Sombasi, brother of Sombra

The Crystal Heart, a heart shaped crystalline object that now floated and noticeably rotated before the two brothers just between a crystalline stalagmite and stalactite, their mother and Queen Valerica are a short distance behind them as they stand before the artifact. Starfire looked on with admiration but having seen the object many times before her reaction wasn’t as grand as her two sons for this was their first time seeing it in person. Sombra and Sombasi have never seen the heart shaped artifact before in their life only ever hearing about it through stories and look upon the artifact with their mouths agape and eyes wide open. Sombra is the first to regain his composer.

“My word, it radiates soo much magical energy I could almost taste it.”

“I know right?, it’s simply amazing!”, Sombasi yells in reply, Sombra then turns to The Queen and raises his right hoof.

“Your majesty, is it true that this object is what protects The Empire from the elements just outside of the empire’s districts and city?.”, Valerica’s ears perk up at Sombra’s question and takes a deep breath before she replies.

“That’s correct Sombra, The Crystal Heart defends The Empire from the chilling weather of the far north by casting a protective barrier while also providing us with a more pleasant environment, the barrier can also keep out dark forces and enemies of the royal families choosing. This artifact is powered by the love of all of my dear subjects, that love comes in various forms as well for example when a baby foal is born in the empire they are brought before the Crystal Heart, along with the foals parents of course, as well as a pony the parents trust who shall play the role of a crystaller. Many ponies from The Empire also attend as well to show their respects and even provide some of their own love as well. Together, everypony channels their love into the heart thus empowering it to protect us even further.”, Queen Valerica then takes a breath before she puts her right hoof to her chin in thought, this also gets the attention of everypony present. “There is a legend however about The Crystal Heart however I’ve yet to see it for myself, in fact assuming no history books were lost I’m fairly certain it hasn’t happened yet as far as I know.”

“What’s the legend?.”, Sombasi questions with curiosity.

“Take this with a grain of salt my dears, as it is a legend, but apparently it can save the life of a hero it deems worthy by means of preserving them and protecting them. How exactly it goes about this is still unknown.”, Queen Valerica answers. Upon hearing her explanation, Sombra takes on a rather mischievous expression and thinks to himself internally:

“-I’ll be sure to remember that when I rule this empire.-”, nopony else sees his current expression as he quickly hides it with a neutral expression. Meanwhile, Sombasi puts a hoof onto his chin in thought.

“Your majesty, there is something that has been puzzling me ever since we saw Olstrom Shattershields statue outside.”, Sombasi’s question immediately gets the attention of every pony in the room. “This Planemeld event, you mentioned it earlier as you explained The Crystal Hearts abilities not to mention it was one of Olstrom’s titles written onto his statue. What exactly is this event and why haven’t I or even Sombra heard of it?.”, Sombasi’s question makes Starfire Raindrop and Queen Valerica’s eyes shoot wide open with their mouths agape. Sombra sees their reaction and takes mental note of this as he turns his head away then pats his brown leather bag, with Grogar’s Gremoire hidden inside, with his right hoof and narrowed eyes in thought.

“-so they did try to hide this from us-”, Sombra comments internally with an annoyed yet angered expression before he hides it with another neutral expression. Starfire Raindrop and Queen Valerica look to each other for a moment before they both nod, Valerica then takes a deep breath and looks to the brothers before her.

“Please understand boys, we only hid this event from you and prayed you’d never ask about it only because we wanted to protect you both. I ordered everypony in the empire to keep those events from any foals who were born at the time and for everypony else to never speak of those events.”, Velerica then sighs before she continues. “To be honest, the moment I heard you two were looking at my late husbands statue your mother and I figured this was coming. I honestly didn’t take that into consideration when I agreed to let you both come here.”, Queen Valerica then turns to the guards present and motions for them to leave. “Ok everypony, I suggest you all sit onto your flanks. This, is gonna be a long story. It all began 14 years ago...

**Flashback: 14 years ago, The Crystal Empire Castle: Throne Room.**

“Celestia!, Luna!, it’s so good to see you both!.”, Queen Valerica shouts as she greets the alicorn sisters from her throne.

