of her voice!" Her pretend 'joy' was immediately replaced by a look of disappointment and personal shame. "Then I saw her and how she had been warped. I don't think I ever felt such an emotion of pure betrayal, ineptitude, anger, sadness, and a multitude of other emotions. I accepted soon after that she was lost, and so I undertook magical studies to save Trixie."

Abstract hummed. "What about the orange one? How was she in terms of emotion?"

"She was carin' 'n very honest," Apple Bloom answered. "Wha'?"

"So whatever this 'Discord' did to your elements, it exacerbated the negative sides of their darker emotions. It did not render them evil." Abstract laughed. "This will be easier than I thought it would be." The crystallion turned to face Scootaloo. "What about you?"

"The only pony I know that was taken was Rainbow Dash."

"A very 'creative' name befitting of its owner, I surmise."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "We see her flying around from time to time, but all that became of her is this strange blue serpent with multiple yellow wings that does nothing. I once confronted her before I became the Empress, and she displayed such complete apathy that I ended up leaving her be. She might've been uninterested in everything, but she was still a lord of chaos."

"I take it she was apathetic before?"

The orange pony put a hoof to her chin and pondered. "I recall her being always super energetic and helping her friends out as much as possible, but she did like to nap a lot. She also liked to read 'Daring Do' books."

The cloud within Abstract crackled a little with interest and energy. "What about the others I fought? Any information on them?"

"Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy?" Sweetie Belle queried.

"If those are their names."

"Yeah. They're the complete opposites of what they used ta be," Apple Bloom scratched the back of her head. "Back when we were still travelin' with Trixie, we saw them effortlessly kill ponies that didn't do what they wanted. They even got inta fights with each other or the other chaos lords. They've actively tried to kill us as well. Fluttershy even eats ponies alive when she can."

"Don't forget that she turned Angel Bunny into some kind of warped, demonic beast that she throws into battle for her amusement," Sweetie Belle added.

"It's a shame, really. Poor little guy."

"Is that all you wanted to hear?" Scootaloo asked.

"You didn't mention the purple one."

The three looked at each other and cough sheepishly.

"What does this mean?" Abstract asked again.

"We don't...We don't really know how she is," Scootaloo said. "We just know she leads the others. She hasn't really shown any personality changes other than being as apathetic to our plight as the other five. She even seems...crueler somehow?"

"I don't know," Sweetie Belle said. "I can't sense much from her, and her magic is really strange, even by chaos standards. With Discord I can block some of them and nullify some of his transformations, but Twilight? It's like someone or something is backing her every time a strand of her hair flicks."

Abstract's 'eyes' glowed brighter in response to the new information concerning Twilight. "I see. I have taken sufficient information. I will formulate plans to deal with each one of them."

"EACH ONE?!" the three shouted in unison.

"Yes. Leave me be. I have more work to do. This must be perfect. It cannot have any flaws. I will need to confront Celestia one last time to take the magic she has left and I will find solace in this one construct."

The three took their time to leave, then Scootaloo remembered something.

"If it's any interest to you, when they fell, it was the second time they had confronted Discord. The first time, I heard that Twilight managed to reanimate their emotions by reminding them who they were and how they behaved. I would suggest you keep this in mind, but I doubt it would do you any good."

As soon as the door closed, a wave of crystals formed over it, blocking it completely. The crystallion landed back on his hooves and walked towards the window. Using his gifts, he looked through the glass to spy on everything he could find.

"Let's see where these 'demons' are and what they have been doing in particular. More information is required, but they are easily toyed with if their emotions are still present, much like that foal Celestia. These creatures will never change," he complained.

Into their mind

View Online

Abstract used his magic to phase through the land to the checkered pink grounds of Discord's domain. Multiple 'demons' wandered the lands, talking about their plights from the claws of the chaos lords, and it was something that Abstract couldn't care less about.

"Where are they?" he pondered.

Every hop in vision was towards shattered pieces of glass on the varied ground, letting Abstract see twisted and mutated trees ad floating land masses. Much was it like chaos to be as simple in thought patterns then to simply reverse everything. Trying to remember the details of how they looked, the crystallion first looked for the serpents. They would stick out the most from this crowd of bipedal and quadrupedal pony-turned-demon. Abstract could feel the semi-sentient cloud of darkness within him bubble and jitter with a feral aggressiveness the closer Abstract got to something blue hanging around the other side of an assembly of large boulders. An orange demon, clearly exhausted, was using a huge leaf to fan someone. Luckily, there was a piece of glass lodged in the stones, so the crystallion could see and hear a small portion of what was lazing about. It was the blue serpent known as 'Rainbow Dash'.

"Rainbow Dash..." the orange demon gasped. "Can I take a break?"

The chaos lord was resting on a hammock attached to to large boulders. She was disturbed from her rest by the mewling of the demon. Pinkie Pie would've crushed her and Fluttershy would've eaten her, but Rainbow Dash?

"Yeah. Sure. Do whatever," she sighed.

The demon dropped the fan and collapsed onto her back, gasping for air. Knowing that apathy was her single personality trait, Abstract tried jolting something in the chaos lord using what little magic he could get through to her. Her complete lack of energy would theoretically allow the magic to affect her.

"Hey, servant, do you remember what it was like to be sent into the pit?" the chaos lord asked.

It worked.

"What? Where is that coming from?"

"I don't know...I'm just bored, I guess. I feel like there's something missing..." she looked at her tiny claws. "Something I used to hold." She flexed her fingers and let her arms drop back to her sides. "I need some fun. Maybe I could just, like, write something? Nah. That's too hard..."

"I honestly don't remember, Rainbow Dash. Do you remember what happened?"

The demon lord scratched her chin and stared at the fighting shades of pink and blue in the sky. "I remember that feeling of weight pressing on me the further and faster I approached the put. We were all angry at Twilight for some reason. I honestly didn't care, but then I hit the lava, if it even was that. Molten rock engulfing me yet I still felt mildly cold, and so I sank further into the pit."

"Then what happened?"

"Then a voice called to me within that dark embrace. It told me 'Rainbow Dash, your speed is the greatest in Equestria, but what about the world. I will grant you a gift, and in return, you need only do a few select things. When you awake, you may laze about to your corrupted heart's desire, but do not forget the deal'. I accepted, of course. It was almost like I was in an egg, as something warm enveloped me and I felt my body stretching and slimming like I was made of taffy. Then I...I don't know. I felt a tremendous burst of energy and erupted from the lava. I don't know how many times I circled Equestria, but by the time I was tired again, barely an hour had passed, and so Discord took me and explained stuff I didn't listen to, because whatever, right?"

"That was almost like a story. You could be a story teller for us, no?"

Rainbow Dash waved a hand. "Too much work."

"All you have to do is talk. You don't need to move from your comfortable spot, and your stories could motivate everypony around. Then the others couldn't say you're being lazy."

"I don't care what the others think, but..." The chaos lord rolled onto her side, pondering the request, but Abstract left before she gave an answer. He didn't care about it. A few more hops led Abstract to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy currently fighting each other and destroying the surrounding areas. They were arguing about who had the better transition into a chaos lord which would equate to who was better.

"Stupid logic," Abstract hissed. "What is in your minds, mewling ponies?"

Pinkie pie cracked her warhammer over Fluttershy's head, causing the dragon to slam hard onto the ground below. "I had a better transformation than you! All you do is yell and stomp around!" Pinkie yelled while stomping around.

"How convenient..." Abstract grumbled.

"Oh yeah?!" Fluttershy roared and flipped her opponent onto her back by grabbing her legs and pulling them upwards and towards her. "When I was transformed, my skin was torn off my body and filled with a better, more muscular and strong form. It hurt, but it was worth it! NOW I'M THE STRONGEST AND SCARIEST, and there's nothing a puny little Pinkie Pie Party Pony can do about it." Fluttershy crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at her opponent while taunting.

Pinkie Pie slammed her fists into the ground with enough strength to propel her upwards and back onto her feet. "DON'T EVER CALL ME THAT!"

"Pinkie Pie! Pinkie Pie!" Fluttershy danced.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The pink chaos lord barreled into her opponent, lifted her up, then threw her a few feet away towards a hill with a large barn holding a few as-of-yet uncorrupted animals used as food. Abstract's 'eyes' glowed brighter as he observed the unusual events that happened before his eyes. The yellow dragon, after noticing her trajectory, changed it with a wing flap and slammed into open land next to the hill. Had the crystallion an eyebrow, he would've raised it.

"When I was changed, I was given a better body to crush anypony who thinks fun is...fun! I HATE fun! I even felt and saw some strange pink thing getting ripped out of my chest as I grew taller and taller."

"That's quite the party," a demon commented in awe. It was close enough to the mirror shard for Abstract to make out the words.

"Party?!" Pinkie shouted. Her voice warped briefly into somewhat a mixture of low-angry and high-happy, and her eyes, for but a flicker of a second, lightened and softened. "WHO SAID THAT?!" she bellowed angrily.

She didn't have time to stomp on the demons that Fluttershy breathed a torrent of flame at her, forcing Pinkie to dry and protect her face despite wearing armor. Abstract looked away from the window and pondered.

"Those were some bizarre behavioral 'tics' they just had, and feeling something pink pulled out of her chest? What does...Of course! The fool demon thinks it can pull souls out of their bodies, but that didn't work. They behave this way because of their warped personalities, but just a fragment of their original souls persist, and for these two..." He looked back at the two chaos lords fighting and saw Pinkie Pie bashing a large stone onto Fluttershy's head multiple times. "Geniuses, these tics occur more often. Hate and rage are the weakest of negative emotions. That's why they're more in tune with it but also display unwanted traits of their past lives, but the blue one...her memories seem...compromised? I must search for the others to better understand this."

Unfortunately, he couldn't find any of the chaos lords talking about the changes again, so he waited patiently. The next few days had Abstract hopping through more shards of glass and mirror, and he eventually found himself viewing Twilight Sparkle again. She was busy wringing dirt out of her hair as if it were water and was surrounded by floating mirrors hanging on small walls of dirt.

"Twahlight. Ah see you had fun over at Apple Bloom's," Applejack hissed gleefully.

"Yeah, but there was this weird guy who trapped me under the land."

"Why didn't ya just teleport back here?"

"Those ponies did something to it. I couldn't use my powers."

Applejack slithered around and pretended to nod understandably. "So ya had ta climb outta there on your own?"

"Yeah."

"Reminds ya of stuff, yeah?"

Twilight raised a brow. "What kinda stuff?" she asked.

"Like when we came outta that pit." She looked at Rainbow Dash sleeping on a drifting cloud and faced Twilight. "Ah overheard the others talkin' 'bout their awakening from the pit. Thought hard about what it was like again."

"I noticed too. You think it has to do with that crystal thing that beat Pinkie and Fluttershy? I mean, aside from our inner circle, it's never happened before..." Twilight looked off to the side. "Much."

"It also trapped ya underground 'n wasn't affected by yer magic. Ah'd say it puts what it-they-them promised us into perspective."

"That reminds me," Twilight said. "You never did share how you saw your change."

"Ah can't quite remember what happened, actually. Ah just know it took some of mah mem'ries away and gave me my current...abilities."

"Oh." Twilight frowned. "That's a shame. I was really hoping to know what everypony went through."

"Can't say ah can help ya. All of us remember things a little differently." She smiled pitiably.

In truth, Applejack could remember ever minute detail of the moment. In fact, it was the only thing currently vivid in her mind. The terror that wracked her corrupted soul upon seeing the vibrant and violent shades of yellow, red, and orange swarming around her and engulfing her. The others were given the choice of joining and being corrupted, but Applejack wasn't given that opportunity. Instead, she had claws wrap around her, promising her the greatest power a shift serpent like her could wish for: A body to match and the ability to slither amongst any people. She would receive incredible acting talent to become believable anywhere, but her 'superfluous' memories would be replaced by this knowledge, all to help further the 'thing's' goal that are as-of-yet unknown. Applejack could remember crying intensely as she tried holding on to something precious to her, but whatever it was, she had forgotten, and it wasn't necessary anyways. Thanks to Twilight, she recovered the one thing that would allow her to remember her past, but Apple Bloom still eluded her.

"Stupid serpent!" Abstract bellowed and punched the wall, shattering several crystals. "She does remember but she refuses to say it!" He sigh a guttural noise and composed himself. "Her lying and needs to trick others seems to be as much as I'm going to get out her. There must be other information from the other one. I already know enough about the lavender draconequus to know how to confront her."

Twilight later left her 'bathing area' and ended up encountering Rarity working on several papers placed on her table. Several more demons were lined around her working on them to help her out as well, something Abstract found interesting, surprisingly.

"You're working outside?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. I thought the fresh air would be good for my complexion."

Twilight looked at her ex-friend with a disinterested expression. "Uh huh..." she mumbled.

Rarity continued calculating all the documents and costs that came with them and stopped suddenly. She groaned and looked up to Twilight. "What is it? What do you want?"

"Well..." she scratched the back of her head. "Applejack reminded me of something I'm curious about."

"And what is that?"

"What was it like for you when you went into the pit?"

The chaos lord spun in her seat then crossed her hind legs and leaned forward. "Well, I remember that 'thing' there waiting for me and following me the further down I went. "I suppose you were 'afraid'," Twilight grinned.

Rarity brushed the comment off. "Of course not, sweetie. Why would I? It's just a big eyeball. I just thought it looked...unusual is all" She passed a paw through her hair and fluffed it up. "Anyways, it said it had big plans for me and that I was a very important part of its 'big picture'. That's when snakes came to me and laid down on me."

"That's what the stripes are?"

Rarity nodded. " They bit into me then started stretching and expanding me like I was bread. I thought I was going to became a sagging back of flash, but as you can see, I became so much more, and then some. I was going to have everything I desired, and in a way, I got it. As soon as I came out, Discord put me to work, so I've been managing with that foal can't be bothered to do despite being our 'leader'," she huffed.

Before she said anything else, Abstract cut the spell and started analyzing the new information. "The two anger-driven ones are no mental threat. With proper preparations and the testing of new magic, I could deal with them. As for the other four, the orange, white, and purple demons can be a threat. The orange one has no true physical attributes, the blue one won't intervene and can be left for last, and the purple one has a deep connection with chaos, but the abilities of the white one remain a mystery. She has yet to do anything." He looked back at the window and stood there. "Or are they? Their bodies always indicate what they can do, for the most part. I can deduce perhaps a fraction of her abilities." He looked back at the crystal where the mass of magic coiled and twisted. "No. Data insufficient. I'll attack the two imbeciles when they're exposed and dig deep into what remains of their former selves to get more information on chaos. So many things to do. So much time."

