Acrimony of the Eldroblyter

It has been two weeks since Nighdrak joined the villains for their conquest for Equestria, and there was plotting to be brewed.

Grogar was about to leave the lair until he heard a familiar small voice.

"So, Grogar! Where are you heading?" Cozy asked innocently.

"Since you 3 failed to retrieve my Bewitching Bell, and instead brought back something for worse-"

"Nighdrak is not a thing, he's in ally," Cozy said in Nighdrak's defense.

"I don't care. Anyways, I will have to venture out for a new source of great magical power to help us defeat Twilight Sparkle and her friends," Grogar gruffed.

Then he turned from Cozy's innocent smile and walked out of the lair.

"Good luck!" Cozy called out. Once Grogar was far enough, Cozy retreated back into the lair. "He's gone~" She called out in a sing-song tone.

Once she called out, Tirek came out from behind a rock and Chrysalis came out from a cave to the ground. Nighdrak dropped with an oozy splat, that surprisingly didn't get on any off his comrades. Then the hybrid rose up to his true form.

"I don't trust that Grogar," Tirek huffed with crossed arms.

"None of us do," Cozy said.

"Which is why we need to solve the problem of Grogar's Bell," Chrysalis said as she got the bell out.

"Indeed, we cannot figure out how to use the bell, then our plan will be ruined!" Tirek said as he took the bell. He shook it, but nothing happened. The trio began thinking.

"Perhaps I may be of use for this thought?" Nighdrak asked through the mind.

"Do you know how to get the bell working?" Cozy asked Nighdrak with hope.

"If so, we must know immediately, or else we will have to spend the rest of our lives obeying that old goat. So, I will only say this once: Would you please be willing to tell us how the bell works?" Chrysalis asked with a polite tone.

"I, of course, have no knowledge of how to activate the bell, but during my time with the two sisters, I did stumble across a book that showed how Grogar used it on his victims."

"Then where can we found this book?" Tirek asked.

"Celestia and Luna hid the book away in the restriction area of the Canterlot library, somewhere in the city. You 3 will have to travel there to retrieve it and discover the power behind Grogar's bell."

"My triumphant return to Canterlot? I like the sound of that..." Chrysalis said deviously.

"Oh my gosh! Roadtrip!" Cozy chirped. But then she noticed something about Nighdrak's sentence. "Wait, you said the 3 of us?"

"You heard me correct, little Cozy."

"But, what about you?" Cozy asked a little concerningly.

"I must venture out myself to retrieve some material for the future battle ahead against Twilight the dragon abuser and her dragon abusing friends. I shall return as shortly as possible." Nighdrak approached Cozy and patted her head, despite his blindness. "I promise," He said before he left the lair.

"He does mean it... doesn't he?" Cozy asked with a little uncertainty.

"I'm positive that he will. Once he said that he needed to find items to create his own crystal ball that Grogar has, and would return within less than twenty minutes. And he did," Chrysalis said pleasingly.

"Okay, I guess that makes me feel a little better."

"Ahem, if we're done with this discussion, perhaps it would be best for us to get going," Tirek remarked.

"Right, let's go!" Cozy said as she flew out the cave, Chrysalis and Tirek following.

With Nighdrak...

(Play icon for Nighdrak's scavenger theme.)

At the School of Friendship, the students were walking down the halls to their classes for the day. Once they all disappeared into their classes, Nighdrak himself appeared from thin air, staring at the artifacts of each race.

His ethereal vision showed him that there was magic inside of these items.

With his palm, he touched the Helm of Yksler and Knuckerbocker's Shell and absorbed the magic of the Yaks and the magic of the Dragons. Next, he touched the Amulet of Aurora and Clover the Clever's Cloak, absorbing the magic of the Hippogriffs and the magic of the Ponies. Then, he touched the talisman of Mirage, absorbing the magic of the Changelings. Finally, he touched the Crown of Grover, absorbing the magic of the Griffons.

Once completed, Nighdrak vanished away.

Crystal Empire...

In a secret vault of the castle, Nighdrak appeared right inside and found the artifacts of the Old Pillars. He used his power to grab all the artifacts and absorb the magic within them, even the damaged Tome of Starswirl.

Once completed, he placed the artifacts back and vanished away once more.

Unknown Realm...

Inside of a dark realm unknown, Nighdrak appeared inside of what seemed to be a large castle with these strange monsters roaming around.

Nighdrak came to the armory of the castle and saw a blacksmith just finishing with the last bit of plates of armor he was building for an armor set.

The blacksmith turned to the hybrid and walked up to him, presenting a fairly large cart of this strange metal, and another cart of skulls and bones of unworldly creatures.

"Plates of Dethronite, many times stronger than Xorzite, will protect against betrayers and manipulators, will further strengthen impenetrable scales," Said the blacksmith. His voice was ghostly deep and very demonic with abominations in his throat.

Nighdrak took the two carts and nodded with thanks, vanishing back to Equestria with them.

Grogar's Lair...

The villainous trio had returned to the lair and were discussing the fun they had at Canterlot.

Nighdrak appeared in Cozy's chamber and set the levers to the carts down, then he went straight to work.

Nighdrak grabbed his first pieces of metal, some bolts, chains, and some skulls. He started bending the metal into the shaped he desired, which was surprising since he was blind... He must’ve been very well trained to do or provide without proper vision. He bent the metal, screwed the bolts to the other plates, chained the scales to the first piece, and used his power to make his birth crystals grow pout of the bones.

His first piece was made. He had finished the helmet.

Hearing all the commotion, Cozy came into her chambers and saw two carts of this strange metal and unworldly skulls of unworldly creatures. She also saw Nighdrak using his ability to bend the metal and put all the pieces together.

