"My knees are a little shaky...and my chest hurts." She hoped beyond hope that Sombra wouldn't try to manifest when she was this close to Yclept, or even worse, in front of the princesses... "Could I lean up against you?"
Several of the hooded ponies vanished but one remained. Jack, his armored companion, and the one remaining hooded pony took off, eventually ending up standing on the street, watching Yclept and Star, and more importantly, the shade of Sombra that held onto Star. They silently followed the small group.
Silver had not spoken since returning with Nightshade's body. He had watched wordlessly as a pair of Night Guards arrived and carried her away to the palace crypt. After a few minutes, Holly approached him. He glanced at the Timber-Wolf, face devoid of expression, and spoke in a flat, emotionless voice. "Begone, beast. You are not welcome here." As Holly shrank back into a corner, Nightmare Moon looked at Silver in undisguised shock. Holly had been his constant companion since the days when he and his kind still served Discord. Deep in the Everfree Forest, she had stood guard over him for one thousand years as he slept, turned to stone by the Elements of Harmony after Nightmare Moon's first failed rebellion. She had been with him for almost every battle that he had ever fought, his greatest weapon and his most loyal friend. Now, he was acting like he didn't even know her.
Venquis knew that something was not right, and now Silver’s daughter was dead. This had ruined what was going to be a pleasant day, and Venquis loathed the thought of having to wait until Celestia wanted to attack again. What did make his day however was not the news of the nation, but his ‘Promotion’ to become the Eriborian, the Emperor for the Ryborian nation of Ardelan on the mainland and Windaria, the Ryborian homeland well out of Celestia’s reach several thousand miles away. To help return The Crystal Empire back onto its knees and the other nations to full power, the new nation was born. On the same day as Nightshade’s unfortunate death, the super nation of the ‘New Lunar Republic’ was created with the approval of Princess Candace and then later, Nightmare Moon. The chain of command went from so.... Nightmare Moon/Princess Luna: Princess and leader of the New Lunar Republic (NLR) Princess Mi Amore Cadenza: Ruler of the Province of the Crystal Empire, Co-Ruler of the New Luna Republic. Venquis Razona: Eriborian of Windaria and Ardelan, Ruler of both nations and Ryborians in general. Silver Crescent: Captain of the Night Guards, Guardian of Princess Luna. Crimson Lionheart: Archmage of the New Lunar Republic and former ‘Archangel’ of Princess Celestia And so forth... Within a few days, the New Lunar Republic had removed all problems from the Crystal Empire after its formation. It was like the battle for the Crystal Empire had never happened. A surge of numbers from all nations enlisted to take down the sun tyrant and were promptly disciplined and very well equipped. All leaders from the other nations ruled in co-existing harmony alongside Nightmare Moon as support for the war, the friendships forged, and the nation’s growth became equal, if not better than Equestria’s history. In the 1,300 years that Equestria has enjoyed this growth; The New Lunar Republic performed the impossible and levelled the playing field within almost a month. The reason being that the Republic was multi racial and could perform tasks quicker than a single race would have. Crystal Coast, the capital of Ellion, was the perfect example but on a city sized scale. Out of the 80 years that it would have taken to make the Capital the size of Canterlot, it only took 20 due to the Equestrians, Zebra, Griffons and many other races working alongside each other. The Crystal City was made the capital of the highly prosperous Republic. Reports from Equestria are becoming tense, Celestia is becoming to panic due to the nations sudden growth. A full blown invasion was inevitable, so she had to perform another resurrection of sorts. This time however, she had created this monster.....
Robin (now Chief of the entirety of the Republics archers) Surveyed the crystal branch. He was pleased; the surge certainly picked up the numbers and instead of one squad there waere battalions of them. After inspection he dismissed them straightening his dark blue beret, emblazoned with the insignia of the republican army. He then walked towards the palace a smirk across his face. ___________________________________________________________________________ Cobra meanwhile approached Silver and nightmare moon. Kitted out in his newly issued black NLR uniform and dark blue beret. He didn't want to disrupt them so he just approached holly.comforting her.
