Triple Threat

by Dostoron

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Shining Armor, Prince Blueblood, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Alternate Universe, Original Character
Length: 2532

Celestia has made many enemies and in time they were all beaten, but in the present there are more princesses, who also didn´t leave everyone in their wake happy, and a few of those are out to get them.

Princess Celestia has lived Long, she fought Monsters, tyrants, and paperwork, and only the latter stands undefeated.
However not all is well in her land. trouble always brews like in a volcano, and three of those are about to erupt, all revolving around her beloved Niece, Princess Cadence.

not sure if alternate universe is necessary, technically all fics here are alternate universes after all, but to be safe.

Published 2014-08-18 15:20:04 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-16 09:44:26 UTC

The Oracle of the Princess

When you live for long and experienced enough, You´ll notice that the only problems you cannot solve, are the ones you made yourself, a prophetic truth, now that Princess Celestia looked the paperwork over, the result of her implementig bureaucracy.

With a sigh she put away another finished stack, and sat back down to open the next one. hoping for something, anything, to save her from this foulest of beasts.

Her prayers were heard as her sister burst the doors open.
"Celestia, We´re about to have Trouble."

Carefully withholding her relief at getting away from the paperwork in favor of dealing with a crisis, The Solar Princess turned to Luna.
"Are Jet Set and Upper Crust petitioning to illegalize being an earth Pony again?"

"they petitioned for what?"

"I don´t get it either."

"anyways, no, i had a Vision and it wasn´t pretty."

"the princess of dreams was having a nightmare, Luna, i told you to get a Teddy animal to cuddle, it helps, really."

"Sister, please, this is serious, that wasn´t a normal dream, it was a Precognition, something i had to see before it was too late!"

This gave the Elder Sister pause, the last time Luna had gotten this worked up was shortly before King Sombra´s emergence.

"I am rather sure that there is no threat to us looming out of sight, but i will consult the Oracle about it."

"We have an Oracle?"

"I have taken a personal Oracle into Service since... well, since i lost you back then..." Celestia´s ears splayed back upon mentioning that.

"I see..."

"Anyways, let´s see him."

She quickly left her study, making her way to the royal library.

"So who exactly are we about to meet, sister?

"It´s likely going to surprise you. He´s pouring every last drop of his Magic into his farsight Talent though, so we can be sure he will know the answer. He did predict that i´d see you again after all, that Cadence would be fine on the wedding, provided i withheld my strength and that we should leave the Crystal Empire to Twilight and her friends."

"I was wondering why you decided against interfering and didn´t resist when i trapped you."

"The Judgement of their Family has in the end always proven correct, that´s why i trust him unconditionally."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The library was quiet, seeing as only few ponies were permitted to enter.

Princess Luna was all the more surprised to find their nephew, Blueblood, there. She didn´t think her Philantrophistic Nephew to be interested in the books, she thought correctly apparently, as he immediately spoke up.

"Ah, finally Aunties, i´ve already been waiting."

"aren´t you always?" Celestia asked back, elicting a chuckle from both of them like an inside joke luna wasn´t in on.

"Sister, surely thou jest, you can´t mean that he-"

"-is the secret to you seemingly knowing everything in advance, that is simply preposterous." Blueblood finished for her accurately.

"Now, Nephew, you shouldn´t burn your reserves on joking around, we may be here because of something serious." Celestia now changed the subject."

"sometimes it just comes to me without trying auntie. you´re here about Luna´s own gift surfacing, she had a vision and due to her dream magic much more powerfully."

"you know about it?"

"I know about magic connected to the mind, it is my specialty after all, helped me get rid of many a shallow mare."

"Like miss Rarity?"

"Correct, now you will say she isn´t shallow, but she is, starry eyed as she was all she cared about was the prince part, she wouldn´t have given me the time of day if she knew that´s actually my first Name. I like to think i cured her from that common disease for good."

"one way of putting it, nephew."

Prince decided to finally shift the Topic.
"Now i know you´re here for something other than the Revelation of my function at court, how can i help you?"

"correct, as you said, Luna too is capable of such Magic and with it come visions, she saw Equestria in danger, i´d like to know what we´re about to deal with."

"Auntie, my gift is to see what may happen, provided the decisions you make,if you´re looking for something so vague it isn´t going to be as easy..."