To the waves

View Online

Sweetie Belle had stationed two guards in front of Abstract's room to report anything he was doing that could prove potentially dangerous. I

"So...he's been in there for several months now?" the fist guard asked her comrade.

"I know. I haven't seen him even get out once," the second replied.

"What do you think he's doing in there?"

The stallion shrugged. "You think he's teleporting out of there or something?"

"Ehhhh...I doubt it. The Grand Mage put wards and detector spells all around him."

"But he uses weird magic we don't know. We haven't managed to study it at any point."

"It doesn't matter. The essential is that they detect magic."

A loud, undetermined noise broke the two out of their discussion, and shortly thereafter, the crystallize door leading to Abstract's room opened by splitting into two halves and folding itself multiple times into small cubes to the sides of the wall. Abstract passed through, ignoring the guards, and continued his way through the hallway. Curious, the ponies took the chance to see the inside of Abstract's room and were surprised to see crystal growths all over the place. A pink object blurred in the window -the only non-crystal object in the room- brought their attention to it. Another tremor rocked the palace, bringing forth its source: Pinkie Pie. She was stomping around far away and yelling something too indistinguishable to understand.

"So she's having another temper tantrum," the first guard noted.

"I guess the crystal guy is going to fight her or something?" the second shrugged.

Abstract walked through the city, pushing aside and scaring away many of the refugees of various tribes and species in his way. He was searching for the four he had 'liberated' when he first awoke, and after some tracking, he used his magic to call them to him, like animals accustomed to a whistle blow and met with the crystallion in the middle of the large street.

"You four are coming with me," Abstract spoke in a commanding voice.

"For what purpose?" Concrete Cavel asked.

"A purpose to test a new spell. You'll be distracting the test subject while I approach."

"Distract?!" Amber shouted. "We can't do something like that."

"You will," Abstract told her dryly.

"I...isn't it 'You can and you will'?" she asked meekly.

"No."

"Don't bother trying to argue," Blue Mellow suggested.

"You will fail convincing him otherwise," Rosy Notes added.

Amber groaned in defeat and followed the three other ponies with her head drooping low, knowing that whatever it was that Abstract wanted was going to be something she really hated yet she had no real way to defy him. He saved her life and her mind, and she needed to repay him. Did it really require her to sacrifice herself for that? Abstract and his group approached the giant gates to leave the city and was quickly seen in the crowd standing around the slumbering chyrsanthemium.

"It's Abstract again," a guard spoke with a tired tone.

"Just open the gates and let him out. He'll be back later," a captain replied with the same level of enthusiasm.

With the usually heavy creak and grind of gears and stone, the city became vulnerable once again for but a brief moment, revealing the dark world outside, and the pink gargantuan fumbling about the land, trying to crush those that mentioned parties. Approaching Pinkie across the vast mounds of hills and grass proved rather easy. She was so angry that she had developed a form of 'tunnel vision', and the closer the group got to her, the stronger the tremors of her stomps and punches became. Eventually, only Abstract was able to keep his balance thanks to the entity swirling within his body shifting his center of balance.

"A-Abstract, how are WE going to do this?" Concrete asked whilst falling left and right.

"I don't think I want to do this!" Sweets stammered.

The landscape where Pinkie was stomping had been turned into a brownish, muddy desert of craters and uneven shapes. The air had been replaced by dust and pollen, preventing the four ponies from breathing and seeing correctly.

"She's over there. Distract her until I find the moment to use my new spell."

"But how are we supposed to do that?!" Concrete Cavel shouted.

Abstract ignored the question and spread his crystal wings, flying off to the side and disappearing behind a mound of mud and dust. The four were left standing there and staring at the chaos lord. What hope did they have against something that could wipe out entire armies on its own?

"We don't need to attack her," Blue Mellow explained.

"We just need to annoy her enough until she trips on herself," Rosy Cheeks added.

"If we can bring her attention to us and part in different--"

"Directions, then we can confuse her."

"She's an idiot," they both laughed.

"Sounds like a plan," Concrete agreed. "But how so we execute it? There's nothing around here that could serve as a way to hide and taunt her or to even be used against her."

"What about those pieces of rock she damaged? They look like they're going to topple," Amber pointed out.

Close to Pinkie Pie's reptilian tail was a large 'claw' of stone jutting out of a newly formed mound and just waiting to crumble. With enough force, it could topple over and make her vulnerable enough for Abstract's spell.

"I'll sneak around to that pillar while you three distract her and drag her to the stone," Concrete said. "Ready?"

The three nodded and headed out while the stallion galloped towards the large piles of dirt to hide himself while the siblings rushed to either side of Pinkie Pie and poked her feet with rocks lying about. Pinkie reacted to the pricks and looked down to see just what was causing her discomfort. Curiosity and confusion were occupying her face when she saw the source. Rosy Notes lifted the rock and shouted as loud as she could.

"ROCK ON, PINKIE PIE!"

The pink chaos lord grabbed her head and yelled loudly. "MY NAME ISN'T PINKIE PIE, AND I HATE PUNS!"

"Don't gravel over such little things," Blue Mellow added.

Pinkie yelled loudly again. She pointed to the horizon where a bunch of smaller figures were shrinking to. "First, they wanted to celebrate my anniversary of coming out of the pool, then YOU come out of nowhere and start making terrible puns and calling me by that name!" The chaos lord pulled her hammer out of her armor and forced it to grow to a large size. "Now I'm going to crush you with this!"

"Go go!" Amber shouted.

The siblings galloped around Pinkie and did their best to avoid her strikes. When one of the three ended up trapped, another would repeat Pinkie's name along with rock puns to aggravate her enough to make them attack them instead. This game of baiting and missing went on for several minutes until Amber managed to get Pinkie under the jutting stone, giving Concrete the queue to apply just a bit of pressure with his strength onto the stone, creating a loud crackling noise as the fissure along the base of the spike spread more and more. The shadow of the object loomed over Amber and the pink giant. Having forced her back to the trap, Amber grinned just barely as the shadow grew more and more, but she gasped in surprise when Pinkie spun around and smashed the stone to bits with her warhammer.

"Hahaha! You stupid ponies! You thought you could hurt me with a rock? I'm a chaos lord!" she bellowed. She turned around to look at Amber, hammer raised. "You can't stop me with a--"

A loud crackle and flash of black 'light' came out of Pinkie's forehead as Abstract punched her there and used his spell that spread through her body like a bright poison. Slowly did she fall backwards, and slowly did her grip on the hammer lessen until it slipped out and crashed upon the ground with a loud thump.

"What is this?" she yelled.

She was floating within a void of darkness, nothing around her. Struggle as she might, the former-pony only made herself spin around uncontrollably and nearly vomit from the endeavor.

"Stupid pony," Abstract's voice echoed. "Only a pony would be so easily bent to the will of another." Abstract's eyes glowed in the darkness and created a trail as they moved around Pinkie before vanishing. "So weak willed."

"Shut up! I'll crush you like everyone else?"

"Every'ONE'?" Abstract emphasized. "Shouldn't it be 'everyPONY', or did your corruption also destroy your ridiculous ponyisms?"

"I--"

"And what of your friends? You ponies have a fascination with this concept."

"I don't NEED friends! Only servants! Friends are a weakness!"

Abstract's reappeared, but this time, they were massive lights covering the void and blinding Pinkie with their light. "But you don't truly believe that. It's the corruption that makes you think this. You LOVE your friends, and by displaying such aggression, you only serve to make yourself feel better as you play the role with which you have been given."

"SHUT UP!" Pinkie yelled. Her rage manifested in the form of shockwave of transparent pink colors that cast away Abstract's eyes. "You know nothing, weakling! I CHOSE to become like this, and IT-THEY made made me as I chose!"

"Oh? Then let us play back some scenes in your mind then, shall we?"

Pinkie blinked. "Scenes?"

"I have seen that you weaklings had your past torn from you, with only sections kept for the sake of control with the promise that they will be returned...eventually." Abstract gave a single laugh. "A promise that will never be held, of course."

"I don't need those memories just as much as I don't need any friends!"

The darkness became a blinding assortment of rapidly changing colors and flashing lights, dispersing Pinkie's sealed memories across the walls. Many of the memories were fuzzy and corrupt, and Abstract tightened his gaze when he saw them. Pinkie, however, was enthralled, and tried to look at every single one as long as she could, then she burned a red until bits of pink flame erupted haphazardly over her body. She struck at all the images, shattering them like glass, then she yelled at the void.

"You think you can fight me with stupid pictures?" she laughed.

"Yes. I can."

Abstract's normally monotonous voice was spiced with some cockiness in it, and Pinkie soon learned why. A strange moisture formed in the fur under her eyes, and she put a finger to them to try and figure out what it was.

"What is this? Tears? What did you do to me?!"

"Good. It's working," Abstract thought to himself. "The spell is still too unstable. I would need at least a full year for it to be fully formed. Luckily, this one has no true will. I need to work diligently and put the steps in quick succession if I want it to be successful." "Do to you?" Abstract stopped out of the darkness and approached the chaos lord. They were now face-to-face.

"A part of you still lives. The real you."

"THIS IS THE REAL ME!" Pinkie took a swing at Abstract, but her strike phased through the crystallion as though he were made of mist. Pinkie insisted on trying to hit him, but her frustration simply grew more and more. "Why can't I hit you?" she roared.

"Because I'm not here, foal." He shook his head in disappointment. "You would know that if you were still yourself, but I don't think this would excite you in the slightest."

Abstract backed away and showed an image of a new stallion walking into Ponyville. He was nervous and shy and didn't know where to guy, and no one was approaching him to help.

"What should I care about this pony? I'll just crush it like the rest!" Pinkie said.

"Oh really? In this place your true emotions are free. Would you really leave something like this unattended? No welcoming committee? No party of any kind?"

"No!"

"No cakes? No balloons? No games?"

Pinkie's face contorted as the words struck at her like tickling feathers.

"No presents?"

The image became a large wrapped box that sent out confetti when it was opened.

"Everybody loves presents, don't they? What would be in the presents? A gift?" The image returned to the stallion pulling out an art piece from the box. "Or a prank?" Another image appeared next to it where the stallion was pie'd to the face by said desert on a spring.

Pinkie's face contorted even more and she chuckled, albeit almost inaudibly. "I'll destroy you for torturing me like this."

Abstract's eyes glowed bright. "I'm not doing anything. YOU are."

The crystallion approached Pinkie and thrust his hoof through her armor and chest, making the chaos lord cough and feel a sharp, searing pain. Back in the real world, Abstract was jettisoned from the chaos lord's head and into the mounds further away. Pinkie Pie, however, smashed against the cliff where the stone spike had been, shaking Concrete Cavel off it it and making him tumble down the collapsed giant's body. The other three rushed to Abstract and dug him out of the mud and dust that had piled atop him during the fall. Amber Sweets pulled him up and noticed he had his magic around something.

"Abstract, are you okay?" she asked as she wiped dust off of his body.

"Yes, and I will return with a treasure to my city."

"Then we should do it now," Rosy suggested.

"As she rises while Concrete approaches," Blue finished.

Disbelief

View Online

Pinkamena arose from the ground like an undead entity aroused from it slumber, but just as she managed to regain her balance, the hill behind her sprung to life, grasping the chaos lord and causing her to tumble onto her stomach. She was silent for a time, and her face was devoid of any life, but slowly did light return to it. The hill was a chaotic mass of protuberances taking the shape of malformed tree roots and mud intermingled with stone. It had no beginning or end, and every struggle that Pinkamena performed that broke its body served no purpose as the pieces would grow back.

"Nice job on summoning that thing, Abstract," Concrete congratulated between breaths.

Abstract stared at the entity attacking an ever angry creature fighting against its reins.

"Let...Let go of me!" Pinkie spoke softly, but her voice was gradually increasing back to its usual loudness.

"I did not perform such a thing," Abstract hissed. "This is a byproduct of the spell, now let us to the city. I have want of sharing this trophy with those living there."

Amber Sweets sighed in relief when she saw everyone was okay, but when she saw what exactly it was that Abstract was holding, her face paled and her pupils shrunk.

"Is that...?" she stuttered.

Sweetie Belle paced about her office in the palace. There were no desks as she was strong enough to keep nearly everything afloat, although this wasn't the case with her multitude of shelves made to hold scrolls, books, and parchments. They had been enchanted to float on their own around the large, circular room and to come at the behest of any caller. The walls were covered with runes of various shapes, sizes, and color; all which glowed brightly in the already well lit room. The two guards watching Abstract were watching her with worry.

"And you just LET him leave?" she yelled.

"It's not like can stop that thing? He fought off the chaos lords and even uses weird magic. We weren't trained to fight something like him!" the stallion guard explained.

"That's not an excuse for taking your time to report to me. Now he's out there, attacking Pinkie Pie doing who knows what."

The two guards looked at each other with perplexed expressions.

"Why do you care though? You were planning on getting rid of him at some point, weren't you?" the mare wondered.

"That's not entirely true..." Sweetie trailed off. "I'm more worried about what he could cause. He's an unstable element that clearly does whatever he wants, and that's the real problem. We let him do as he pleases, as long as it doesn't put anypony in danger, but we don't leave him unwatched."

"G-Grand Inquisitor? There's a riot happening in the streets, if the sounds are to be believed," the stallion meekly spoke.

"What?"

Sweetie looked outside the row of windows behind her and saw a large crowd was gathering at one of the gates. Judging by the chrysanthemium, it was Abstract again, but something was off. Roars of anger filled the air, and rage was overflowing from the city.

"What did he do now?!" Sweetie complained.

She rushed down the building to the exit, only to meet with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

"Ya noticed too, huh?" Apple Bloom asked Sweetie.

"Yeah. I don't know what it is, but I'm certain Abstract is involved.

"Why would everypony be angry at him, though? Aside from his behavior, he hasn't done anything to get everypony to want his death," Scootaloo wondered.

"We'll get our answers once we get there, so DOUBLE TIME!" Apple Bloom ordered before rushing off.

The two remaining CMC smiled sheepishly. "She's still as rambunctious as ever," Sweetie sighed.

Finally amidst the crowd, everyone moved away when they saw the three trying to wade their way through, leaving the CMC a free path towards what was visible Abstract and the four he 'rescued'. Some rotten fruit and crumbled bottles had been thrown at them, but they seemed otherwise unharmed.

"What's going on here?" Sweetie asked. "What did you do?!" she yelled at Abstract.