Obsidian sat, meditating on the back of Redscale. The power he had been given by the so called "elders" had worn off, apprently it would be restored should they "need" him again, as well as the psudo-mind control. He was training the crystal pony dragon-riders how to properly connect with their mounts on a "subconcious" scale, which would allow them to control the dragons, regardless of the circumstances. Of course his mind was focused on other things, such as the battles, and what he learned while under the elders control. He had watched a father kill his daughter without a second thought. Power was a terrible thing, and he was watching, helping even, as the most powerful army ever was constructed. All to take down a power hungry dictator. Power was the core of everything happening, from deaths and rebirths, to the goals of basically everyone. He opened his eyes and saw a group of children a small distance away, all different races, pretending to fight using imitations of the weapons of his companions, including a deer and a zebra who were using large sticks like his staff. He silently hoped the war would end before their fun turned into training. He turned to the dragon-riders, most of whom were still trying to meditate or were talking to their dragon.
Star Shimmer lay in the infirmary, still unconscious. The week previous, she had reported feeling weaker than usual and suddenly collapsed on Yclept. Since then, she had been unconscious with no recovery in sight. Her coat had darkened a bit and her mane lay in a tangled mess around her head. The Unicorn Crown lay on a table near the bed. ----- Internally, Star Shimmer knew that it would come to this: Sombra would eventually make a move to thrust Star out of her own body and take it for himself. There was no way she would let that happen. She fought desperately in hat seems like a losing battle; even after being destroyed, his power was still far greater than hers. The only thing that seemed to keep her "alive" was a spark she would feel every now and then: Love. She knew by his time that Pason loved her, and she felt the same way about him (getting her to finally admit it, however, was a process akin to pulling the teeth of a stubborn Hydra). So she fought. And continued fighting. If Sombra was going to take full control of her body, he would have to earn every cell. ----- The Changelings that resided in the Crystal Empire had begun openly referring to Princess Cadence as "Big Sis", a title about which the princess had mixed feelings. After all, she still hate their Mother for her attacks over the years, the most recent of which nearly caused her death. But she had to admit, she had a fondness for the Changelings themselves. From spending time with Scree and his troops during the rebuilding phase, she found them to be loyal, industrious, enthusiastic about their work, and sometimes downright clever. She found out something else she thought was interesting: They seemed to take more pleasure in feeding off positive emotions than negative ones. Every other day, Scree and a few of the troops would gather in the town square and put on inspiring shows about the Elements of Harmony and their adventures. It was bittersweet watching an exact likeness of Twilight Sparkle singing, playing and having adventures, but she watched it anyway. ----- Chrysalis, meanwhile, had never officially defected to the Lunar Republic, so she was mostly stuck performing tasks for the Phoenix Queen which usually involved spying and sowing discord through the outlying cities in the Lunar Republic. She didn't not enjoy her work, but she would rather have been elsewhere, like home, feeding on this week's tribute...
Yclept had stayed at the infirmary all week, usdually at star's side, hoping & praying that she would be okay, some times crying, him only getting 1 nights rest the entire week
Jack walked quietly into Star's room. "Hello Yclept. How has your... Friend here been? Still asleep after all this time?" He shook his cape slightly. "It's a shame what she did." He retained a solemn face, as his voice echoed in Yclept's head. "Are you aware of who I am?"
Star Shimmer shook as if a cool breeze went over her. ----- "Give up, Slave. You have never been a match for Me." "I'm not giving up! You were killed once, and you'll be killed again." "Ha! The combined might of the Crystal Heart and that of every Slave in my Empire could not completely destroy me! You made sure of that." "No..." "You are perhaps my greatest Slave." "Stop it!" "You brought me to this world, then you brought me from the ashes of Oblivion." "Shut up!" "And now you are so loyal as to give up your entire body for me." "No!" "I should commend you." ----- Star Shimmer whimpered softly and turned her head to the side.
In the days since Nightshade's death, Silver Crescent had grown increasingly distant from his companions. Whenever anypony talked to him, he spoke in an emotionless voice, and seemed to look right through them. Nightmare Moon had noticed the change in her servant, and was mildly concerned. However, planning a war took up a great deal of her time. She couldn't spend her days worrying about a single pony, now matter how useful to her he was. Holly, heartbroken by Silver's betrayal, had vanished. She had not been seen in several days. Discord had left shortly after the alliance was announced, leaving behing a letter that nopony had bothered to open.
Yclept whispered to jack,"I have no idea.. And I doubt you have reason to be here...", then knelt beside star, taking her hoof between both of him & praying, tears rolling out of his eyes
"Ah, but I do have a reason to be here. It is my job to keep the world in balance. What is happening to Star is of the greatest concern to my masters." A slow smirk formed on Jack's face. "How'd you like to help her win a battle she is destined to lose?" He walked up to Yclept, placed a small crystalline ball on Star's bed, and nodded his head. "If you'd like to, just break the ball. I'll show up and help..." With that he phased through the floor.