“It is good to see you dear friend.”, Celestia says as she bows before Valerica, Luna follows her sisters lead and bows as well.

“We are happy to see thou dear Valerica.”, Luna says with a small and a bit of her Canterlot voice leaking out. “Now then, where is our little-”, suddenly, Luna is cut off from a rapid clopping of hooves as an individual runs into the throne room, a one year old filly, Princess Shiori Shattershield Mi Amore. The young filly runs into Luna’s right front leg which prompts Luna to pick her up with her magic. Celestia turns to look at the filly as well with a smile.

“Awnty lulu, Awnty Celeshia, I mished you shoo much.”, Shiori says as she tries her best to pronounce her aunts names, this makes Celestia, Luna and Valerica giggle a bit as Celestia leans in to nuzzle the filly along with Luna trapping her in an embrace of cuddles.

“I missed you too my dear, you also did a very good job pronouncing your Aunt Lulu’s name.”, Celestia finishes with a giggle which earns her an annoyed look from Luna.

“Dear niece, we urge thee to never get as plump as our sister.”, Luna retorts, this actually gets Shiori to laugh a little along with Valerica who tried to hide her laughter with a hoof to her mouth. Celestia’s mouth drops agape with wide eyes before she narrows them with a blush and looks to Luna.

“Why I never!, I’ll have you know that despite my love for cake, which are very delicious, I am not at all plump as you so rudely put it!.”, Celestia proclaims with a stomp of her left hoof and an annoyed look.

“Oh please sister, there’s a reason Discord referred to you as ‘sun butt’ before we defeated him and no we are sure he didn’t mean it as a compliment to thee.”, Luna replies with a smirk which causes Celestia to release an annoyed snort. After a little bit of ‘Sun Butt’ teasing Luna sets Shiori down to the floor who immediately runs to her mother, trotting up the short stairs that lead to the throne Valerica sat upon.

“Mommy!.”, Shiori exclaims as she hops into her mothers embrace.

“Good morning baby, did you sleep well?.”, Valerica asks with a motherly tone that could put even Celestia to shame.

“Yesh momma, pappa woke me up bephore he went to work.”, Shiori answers with a bit of giggling. Valerica then kisses Shiori on her forehead just between her eyes.

“That’s excellent sweetie, your father works very hard to keep us safe. Did you make sure to give daddy your love so you can support him as he works?.”, Valerica asks the smiling filly.

“Yesh mamma, I gave papa all of my love to make him shtronger!, so he can beat any monshters!.”, Shiori answers as she lifts her font hooves into the air in a V formation although she still struggles to pronounce her words correctly.

“Very good daughter, I’m so proud of you.”, Valerica compliments as she nuzzles Shiori in a loving embrace. Luna and Celestia looked upon them with smiles all the while some of the maids and guards in the background let out a:

‘Dawwwww’, Luna walks up to Valerica and raises a hoof before she speaks.

“Speaking of thy Childs father where is he?, shall he be accompanying us for our discussions?.”, Luna questions. Valerica pulls away from nuzzling Shiori and looks to Luna.

“My husband Olstrom is currently outside of the barrier with some of the crystal guard at the moment, there’s been reports of what we assume to be a brand new subspecies of Timberwolves who adapted to the colder climate. We began to call them: Glacierwolves.”, Valerica’s words instantly gets the attention of Celestia and Luna.

“What?!, but that can’t be!.”, Celestia responds with absolute surprise. “We always thought the Timberwolves would exist exclusively to The Everfree Forest?. Even if they weren’t we always figured they’d prefer a forest for obvious reasons, but a snowy arctic environment?. How could some manage to not only travel to the north but also adapt to it?.”, Celestia’s barrage of questions made the three ponies of royalty lost in thought before Queen Valerica responds with her answer.