The Inquisitor approached the crystallion and made her best attempt to look him straight in his 'eyes'. Judging by the lights only pointed forward, he couldn't care less about the white pony yelling at him.

Apple Bloom grimaced and stomped forward. "Let me at him. I'll--"

She was stopped by Scootaloo who put a hoof to her shoulder. "Why exactly are they attacking you, Abstract?"

"Attacking me?" he asked. "I am not the target of their discontent." He stepped to the side, revealing his 'prize'. "She is."

Boos, hissed, and demands for the trophy's death were muffled by the CMC's complete shock and horror.

"You brought Pinkie Pie to the city?!" Scootaloo yelled in pure anger.

"In a sense."

"Get her out of here before I terminate YOU as well!" she threatened.

Abstract's eyes glowed bright and he looked down at the orange pony. "Threatening me will not change my position, and I am not threatened by something as weak as you."

Their staredown was interrupted by a guard yelling to his Empress. "Empress Scootaloo! I see Pinkie Pie still rampaging on the countryside. She's fighting some kind of blob."

"She's out..."

Everyone became confused at the report.

"Then who is that?" Apple Bloom said.

She pointed to a tear soaked, pink pony curled up in the fetal position and still sobbing to herself.

"That is also Pinkie Pie," Abstract explained.

"But the chaos lord--"

"Is Pinkie Pie as well."

"...What?" the engineer turned to Sweetie Belle. "Can you explain?"

"I...I have no idea. I've never even heard of such a thing."

"Because I created that spell."

"You...created such a thing in just a few months?"

"It requires more work, but the initial test against the weakest of the chaos lords was a success."

"Wh...What did you do?!"

Pinkie's crying became loud enough to distract Abstract. Using his two horns, he called upon the chrysanthemium to pick her up and keep her mewling form further away from him.

"Take the pony wherever you wish and do with her whatever you will. The chhrysanthemium will obey you only for that task until she is deposited. I have more important things to attend to."

Everypony looked at him in silence, then back at the gigantic monster holding the crying pony on its back.

Scootaloo scratched the back of her neck and frowned. "What is going to happen? What is he even trying to do?"

Pinkamena, meanwhile, went back to the chaos lands where Twilight and Discord were examining her. Discord was traveling in her head with spelunking gear and using a flashlight glowing through the pink chaos lord's eyes. The draconequus' voice echoed while traveling in Pinkamena's head.

"Yup," he said. "She's half here."

"Half here?" Twilight repeated.

"Yes. Half here. Fix your phonograph. I think the needle is stuck."

The lavender chaos lord rolled her eyes. "How did it happen, Pinkie?"

"Don't...CALL me that!" Pinkamena raged. She yiped in pain from electric shocks Discord gave her.

"Bad chaos lord. Bad! Stay down!" Discord shouted. A whip cracking could be heard with his words.

"Just...tell me what happened," Twilight said.

"Well, I recall a few STUPID minions enraging me."

"Nothing new there."

"And while I was stomping them, some ponies came around to annoy me. They tried to crush me with a stone, but I swatted it away. Then..."

"I...I'm not sure. I just remember an ANNOYING black thing hitting me in the head and blinding me with white light."

"White light?" Twilight wondered.

"Black thing?" Discord repeated.

Sombra's Pain

View Online

The Crystal King growled within the confines of his crystal world. Had he still teeth, they would be grinding quite painfully and audibly right now. There was magic missing from his pool, and while any one pony or griffin being drained and crystalized or simply 'lost' wouldn't be a big deal, there was a significant hole within the maelstrom of his hunger. A large chunk of only Celestia's magic was completely gone. There was barely a trickle of it left. The king looked through another of his crystals to see Crystalestia locked in chains against a wall and being tortured both physically and mentally by the former royal couple.

"That damnable crystal creature. It should be obeying me without question!" Sombra strained his voice. "I've tried countless spells to put it under my thrall, yet it resists! Why?! HOW?! Is its will incredibly strong?!"

Meanwhile, Abstract was molding the magic he stole off of Crystalestia. He was interrupted a brief moment by something clouding his vision, and shook his head. A minor inconvenience that he ignored as they weren't lengthy or common enough to be given attention.

"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Sombra bellowed. "How does the creature throw aside some of my most powerful spells?!"

"Is there a problem, Lord Sombra?" a crystal pony asked.

It was a rare pegasus originated from the Crystal Kingdom with a green wing grown out from where there should have been a natural one. It was a gift given to the magenta pony when he managed to prove himself to the King. His cutie mark was a pin cushion with a needle and string behind it. His forward right leg was also carved out of crystal and fused to his bones, bones which could be seen through the base of the artificial limb.

"Ah, Crystal Pin," Sombra said. "No. I have issues with an abomination that dares to defy my will at every step and turn."

"Then shouldn't we simply...Kill it?" Pin suggested.

"Yes, and no."

Pin stared blankly at his king for several seconds. "What?"

"I want to capture it and kill its spirit. With its magical talents and the amount of magic it carries within it now, just integrating should not only restore my body, but put me to levels far higher than I've ever been before!"

"I see, but how do you propose we capture it? It all but drained Celestia of her magic, as you said. It must be tremendously powerful now. It would be next to impossible!"

"I'll think of something later. An enemy like this cannot be defeated with simple brute force," Sombra pondered loudly. "We'll need to use tactics and psychology."

"And Crystalestia?"

"Leave her to her torture. She might be under my control, but she's still an old foe who not only failed me, but almost broke out of my control."

Pin blinked. "Broke out? Once the process of crystallization is complete, there's no way out of it."

Sombra floated in a circle within his crystal prison while he thought. "He mention my magic somehow being tied to his people. That MINE was somehow INFERIOR!" The king yelled with pure rage. "If it truly IS related to him, than I can find a way to control him through his own magics!" Sombra gradually calmed down. "But for no..."

"Yes?"

"I have Discord's armies to deal with. The stupid pink one is traipsing about like a buffoon, randomly destroying my lands."

"I'll get on it right away, sir."

"I have a better purpose for you."

"My king?"

Sombra's eyes' lower lids curled up deviously as he finalized his newest plan.

Abstract looked at a wall covered in jutting crystals, each of a different size and filled with clouds of various colors, all swirling delicately within the confines of their 'home'. One of these crystals contained a cloud that fluctuated between golden yellow and resplendent white. This was the crystal he needed, and the crystal he wanted. Using his magic, the crystallion broke it off the wall, throwing some small debris upon the floor, and the brought crystal to the orb he had been working on for months.

Abstract stared at it intently, analyzing its internal contents. Satisfied, he took it to the orb and crushed the shard between his hooves, scattering the dust into a briefly-lived 'skin' of transparent gold over the sphere. The crystallion continued working on focusing and sculpting the magic he just used and ignored the floors rumbling and the knocking on his door. He had better things to do than to sate the curiosity of lesser creatures. That being said, he still didn't have much understanding of advanced pony magics, allowing Grand Inquisitor Sweetie Belle to teleport into his chambers.

"What do you want?" Abstract asked with a modicum of anger.

"Crystalestia is in front of the gates, clamoring for you." Sweetie Belle looked back and bared her teeth angrily. A snort preceded the rest of her 'report'. "She's acting like a foal;Stomping around and shooting the wall with energy blasts whilst yelling for you." The white mare giggled. "It's almost like she's in love with you."

Abstract stared at her blankly. He either didn't understand the joke or didn't care. "And what do you want me to do about it?"

Sweetie face hoofed and dragged her face downwards along with her leg. "Get rid of her. Isn't there something that would make it worth your time?"

Abstract didn't answer. Instead, he preferred to push the mare aside and see for himself what the impetulent child was doing. As he approached the massive gates, Abstract noticed that the guards had placed themselves at intervals of several feet from each other and fortified their positions with foldable metal sheets. Those who weren't hiding behind protection moved aside to let the crystallion through, and the closer he got, the louder Crystalestia's voice became.

"WHERE IS HE?!" she bellowed. "YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE BRINGING HIM!" Her voice was followed by a loud booming noise.

The guards covered their ears as they braced from the impact of the sound.

"She's really going all out," one of the guards noted.

The massive doors screeched open and the soldiers parted upon Abstract's approach. As the metal slabs parted, the crystallion had a better and better view of the fuming alicorn. Her head was held low, so as to better headbutt anypony who approached her. Her forelegs were spread apart for a better grip on the ground and to project herself in any direction, especially towards Abstract. Once out, the doors closed behind the crystallion, and Abstract had a direct, unhindered line to Crystalestia's ravings.

"You stole my magic and made me unstable somehow. I want my magic back and I'm going to kill you to get it back!" she shouted.

Abstract remained silent for a moment, irritating the alicorn even further, but before Crystalestia could speak, Abstract finally talked.

"I see cuffs on your ankles and micro fissures lining your body."

Celestia clicked her tongue at the observation. "That's not important. I'm just going to kill you and get my magic back." She focused and prepared herself to charge into the crystallion. "Then I won't need to use the magic from the rest of these weaklings!"

"Then show me your determination to work for your slave master," Abstract said calmly.

That comment was the last straw for Crystalestia, and with a rather bemusing warcry, she tackled Abstract...or, at least, she tried. No matter how hard she tried to push him, the crystallion wouldn't budge, and the lights that served as his eyes continued to observe the attempts of the former pony.

"What?!" she yelled.

Continuing her 'temper tantrum', the crystal pony preferred to reuse the one spell that nearly killed Abstract upon his emergence. Loud sirens started blaring in the city, and the gun ports along the wall were gradually sealed up, yet Abstract did not react.

"Remember this?" Crystalestia yelled. She laughed maniacally then flew high into the air. "This nearly killed you the first time. Now you'll die for sure!"

The large, artificial sun headed directly at the unphased being standing in front of the gates, spewing its corona and solar flares in all directions, charring the landscape to a crisp. A loud, equally blinding explosion rocked the land and everything upon it for several seconds. When the soldiers on the walls thought it was safe to look, they stopped shielding their eyes and looked over. Abstract was still standing, and the environment around him as well as the walls saw no damage incurred.

"Wh-what?" Crystalestia stammered with disbelief.

"Stupid pony. Without your true magic, you're not a threat to me."

Celestia created magical blades and threw them at the crystallion while he slowly walked towards her, but they shattered upon contact. Every other spell, ranging from beams, to crushing, to even creating gravity surges, didn't work. She was in disbelief. Panting, the mare tried to use her horn, encased in solidified magic, to pierce the crystallion's body, but even that failed.

Before she could do anything to flee, Abstract struck her legs, flipped her in the air, then crunched her down by the left side of her torso with the aid of a hoof. Her screams were rendered silent by the semi-sentient cloud within Abstract's body permeating out of his body and infiltrating hers in order to drain all the magic from her body. Abstract had finally eliminated this nuisance from existence, and he finally had all of her magic to finalize his first big project.

"At last," he spoke in a hushed tone. "It'll be complete."

Before he could bask in the glow of his achievement, he felt something wiggle beneath his hoof, and he looked down. It was an average sized pony with a white coat, a pink mane and tail, and sporting both a horn and wings.

"What happened? I'm not dead?" She looked at what was in front of her, and tears started welling up in her eyes. "I'm not dead, and I'm not under his control anymore," she squeaked. "Where did his power go?" She strained as she looked up.

"Where you're going to go," Abstract spoke coldly.

The crystallion's 'eyes' glowed brighter and brighter the harder his hoof pressed against the pony's neck. Celestia was coughing, choking, and trying desperately to get the hoof off of her, but there was point. Abstract wasn't capable of finishing his work due to Empress Scootaloo, accompanied by a literal battalion, pointing a sword to his head.

"Get off of her," she threatened.

"Displaying anger instead of ambivalence?" Abstract wondered. The sword skid on his left cheek. "Why do you want her to live? She was weak enough to fall under the control of a pretender to my people's magics."

"Because I said so, or would you rather compromise your current 'achievements'? I'm fairly certain a prolonged war of attrition wouldn't be favorable to you."

Abstract remained silent, but after a few minutes, he conceded and removed his hoof, letting him return to the tranquility of his room and finalize his project. Celestia was left to cough and choke while the muscles in her neck worked to return to a desired position and shape ideal for breathing. Scootaloo knelt in front of her and shook her head. She was both happy and furious to have Celestia in front of her. Happy to see her free and alive, and furious to see her alive. She was also annoyed by Abstract's refusal to help cure crystallization, but he had been taking care of every problem he could reach, something that simple brute force could never achieve.

She lives

View Online

Celestia was locked in a dungeon cell under the city. It was currently staffed by the same changelings that had made it, and it stank. Bad. A moldy odor mixed with moss and swamp water permeated the air like a mist of toxic gas. Everything in this 'dungeon' was made with a bizarre black substance that had been dried and solidified. While lots of it had been ground down, there was still evidence of the sliminess it once exhibited thanks to the large globs of 'liquid' frozen in place along the bars and walls.

Scootaloo stared at Celestia from the other side of the bars, and she had been doing so for quite a while now. Celestia, meanwhile, had been busy enjoying her newfound freedom after so long; even IF she only had a sliver of her original magic left.

Finally, the Empress heaved a long sigh, breaking the silence. "This 'Abstract' is making things difficult. First, he splits Pinkamena in two, and then he drains you of your magic and 'frees' you. Your existence is proving problematic. Everypony wants me to kill you. To hang you outside and leave your corpse as a reminder of the past deeds."

"Then why didn't you just let that crystal thing kill me? That would've made things easier, don't you think?" Celestia said.

Scootaloo ground her teeth. "The prospect was oh so tempting, I assure you."

"Then why didn't you let him?"

There was another moment of silence brought by hesitation and doubt. "Because I couldn't let him. I was so happy to see you back, even under this form...but...then my rage set in again. The two conflicted with each other."

"So you had me brought here until you could figure out what to do with me?"

Scootaloo let out a laugh. "I see you're still as astute as ever."

Celestia chuckled. "Might I remind you that, despite my 'disheveled' appeared -For lack of a better term-, I was still ruler of Equestria for a thousand years, if not more?"

"Perhaps it's because of that and the 'benevolent' past you gave us that won't let me kill you."

"You know very well that my actions weren't of own will."

Scootaloo looked at the former princess with wide eyes filled with anger. "That DOESN'T excuse what happened. Everypony thought you were the strongest among us. EVERYpony thought you could handle Sombra, and then you betray us all."

"A 'thought' is not reality, my little pony," Celestia said with remorse. "I also thought I could handle him. Had I known what he had done..."

"But you didn't, and THIS is what became of that!"