Crimson walked in dressed in a white doctors robe in the hospital to perform some tests on Star. She was not in a good state, she currently showed no signs of recovery. He began regular checks on her, such as heartbeat testing, breathing in and out and seeing if she can bring her to a recovery point. She was showing signs of mental stability, like she was having a inside battle with Somba. Because of this, Crimson could not help Star recover. She would only recover when she won her battle. If she had lost her battle however.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now being the Eriborian of the Ryborians, with an addition of becoming Eriborian due to his already royal heritage, Venquis became one of the most powerful individuals on the planet. He still wore his Spell-Sword armour, but had his armour enhanced in strength, agility, weight reductions and durability enormously. His armour got a new colour scheme as well; it was now darker in colour from being dark green to a dark grey. It was also engraved in Old Ryborian, a dead dialect from over 200,000 years ago with religious symbols and texts about Sihana, the Ryborian goddess of the afterlife. Over the past month, he has spent more time planning the war with the princesses than he has planning any other activity. With the Seventhsanctium curing his people and giving them the same birth period than an Equestrian, thousands upon thousands of Ryborians from Windaria came down across the oceans to fight against Celestia. What sweetened the deal was that Venquis was also the commander of the Crimson Roses, the greatest and most feared special forces unit in history under his command. These guys even made the Ardelan Spell-Swords look like children and the Equestrian Rangers and Solar Flares look like children. Venquis had made it to what he called ‘the top of the world’. He was the Eriborian, the strongest living and possibly the very strongest Ryborian in history and he felt like that the Republic would prosper under the co-operation of him and Nightmare Moon. Today was a good day to be Venquis.
"I am worried about Silver Cresent." Nightmare Moon was having tea with Princess Cadence in the Crysal Palace throne room. I the last few weeks, it had become increasingly difficult to find time to relax. She hated to have to bring up such an unpleasant topic while Cadence was trying to enjoy a brief moment of rest, but she was unsure that she could trust anypony else. She took a sip from her cup, and continued. "He killed another Night Guard recruit today. He says that it was an accident, and I believe him, but this was the third one to die this week alone." She set her cup down, and sighed. "He has changed since he killed Nightshade, and I think that I may be to blame. I had the chance to intervene, but I was so angry with him for using the Alicorn Amulet, that I chose to instead allow my most loyal friend to destroy his only child. I fear that a part of his soul died with her. "
Venquis walked into the room dressed in royal clothing custom made for him since he became Eriborian. He might be royal, but this period of peace had made him feel uneasy. Almost everyday, he expected a surprise attack from Celestia or some form of insurrection to happen. This period of peace reminded him of his childhood in Ardelan under his parents; it was a very simular feel like the one in the republic. It was even just like the pleasant day he was having, the next thing he knew was that Neromia was burning; Equestria had slaughtered innocents after a short time of fighting and then seen his mother and father be butchered by Equestrian soldiers. His was then taken by his first teacher Dovian, to fight and be taught in the Spell-Swords and then left a couple years later to be taught by The Forever Five. When he thought about it, Dovian saved his life yet he was still the lawful evil he knew he was. He might never know the why of it during his lifetime. He went over to glass table nearby the princesses while they were still talking to pour himself a drink. It wasn’t until when Nightmare Moon started to talk about Silver is when it caught his attention. He came over and greeted himself and sat down nearby the Princesses to catch up on the Princesses and began to drink. “Silver has changed since that day. I know what he’s going through, having everything one moment and then losing it the next. I went through it as well when I was younger. I wish we could do something to help him, maybe I could do something to assist him?”
Yclept thought for a long while after praying, & he stared into the orb, then broke it, whispering,"anything to help her..."
The pieces of the orb slowly reconstructed and Jack appeared behind Yclept. He smacked the back of Yclept's head, knocking him unconscious. He smiled and attached a small device around Yclept's neck. It was a shiny silver chain with an empty glass ball in the center. "Should link his heart up to hers... And drain Sombra's power into the bauble when he loses. Glad to know he loves her enough to do this. Hehehehe." His voice echoed in Yclept's sleeping mind. "You will awake when she does. Hope you were ready for a long nap." With that, he grabbed the reformed crystal ball, and sat in the corner of the room to watch and see if Yclept's love would help at all. He turned invisible to avoid sight. (isn't he great at making plans?)
