Spiders and Magic: The Kesshōkage of The Crystal Empire

Chapters

Chapter One: The Arrival of a Celestial
Chapter Two: Princess of Darkness
Chapter Three: The Road to Victory
Chapter Four: KingSlayer
Chapter Five: From Scholar to Ruler (edited)
Chapter Six: Welcome to The New Age
Chapter Seven: Plans are in the Works
Chapter Eight: The Unicorn and The Kage
Chapter Nine: New Morning, New Surprises
Chapter Ten: Challenge Accepted

Chapter One: The Arrival of a Celestial

Author's Note

Let me be clear, this story is not cannon to the Spiders and Magic story series by Maximus_Reborn. This story takes place in a what if/alternate universe please enjoy the story.

Name: Nanako Otsutsuki
Age: [Redacted]
Gender: [Female]
Species: [Celestial Being]
Kekkei Genkai: [Rinnegan]
Height: [5'7]
Clan: [Ōtsutsuki Clan]

Base Nature type:
Fire Release
Water Release
Earth Release
Lightning Release
Wind Release

Combine Nature Type:
Dust Release
Storm Release
Ice Release
Steel Release
Lava Release
Dark Release
Explosion Release
Wood Release
Yin-Yang Release
Magnetic Release
Blaze Release

Unique Trait:
Can combine different nature type and increase their power output, but limits the power output of her base nature type.

Techniques:
Shadow Clone Technique
Tool Creation Technique
Healing Technique
Karma
Transformation Technique
Sage Art: Sea Slug
Chakra Mode: Six Paths
Yomotsu Hirasaka
Chakra Edible Creation
Black Receiver
Puppet Technique
Eight Inner Gates [1-4]
Chimera technique

Ninjutsu: (As of now)
Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon
Storm Style: Laser Circus
Storm Style: Thunder Cloud Inner Wave
Storm Style: Light Fang
Storm Style: Lightning Water Dragon
Ice Style: Shattering Ice Spears
Ice Style: Ice Prison
Ice Style: Ice Breaking Fists
Ice Style: One horned White Whale
Ice Style: Ten Thousand Ice Petals
Ice Style: Glacial Dome
Ice Style: Black Dragon Blizzard
Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling-Pillar
Particle Style: Detachment of the Primitive World
Particle Style: Split Detachment of the Primitive World
Steel Style: Impervious Armor
Steel Style: Steel Projectile
Steel Style: Steel Shield
Explosion Style: Impact
Explosive Clay
Explosion Style: Landmine Fist
Dark Style: Inhaling Maw
Dark Style: Judgement
Lava Style: Ash Stone Sealing
Lava Style: Flower Fruit Mountain
Lava Style: Rubber Ball
Lava Style: Rubber Wall
Lava Style: Chakra Mode
Wood Style: Great Forest
Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence
Wood Style: Laughing Budda Jutsu
Wood Style: Wood Dragon
Truthseeker Orbs
Truthseeker Orbs: Scorched Earth
Truthseeker Orbs: Cross Lantern
Lightning Style: Thunderbolt
Lightning Style: Chidori
Lightning Style: Chakra Mode
Lightning Style: Lightning Shuriken Net
Water Style: Severing Wave
Water Style: Water Bullet
Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation
Earth Style: Mud Wolves
Wind Style: Vacuum Blade
Wind Style: Rasenshuriken
Wind Style: Great Breach
Space-Time Ninjutsu
Inferno Style: Amaterasu
Inferno Style: Flame Lightning
Inferno Style: Flame Control
Inferno Style: Inferno Sword
Inferno Style: Great Fireball

Six Paths:
Asura Path: [Grants the user the ability to augment their own body to summon mechanized armor and various ballistic and mechanical weaponry.]
Laser Cannon
Flaming Arrow Warhead
Arm Cannon

Deva Path: [Grants the user the ability to manipulate attractive and repulsive forces with objects and people. Cooldown time varies upon the scale of the technique used. Roughly five to ten seconds.]
Universal Pull
All Mighty Push
Planetary Devastation

Human Path: [Enables the user to read the mind of a person by placing their hand on the victim's chest and pulling their soul out of their body.]