Scootaloo gestured to the whole of the dungeon, rotating in place as she did so, but Celestia knew she was gesturing to more than the murky confines she was relegated to.

"I'm just a pony, Scootaloo, I couldn't--"

"Oh, don't give me that. You managed to keep the tribes united, and then life became the standard with everypony together. Back then you knew what you were doing." The empress approached Celestia with tightened eyes and a low-tone, raspy voice. "What changed now? What changed THEN?" When Celestia tried to speak but couldn't say anything, Scootaloo blew out air, crossed her forelegs, and turned her back to the alicorn. "You could have demonstrated some form of free will. You all could have. Instead, we have you in a changeling dungeon and Pinkamena in a psych ward." The mare uncrossed her arms and dropped her head. "No. Instead, everything is--"

A violent explosion rocked the dungeon and threw the two ponies onto the floor.

"What was that?" Celestia slurred.

Scootaloo ran through the tunnels and quite literally punched her way through the thick, protective seal the changelings had built over the entrance to see everyone in the streets looking and pointing to something behind her. Turning around, the mare saw that the palace was emitting huge clouds of black smoke from one of its sides. Upon closer inspection, the mare could see enormous, pastel colored crystals of enormous size and width were jutting out. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Abstract." She spread her wings. "When I get my hooves on him I'll--"

The empress was thrown off her hooves by a blur smashing right in front of her and destroying the tiles on the floor.

"HI THERE! WHO ARE YOU? THE EMPRESS? THAT'S GREAT!"

It was another crystallion...of sorts? It wasn't a stallion, but a mare, and a shockingly familiar looking one, too. She had a mouth devoid of teeth, and her eyes were better simulacrums than Abstract's. While they were indeed still black, they possessed a deep blue color for their iris. Her mane and tail were still made of crystal, but still 'flowed' in a sense that they appeared to shift once every two seconds like an old 'blocky' game that used to exist before the emergence of the 'three powers'. Her mane tail were also gifted with colors as opposed to the rest of her black body, and were composed of a shifting assortment of hot pink, lavender, and dark purple. She was disturbingly excited, hyper, and happy.

"What's your name? Mine is Iviesta Poravon."

"Wha--"

"Oh! What's that?!"

The crystallion...mare throw Scootaloo casually to the side. The pony would have gone through a house had several civilians and soldiers not caught her, but they still impacted the wall with tremendous force.

"Wh-what is that?" one of the same soldiers stuttered after regaining his senses.

"I...I don't know," Scootaloo responded.

The hyper-active crystallion mare was quite literally hopping around, almost destroying whatever she touched and throwing people left and right with her tremendous strength. Sweetie Belle was the first to arrive with her armor activated.

"What's going on? I heard an explosion then saw a blur rush towards the gates," she said to Scootaloo.

The Empress pointed to the crystal pony as her only response.

"What? What is that?" Sweetie Belle wondered aloud.

A gleam of light almost blinded her briefly, and the source came from the crystals jutting out of the palace. With some magic, she managed to create a good focus point in front of her eyes. The gleam had come from Abstract standing on one of the large pillars.

"Abstract," Sweetie grumbled in her mind.

Apple Bloom rushed in via a jetpack, but before she could and, Iviesta tackled her with a mid-air jump and ripped the pack off her back. She sat down and rolled the construct over and under. She even shook it next to her 'ears' to try and figure out what was inside.

"What? Leggo of that!" Apple Bloom shouted.

"Why? What's in it? Is it more tiny ponies? Oh!" Iviesta bounced. "Are they pedaling, making it fly?" She looked into the exhaust ports of the pack and yelled into it. "Come out tiny ponies!"

While everyone stared, baffled, Abstract flew down to see the crystallion mare. Iviesta immediately noticed him and threw the pack back at Apple Bloom's face, knocking her out.

"Hey, dad!" Iviesta cheered. She lowered herself like a dog and 'wagged' her tail happily.

"DAD?!" the crowd shouted.

"Yes. This is Iviesta Poravon."

"Is there a reason why she looks like Celestia?" Scootaloo shouted.

"Yes. I used her magic to create this as I am not endowed with the same ability my ilk had for crystaxual reproduction. That being said, I did not expect alicorn magic to cause such a...mutation."

"He's infertile?" Sweetie whispered into Scootaloo's ear.

"That explains why he hasn't made more of them since coming here. What in the Abyss is 'Crystaxual reproduction'?"

Sweetie shrugged.

"I think she killed Apple Bloom!" one of the civilians shouted.

Abstract's eyes glowed bright for just a moment. "She's knocked out. Not dead."

"So this is what you've been doing in your room, cooped up? Creating your progeny?" one of the guards shouted. "We never asked you to create more of your kind!"

Iviesta cheerfully hopped and skipped in front of her dad and looked at the pony with a wide, almost warm smile. Then she swiped him across the grounds, leaving him to skid next to the massive doors.

"Silly ponies shouldn't speak to their superiors like that," she stated with the same cheeriness.

Seeing her face and that 'warm' smile coupled with her behavior and the fact that Abstract had not budged or reacted to the event made something tick in everyone's mind. Abstract displayed a form of self control, perhaps from millennia of learning, but this crystallion...mare? She was not the same. She was unhinged. Undaunted. Unbowed. And worst of all, she had an uncanny resemblance to Celestia.

"I have determined this test to be a success." Abstract announced. "I will repair my room and then depart for the dark forest in search of that black magic I had sensed from there."

"You're going to make another of those things?" a civilian shouted.

"Uhuu," Iviesta laughed. A massive spear of crystal grew above her and pointed at the source of the question, but Abstract destroyed it before it could be used. "But dad, he questioned you!"

"That is called 'free will'. It will not impede my full plans. Let them talk, and learn to not be so impulsive. If you followed those said impulses, you would kill everyone here." Abstract's 'eye' glowed sharply and angrily towards the crystallion mare. "Don't let the still 'fresh' pony magics inside you take over. You're a crystallion, despite your different, physical appearance."

"Y-yes, dad," Iviesta sighed.

"Now come help me fix our room."

"Y-yes. Whatever you say."

Seeing the two walk away was a terrifying sight. A creature capable of creating spells that mess with minds and making a new crystallion from alicorn magic. What was next?

One of the guards helping Empress Scootaloo back onto her hooves couldn't help but sharing her thoughts. "Can you believe that? It's frikkin' crazy!" she exclaimed. "What's next, a second one?"

"I wouldn't put that one too far off," Sweetie whispered. "He made that one from Celestia's magic, and then he said that he was going to the Dark Forest of Everfree to get the source of the dark magic there. I think he's trying to get Nightmare Luna's magic to make a second one of those...things."

Apple Bloom groaned painfully. "What happened? Where's the creepy crystal thing?"

A new game piece

View Online

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

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

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

"What's wrong this time, Discord?"

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

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

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

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

"Then turn yourself into a balloon."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hey, the table is doing something."

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

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

"A-Applejack?"

"Yeah. Guess what ah just saw."

"This thing?" Twilight pointed to the piece.

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

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

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

"Oh. Sorry."

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

"We noticed," Twilight said.

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

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

"Y'all heard me."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Who is iiiiiiit?" she sang.

"It's Scootaloo."

"What do you wAAAAaaaaant?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Then leave Luna for last."

"Acceptable. I will leave her for last."

"Good. Thank you very much."

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

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

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

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

"Right..."

"One more thing."

"What is it?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Nothing I'm aware of."

"And our spies?"

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

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

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

"I noticed."

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

Shining blinked in disbelief. "What?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"And try not to attack the city."

"Okay!"

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

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

"I wanted a big explosion."

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

"Does that mean sitting around being immobile?"

"Yes."

Iviesta screamed her frustration to the heavens.

To the black eyes

View Online

Abstract and Iviesta had already left their training grounds in front of the city to get to the overgrown Everfree. In the distance, Abstract could see many rotting corpses of demons and shattered fragments of crystal ponies. While he casually on and through the 'aftermath', Iviesta avoided them. She was disgusted.

"Ew!" she exclaimed. "How can you walk on those things? That's nasty!"

Abstract paid no heed to her comments and continued unabated. Along the ground was a large 'sheet' of darkness that, upon closer inspection, was inching forward little by little. The crystallion started absorbing the darkness as he moved forward, shrinking the sheet at the same speed s it had been expanding.

"Not pure enough," he complained. "As I suspected, we must enter the forest."

"What's in a forest?" Iviesta asked almost immediately.

"You will see for yourself."

While Equestria wasn't exactly the most 'illuminated' of places, the dark forest was something else entirely. It was as though light have never existed in the first place, and to most ponies, this would be terrifying, let alone something they would be able to navigate through. Were Abstract and Iviesta not beings that had been originally born in the darkness under the lands, they would have been no better off than the ponies. Instead, Abstract's vision was perfectly attuned to the unending black, while Celestia's former magic was coming in as a type of 'flashlight' for the crystallion mare's eyes which were only attuned to the bright lights of the city.

Their trek through the trees came as dull and quiet to Iviesta. Abstract was finding pockets of collected dark energies that showed as balls of swirling darkness around certain objects such as mushrooms, rocks, and wood.

"I can make do with this residue for now. It is rich enough in the essence of the fallen one who lives here," Abstract said. He turned to face his daughter lying down on the ground, visibly bored. "Continue looking for more traces of these," He held up a rock surrounded by a swirling mist of black tendrils. "and bring them to me."

"But this is so boooooooooooring!" she whined. "Why can't we do more interesting things, like fighting those demons you talked about while you were making me."

"Because you can't even control your magic. You would not last against a whole battalion of demons with your current skills. Additionally, because of your recent 'birth', the magic I gathered for you has not yet settled in. Are you finished with your complaints?" The crystallion's eyes flared with aggravation.

"Well...why are we doing this?" Iviesta's voice trailed upwards as she grew more and more uncomfortable.

"If this goes as planned, then you might acquire a sibling." The crystallion stared longly at another pool of dark energy, but swatted it aside. "As long as they are of quality to me."

"A sister?!" Iviesta cheered.

Abstract looked away. The crystallion mare clapped her hooves eagerly and started charging through the forest, grabbing everything she could along the way. While it didn't bother Abstract that his daughter was quite literally uprooting trees and throwing stones left and right, the current ruler of the forest didn't see such a thing with a good eye.

"YOU!" Luna yelled out.

The darkness enveloping the tree tops swirled and changed into the colors of Nightmare Luna's enraged face.

"How DARE you come back!" she yelled.

Iviesta pointed at the face and yelled as loud as she could for Abstract to hear. "Hey look! Funny face!" she chuckled.

Abstract looked at the manifestation and, with some will power, started absorbing it into his body, silencing Luna if only for a moment. She quickly reformed in front of Iviesta, startling the crystallion mare.

"You did that just to silence me, didn't you?"

"I care not what you say, pony," Abstract explained. "Your manifestation contained a purer form of your magic essence. I took it for my own purpose."

Luna face became one of disgust. "What are you talking about? You're stealing my magic?"

"I'm reappropriating what now belongs to me. You are but a free source of it, much like water."

"You're...you're suggesting I'm just some natural resource for you to plunder?!"

"Yes," Abstract responded dryly.

Luna was absolutely furious, yet she said nothing. Instead, loud thumping occurred within the forest, shaking the trees of their leaves and the land of its soil and grass. Two massive claws parted trees to face the crystallions. It was a monstrous, black praying mantis with deep-purple outlines, mutated by the darkness and thrumming with power.

It spat a sticky, acidic substance at Iviesta who dodge by pushing herself on a foreleg and jumping forward, kicking the beast in its face and using said area as a platform to jump that much closer to Abstract. It took a swing of its arms at her and missed. The mare had ducked and rolled out of the way, finally reaching her father after that extra bit of running. It didn't much effort for Abstract to manipulate the 'black light' around the creature, creating a dimly glowing ring the latched all around it, compressing it into a cube that Abstract was more than happy to drain.

"You killed it!" Luna spoke with muffled anger.

"Yes. And? This comes as a surprise to you? You sent a mutated insect to attack me. Surely you didn't expect that to harm me?"

"I didn't send anything after you."

"Then what was your silence when this...thing came after my daughter?"

"Daughter?!" Luna lost her composure. "I just noticed now, but why is she filled with my sister's magic? What have you done to her?!"

"Answer my question and I will answer yours...if the answer I was given satisfies my interest."

Luna reluctantly gave in to the demand. "They're attuned to me, and they're still inhabitants of the forest. They'll go towards anything I deem to be a threat."

Abstract's eyes dimmed for a moment at those words. "I drained your sister's magic by tapping into her soul and delving into the heart that mocks my people's magic. Her stubborness and pride had her come back to me, wishing to make war. I removed what little was left and destroyed the curse upon her. Unfortunately, that freed her. An unintentional consequence. I attempted to kill her then and there, but Scootaloo impeded my work. A shame."

Luna felt a mixture of emotions, not few of which were surprise, confusion, and anger, and satisfaction. The last coming from Scootaloo who still upheld her way of helping everypony she could.

"So, my sister is free?"

"Mentally. For one the ponies appeared to have been fond of, she was quite weak willed." The cloud in Abstract wriggled while he absorbed more darkness. "Then again, she was just a pony. She is imprisoned in the dungeons, much to my dismay. She needed to be disposed of."

"She might have been acting like a monster, but that was Sombra's fault! You didn't need to kill her for those actions."

Abstract's eyes shone with a great intensity that managed to illuminate the area around him. Even his voice became harsher. "I do not care whether she was under his control or not. She was a foe I needed to dispose of. She nearly cost me my life when I emerged from my slumber after working my powers and my plans for ten thousand years." He spun around and stomped the ground angrily. "Filthy non-crystallions. You are all a bane to this world that would have see fit to exist under the rule of my kind. Instead, you killed us all, and you almost did the same thing here." Abstract remained silent while Iviesta tossed more dark magic laced items at him. "But that is not what disgusts me about pony kind. About your weakness."

"Then what is, Abstract the Dark? What disgusts one who was capable of reversing a curse that nopony has been capable of since the Crystal Kingdom fell victim to Sombra's unexpected and sudden return?"

The crystallion did not answer. Instead, he absorbed the second manifestation, called Iviesta, and left. Perhaps it was for the best, as monsters had been agglomerating around the two. Perhaps Abstract knew and that's why he left. Perhaps he didn't care and was already planning to leave. Whatever the case, he left with his daughter hopping joyfully next to him, leaving Nightmare Luna to muse upon the events transpiring here.