"Please, just try, Nephew."

"as you wish."

he focused his Magic and soon his eyes became dark, inside them it looked like two small pieces of the night sky had replaced them.

"A threat is indeed Born, far to the south A beast the likes of which never existed before, it was brought here from outside. It Feeds... changes, learns and grows... and can by itself spawn more of its´ Kind... many more"

"oh dear, then we must deal with it at-" Celestia was interrupted as Blueblood continued.

"there´s someone else, a Minotaur that is raising an army beyond the sea. dissuading him will Need diplomatic skill that only you possess."

Luna spoke up. "then maybe I should go to deal with-"

"I´m not finished... there´s something else, but i fail yet to identify it, it will come from within... they resent you for something you did... that´s all i can see, my power is running out."

the next Moment his eyes returned to their normal coloration. and he dropped to the floor.

"It appears that Auntie Luna does indeed see the future. not one threat to equestria has risn, but three."

He straightened himself up.

"we must deal with These matters immediately, Luna, you must Keep watch here, i must go to that Minotaur while he can be stopped from crossing the sea."

"what about that outworldly beast?"

"I shall send word to Shining armor, he will lead an Expedition and take care of it."

The Princesses left Blueblood alone in the library as they went to make their preparations, the youngest royal Oracle sighed.

"I´m sorry, Aunties, i couldn´t tell you what else i saw. You are not permitted to know, as i am not permitted to tell..."

Author's Note

well, here´s another. this one will not technically be vote driven, but don´t hesitate to tell me about your wishes for it to go, i don´t plan These out from beginning to end so i myself can get surprised by the direction.

The Beast: Awakening.

The first Thing I experience, is hunger, i am not Aware of the world and the things around me, not enough to think of anything else, Behind me is the Shell from which i emerged. So Hungry... my senses fight to muscle into my mind, my nose telling me that there is Food.

I crawl Forwards, making a mental note to myself that i will Need a better way to move. the smell is getting stronger, there is a cetain edge to it... blood, but not its own, it is a predator and it apparently smelled me too.

My eyes finally open as i catch sight of the world around me. and there it is, i can tell it is what i´m looking for by the smell, gray in appearance and with sharp fangs, i´d later learn that my first meal was to be a wolf.

I rear up a bit to be able to fight with my pincers, Long and sharp they would be able to fight it. in Terms of size we were roughly equal, but the wolf had better mobility.

The wolf is circling me, having never encountered anything like me it is curious and cautious.

Its own hunger apparently beating curiosity it leaps at me, unfortunately my instincts kicked in and i fall flat before it can topple me over and quickly jab my pincers into the belly of the wolf, causing it to cry out and fall.

the wiry predator lays on its side blood flowing from the deep wounds, but i had no concept of pity at this Point, i only knew i had Food.
i jabbed my pincers into it again, ripping out what i needed and quickly consumed it, the wolf kept yelping and whimpering until finally i destroyed a vital organ, i think it was the heart.

Soon after there were not even bones left, my belly bulged out from the Food and i laid there in rest, as the changes began, my stomach rumbled as it receded again, processing the meal, but i changed too, somethings was breaking through the Shell of my back, my tail thinned out and for began covering me where my Shell wasn´t, limbs broke through at my shoulders, my neck lengthening and becoming more movable, while my tusks inched apart a bit to allow a muzzle filled with fangs to form, at my hips another pair of legs emerged, Lifting my Body off the ground, nerves in my brain and spine rearranging to allow me to use my new Body... i also could think better, the cunning of the wolf added to my own rudimentary mind, making me a proper predator... no a superior predator, already my Shell and pincers were better than the wolf, but my new limbs needed more substance.

I had grown, and now i was hungry again, i had become able to realize that more species devoured meant more abilities to hunt, to get more Food.

It was time to hunt.

Author's Note

here´s one side, well before any Pony Comes near, the beast is just working on growth, These chapters have a touch of hindsight because i´m not in the mood to call "wolf" ; "big Grey sharp toothed noisy quadruped." beast isn´t exactly malicious yet, seeing as it is as of yet incapable of overcoming instinct.

Mending the broken heart.

Blueblood was not happy with what he had seen, and especially not with how his slip up had changed things. It was not his place to tell, but he had told them about the third danger from inside regardless... now the way things played out could cost yet more lives than he had seen originally.