“I have a theory Celestia, although it does leave a plot hole as to how they arrived to the north. Essentially, just as Timberwolves use their magic to form their body structure and comprise themselves entirely of branches, leaves and sometimes even various rocks this subspecies uses ice glaciers and large ice formations along with snow to form various parts of their body. We surmise that the large ice portions they get from the glaciers of the north plays as the main parts of their bodies this being their legs, head, stomach regions, their teeth and their claws. The snow itself on the other hoof makes up their tails and what one could consider to be their fur as it fills out the rest of their bodies.”, Queen Valerica then shudders for a moment, Shiori still hugging her mother which does help to ease Valerica’s freight. “Then there’s those eyes... Celestia, Luna, if you think the eyes of a Timberwolf is a sight to be feared let me tell you dear friends. The eyes of a Glacierwolf practically looks into your soul, they inhabit a black eye socket and their ‘pupils’ is an orb of blue energy that leaks out of the eye sockets. But that’s not even the worst part dear friends, these Glacierwolves are twice the size of a Timberwolf and might be more difficult to destroy.”, Luna and Celestia’s eyes shot wide with shock, Luna regains her composer as she herself asks her own series of questions.

“T-twice the size!?”, Luna exclaims and turns to her sister. “Sister, we must suggest that we keep an eye on the Timberwolf populace within the everfree forest despite how difficult the task. Who knows what other subspecies of these wolves we may encounter in the future.

“Indeed Luna, they’ve already become acclimated to the north here in The Empire but who’s to say there aren’t Firewolves in the Dragonlands or even Waterwolves along our coasts. Oh, this worries me sister... I never imagined they’d be able to adapt like this.”, Celestia then turns back to Valerica. “Queen Valerica, if I may request a copy of any of your findings for me to review back in Canterlot I’d be most grateful.”

“Of course dear friend, I actually have my advisor Mane Neigh-marco working on that as we speak.”, Valerica replies. Suddenly the doors to the throne room opened revealing the aforementioned unicorn stallion advisor. Mane Neigh-marco has a white furred body along with a black mane and tail, his eyes are brown while his horn is noticeably curved at the edge similar to Sombra and Sombasi’s horns.

“Good morning your Majesty.”, Mane Neigh says with a bow as he then looks towards Celestia and Luna. “And your highnesses.”, the advisor then looks back to The Queen. “I have the copies of my findings regarding the Glacierwolves with me as we speak, they will be ready for the royal sisters to review whenever they feel the time is ready.”, Mane Neigh then floats the books and scrolls over to Celestia with his magic, she in turn takes them within her golden aura.

“I am most grateful royal advisor Mane Neigh-Marco.”, Celestia says with a nod.

“I live to serve a better Equestria your highness.”, Mane Neigh replies. Luna is noticeably looking at Mane Neigh with narrowed eyes, she has never liked Mane Neigh-Marco ever since Valerica first appointed him as her advisor some time ago. Granted, Luna does this with most advisors back in Canterlot.

“Greetings.”, Luna plainfully and boldly says. This causes Celestia to roll her eyes at her sisters actions, Mane neigh walks towards The Queen to converse with her regarding the Glacierwolves. Celestia leans into Luna and whispers to her sister with concern for her actions.

“Come now sister, must you do this with every advisor we ever meet?, you’ll need to find one yourself soon too you know which will never happen if you act this way.”

“Tch, like we need an advisor sister. The only one we will allow to ever advise us is you, nopony else.”, Luna retorts. Celestia is noticeably annoyed by this but is happy to know her sister trusts her more then others. Queen Valerica listens to her advisor as she glances outside of her window that was placed to the far right side of the throne room in the perfect position for those who sat on the throne to look upon parts of the empire. Valerica’s expression becomes one of concern as she thinks to herself internally, Shiori still being present sitting between her mothers front legs.

“-Please be alright dear Olstrom-”

On the outskirts of The Crystal Empire, just beyond the barrier, the land is covered in snow but fortunately the weather remains calm despite the fact the sky is covered with grey clouds. A large darks red horse adorned in crystal guard armor specifically designed for him accompanied by a squadron of guards plow their way through the snow heading towards the train station positioned not too far from The Empire. One of the guards call out to the husband of Valerica, their king: Olstrom Shattershield.

