Diablo III: Fall of Equestria

Under normal circumstances, the castle of the Crystal Empire was an impressive sight to behold. At any given time of the day, the sun’s rays refracted off the multicolored crystal, displaying an impressive array of rainbow colors. Since Sombra took over, the castle had become an imposing fortress. The crystals had become dull and gray, intermixed with Sombra’s addition of black and red colors. Giant walls made of black crystal circled the castle, daring anypony to enter. Inside, the castle was heavily fortified. Guards patrolled the corridors constantly. If the guards didn’t get you, the numerous magic traps and banishment spells hidden throughout would, further deterring wannabe heroes.

The throne room was at the top of the tallest tower. From here, one could look out and see the vastness of the Crystal Empire. Sombra kept the throne room pitch black at all times. It was his retreat, his place of refuge. It was also Number One on Nyx’s list of Places to Break Into.

On the level of asthetic, Nyx decided Sombra could take lessons from the Hive on how to properly create Gothic Nightmare-themed architecture. She also found the castle surprisingly easy to break into.

Nyx had felt bad for losing the ponies so early in the snow storm, so she had sent John Carter back to guide them to the wall. Nyx herself was able to sneak inside, avoid several guard patrols, and temporarily set up camp in an abandoned building. She and John Carter spent the first few hours scanning and surveying the city. Before leaving Twilight’s library, Nyx made sure to get a set of blueprints for the castle. At least now she had an idea of what lay ahead.

Once she was satisfied, Nyx had decided to make her assault on the castle. There were no buildings within one hundred meters of the castle wall, and the wall itself was tall enough she couldn’t jump over, and mirror smooth, so she couldn’t climb over. Guard towers were spaced evenly across the top, and guards patrolled the perimeter.

The shield that surrounded the city and kept the worst of the storm out was virtually impenetrable, so flying over and dropping in was out. The main gate was the only way in or out, and it was closely guarded. Nyx watched the patrol rotation and had come up with a simple, yet brilliant idea: Follow the guards inside.

As a Bladedancer, Nyx had the unique ability to render herself invisible for up to ten seconds. This meant she had to be absolutely perfect with her timing. Nyx had waited patiently in the shadows for the guards to change shift. Once the doors opened, she crouched down. By the time the new guards appeared, Nyx’s invisibility activated and she slipped through the door. Once inside, Nyx ducked into the shadows, just as her invisibility wore off. The door do the inner courtyard was closed, so when her invisibility kicked in again, Nyx dashed up the stairs to the guard house, and hopped down the wall. From there, it was matter of using the shadows and invisibility to get to the castle.

Based on the blueprints, Nyx knew there was a small garden with a service entrance nearby, so she made her way in that direction. When she found the door, it was a simple matter of picking the lock and going inside.

Sombra’s bland redecorating of the inside mirrored the outside. Random bits of black and red crystal poked through the floors and jutted out of the walls at irregular intervals. This made simply walking from one place to another a hassle. Nyx idly wondered how the ponies put up with it.

When John Carter had first resurrected her, the first thing Nyx did was learn how to tap into the Magic of Equestria. Hildr had explained the basics to her a while ago, but Nyx fount it quite difficult. She wondered if it was due to the fact that she was a mechanical being, not an organic one. Instead, John Carter used Raven’s notes and books from Twilight’s library to learn how to detect and analyze different types of magic. Now that they had successfully infiltrated the castle, Nyx and John Carter were on the lookout for magical traps, security triggers, and surveillance spells.

The high vaulted ceilings, crossbeams, and deep shadows had afforded Nyx plenty of places to hid and observe from. She made her way to Princess Cadance’s room, but found the way heavily guarded and covered with magic traps and alerts. Fortunately, the princess had a balcony, so Nyx had simply climbed outside and worked her way over. The door was warded of course, but John Carter was able to dispel it, and Nyx went inside.

It was clear from a quick search that the princess hadn’t been in her room for some time. Where else could she be? Nyx checked the rest of the rooms on the blueprints, but found nothing. On a hunch, she had John Carter scan for secret passages and hidden rooms. He turned up a few, but no princess. Nyx pulled up all of the information she had on King Sombra. He was egotistical and curel, as most tyrants were, but he was also smart. Cadance was a shining symbol of hope for the Crystal Ponies and the Crystal Empire as a whole. Generally you keep something like that on a tight leash so you can keep an eye on it.

Nyx also remembered that Cadance had been held in the dungeon when Crysalis impersonated her. She figured that was as good a place as any, but she wanted to look around more first. By now, the castle was starting to wake, even though it was still dark outside. Nyx left the princess’s chambers and hid in the shadows, spending the day sneaking around the castle. The guards didn’t say much, but the castle staff talked in hushed whispers, as if the walls could hear them.

“Sombra has quite a lockdown on this place,” Nyx said as she watched from her current hiding place above the doors to the throne room.

“We’re going to get caught,” John Cater whispered nervously. Nyx shrugged. “What are they going to do, cut off my head?”

“That would still be a very bad day for both of us,” John Carter replied.

“More of a minor inconvenience for me,” Nyx decided. A mare ran by, catching Nyx’s attention. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?” she wondered and decided to follow. The mare worked her way through the castle and through a large set of wooden doors. A window was open at the top, so John Carter reluctantly floated through to eavesdrop.