"how could i be so irresponsible, my dear in law is needed in the empire and now he´s on a train south! please... please let me see how this changed things."

soon he was afloat again, his eyes once more filled with the infinity that showed him what would happen.

____________________________________

The days in the Crystal empire were bright, the ponies kind and friendly and the hearts of all who visit it are lightened by the beauty of the place and its inhabitants, none knew of the dark past of the empire... except for a trio of Unicorns, by itself already rare, but these were rarer still, descendants from the founders, they were the last scions of the imperial Family. Their eldest was the first to remember the full history of what happened to her parents and her brothers, twins, followed soon after. Now that they had completely unraveled the past of the empire they were talking about their findings.

"So, the Crystal heart is still incomplete. do the two of you have any idea how to fix it? Steel?"

"Sombra was part of an equestrian occupation force once and broke a Piece off to break the resistance of the Crystal ponies, it stands to reason that he hid it somewhere separate so that even if the heart itself was returned we´d remain weak. don´t worry Opal, Silver has something you might like to see."

the other Crystal unicorn grinned.

"our good luck that the princess made the archives accessible to everypony, i found the missing endpiece in a hollowed book about the history of crystals."

he Held up what looked like a triangle Piece.

"how we ever fell under that guy shall forever elude me..." Opal smiled at her younger Brothers. "have you prepared what we Need? Steel?"

"I emptied out half the armory, good Thing i´m in Charge of it, no one noticed."

"very good, Silver?"

"the Crystal crafts that we rediscovered yield some very interesting results, particularly with a come to life spell."

"excellent, time to restore our feared Name and become the real Crystal empire again. As i just learned Shining Armor and his trusted lieutenant Sentry are leaving tomorrow, that´s when we strike"

_______________________________________

Blueblood snapped awake.

"it seems the changed circumstances encouraged them... this could turn ugly... Butler, please invite my sister over, it is Long overdue her and i get to spend some time as a Family."

The aptly named stallion raised an eyebrow but complied. As he left Blueblood turned to his reflection.

"...i´m too involved by now anyways, might as well make my best effort to prevent the worst."

___________________________

The next day at the empire, three ponies were Boarding the Train to the mainland.

"And he invited you just like that?" shining armor still couldn´t believe his ever reclusive brother in law had invited someone, even if it was his sister."

"He is like that sometimes, he makes unorthodox decisions out of the blue and they always turn out right. actually i´m hoping my relation with him might get as good as yours and Twilight´s."

"and right when i have an assignment in the far south, something feels odd about all this."

"sir, it is hardly something supposed to Keep us busy for Long, a single creature that doesn´t belong there shouldn´t be too difficult to spot." Flash sentry finally chimed in. "I´m actually almost certain we´ll be back before the princess."

"Ever the Optimist, huh?"

"the best way to get through the week, sir... i think the conductor would like to get going, we should get aboard now."

Soon after all three ponies were seated, Shining spoke up again.

"It´s strange though, a whole lot of things happen out of the blue lately, a dangerous animal in the souther jungle, Celestia going for a diplomatic visit..."

"not to Forget that the Crystal ponies seem to rediscover ancient Technology that beats modern equestrian machinery out of the ballpark." Flash sentry piped up.

Cadence smiled.

"they´re waking up, i´m honestly proud that they´ll make the Crystal Empire great again."

Shining Armor´s expression darkened.

"not sure if that´s a good Thing, if they weren´t so happy and kind i´d honestly be scared of them, according to their own reports they were formidable in their prime..."

"Don´t worry, shiny, they´re good ponies."

__________________________

"Well that´s about as convenient as it gets... the princess left too." Steel reported his findings to his siblings

"no time like the present Boys, i´ll get the heart, you get the constructs and troops." Opal instructed them.

Silver and Steel mirrored each other in their smirk.

"For the empress."

"hold on... you want me to take the throne? isn´t it firstborn colt?"

"no law saying that and dad is in no Position to object, besides being prince is more fun anyways. I´m an artisan and mage, not an accountant."

"and i´m a soldier, i know how to maintain an army, not a Nation."

they then spoke in unison.

"now lets get you seated where you belong and then put the empire where it belongs, on top of the world."