“King Olstrom, may I ask what the mission is today sire?.”, one of the guards asks. Olstrom Shattershield pauses and turns back to the guard which causes all of the other guards to halt.

“We’ve received reports that a new subspecies of the well known Timberwolf now stalks these parts, ponies have been attacked as they tried to make their way to The Empire and while there have been cases of injury we are fortunate that no fatalities have happened so far, that we know of. We’re lucky that most ponies who come here traveled in small groups at the very least so they were able to fight it off for a bit. Were you not briefed on this guardspony?.”, Olstrom questions the guard. The other guards look at the guard in question with confusion.

“Ehehe, I overslept for the briefing sire.”, the guard says as he shuffles his front legs nervously, Olstrom and some of the other guards rolled their eyes.

“It’s fine, just make sure you keep an eye out for that Glacierwolf. Same goes for all of you guardsponies, we all have a duty to uphold so let’s move out.”, Olstrom says with authority.

“Yes your majesty!.”, All the guards say with a salute as the squadron continues onward.

Olstrom and his guards are now reaching the midpoint of their travel, halfway to the train station. Suddenly, a snow storm begins to build up around them however this one wasn’t by any means natural. The storm only effected the area around them and It seemed to be trying to keep them centered in the eye of the storm in which they stood, as if controlled by a being.

“Circle formation, I want eyes in every direction!.”, Olstrom commands getting all of his guards together as he realizes what the entity is trying to achieve, hoping to split up a few guards in a panic which thankfully Olstrom has taught them all to keep a leveled head in these situations. Suddenly, he and his guards can hear the loudest howl Olstrom has ever heard in his life even as he traveled with his herd years ago but this one had a certain tone to it, a demonic tone as if it came straight from a frozen Tartarus.

[Awooooooooooooooooooooo]

Once the howling began Olstrom’s worst fear came to life as he then realized this Glacierwolf wasn’t alone, more howling followed after the first, that was a call meant for a pack. The reports only mentioned witnesses seeing one wolf, Olstrom realized that was probably a scout for this pack who were now surrounding the king and his guards. The horse and guardsponies could barely make out the large wolf figures who hid themselves within the magical snowstorm around them however what sent a chill down all of their spines was the many pairs of glowing dark blue ‘eyes’ that watched their every move almost daring Olstrom or his guards to make a mistake. Olstrom couldn’t bare to have anyponies life on his hooves, if any one of his guards died here he’d never forgive himself. To Olstrom’s credit a king earns even more respect when he fights alongside those who’ve sworn to protect him. With that in mind The King shouts his orders.

“Listen up, stay in formation and don’t you dare follow me. I’m going to force my way through this storm, if my assumption is correct this isn’t your traditional storm but more of a barrier trying to keep us in disguised as one. Once I defeat these Harmony forsaken monstrosities the barrier should fall.”, one of the guardsponies tried to reason with their king.

“Sire!, forgive me but we could never allow you to head out there on your own!.”

“That is a direct order from your king!, once I get the barrier down you are all welcomed to join me but for now stay put.”, Olstrom proclaims, the king then looks to the snow storm disguised barrier. “Besides, none of you have my durability even with your armor. If any of you tried to follow me you’d harm yourselves further.”, all of the guardsponies still wanted to assist Olstrom but realized he was right. They’d be easy pickings for the Glacierwolves should they harm themselves trying to get through.