"Hey... Nighdrak..." Cozy said a little confusedly.

"You are confused about the many items I have brought here. Do you have the desire to know why?"

"Uh... Are they the stuff you need for the battle ahead?" Cozy guessed.

"You are correct, Cozy."

"Oh, how'd you get them?"

"I have my ways with the cosmos."

"Oh! Right, right. Well, Chrysalis, Tirek and I got the book you mentioned about. Good luck with your project," Cozy said with a smile as she left.

Nighdrak was thinking about these villains as he worked on his armor.

These villains, they did everything they could to fight for what they believed was necessary, whether it was for good cause or to try and fix there long-remembered problems. Cozy was abandoned by her parents and given to an manipulative orphanage, turning her into a monster that she did not want to become in the first place. Chrysalis was born from a carnivorous bug-making plant that altered her mind to the ways of evil, blinding her spirit away from the truth.

Nighdrak could hear their thoughts as he spied on their minds and feelings. He could see their hearts in his mind without seeing them in person. Chrysalis' heart was a little orange, and Cozy's heart was somewhat yellow. He could feel the two coming closer to their resolves. Tirek was okay, he was about neutral with Nighdrak, but all that mattered was that these villains were coming closer to being resolved with their pain.

He saw potential for these 3 villains. As long as they were on the roads of change, they would have much brighter futures ahead of them.

With the 3 in mind, Nighdrak continued his blind pursuit of armor-crafting.

1 Hour Later...

Nighdrak was torching the pieces together with his devoid, chaining the skulls and torching the bones to the plates of every piece of armor he was making for his set, bolting pieces together, bending metal for more armor, and growing more crystals out of the pieces themselves. Nighdrak was in full rush while the villains had fallen aslumber. He cast a spell on them to be deaf until he was done with his armor.

(Music ends here) 😊

2 Hours Later...

The 3 villains were simply sitting around, wondering what to do as they were bored at the moment.

Then the silence was disrupted when an iron footstep was sound.

"My armor... is crafted," Said the one who stepped in. The trio looked over to Nighdrak standing before them.

He wore the Dethronite armor over his torso, shoulders, legs, arms and tail.

The armor was bolted together with plates of the strange metal. His shoulder pauldrons had crystal spikes on the sides, black feathers underneath the rims, a horned dragon skull with spikes on its head on the right pauldron, and the left pauldron had 3 centaur horns with changeling skulls punctured on them, and canisters filled with this very dark red liquid chained to the lower rim.

The armor plates on his tail were armed with 3 dragon spike bones on top and two crystal shards on the sides, and at the end of his tail were 3 spiky rings with two crystal spines that curved backwards. On his raptorial legs were Dethronite metal plates that had the spines of a snake with the ribs, and between those were a single dragon spike bone and two crystal shards.

Over his torso were ribs on the stomach and a large skull with horns and fangs in the center of his chest, 3 crystals between the ribs and 4 crystals surrounding the skull.

On his face he wore a demon skull with horn-like tusks on both sides of the cheek bones, and he wore frills with 2 small spikes and 3 large spines on his scale-armored neck. On his forelimbs were gauntlets of Dethronite metal plates, black feathers, and 2 femur bones of baby dragons on top of ribbed snake spines, and 3 changeling skulls.

The scaly skin on his head, neck, hands, wrists, ankle line, and feet of Nighdrak were all cloaked by this strange, shadow-grey smoke that gave of a mysterious black light, speckles of red sand traveling in a tentacle pattern through the skin underneath the armor of bone, crystal and Dethronite.

The eyes in the skull were awfully thin garnet-red lines surrounded by a hollow emptiness of unfeelingness, and they were slanted down, giving off as a murderous and deadlocking look.

The armor didn't even look heavy for Nighdrak as he stood straight and tall, very much flexibility at the joints of the armor.

"Do you... like it?"

The villainous trio stared at Nighdrak in complete awe and amazement. Chrysalis dropped a mug of water, Tirek's left eye twitched, and Cozy had her hooves to her chubby little cheeks.

"Oh. My. GOSH!" Cozy screamed, then she suddenly flew up to Nighdrak and inspected the armor with awe. "This is the coolest armor set I have ever seen!" Cozy exclaimed excitedly.

"I must say, you certainly have talent for your personality and crafting skills, despite being blind," Chrysalis said in astonishment.

"It certainly looks strong enough to repel major attacks," Tirek said.

Nighdrak, being as emotionless as ever, simply bowed in the praise.

"With the bell in your possession, and I in your corner of the battle... the ponies and Equestria... shall fall to your will."

"Now we just need to read more of the book and figure out how to work the bell," Chrysalis said.

"Then let us begin," Tirek said as he opened the book and started reading with his fellow villains that could see.

Nighdrak, however, as he took a seat under Cozy, who sat on his left on the table, going over his own plan in his head.

"No matter how long it takes... we will escape..." Nighdrak thought to himself.

Cozy looked back at Nighdrak and noticed that he was, theoretically, staring into space. "Nighdrak?" She asks gently.

Nighdrak looks at Cozy's heart.

"Are you okay?" Cozy asks with gentle concern.

"Yes, Cozy, I am fine." Nighdrak struggled to put the emotion of reassurance in his mind-bound voice, but Cozy understood how he meant it and smiled, looking back at the book with her comrades.

Nighdrak stared at the hearts of his fellow comrades.

"Cozy will love us as a sister, Abysor. Just wait and see... You will see..."

Nighdrak was starting to grow more attached to Cozy Glow as he felt Cozy growing more attached to him.

He was bound to his inner prison of pain, hurt and wrath for all eternity. But he would help these villains escape their own pain... no matter what it takes...

...

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