"Perhaps I should pay dear Scootaloo a visit in her dreams," Luna wondered. "I wouldn't harm or scare anypony that way. I must ask her about this crystal...thing. Perhaps I was too...quick to dismiss it as a simple threat."

For dreams' sake

View Online

Abstract and Iviesta had returned the city and were walking through the streets on their way to the palace. The crystallion's actions hadn't gone unnoticed, and what feats had been attributed to the regular ponies by the soldiers in hopes of preventing any 'popularity boosts' with Abstract ended up backfiring hard. Because of the seemingly random assortment of extreme events happening since the crystallion arrived, people all around had been creating and spreading rumors about him, and, as all know: The voice become almost inaudible the further the hearer is.

A stallion at a building maintenance site saw Abstract and had to share what he heard. "Did you hear that Abstract killed the former element of laughter then revived her?" a stallion said.

A minotaur working with the pony dropped several wooden beams onto the floor and stretched out. "Really? I heard he pulled her out of the giant Pinkie. That's why the demon is still rampaging about, looking for its soul or something."

"You're all crazy," another worker interjected. "He made a deal with Discord to have her soul and trick us into thinking that he's all powerful."

The minotaur grunted. "What kind of stupid ploy is that? Why would Discord let him take down one of his own demon lords?"

"I...Uhhh..."

"See? You don't even have any idea what you're talking about!"

Further down the street, some ponies were casually walking together, exchanging small talk, then they saw the giant crystalline pony.

"I heard he's the one who freed the former Princess Celestia and Element of Laughter," the first mare whispered. "Can you believe it? He figured out a way to destroy Sombra's curse!"

"You're right. I don't believe it. He's always trying to kill everyone who stands in front of him. There's no way that he could have found something like that when he thinks that we're not worth his time."

"So...you think it's actually the Sweetie Sisters of Battle that found the cure?"

"Yes. The Grand Inquisitor has been looking for a way to break it for years now. I bet that he just stole it from her or she gave it to him."

The first mare hummed pensively. "I'm not sure. Did you see the gigantic thing that stays near the gates? It just stays there, looking like a crystalline protrusion. Nopony has ever seen that kind of thing before, and the fore that he brought with him even say that he freed them from the curse and that he tamed the monster on his own."

Further on, Abstract was going to walk past a café where a griffon and changeling were enjoying some drinks.

"You heard he defeated Crystalestia?" the changeling asked.

"You sure? Look at that thing next to him. Are we sure he didn't just corrupt her mind with another curse?"

The changeling shook its head in disagreement. "Couldn't be. She wouldn't be able to enter the city's barrier."

"But she looks just like her!"

The two stopped talking immediately when the crystallions arrived next to them, but Iviesta wouldn't let them slide.

"You two," she pointed menacingly. "...WHAT'S THAT? FOOD?!" She jumped on the small table and scarfed down the food and stood still and upright while the food entered her body and dissolved instantly. "Oh. That tasted...strange."

"Iviesta. We crystallions do not need to eat," Abstract scolded.

"But I just wanted to taste something. Why else would I have a mouth?"

The two looked on in awe while the crystallions left, then the changeling looked to the clean table and noticed something. "Did she eat the plates too?!"

Scootaloo was comfortably tucked into her bed, getting some well needed and well deserved rest. Her armor was currently being refurbished by Apple Bloom, and guards kept watched outside. The curtains to her room were closed, keeping it just that nice amount of darkness usually reserved for night time. It was moments like this where she reminisced of times before everything fell and was ruined beyond recognition.

"Times before we lost family and friends?" Nightmare Luna said.

Scootaloo realized she was in the dreamscape with the alicorn who trapped Equestria for all eternity. They were on a balcony of one of Canterlot's towers, before the fall. The alicorn put her forelegs on the ramparts and rested her head on them.

"I also dream of those times...before...my sister..."

Scootaloo kept her composed, tired, yet soothing smile on her, even in the face of this pony. "I also think about what is happening outside Equestria. The world is vast. Who knows what is happening out there? They certainly think there is treasure to be had, and eventually, somepony will break your barrier."

"I have thought of that too." The alicorn sighed. "I have also thought of what threats lurk out there. If this happened to Equestria, who knows what happened outside." Luna hopped off her resting spot and looked down at the orange pony. "But I am not here to make idle chit chat."

"Then why are you here? I haven't seen you in--"

"Stop with the playful banter. I'm here to enquire about my sister. The rock pony told me he had removed the curse set upon her and attempted to kill her. Is this true?"

Scootaloo huffed with a smile. "You really need proof from me about your sister when there's that walking, fast-talking evidence that is always next to him now? She's only a week old and is already as destructive as he could be, but without the--"

Luna grabbed the mare. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR RAMBLING! My sister! Now!

"Well, five." Scootaloo gently pushed Luna's hoof off her shoulder. "I understand. Celestia has indeed been freed, but..."

"But? She's dead?!" Luna dropped her head and turned away. "I knew it. He lied to me about you stopping him."

"Abstract is many things, but a liar? I've yet to see him utter anything like that." Luna's face and ears perked up. "He thinks that lying is for weakling that worry about the thoughts of others."

"She's...she's alive? Is she still herself?"

Scootaloo waited before answering. "More or less?"

"What do you 'more-or-less'?" Nightmare Luna's tone shifted from hopeful to angry.

"She doesn't look like as she did when she was still a princess. Her body is...smaller. The size of a regular pony's, and with a non-flowing pink mane and tail."

Luna became confused. "What? I...I don't understand."

"Neither do I, but she's in the dungeons while I and my colleagues discuss what to do with her."

"Is...Is execution on the agenda?"

"A great many forms, yes."

Canterlot was immediately engulfed in a flesh-twisting and mind-warping veil of darkness, and Luna's horn started to spark and eb with destructive magics. Even her voice took on the aspect of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

"You WILL NOT kill her, understand? You will pass her to me! If my sister is harmed in any way, then I will declare war upon your refuge of misfits and fools."

The mare shook her head. "Luna, your despair won't hurt us. It never will, and we aren't passing her to you. She has no way to protect her mind and body from...this."

"You just gestured to all of me."

"Exactly. Your magics. They warp and corrupt. You know this, and with your sister drained of her magic, she wouldn't be able to remain your sister for long, so we'll be keeping her here."

"So then what? You leave her in the potentially murderous hooves of the crystal pony?"

"CrySTALLION, actually, but no. He won't be getting near her."

"And what will you do with him when your days grow numbered and he remains? Hm? How will your subjects live with that threat?"

"I agreed to let him take over, but he will be learning from us beforehand."

Luna shook her head. "Disappointing. We would never let such a creature wander free. He has already stolen my magic for some unknown reason, and then you expect me to trust him with the safety of my sister?"

"You're quite persistent on that subject, aren't you?"

"He can break the crystal curse!" Luna exclaimed. "Who wouldn't follow one who can do such a thing blindly?"

"Yes. He can break it..." Scootaloo trailed off. "But he never mentioned a watch to prevent it. Ponies could just as well fall back to the curse the moment they were freed. He refuses to create a permanent solution. There are already rumors in the streets circulating about him and his abilities, despite the efforts of my soldiers." The mare chuckled. "Even though he's been rude and acting like he's better than everypony, he HAS come in use more than once, but sometimes I wonder."

"What? That he's both a potential threat and benefactor to the 'survivors'? Had they come with me--"

"We already discussed that," Scootaloo interjected. The alicorn snorted angrily. "I would rather a monster lead my people to their protection against whatever threats exist outside your barrier. He would know how to fight them."

This implies you think you're going to win the war."

Scootaloo just gave a warm smile to the alicorn, then a faint beeping started repeating itself. "Well," Scootaloo looked at her wrist where a watch materialized. "I think it is high time I wake up for my daily duties." She nodded to the former princess and faded out of the dreamscape.

"SCOOTALOO!" Luna yelled. "Give me back my sister!"

The greenies

View Online

Chrysalis fumbled around in the underground caves where her new brood of changelings resided. The old brood had partaken in the royal jelly when they were most famished, turning them into 'mini-queens', for lack of a better term. The old queen tapped her hoof against the ground in the hatchery, watching her few new workers meticulously taking care of the new eggs.

"Uff..." she sighed. "So much work left to do. All the others are like the...ponies," she cursed. "They are lost to me, and even my own daughter Phyrissus has joined the ponies...the 'Sweetie Sisters of battle'." Chrysalis dropped her head and sighed, but when she saw her other daughter, Pupa, looking at her with a sad expression, she couldn't help but smile a little bit. "Don't worry, Pupa. You will be the one to inherit the changeling hive that I leave behind for you."

"Why? Where are you going to go?" The tiny Pupa asked.

Pupa, being a newly hatched queen, was about the size of a newly born pony foal. However, unless them, she was fully fluent and capable. She even sported similar physical features to her mother, including mane and tail color, and the same crooked horn and holes in her body. Her mane was much shorter in comparison, and her tail was curled and transparent, giving it the appearance of kelp.

"Nowhere yet." She patted the youngling on the head. "I still be here to help you grow into a strong changeling queen without worrying about...these ponies and their ponyisms."

Pupa stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Ew. Ponyisms."

"That's my daughter!" Chrysalis cheered.

A changeling rushed down from the tunnels and slid to a stop once it finally reached its queen.

"My queen," it started. "Your first daughter, Phyrissus, asks for you."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "What for?"

"She wouldn't tell me."

The changeling queen tapped her hooves on the ground multiple times as she thought about what she wanted to do, and so she decided to reluctantly meet with her first daughter. Climbing through the tunnels to reach the surface was not hard, but readjusting to the light was. The changelings had made a multitude of different tunnels underneath the bricks of the city streets and floors, and only the 'true' changelings, and Phyrissus, knew of their locations. The tunnels would often be filled and switched to prevent the miniqueens from finding their way back, not that many even wanted to.

"Hi, mom," Phyrissus greeted.

The changeling in question had a brighter, sea green mane that only reached to the bottom of her chin. She woe a pink robe and pointed hat, indicating that she was part of the Sweetie Sisters of Battle, and she seemed quite eager to impart some information to her mother.

"What do you want?" Chrysalis asked from beneath the bricks she held up.

"I have something to show you."

"Do I have to go on the surface with the...the ponies?"

"Mom, you've been living with them for years now. Maybe it's time you change your perspectives about them?"

"NEVER!" Chrysalis snarled. "I need to keep the purity of the true changelings intact."

"Yes..." the daughter looked away for a moment before resuming her speech. "Anyways, you should come with me. It involves a certain changeling that you and I mutually hate."

"Oh? You've pique my intrigue. Let's go see this, then."

The Queen carefully placed the bricks back down and eagerly followed her daughter down the alleyway and into the wide open streets. Vanhoover had never been so big. The streets were wide enough for four wagons to stay side-by-side, and the lights were so bright. Thousands of ponies were talking, transporting, working, peddling. Even multiple refugees from other races were here and mingling with the ponies. While Chrysalis still hated hem, even she could only agree to the weariness she had with this anger, but it was one of the only things keeping her from going to sleep for a thousand years...or so she wished.

"Whats goin on over there?"

Phyrissus grinned. "That's exactly what I wanted to show you."

There was an assortment of ponies and other creatures, including the 'miniqueens' gathered around something. The closer the changelings got, the better they could see what was going on. At first view, Chrysalis could see wooden barriers with law enforcement there to keep everyone back. Then a white wagon with silent, flashing red lights; And finally, a group of ponies and griffins looking at a changeling plastered into a brick wall. The stones around her were completely shattered, and the rest around them were cracked. The doctors were trying to figure out how to pull her out of there.

"Is that?" Chrysalis spoke with a hint of giddiness.

"Yes it is."

The miniqueen in the wall had an orange-peach mane and tail, and her green dress was in tatters. The doctors on site audibly spoke about how she was somehow still alive, but with only dust serving as bones.

"What happened to her?" Chrysalis asked.

"Well, I heard from witnesses around that she was patronizing Abstract," Phyrissus explained. Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at this.

"Is she stupider than before?" Chrysalis shook her head in disappointment. "What did she do exactly?"

Phyrissus scratched the back of her neck. "Well, she thought that she could convince Abstract to work for her."

"She was always obsessed with her business since she became a miniqueen."

The changelings around grumbled at the term.

"Please don't call them that," the daughter sighed. "Anyways, she tried offering him a low-paying position, saying that it was natural and wouldn't be fair to the others if he immediately appeared as a ceo."

"And he said nothing?"

The changeling shook her head. "Then she started upping the ante, giving him more lucrative rewards. She was walking next to him and the...other one. So she kept upping and upping her offers, even doing the ceo bit in the end."

"And he still didn't answer?"

"No. She got angry and jumped in front of him, poking him multiple times in the head and saying how he should be working for her and that there was no way he could get anywhere without having some 'professionalism of the modern world' under his belt."

"...So she basically told him to serve her." The queen nodded. "I see what happened...but I sense Celestia's magic."

"That happened after...You see, Abstract crushed her in a vice of his magic then threw her against the wall there. And then..."

Chrysalis furrowed her brows. "And then?"

"Abstract's daughter jumped at her full speed with her forelegs and plastered her into the wall, nearly destroying the building in the process."

"But what does that have to do with Celestia's magic?"

"Geez. Where have you been living? Under a rock?" Chrysalis looked at her first daughter with disdain. "Oh...Right..." Phyrissus chuckled nervously. "Anyways, Abstract created a daughter from draining Celestia's magic, or so I hear."

"Really now? Maybe then I can find her and kill her for everything she did to us before the fall."

"You really need to let that go," the daughter suggested. "Plus, I saw the original changelings fluttering about at night. Why are they here? They're out of place," the changeling whispered.

"What? I'm a QUEEN! It's part of the job! You didn't seriously think I would just sit by and watch thousands of years of changeling traditions be cast aside because I was forced to feed my changelings royal jelly just so they could survive another day, did you?"

Phyrissus shook her head. "It's not healthy to hold all that anger though, and I worry for you despite your distancing from me."

"That's because you fraternize with the ponies. You went further than just living among them."

"I had no choice! Without helping out, none of us could survive the onslaught of things outside these walls. It's thanks to our contributions that you're even here to complain about it!" The changeling looked at her mother directly in the eyes.

"I--"

"Mom, I love you, and I do still consider you as the queen, but you really need to let all of this hatred go. It's eating you from the inside. New enemies are here that aren't the ponies, and we need your experience to fight them. You're the best one here to know how to command large groups of soldiers at once and how to coordinate them."

"I..." Chrysalis looked away. "I'm sorry, but I can't let go."

"And why not?!"

"...It's all that I have left..."