Olstrom readied himself by rearing up and stomping the ground letting out neighs of battle. Suddenly, all of the many pairs of dark blue ‘eyes’ hidden within the storm focused onto the horse and if one were to look closely they could see the frozen fangs of the pack of predators. The horse king charged towards the barrier with the force of a freight train and upon making impact blue energy began to sizzle out of control. The guardsponies could only watch in awe at the spectacle before them, Olstrom continued to push against the barrier and while it did put up quite the fight the barrier began to crack where Olstrom pushed against. Olstrom let out one final roar as he reinforced his efforts, a sudden crackling of blue energy erupted around Olstrom and as a reward for his efforts he was able to plow through the barrier making a hole into into the make shift snowstorm. As he was about to call out to his guardsponies to follow him the hole he made instantly repaired itself as it absorbed the surrounding snow. The kings suspicions were correct, the wolves had indeed casted a wall-cylinder shaped barrier that made those who were trapped within it believe they were suddenly kept within a snowstorm. Olstrom turned his head and was now met with the very same foes that tried to prey on him and his guards, four large Glacierwolves all of whom were just as tall as Olstrom now stood before the king. The wolves began to circle Olstrom as they let out various growls and barks trying to intimidate their prey, Olstrom stood firm and readied all of his senses his ears shot into multiple directions not allowing any of his foes to flank him while he focused his sights on the two wolves that would pass in front of him. He slowly rotated his body clockwise as his enemies continued to circle around him, one of the Glacierwolves that was positioned behind Olstrom tried their luck but the horse kings ears twitched upon hearing the kicked up snow as the wolf ran towards its prey. Olstrom positioned his flank to the wolf and let loose a powerful buck.

[THWOOOM]

A painful wolf yelp could be heard seconds after the powerful buck made contact but instead of sending his foe skywards the force of Olstrom’s hind kick decapitated the Glacierwolf’s head as an eruption of snow spread throughout the area. The other wolves maintained a safe distance as the attacking wolfs body went limp and skid across the snow before coming to a stop.

“-One down, three to go-”, Olstrom thought internally however his thoughts were interrupted as a chilling wind of blue energy flew around the decapitated wolfs body, the snow ice shards around the wolf began to be sucked into where the wolfs head region once was as Olstrom watched with shock. First came a neck, then a set of wolf ears, dark blue orbs were once again present where the wolfs eye would be and finally the mouth of the wolf was remade all of its frozen teeth now snarled at the horse before the recovered wolf let out another howl.

[Awooooooooo]

The other wolves now regained their confidence as their fallen ally rejoined their formation and circled Olstrom once again. Biting, kicking, yelps and neighs of pain could be heard as time went on. Olstrom noticeably had various claw marks on his body as the wolves continued their assault taking turns to try and take down the horse king, every time Olstrom would decapitate a wolf it would regenerate itself moments later and it didn’t help that the entire area was covered in snow. Then, a sudden realization came to Olstrom and a sudden smirk formed on his muzzle.

“Wait, the snow. I might not have magic but...”, the horse king says as he reared up onto his hind legs ready to put all of his strength into his plan. “Never underestimate the strength of a horse you abominations!.”, Olstrom slammed into the earth with all of his might sending a tremor throughout the area which sent all four of the Glacierwolves skywards with yelps of pain, the guardsponies that were trapped inside of the barrier weren’t sparred either as they too began to lose their footing but fortunately they weren’t tossed into the barrier by mistake. The snow that had once sat comfortably onto the land was thrown away from the force of the impact, now the landscape around Olstrom was a rock solid foundation with not a shred of snow left. “Let’s see you regenerate now, face me!.”

A stallion Pegasus guardspony was flying along the edge of the barrier that protected The Crystal Empire when suddenly he could see the ground bellow him begin to shake, rocks and trees began to shift. Olstrom’s tremor didn’t just effect his surrounding area as the tremors traveled to the outskirts of the empire within the barrier.

“Whoa, what the hay was that?.”, the Pegasus uttered as he then leaves the barrier to hopefully find the cause. In the distance he could see what looked like some sort of snow storm mixed with a barrier, his eyes widened as a sudden realization dawned on him. “Wait, the king is out there!. That thing doesn’t look right at all, I need to report to her majesty asap and get help!.”, the pegasus screamed before he raced towards the castle.

“Heh, good thing you guys aren’t too bright.”, Olstrom says as the wolves try to surround him again despite the lack of snow within Olstrom’s vicinity, the horse king now just needed for his foes to get confident again and as if Harmony herself was listening two of the wolves in front of Olstrom sprung their attack. Olstrom quickly reared up and slammed onto both of the wolves heads, each of his front legs planted right onto the head of each wolf thus decapitating them. He quickly then bucks behind him as he anticipated the other two wolves would attack from his flank the force shattered both wolves instantly on impact, unfortunately for Olstrom now the area was covered from the snow and ice shards of the temporarily deceased Glacierwolves which he did not take into account. Before Olstrom could take any further action four blue energy spheres began to float out of the snow from the wolves before they all combined into a much larger sphere. Olstrom’s eyes shot wide open as the snow and ice particles from the deceased wolves began to take shape around this sphere. Now standing before Olstrom was a very Large Glacierwolf, practically three times Olstroms size who towered over the horse king before letting out a mighty howl that nearly rang Olstroms ears.