Nyx heard muted shouting from the room. “What’s going on?”

“Oh dear. This is not good, not good at all,” John Carter whimpered.

“Focus!” Nyx hissed.

John Carter gave a running commentary. “Um, the stallion the mare is talking to is some king of mid-level administrator. She’s waving papers around and yelling about missing prisoners and increased funding for a project called ‘Dark Arrival.’ The administrator is saying it’s not a big deal, and the mare is saying the treasury is spending too much money on projects of questionable repute, and not enough on social programs. Oh. They’re yelling now. Oops. It looks like the mare is leaving.”

Nyx watched as the mare exited below and stomped off. Nyx shook her head. Bureaucracies were the same everywhere.

“Um, it looks like the stallion is leaving,” John Carter reported.

Nyx waited for him to leave, then hopped down and slipped inside. “Okay Johnny-boy, scan everything,” she said and made a circling motion above her head with her finger. While John Carter went about his task, Nyx shuffled through the papers on the desk. She hadn’t become fluent in the ponies’ written language, but she knew enough to get the idea of what she was reading. The doorknob turned and Nyx’s attention snapped to the door. John Carter disappeared through the window above the door. Nyx put the papers back where she found them and ran to the door. By the time the stallion entered, Nyx’s invisibility activated and she slipped out the door. She then deftly jumped back up into the rafters to meet John Carter. “What did you find?”

“I found news and progress reports of current activities by the Crystal Empire,” John Carter said. “The crystal mines have ramped up production, and the army has begun advanced training maneuvers.” He looked around nervously. “What is going on here?”

Nyx stroked her chin in thought. “If I had to guess, Sombra is preparing to go to war.”

“Against whom?” John Carter asked.

“Against what,” Nyx corrected. She spent the rest of the day mulling this over while sneaking into other offices. When night rolled around, Nyx had suspicions of what Sombra was planning. “What are you thinking?” John Carter asked.

“Remember what I told Sunset Shimmer about the demons?” Nyx asked.

“Y-yes,” John Carter stuttered.

“I think Sombra is hiding a demon army somewhere,” Nyx said.

John Carter flitted around nervously. “But where did they come from? How did they get here?”

Nyx tapped her chin. “All equally valid questions, but I think the most important question is ‘who?’”

“Why does that matter?” John Carter asked.

Nyx held up her finger. “If you know ‘who’ they are, you will know ‘where’ they came from, ‘how’ they got here, and ‘why.’”

John Carter’s eye jittered around. “But…but Equestria doesn’t have demons.”

Nyx rolled her eyes. “Did you not hear what I just said? Besides, we already have a lead.”

“Really?” John Carter asked. Nyx nodded her head. “The demon that possessed Starlight Glimmer mentioned that something called a ‘Prime Evil’ was already here.”

John Carter searched his memory banks. “There’s nothing I know that names a ‘Prime Evil’ or even mentions one.”

Nyx had a sudden thought. “What about ‘Lord of Terror?’”

“What does that mean?” John Carter asked.

“No idea,” Nyx shrugged. “It was something I said to Celestia right before she cut off my head.” She hummed to herself. “I have a hunch this Prime Evil and Lord of Terror are related. I’ll need to visit the Princess.”

John Carter’s eye started to blink. “Um, Nyx?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yes John Carter?” Nyx replied sweetly.

John Carter hummed nervously to himself. “Um, you might find this strange, but Starlight Glimmer just started teleporting randomly all over the place.”

“Show me,” Nyx said and John Carter displayed a map of the Crystal Empire. A white dot appeared and started jumping all over the place. Nyx noticed the dot had jumped outside the Empire’s borders and was getting farther and farther away.

“Where is she going?” John Carter asked.

“Are you sure this is Starlight?” Nyx asked and John Carter nodded. “The bursts of magic match Starlight Glimmer’s unique signature.”

The dot finally stopped moving. “That’s not good,” John Carter mumbled.

“Nope,” Nyx agreed. “Transmat me to the ship.”

“But we haven’t tested the network yet,” John Carter explained.

“DO. IT. NOW,” Nyx said forcefully. John Carter’s ring split apart and Nyx faded in a flash of light.

Once she arrived, Nyx put on her helmet and lowered the ramp. “Put a range and bearing to Starlight’s last location on my HUD,” she commanded.

“O-okay,” John Carter said. Before the ramp finished lowering, Nyx jumped out and ran off into the blizzard. She couldn’t see anything in the driving snow, and had no choice but to follow the arrow. Nyx arrived seconds later and began searching. “Scan for her body.”

“Already done,” John Carter said. Nyx knelt down and began brushing the snow away, until she uncovered Starlight’s body. “Her vitals are very weak,” John Carter murmured.

Nyx quickly dug the frozen pony out of the snow and sprinted back to her ship. She gently laid Starlight on the deck and pulled out an emergency blanket, a wool blanket, and a heater. While the heater warmed up, Nyx carefully wrapped the blankets around Starlight. She then ripped into an emergency supply box and set a can of soup on the heater. Once this was done, Nyx sat down to wait.