"But that's not...!" Phyrissus groaned loudly. "Fine. Be that way, but I won't give up on you." She walked backwards and pointed at her mother, determination on her face. "I'll show you that you can live differently!" she announced cheerfully.

Chrysalis hid a smirk that her daughter had created with her silliness. "If only she knew..." the changeling queen mumbled.

The queen returned to her nest and met back up with her daughter who already had plenty of questions ready again.

"Mom, I have some questions," Pupa started.

"Oh? What are they?"

"I thought you liked the miniqueens. Big sister told me you helped them at one point."

The queen gritted her teeth. "Yes, but that was a long time ago. I gave them all I had, but my rage never faded. I thought I could have a fresh supply of love, but..."

"Big sister said you had a coltfriend," Pupa smiled cheekily.

Chrysalis blushed and slammed her hooves angrily into the ground. "I do not!" she shouted. "I've just been...busy above is all. Too busy to learn about what that weirdo has been doing."

"Abstract? I like Abstract. He looks cool," Pupa said happily.

"I thought you thought mommy was cool." The queen pretended to stick out her lip and let it tremble with sadness.

"Mommy is the coolest! But Abstract is the second coolest. He's made of shiny rocks. I bet it's rock candy!" she laughed.

"Yes, rock candy. Now it's time for your royal jelly, Pupa."

The tiny queen's belly grumbled hungrily. "How did you know?" she wondered.

Chrysalis put a hoof to her chest. "I just do. I'm your mother, after all," she spoke proudly. "Now come along, time for foods."

Seeing Apples grow

View Online

Apple Bloom's machines were trudging through the free lands where neither chaos, darkness, nor crystals had yet to spread to. However, it was still considered territory own by chaos, and many demons were hiding around. Apple Bloom, her head poking out of one of the armored vehicle's hatches, scanned the surroundings with her bionic eye. The vehicle she rode in was very flat and moved about on two exposed tracks on its sides, and two protected tracks only visibly from beneath. Multiple gun ports, currently manned, jutted from the topmost of the hull, ready to gun down anything in a rain of bullets. The turret had a circular shape with sloped armor to its top, and a large, quad-barreled autocannon pointing far in front of it and read to destroy anything as well. A few others were following to the sides of the chief engineer's, each of them stocked with armed troops read to exit at a moment's notice.

Apple Bloom pressed against her earphones. "We're coming up on the village," she said. "Get ready ta kill any demons on sight 'n check for survivors, materials, 'n anythin' else of note. Blueprints, pictures, art. Anything you can find!"

Small, ruined building started growing larger and larger on the horizon the closer the vehicles got to the town. The place was in shambles, with crumbled houses and the larger buildings seeing their halves toppled over onto the ruined streets. The armored vehicles stopped in place with a loud screech and let the troops in them out via a large hatch on their backs. Once it had lowered, all the ponies, dressed in green kevlar armor and helmets and wielding rifles. A single pair of ponies in each vehicle brought out a massive cannon accommodated by a bullet shield out and followed the others.

"Watch the buildins'. There's demons in there. I can see them;" she announced with a threatening tone.

Searches went on for an hour, and the results actually proved to be very fruitful. Much furniture, old food recipes, and blueprints for some outdated machinery came to bare. Some had even gone rummaging through the debris of old houses and found several toys that could prove of interest to the young foals and children, provided they were cleaned and replicated. Some soldiers were caught playing with them silently and would get chewed out when their squad leader caught them.

"Good job everypony," Apple Bloom announced. "Looks like this is a big enough first haul for me ta call in the first transports."

A squad officer, distinguishable by the streak of vertical yellow on her cap, saluted Apple Bloom.

"Commander Bloom, I have a report to make."

"What is it?" Apple Bloom asked.

"We found a cache of mostly intact art, but it's blocked behind rubble. I request permission to use explosives."

The commander tapped the top of her vehicle. "Only breach charges. There's a risk of destroying the artwork behind."

"Yes, m'am."

A few dozen guards had established a protective perimeter around the vehicles, not that they were incapable of protecting themselves. It was just a precaution. One of the guards, however, noticed something strange and reported it to his commander.

"Commander," he started.

"What is it? Why are ya breakin' the perimeter?"

Apple Bloom's bionic eye lit up and hummed angrily upon looking at the pony. Immediately, she punched a button on her suit's breast, starting up a massive, blaring alarm.

"Ah don't know what ya want, but ah ain't gonna let ya git outta here alive!"

The turret of her vehicle and the guards around trained their weaponry on the single pony. Unfortunately, despite firing their bullets, the demon was missed completely. It warped and twisted and stretched into the orange serpent know as Applejack. Her long body and many arms grabbed and sliced at the guards around while the ponies in the city were ambushed by multicolored demons hiding out in the ruins. The close proximity and literal chaos the ambush created caused several of the soldiers to fall to the corrupted ponies, but the guard recovered quickly, and it was why Apple Bloom brought heavy weapons with her.

With a loud, deafening thumps, the massive cannons let forth their explosive charges into the demonic fray, shredding them and blowing them to pieces indiscriminately. The commander, however, was facing the one she hated the most in the world.

"Apple Bloom, ah've come ta git ye," Applejack said with a smile and outstretched hand.

The engineer furrowed her brow and pulled a pistol from her armor, shooting the demon's hook off.

"Ah told ya: Ah ain't no darn Apple no more. Ah'm just Bloom!"

Applejack clenched her teeth angrily. "Then maybe ah'll just wait behind 'n watch them tiny apples eat all of ya!"

"That won't happen!"

Apple Bloom another round at the serpent, missing her, and resumed her much needed duty of guiding everyone in this battle. Bullets were fired and sword blows were exchanged, but the demons were at an advantage and started off the fight with the element of surprise. The armored personnel carriers started their rounds through the city, demolishing any exposed demons in seconds, but even the ambushers had tricks up their sleeves. They had weapons made by Twilight herself, and they didn't shoot books. Large portions of the city and the vehicles found themselves ripped off and thrown randomly in any direction. The battle went on for two days, with casualties on both sides and the city itself turning into a literal war torn landscape moreso than it already did, and everypony was getting really exhausted, and most of the APV were either out-of-commission or heavily damaged. Apple Bloom was holed up with her guard under the rubble of a collapsed tower, listening in to the messages being sent along the radio lines connected to massive black boxes themselves covered in cables and wires.

"What do we do? We weren't expecting this kind of fight!" a wounded soldier said.

The commander paced in the make-shift camp and sighed. "Well, we can't fight 'em anymore without ammo, 'n we're plum dry." She walked over to one of the operators of the boxes relaying field orders and leaned in.

"Send a message to Vanhoover: We were ambushed by chaos. Can't extract. Chaos lord is here. Need reinforcement by the Empress and the Scoot Marines."

"Understood, Commander," the pony replied.

The wounded soldier limped towards one of the many tables littering the cover and leaned against it, sighing with relief. "Ooof. What do we do now?"

Apple Bloom huffed. "We wait."

Another day had passed, but Apple Bloom wasn't hiding under the protection of her makeshift base. She had climbed with her guardsponies into an incline created by the fallen rubble of a skyscraper. It created a bridge that had punched a hole into the side of said building where some ponies were holed up, fending off the demons. Several grenades and grueling moments in hoof-to-hoof combat saw through, with Bloom using her energy sword to slice through every demon that got close to her rescue squad. Their chaotic blood dripped and drizzled allover the place, painting the floors red with the mare's anger and determination.

The rescue team went several floors down to find the ponies in question that needed rescuing, and they were a sorry bunch. Bruised, beaten, and bloodied, and trapped in a room dark from the rubble it was buried in outside. The air was stale and the ponies had enough of this battle.

"What's the news?"

The squad leader stood forward saluted her commander. "We were trying to recover supplies lost by one of our teams here and got trapped. Of the twenty-five of us currently present, we eleven are the only ones still alive!"

Bloom cursed under her breath. "We're losing ponies by the hour. We're all going to be killed if Scootaloo doesn't get here soon."

The soldier's ears perked up. "E-Empress Scootaloo is coming here?"

"Yes, and with her scoot marines. I send the message yesterday. Provided the message was properly sent, then they should be arriving here quickly."

"This is great news! This is exactly what the soldiers needed for a morale boost."

"You three, secure the perimeter up front," Bloom ordered to her guard. They quickly rushed off. "You five, help the wounded 'n recover their weapons. We can't waste anything." She looked to the rest that remained. "As for the rest of ya, yer goin' ta help me get--"

"Ah see ya, Apple BLOOM!" a familiar voice yelled in rage.

A massive orange hand burst through the debris and grabbed Apple Bloom, pulling her out and flinging her across the street. The mare looked behind her and braced for impact, hitting a wall hard and bouncing off it while taking some cement with her. She also hit the ruined streets hard and grunted painfully, some blood coming out of her mouth. As for the serpent, she slithered down to her 'little sister' and sported a face of pure anger.

"Y'all 're gonna come with me, 'n y'all 'er gonna like yer home with Big Mac 'n Granny Smith."

The mare coughed and dragged herself across the street. "If ah told ya before, ah'm tellin' ya now again: Y'ain't mah sister! Ya killed 'er when you attacked Ponyville!"

Applejack's face reddened with anger, but she couldn't stay mad at her sister. That being said, her concern was untimely, as Scootaloo flew in by kicking her in the face and shooting her onto the street farther away. Her fully armored scoot marines poured into the streets, setting up an evacuation and treatment and communications hub.

"That takes me back," Scootaloo chuckled.

"Yeah, but this time you didn't have Sweetie to throw you." Apple Bloom shared the laughter while she was being helped up.

Applejack looked across her belly and moaned painfully while she rubbed her swollen cheek. She also tapped her head, realizing that her hat was missing.

"She kicked muh hat off," Applejack grumbled.

Scootaloo stepped in front of her wounded friend, golden spear in hoof. "Stand back, Bloom. I'll protect you."

"Ah don't need yer prote--" Apple Bloom was cut off by another, raspy cough.

"Sure you aren't."

Scootaloo made her warm, calm smile, aggravating her friend.

"Ah hate it when you make that smile. Really. Stop it," the mare glared.

Applejack rushed forward, intact on gutting Scootaloo who stood proudly with her marines slowly taking position behind the two mares and aiming their rifles at the incoming chaos lord.

"Why would SHE come at us head on?" Apple Bloom wondered.

"She isn't," Scootaloo answered.

The serpent's form faded like smoke, and everyone looked around, hoping to spot her before she could hurt someone. They didn't noticed one of the scoot marines slowly inching its way towards the wounded engineer.

"By the way," Scootaloo started. "Just in-case, I brought in some help to watch us in-case we miss something important."

A loud crash startled everypony. It was caused by a massive crystalline arm grabbing the sneaking marine that returned to its original for: Applejack. She struggled to be released from the grip, but it wasn't working. She was stuck in the grip of Abstract's chrysanthemium, and Iviesta was watching the event next to her father. Apple Bloom grinned and Scootaloo smiled.

"What should I do with her?" Abstract asked his daughter.

Iviesta wondered loudly. "Well, she looks like a worm."

"Thank you for your help, Abstract. After our discussion, I didn't think you would intervene. Trap her for us so we can--"

"BREAK HER BACK!" Iviesta shouted.

The Chrysanthemium used its other leg to grab Applejack by her head, extended its 'fingers' under her, back.

"NO!" Scootaloo shouted.

A horrifying snap resonated through the air, followed by Applejack's strenuous screams of pain. The beast dropped her on the ground where additional cracking could be heard. Bloom was unaffected by the screaming. In fact, to her, it was sort of a symphony.

"That's payback fer everythin' ya did to me," she thought.

"Haha! She's writhing and screaming at the same time!" Iviesta pointed and laughed. "Loud worm," she chuckled.

Abstract's eyes glowed more intensely when Scootaloo somehow too her eyes off the screaming, broken chaos lord. Her face was no longer composed, as it had always been. It was distraught. Even the scoot marines couldn't help but cringe at the sight and sound. Scootaloo received a reminder of just how cold and uncaring Abstract truly was, and his 'daughter' was enjoying the scene. It was...unthinkable.

Convincing a crystallion

View Online

"Abstract," Scootaloo said. "I need you to accompany me in aiding my friend, Apple Bloom. She is trapped in a chaos controlled city and currently under siege."

Scootaloo had gone to the crystallions to make a simple request. Well, simple in her mind, but Abstract was a stubborn one.

"Why would I do that?" Abstract asked.

"Because we need Apple Bloom and the ponies that are with her. Without them, we won't have an efficient defense here, let alone plans for new vehicles."

Abstract did not respond to her.

"Look, you say many times that you want to rule over us passively, yes? Well, you need to learn about our society and how we function. If you come with us, you'll see for yourself how we fight and what we do in given situations. Knowing your age, you would most certainly enjoy seeing new military tactics, right?"

"This is true."

"Then it would stand to reason that you accompany me at least to see what we do with our new technology, yes?"

Abstract remained silent for several minutes, inciting the worry of Iviesta.

"Dad?" she called out to him.

Abstract's 'eyes' looked back to see the crystal with Nightmare Luna's black magic of corruption bubbling and growing. "Fine. I will take my daughter and chrysanthemium to watch you from a distance. If I find a reason to intervene, then I shall. Otherwise, this is only to observe and learn, despite it being against my better judgement."

"Thank you," Scootaloo said calmly. "We're leaving shortly, so please accompany me."

Abstract and Iviest Porravon walked off the extended leg of the chrysanthemium and vaulted over Applejack towards her little sister.

"Your Empress requested my aid, and so I have. I deemed the situation worthy enough for me to step in, and so I have done this also."

Nopony could concentrate with the horrific death throes Applejack was creating, but in a fashion befitting them, the crystallions ignored the sounds...partially. Iviesta was amusing herself patting Applejack every time she stopped screaming to make frantic, quick breaths of air. This would agitate her and bring her in pain again and again, much to the crystallion mare's amusement.

"What did you do to her?" Apple Bloom asked Abstract. Her angry, pitiless voice had a in almost unnoticeable hint of sadness.

"I had my chrysanthemium snapped her spine in half and infused the spinal bone with my magic to crystallize it. She'll never get it back, and even if it were possible, it would take an incredible amount of work, precision, and patience, something their 'leader' has none of."

The near entirety of the guards around cringed at the words."

"I will kill her later." Abstract turned to face Scootaloo. "Are you already finished?" he asked her.

Scootaloo nodded. "I hope that what you saw was to your liking?"

"Nothing I hadn't seen before. You don't even make use of your technology. You simply follow archaic military patterns."