[AWOOOOOOOO]

“Oh horse radd-”, before the horse king could finish a swipe from the large Glacierwolf sent him flying some distance away and he skids across the land. Olstrom slowly gets back up all the while the giant wolf slowly walks towards him with drool leaking from its maw but upon making contact with the ground the drool instantly froze the landscape around them. Now Olstrom was back to square one and to make things worse he was now metaphorically and literally standing on thin ice. Olstrom now realizes he has to use his species trump card, Strength Amplification. Suddenly, Olstrom let out a loud and drawn out horse neigh which momentarily stuns the giant Glacierwolf. The horse kings veins began to become exposed just under his skin and his muscles begin to flex with noticeable veins of their own. His pupils disappears as his eyes glow with red energy.

“Strength Amplification!.”, Olstrom roared before he charges towards his foe, the landscape around him shook and his hooves left behind small craters with every step he took. The Glacierwolf also sprints towards its foe and suddenly two freight trains are on course to ramming into each other.

[BOOM]

The heads of the two bahemoths were now locked as the two tried to push the other back, despite the Glacierwolfs height and size advantage Olstrom matched his strength equally. Olstrom pulls his head away for a second, the wolf takes the opportunity and tries to attack with a bite but Olstrom dodges only to head butt the wolf from below its lower jaw sending the wolfs head upward. The wolf quickly recovers as it once again swipes at Olstrom but fortunately Olstrom’s durability is enough to endure the swipe however the force of the attack does push the horse king back a short distance. Now the two combatants stare at each other from a short distance as they both circle the other until finally the wolf lunges forward and manages to snap onto Olstrom’s front fight leg. This caused Olstrom to wince in pain before he is lifted by the Glacierwolf and thrown into the air over its shoulder but the wolf wasn’t done yet as it used its tail to smack into the horse king thus adding even more damage to its strike.

“Guagh!.”, Olstrom cries out in pain as the wolfs tail makes impact sending the horse into the snowy fields nearby. Olstrom’s durability could endure it but the force of the Glacierwolfs combo still did its job as Olstrom is dazed and on the floor. To make matters worst, his Strength Amplification ability is sapping away his stamina thus is the drawback of using this technique. “Celestia damn it, I can’t beat it fast enough. I’m drawing this fight out too much.”, A fatigued Olstrom says as he comes up with one final attempt. “I’ll have to put all of my remaining strength into one last attack and hope it’ll be enough, this will consume what’s left of my technique but it’s my best shot.”, Olstrom gets back onto his feet all the while the Glacierwolf begins to charge at its prey with its teeth bared. Moments before the wolf gets near Olstrom, the horse king quickly turns and bucks the wolf with all of his might said buck possibly being the strongest he’s ever had to use.

[THWOOOM]

Olstrom’s attack creates a shockwave that engulfs the Glacierwolf practically tearing the wolf apart sending pieces of it into various directions as snow and ice particles litter the area. Olstrom collapses from fatigue, his eye pupils return as the red energy dissipates and his bodies veins retreat as his body tries to relax itself.

“P-please tell me that was enough.”, Olstrom weakly muttered, sadly his plead was only temporarily answered before the Glacierwolf once again began to take form however before the wolf could become whole a beam of golden fire scorched the bahemoth practically melting it instantly, the blue energy orb seemed to have sizzled out of existence within the beam before it dissipated. The barrier that surrounded Olstrom’s guard disappears allowing them to tend to their king.

“Looks like we made it just in time my friend.”, Celestia says with her horn still glowing as Luna, Queen Valerica, and many of the Crystal Guard they brought along with them immediately go to Ostrom’s side who only had his head risen as the rest of his body was laid out.