The empress shrugged. "What do you think, Bloom?" She was hoping to see her friend standing next to her, but Apple Bloom had walked next to her former sister. "Apple Bloom?"

"Ha...ha," Applejack gasped. "Ya still call yerself 'Apple Boom'."

"Not really..."

"So...so what do ya want?" Applejack grunted painfully between her speech, screams, and gasps for air.

"Why did ya do it? Why did ya do that ta all of 'em? Ta everypony?"

"Do...what?"

"Trick everypony and turn them inta demons! Why?!" Bloom shouted and stomped a hoof. "Why'd ya do it? Why?!" Apple Bloom's voice started to crackle. "Why?"

"Why do you-gnk! Mean? Ah didn't do nothin'. It was all Twahlight's work."

Iviesta pressed against the serpent's spine, sending a violent bolt of pain through her entire body and making her writhe in torturous stabs, much to her amusement.

"Looks like the lie detecting spell detected a lie," the crystallion mare giggled innocently.

"Ah didn't!"

Applejack howled in pain once again.

"Plenty of lies today!"

Apple Bloom's anger was seething. "You killed mah sister 'n you ponynapped mah family. Ah want ta know where they are! Ah want mah big brother 'n Granny Smith back!"

"Apple Bloom..th-th-theeeey're home! Where you should go to be happy again. Ah only want yer happiness." The serpent looked at her little sister with a pained smile and hopeful eyes.

"Poke, poke, poke!" Iviesta repeated playfully.

The guards and marines were all mumbling about how Iviesta should stop. They were starting to feel pity for Applejack as hard as that was.

Scootaloo slanted her mouth. She was also feeling pity, but Abstract clearly had no remorse. "This really is going on for too long. Those crystallions...I really need to find a way to change the way they act. Even I am starting to feel remorse for that serpent."

"YER always lyin'!" Apple Bloom shouted. "Mah sister'd never lie ta me!"

Hooves crunching in the debris became louder and closer to the commander, its source unknown until a black mass came into view from the corner of her eye.

"If you truly do not want to be associated to this creature," Abstract started. "then you can remove her from your familial archives." Apple Bloom stared at him in disbelief. "You need only grab all things belonging to your family and permanently dispose of the historical elements concerning this 'sister' of yours."

Applejack's face became struck with terror, and she stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the stallion. Her eyes followed his steps towards the hat on her head, which he ripped off gleefully. The serpent struggled to try and recover it, but her body would not move.

"I should dispose of this filth, as well." He shook it in front of the serpent, just out of her reach within his magical grasp. ""It is the first step, is it not?"

"That's...fer...Apple Bloom! It belonged ta our parents!"

Abstract didn't react. The mare, however, acted differently. "Looks like ah'm never gonna get mah sister back," Apple Bloom grumbled.

"Apple Bloom!"

Abstract's magic engulfed the hat, turning it into black dust. Applejack stared silently at the small pecks of dust being taken by the wind, her mouth ever silent. The crystallion put a foot on the serpent's head, and with a thrust, created another loud, 'gooey crunch'.

Disgusted, Abstract wiped his hooves on the ground. "I will return to my home now. Come, Iviesta!"

"Okay!" Iviesta replied with a joyful jump.

The thunderous steps of the crystalline beast was the only noise as everyone stared at the events that had transpired. While they all felt pain and nausea, Apple Bloom was the one most affected by that which transpired, and Scootaloo felt powerless to help her mourning friend. She could never mourn the less of her sister, and she never considered the chaos lord to be one of them, but deep down, she could never truly refuse Applejack as her sister, no matter what happened. It's easy to push away people you barely knew, or even simple friends. To push away close family was another thing, and with the hat burned away, there was nothing left to remember Blooms parents by, the intermingling trees having long since been destroyed.

Discord shielded himself when Applejack's piece spontaneously combusted and exploded.

"What was that?!" he shouted.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked. "What happened?"

"Look for yourself," Discord suggested.

The former unicorn looked at the table to see several flaming bits of Applejack all over the place.

She pointed at the carnage. "What happened to Applejack?"

"I have no idea!...But I wonder. I should go look in the pool and see what I can find," Discord said. "I'll be right back." He stopped before disappearing. "And watch the pieces. They might do something."

Back in his room, Abstract added the last of Nightmare Luna's magic to the crystal and shaped it in. The crystallion's eyes glowed a fierce white in response to the finishing touches.

"Soon," he said aloud.

"Am I going to get a sister?!" Iviesta blurted.

A calmer time

View Online

Scootaloo was in the calm of her room, resting on her bed. There wasn't much notable in there. A bed, a few old posters on the walls as a reminder of a happier past, and pictures of her friends when they were still the CMC. Lining the walls were a plethora of weapons both melee and range oriented. The orange mare heaved a sigh and rolled onto her back.

"What happened...?" she asked herself. "Everything was going relatively okay. We were going to start pushing back and reclaim our homes...And now, Apple Bloom killed her sister...Should I have just let Abstract do it? Would the psychological outcome been any different?"

The mare stepped off her bed and opened the curtains of one of her windows to look outside. She could see, on the left, the crystals comprising Abstract's 'lab', and the various flashes Iviesta was creating.

"You're already a part of this community, but is the community a part of you, Abstract?" Scootaloo scratched the back of her head. "Maybe I should talk to Apple Bloom..."

In the city, there was talk. There was rumor. There was fear. The news of Apple Bloom killing her own sister had escaped the mouths of some indiscreet soldiers and reached the common folk. Opinions were divided on the head engineer. Some feared her for killing her sibling even when they were corrupted, while others praised her for various reasons. Some praised her for killing a filthy demon while others praised her for having the courage and fortitude to do something they could never do. Apple Bloom, meanwhile, had given the idea no more thoughts. She was casually tinkering away at some tanks designed by some fresh engineers just recently graduated from the academy.

The hangar they were in was a massive, oily mess, filled to the brim with vehicles, hulls, spare parts, lifters, and a whole other assortment of parts and tools. The air was stagnated with the smell of oil and burning fluids. To any normal person, this would be unbearable, but to an engineer and mechanic, these were the equivalent of smelling roses.

"The axle on the clutch is smooth 'n turns easily thanks ta yer assisted thingy here, but it ain't got any protection on it," Apple Bloom stated. "If'n ya get attacked, some shrapnel o' metal might just get stuck raght in there, jammin' and even cuttin' up the rods linkin' to the axles of the tracks."

Standing in a turret held by some chains, Apple Bloom was gauging how the whole tank would work with the turret currently artificially connected to the vehicle hull.

"Well, we thought that the armor would protect the insides," the diamond dog explained.

Apple Bloom chuckled. "While that may be true, ya still gotta protect the vital parts from sand 'n stuff. Facilitates repairs if it's damaged, and keeps the metal box workin' fer much longer on the battlefield."

The group 'ah'd' in realization. While they started discussing the modifications they could make to the design, Apple Bloom was approached by Sweetie Belle.

"Comin' in here when there's work bein' done, Sweetie?" Apple Bloom said. "Ah thought ya didn't like loud noises 'n gettin' yer mane wet," she laughed.

"Yes, very funny," Sweetie Belle said dismissively. "I'm just worried about you," she explained. "How are you doing?"

"Ah'm fine. Why?" the engineer asked innocently.

"Y...You know?" the grand inquisitor said matter-of-factly.

"What, cause Ah offed the serpent?" She waved a hoof. "Pffff. No problems there."

"But Apple Bloom--"

"AH SAID THERE AIN'T NO PROBLEMS!" The engineer's outburst brought everyone's attention to the two. "Ah killed her. Big deal. She ain't mah sister no more, 'n we kill many demons every day." She waved a hoof and turned to face the tank once more. "S'not like it's anythin' new."

The Grand Inquisitor couldn't figure out what to say in response, so while her mouth did open a few times, nothing came out. Scootaloo, on the other hand, was having an easier time talking with Celestia in the dungeons, her power armored guard keeping a close watch on things.

"Is Pinkie Pie doing alright?" Celestia asked.

Scootaloo shook her head. "She keeps bawling and screaming about all the atrocities she did. Night and day, the staff told me. She's actually tried to kill herself a plethora of times."

Celestia looked at the empress in shock. "That's horrible! And you're not doing anything to stop her?!"

Scootaloo shrugged. "What do you want us to do? We've already tried all the methods we know of. It helped the demons who defected back to our side, and even the crystal ponies we managed to capture and sever from Sombra's link, but for Pinkie Pie? She's been getting worse and worse." The empress raised a brow. "But what about you? You don't seem to have any mental issues."

Celestia closed her eyes and smiled. "I've gone through many, many things, Scoo--EMPRESS Scootaloo," she chuckled. "I know that while the actions were my own, my body was not. I would never do anything to harm my little ponies or even my own sister." She frowned. "Had I the proper fortitude, I could have fought against Sombra's control, but..."

"He was too strong. Yes. We know." Scootaloo wiped her forehead and sighed. "Unfortunately for you, not many of us see it that way, and that won't change. The orange mare turned and walked towards the exit, but she had one last thing to say. "Perhaps all his magic does is release your true self, just in exchange for serving him."

Celestia mulled over these words while Scootaloo's visit already became a past event. Abstract and Iviesta, on their end, were currently continuing to refine the magic being used in the next bubble, hoping to keep it as 'perfect' as Iviesta's coming-to-be was. There was still much work to be done, and the crystallion was extracting magic, shaping it with his magic or hooves, then returning it to the orb. Iviesta, meanwhile, was currently working on refining whatever left over magic her 'father' had left her to tinker with. Several week of training with her own magic saw her fit, in Abstract's eyes, to refine and perfect magic. The crystallion mare was just happy and giddy to be working alongside her parent to bring her new sibling into being. An issue crossed Abstract's mind, however.

"Why is she a mare? Is the alicorn magic that corrosive? I the next one turns out like Iviesta Porravon, then I just might have to take some magic from a random pony to for a theoretical test."

He looked to his daughter who looked back at him with a wide smile. "A disturbing notion, that the crystallions somehow inherited 'genders' from the pony filth."

Cocoon, on her end, was using Chrysalis' new changelings to flutter up towards the room of Abstract. She was absolutely enamored by the shiny crystals.

"I will make him mine!" the tiny changeling queen declared. "He will be my shiny rock toy, and as queen, I am allowed to do this!" She pointed at the crystals. "Charge through them, my minions!" she ordered.

The changelings' attempt to break through the crystals only met with painful lumps and pained squeals as their attempts were met with obvious failure. The tiny changeling stomped angrily on the head of the one carrying her, causing him quite some painful discomfort. 'Ow's interjected themselves within Cocoon's speech.

"Oh come on! They're just shiny rocks!"

"But they're REALLY hard! I don't think any of us will be able to break them," one changeling complained.

"Why don't YOU try it?" a voice asked from afar.

"I..." Cocoon's eyes shot from changeling to changeling until her little filly mind snapped under the pressure. "Fine! I'll show you how it's done." The filly queen metaphorically hitched up her britches and, with a little preparation, charged into the crystal, conking her head very hard.

When one of the changelings managed to catch her, she was rubbing her head and, expectedly, started to cry. The changelings present looked at each other with concern, but there was one voice that was laughing, and Chrysalis was present for the whole debacle.

"So you're the one who got her to do that before I could stop here," the queen said with an ominous tone.

The laughing stopped. The changeling in question was an 'evolved' changeling from the queen's previous hive, and what should've been a black chitin was slowly turning into a white one when the changeling 'queen' slowly turned around, then up, to see the giant, imposing figure staring down at her.

"Let's see how you like it when I throw you several times against that same wall."

Iviesta stopped her work after the consistent sound of thudding brought about her curiosity.

"Dad?" she started. "What is that?"

"Nothing important."

"But it keeps coming in rhythm."

"It's not important, I said. Ignore it. They're just sounds. You have better things to be doing right now."

The crystallion mare shrugged and carried on with her work. While their work was peaceful and partially undisturbed, the lands of chaos were, in more ways than one, in utter chaos. The corrupted demons were fumbling about, unsure of what to do now that a demon lord was 'missing'. Rumors were that she was dead. Others that she was captured. Those witness to what Abstract did to Pinkie Pie think he actually 'cured' her, and many were tempted to defect and be saved, but the remaining chaos lords and Discord could sto them beforehand.

"Ugh," Discord grumbled. "Without that serpent we can't see absolutely everything."

Twilight chuckled. "I thought you were 'omnipotent' and 'all-seeing'." She readjusted herself in her chair whilst keeping her book afloat.

"Omnipotence and all-seeing are two different aspects, Twilight. You should know this by now," Discord mocked.

"Be that as it may, I'M not the one who didn't watch what my subordinates were doing."

The draconequus blinked several times. "You don't care about the loss of your friend?"

"She wasn't my friend," Twilight corrected. "Just a work colleague."

Discord stroked his chin fur. "That's quite cold of you, Twilight. I didn't think you'd be that far gone by now." He grinned maliciously.

"What do we do about Applejack before your ego explodes?"

"I don't really think that should be much of a problem. Our 'intern' should be able to replace her." The draconequus huffed. "Still, this means that our 'game' has a bit of an unbalance, and the other pieces will see this as a weakness to be exploited. We best start mobilizing whatever we have through your greedy FRIEND?" Discord emphasized. "in white, so we don't show any of said weakness...not that they could beat me anyways," he quickly corrected himself.

Sombra's endeavor

View Online

The crystallion stood in front of a variety of different-sized crystals jutting from the walls, using them to peer through all things glass and crystal dotted around the city.

"What's she doing? Whats she doing?!" Iviesta bounced around impatiently. She leaned against Abstract's back and groaned in his 'ear'. "What's she doiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing?!" she whined.

"She is exploring. Contemplating. Studying. Understanding," Abstract responded. "She is your opposite in terms of personality."

Iviesta frowned. "So she's like you?"

Abstract's 'eye' moved to look at the crystallion mare. "And what would that be?"

"Boring and serious all the time," the mare said with pouty cheeks.

Abstract ignored her and continued his observations. The one he had been looking at was traveling through the less open areas of the city and into the industrious complex. This area was home to massive, multi-story buildings made exclusively with bricks were adorned with multiple chimneys spewing a black smog. The observed was waiting in place, analyzing everything. There were massive wagons being 'driven' by single ponies and minotaurs that were offloading bars of metal, barrels of unknown contents, and wood to each of the industries. One such industry saw an explosion in its yard, damaging the complex and causing a siren to blare off. The observed moved to the side of the cobble-road after hearing sirens and witnessing blue wagons filled with gallons upon gallons of water being carried in large, glass spheres in the middle of the vehicles.