“I told you not to be so reckless you foolish stallion!.”, an enraged Queen Valerica screams with tears on her face. “Do you have any idea how worried I was when a pegasus guard came to us and told me about your predicament?!.”, Valerica gently smacked Olstrom on his head with her right hoof before she runs into the downed stallion with a hug as she wraps her wings around him along with her two front legs, her tears still dripping down her face. “Please don’t do that again, please.”, Olstrom smiled happily as he embraced his wife.

“Forgive us if this is out of term but we must say, thou have fought valiantly Sir Olstrom.”, Luna says as she bows before him, Olstrom looks towards Luna with his smile still present.

“Thank you Luna.”, Olstrom replies as he then turns to Celestia. “And thank you for the ‘suppressive fire’ my friend, it’s a good thing you excel at fire magic lady sun butt.” the horse king says with a smirk.

“It’s no probl- wait what did you call me!?.”, Celestia says with an annoyed expression forming on her face upon comprehending the kings words. This causes every pony and horse to laugh although Celestia did have to admit it was funny. Celestia sighed and chuckled before she leans down. “Let’s get you back to The Empire my friend.”, soon everypony helps Olstrom back to his legs as they all travel back to The Empire.

Meanwhile, deep down in The Crystal Castle’s basement where they store various wines along with other produce a certain royal advisor is making his way towards the very end of said basement, Mane Neigh-Marco who was effortlessly making his way through the darkness without any light present. Mane Neigh knew he wasn’t alone as the advisor looks around the basement before he clears his throat and begins to speak.

“I know you’re there, come on out changeling”, suddenly, a pair of green eyes opened with slit pupils like that of a reptile. The large figure stepped out of its hiding place, they were hiding behind a rack of wine and approached the advisor. “Just get out here Chrysalis, you know I’m a disguised Umbrum right?, I can see you bright as day in the darkness.”

“Alright, alright, no need to spoil my fun Mane Neigh.”, Queen Chrysalis replies with an amused tone. “Is everything prepared for the plan?.”

“Indeed, those Glacierwolves proved to be quite the distraction. Thank you for supplying those by the way.”, Mane Neigh replied with large grin.

“Easy as can be really, just an angered pack of Glacierwolves here and a well placed portal there. Well, that portal might’ve just so happened to lead them to the outskirts of The Empire but I digress. So, what now?.” Queen Chrysalis questions.

“The runes have already been placed around the vicinity of The Crystal Heart, the fools don’t even realize that the pillars of the room have them stuffed within them. They’ll be quite surprised when I activate those runes and The Crystal Heart is no longer able to function, for their use at least.”, Mane Neigh cackles to himself before he continues. “The runes will absorb its strength and with it I can open the gates to The Planes Of Absolute Darkness, my goddess Nocturnal shall rise again!.”

“Speaking of Nocturnal you’d better not forget our bargain Mane Neigh, I want to enslave a good portion of these ponies to feed my hive.” Queen Chrysalis proclaims with authority.

“And you shall receive your reward without question, my Goddess awards those who support her very handsomely. In fact I have a surprise for you.”, Mane Neigh replies as he moves over to a nearby crate and with his right hind leg kicks it open only for a particular helmet perfectly designed for ponies to roll out.

“With this, all ponies will bend to your will Chrysalis. My goddess bestowed her powers upon this and designed it for your use. I have many stored throughout The Empire as well, the only thing your children will need to do is slip these onto everyponies head.”, Mane Neigh says with a mischievous smile. Chrysalis looked on with her eyes wide open before she begins to laugh manically.

“Mwahahahaha, Excellent!, as queen of the changelings I decree that you and your Nocturnal have our full support to achieve this planemeld you speak of.” Chrysalys decrees with joy. Mane Neigh then floats over one of the wine bottles that were stored on a rack along with two glass cups. He pops the wine bottle open and hands a glass to Chrysalis.

“I’m hoping you can consume wine because I’d like to drink to our future endeavors.”

(To be continued in Chapter 11 - The Planemeld Pt: 2)