"Hm..." the observed pondered aloud. She tilted her head when she saw the minotaurs and pegasi grabbing their respective hoses and rushing to extinguish the flames. "Strange behavior?" She tilted her head to the other side. "Or something else entirely?"

"Her understanding of things at the base level is worrisome," Abstract lamented. "She should be able to ascertain that--"

"They're attacking the flickering light with the liquids..." The observed noted. "Then it brings them danger."

The mare looked around to try and find another source of fire to create and eventually found several large, metal, cylindrical tanks containing gallons of flammable liquid stapled to the side of a vehicle factory.

"What would occur if I these creatures were engulfed in the flickering light?"

Abstract twitched, something that hadn't gone unnoticed by Iviesta. He walked away from the crystals. "I am going to stop Umbra Continentia. Her curiosity might bring destruction upon my future subjects."

"Then I'll join you!" Iviesta bounced about enthusiastically.

Umbra waved a hoof, wrapping bricks and metal wire in tendrils of darkness and folding everything out of her way, letting her creep into the factory grounds and enact upon her experiment. Unfortunately, Abstract landed right in front of her, his sudden appearance and noisy landing startling the workers around and garnering unwanted attention.

"Father," the mare noticed.

"Using illusions to mask your appearance?"

"It serves my purpose better."

"As foes your monotone voice."

To the workers gathering around the site, they saw Abstract and Iviesta confront a yellow pegasus with a bushy green mane and tail, but to Abstract, he was talking to his own kin. Many a gasp was made when it was seen exactly why Abstract was talking to this pony. The mare's body fluttered and blurred as though she were on a screen affected by a poor video feed. The illusion left way to a crystallion mare with a mane and tail akin to Luna's, but with a blank and expressionless face, much like her father. She was much taller than her 'older' sister to boot.

"Why do you impede my work?"

"Because it would affect my future plans," Abstract explained. He pointed to the dark sky. "That dome limits our expansion. Once we breach it, we will have more lands to take and greater chances to revive our people."

Umbra looked back at the tanks. "But--"

"No. That would cause severe damage and likely kill those around. THAT is the only outcome."

Umbra pondered the response and nodded. "That response is satisfactory."

The workers started mumbling to each other in panic and worry.

"There's another?" some mumbled.

"Why does she look like Nightmare Luna?" others stuttered with disquieted voices.

Meanwhile, as word spread of the new crystallion mare, Sombra had grown angrier and angrier at his losses. He shook within the red crystal he called his home within the former Crystal Empire. Its form wreathed in a black cloud and decorated by bolts of red lightning striking the lands afar.

"I have had it with that crystallion. It's time I took care of him myself!" he bellowed within his crystal.

Crystalance chuckled. "And what are you going to do, then, oh great King Sombra?"

The king mulled over in his realm, analyzing and thinking it over. He finally had his answer, and his glared at the pink pony with all of his anger. "There is a land to the south-east of here, bordering Nightmare Luna's. As we have little-to-no contact with her, we can use it and the red crystal growing there."

Crystalance gave pause. "You don't mean to use what powers you've gathered to manifest, do you?"

"I mean to have you, Crystal Armor, and other of my peons to summon him to that spot, where I can personally deal with him." The atmosphere was becoming heavier, and the few lights outside passing through the stormy sky were growing dimmer and dimmer.

"You're using us as bait?!" Crystalance shouted in horror.

"You are here to serve," Sombra stated calmly. "Your magic belongs to me. YOU belong to me!"

Crystalance reluctantly bowed. "Yes, my king."

"Now go forth. I will await your arrival."

Apple Bloom was scratching her head whilst looking at the new addition to Abstract's family. A guard stepped forward through the crowd of ponies and minotaurs standing around.

"There's a third?!" the guard shouted in horror.

"Yes," Abstract responded flatly.

The guard looked to Apple Bloom then to his fellow guards. He wanted to pace around but felt his trembling body would not hold. "Are there anymore?!"

"No." Abstract's 'eyes' glowed. "I have found no other candidates with magic suitable to my requirements. The current goal is to return to my former power and break through the dome after containing or removing any potential threats."

There was mumbling amidst, and a red minotaur stepped forward, his brown, baggy outfit fluttering in the wind. "Wait...you want to get rid of the three monsters?!" he asked with disbelief. "B-but...that's impossible! We've tried for years! We can't kill them!" The minotaur gestured multiple times with his hands.

Abstract's 'eyes' intensified when they stared at him. "I might have great power, but there's better ways to defeat an enemy."

Apple Bloom grinned. "You mean psychological warfare?" She laughed. "That won't work." She pointed in the direction of the forest. "Nightmare Luna is crazy and Discord is chaos incarnate! There's no way to control them!"

"Not to mention the hive mind that Sombra created," the guard added.

Apple Bloom nodded. "And that too. What makes ya thing that it'd work if YOU do it?"

Abstract looked away. Iviesta sat on her flank tapping her chin with one hoof whilst supporting that left with her other. Umbra remained apathetic and monotone in her immediate response.

"It wouldn't take long to figure out their issues, would it?"

"No," Abstract answered.

Apple Bloom threw her forelegs in the air with annoyance.

"And how would that work?!" the minotaur wondered.

"Simple." Abstract dragged his hoof along the dusty grounds, depicting a land cut in three. "We prey on their greed." He tapped a spot with each character mentioned. "Discord is chaos, and is therefore predictable in his actions and responses. He goes for psychological warfare, and if that doesn't work, tries to torment you with tales of superiority whilst twisting your body with his magic." He swiped the floor clean. "Nightmare Luna is too mentally broken for his tricks to work on her, and, with my ventures to her 'home', has naught but beasts too seeped with the darkness emanating from her body to be manipulated."

"And the only thing keepin' 'em there were the chaos lords?" Apple Bloom asked.

Iviesta nodded excitedly.

"And he did something to the pink one and killed the orange one," the guard thought aloud. He created more talks about when it happened and how between witnesses and questioners.

Apple Bloom shook almost unnoticeably at the mention of that event. "Y-yes. That means there's only four left."

Abstract continued. "The user of false crystal magic despises Discord, if the many, many attacks against his lands and the push-pull events are any indication." The crystallion looked up to the engineer. "He also hates me for escaping the weakling that is in the dungeons, and has sent his minions to try and apprehend or terminate me."

"So you would use yourself as bait?" Apple Bloom asked. She raised a brow. "That's an interesting idea, but if you aren't at 'full power," the mare accentuated with air quotes. "How are you supposed to enact these plans?" she gave a smug grin.

"I--"

Abstract couldn't give an answer as sirens started blaring across the city. The civilians started running around in a panic, rushing away from the gathering and towards potential shelters.

"What's going on?!" Apple Bloom shouted. "Magic can't get through the shield."

Within the giant, ivory palace of the Sweetie Sisters, the many members were stuck in a massive white chamber focusing on blue orbs floating within indents built into the walls. The ponies and changelings were struggling to maintain their spells, and several dozen sisters were attempting to keep the shield up. Even the Grand Inquisitor herself was struggling, her hooves trembling and her horn fizzing with overexertion.

"Wh-what kind of spell is this?!" Sweetie screamed. "GH!"

"Grand Inquisitor!" one of the sisters called out. "This...This is a tremendous amount of magic being focused..."

"It's being focused into a single point," another took over. She grunted and fell to her knees. "It's not enough to...kill anypony or...or destroy anything."

"Then what is it?" Sweetie wondered. Her orb let out a whip of magic that she narrowly dodge. "Who is doing it and why?"

"Are they...after Empress Scootaloo?"

Several sisters were thrown about from their orbs letting loose several lances of magic and burning their bodies whilst tossing them about like dolls.

"N-no!" Scootaloo grunted again. "Every inhabitant in the city is shielded with several masking spells." She almost fell upon her front knees but forced herself up. "They get it when they come to the gates for our guards to inspect."

"W-wait...every inhabitant..." the sister stuttered.

Sweetie eyes shot open in realization. "Oh no. They never--"

All the orbs let loose multiple whips of magic, indicating that, despite their efforts, the sisters could not prevent the spell from coming through. A bright vortex of red light and swirling black clouds pierced through the barrier and slammed onto Abstract and his ilk, dissolving almost instantly upon contacting the ground. Apple Bloom and the guards were left staring at the empty spot in the factory yard, baffled and confused.

The crystallions found themselves in the middle of a circle of ponies, including Crystalance and Crystal Armor. The exhausted looked up and gasped in surprise. Behind the two ex-lovers stood a large amalgamation of many red crystals towering high above any normal pony. Several splinters jutted out of the sides, adding to the potential danger the structure had.

"What is this? A gathering of useless items?" Abstract commented.

Iviesta laughed at the 'joke' her father made. "That's a good one, dad!" she said while leaning on his shoulder.

"So THIS is what has happened to my magic!" a voice bellowed.

Crystal Armor stood up and smiled with a bow. "We'll leave you...four, to talk things out then." He left the area with Crystalance and the other pawns of the king of the Crystal Empire.

"I don't recall giving one of my creations the right to steal from me!" the voice bellowed angrily.

Iviesta and Umbra looked around, trying to determine the source of the voice.

"I am not your creation, fool," Abstract responded. "If you are incapable of even tracking your own magic, you are far less of a threat than initially suspected, Sombra."

Sombra laughed and revealed his dark eyes and somber frown within the red crystal. "And that disrespect is why I've grown tired of tolerating your existence."

"That is why you used a focused point of magic to break through the barrier and bring us here?"

"Yes."

"Yes you have no body."

"Perhaps not, but I can create an artificial one to kill you and take back the magic you stole from me." He looked to Umbra. "And some extra benefits."

Abstract gave no response and turned his back to the red crystals. The mares followed their father's example, although Iviesta found that hopping and skipping about was more fun an endeavor.

"You turn your back on me? ME?!" Sombra yelled.

Abstract ignored what he perceived as a tantrum. A bad idea. The crystallion was crushed beneath a large object into the ground and slammed deeper into the hole multiple times.

"DAD!" Iviesta screamed.

While the mare rushed to the crystallion's aid, Umbra turned to face the threat. Sombra was stepping out of the crystal, although his form was neither complete nor fully solid. His had the consistency of a thundering black cloud with rings of red mist swirling about his form. His eyes and horn were the only solid pieces of his body giving off a steady glow of red light, creating an intimidating sight from one at least fifteen feet in height.

"Imbecile!" the king shouted. He pout a hoof to his barrel. "I am the great King Sombra! 'I' subdued the strongest rulers of Equestria!" He pointed to Abstract being pulled out of the crater. "What makes YOU think you can stop me?" He straightened himself out and scoffed. "This is no simple game you are playing here. If your piece is knocked over, you 'lose'," Sombra growled.

Abstract's horns resonated together until a wave of silence was created and the cloudy being found himself thrown several feet away. Iviesta's horn glowed with yellow light and strands of color imitating Celestia's mane. Umbra's crackled with bolts of the darkest black, giving her being a more sinister aspect.

Iviesta bounced into the air then vanished in a flash, leaving Abstract and Sombra to lock spells in a pushing contest. The energetic mare appeared above the giant king. She immediately went to work by creating golden clamps that chomped through the construct's hooves and penetrated the ground, making the stallion scream in pain. The mare was too cocky, leaving the construct to shift its form until its hooves were free to strike her down into the ground and throw many crystal spears at her body. Umbra wreathed herself in a dark funnel, allowing her to bore through the construct's body and reach the other side. The crystallion took this opportunity to act and created crystals from the ground to impale and drain Sombra of his life force.

This exchange continued, but where the crystallions were slowly dwindling in energy and strength from the length of the fight, Sombra was growing stronger and more cocky. The three crystal entities stared at the king, with only the sisters showing contempt.

Sombra gave out a loud chuckle. "This is the best you can do? Absolutely pathetic." He walked around the crystallions whilst taunting them. "How does it feel to see yourself fail against someone using 'false' crystal magic? Hm?" he asked Abstract. The king became increasingly irritated by Abstract's lack of response to his taunting. "Fine! If you won't answer me, then I'll just get rid of you and those abominations by your side." He chuckled. "You should have joined me like a good pet, but now I will dispose of you and continue with my conquest."

"A conquest that has been running for many years," Abstract interjected.

Sombra became disconcerted. "What?"

"None of you are making any progress with each other. The signs of lesser creatures." There was a slight pause, during which the sisters noticed the cloud within their father's body started to flicker and agitate. "There's a grand difference between us in terms of simple power."

"And what would that be?" Sombra asked with intrigue.

"While you indeed have some form of 'great power', at the least as great as a simple pony can muster, this is at the behest of others, and only increases your power compared to the base."

"Their power is mine. I own them," Sombra stated. "How does this differentiate us in terms of power?"

"My power is still dormant from centuries of slumber." A massive storm started growing in the sky while Abstract's horns pulsed with growing blades of darkness. "My power is less than what it originally was. Your power is increased from its base, and mine is decreased from its base, and yet I am still more powerful than you," he stated factually.

Sombra's face contorted with anger. "We'll see about that!"

"Indeed we will. And while I can only summon my full power for a very brief time-" Abstract rose upon his hind legs. "I will perpetuate what I did when my people and my king still existed."

The crystallion slammed his hooves upon the ground whilst the sisters engulfed themselves in protective orbs of magic.

"WHAT--"

Sombra's cry was cut short by mile-high crystals erupting from the ground by the hundreds and spreading several dozen meters in every direction. The denizens of the city all witnessed the sudden rise of the transparent columns upon the horizon, yet they were not prepared for what came after. A clear 'bubble' spread out from the crystals, destroying them and creating a light earthquake whilst several shards of crystal of varying size shot into the plains around it. The shockwave threw everyone on the floor onto their backs and destroyed several windows whilst dislodging various structures such as large containers and stairways on the outside of buildings.

"I decide when it is my time to perish, and no one else shall take the lives of my kin."

Cutiemark Crusaders 10k: The fourth deity

by The Psychopath

Domed reality

New faces

Sun Goddess vs Deity of Darkness

Transport to Vanhoover

Three-way battle

A pony's mind is a fragile thing

What is this?!

Towers of protection

Twilight comes to visit

Not old chaos

Exploration

You're stuck in the underground

The forest beckons

Murky Depths

The meeting

Into their mind

To the waves

Disbelief

Sombra's Pain

She lives

A new game piece

To the black eyes

For dreams' sake

The greenies

Seeing Apples grow

Convincing a crystallion

A calmer time

Sombra's endeavor