Naraka: [A technique granted by the Rinnegan, which allows the user to summon the King of Hell to extract information from people by torturing their souls, or to heal injuries and even revive the deceased by essentially "taking life force" from others if they lie during interrogation.]

Jinchūriki:
Ten tails [Currently can't access to the fullest extent due to its non sentient/machine like personality, but can be used as a unlimited fuel source of chakra to perform ninjutsu]

Sage mode [Sea Slug]:
Sage Art: Soap Bubble Ninjutsu
Bubble Clone Technique
Acid Permeation
Blinding Bubbles Technique
Ink Bubble Explosion
Soap Bubble Slime
Sage Art: Water Heavens Convergence
Genjutsu: Water Balloon Jutsu
Sage Art: Bubblegum
Sage Art: Drowning Bubble Technique
Sage Art: Water Style Bubble Technique: Broad Defense
Hidden Shadow Snake Hands
Camouflage Jutsu
High-Speed Regeneration
Sage Art: Palm Sage Jutsu

Chapter One: The Arrival of a Celestial

Chapter One

The Arrival of a Celestial

[Unknown Planet]

Somewhere within the deep vacuum of space located in a different dimension from planet Earth, there is a planet that the Otsutsuki Clan claimed as their own to call home. It was once a planet that was inhabited by another race of people, but due to the clan’s ongoing goal of godhood, the previous inhabitants and any life that was on the planet were turned into chakra fruits. It is here that our story begins with a scholar of the clan, who is currently looking through the archive deep within the large house-like palace of the clan. For the past couple of years, she had been engrossing herself in trying to find a way to achieve godhood without the use of sacrificing entire planets with intelligent life on them. So far, she has managed to prolong her life by eating chakra fruits from planets that didn’t have civilizations on them, just plant life or animals. But even that wasn’t enough for her in her case. No, she needed something that didn’t take years to cultivate…and without having to use her kama to take over a new body.

“Seriously, you mean to tell me that they have years upon years of information, yet they don’t have a quick way to reach godhood without the need of sacrificing?” Nanako asked as she tossed another book to the already tremendous pile of books next to her. “For a mighty race we sure don’t do well with retaining useful knowledge.”

“You think we would waste time on useless information when we can just continue with what we’ve been doing for countless eons?” said a sly voice. Nanako looked over to her right and dawned on an annoyed expression to see Urashiki floating next to her with a grin on his face.

“What do you want, Urashiki? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?” She said while reaching for another book and began skimming through it.

“Come on, can’t I visit my favorite family member during my time off? I thought we were close seeing how we’re both lower-ranking members~”

“By favorite, you mean to tease me to the point of making me angry and chase you around the place.” She answered before looking over at him. “Which I’m not going to do given how you got me in trouble.”

“Oh come on, when have I ever gotten you into trouble?” Urashiki asked as Nanako deadpans at him.

“You mean the time when you set off firecrackers in my room while I was asleep?”

“In fairness, I was dared to do it by some of the less serious members of the clan.”

“Or how about the time when you set my favorite video games on fire? Do you know how hard it is to sneak onto earth and get the latest piece of gaming hardware, or internet connection!?”

“I was ordered to do that. You can’t fault me for that.”

“Normally I wouldn’t if you didn’t laugh like a madman who just kicked a puppy. Speaking of that, that’s next on the list of things you did.”

“...I’m not apologizing for that one.”

“Oh you can go…um…jump into space or something?” She asked which caused Urashiki to grin even more. “Whatever! Just leave me alone with my research!”

“You’re still looking for alternatives to godhood? While I don’t care for what you’re doing, you do know the other clan members aren’t going to tolerate it, right?”

“It’s not like I’m going against them or anything. I’m just doing a bit of research into alternatives other than what Shibai had done before leaving to a different plane of existence.”

“Whatever, but if you think about doing something that would go against the entire clan’s great will, then you know they’ll have one of us kill you. And I prefer not to have my favorite punching back to have to die a horrible death or worse.” Urashiki before floating off to someplace else within the palace they were in. “Just thought I give you a fair warning~”

“Like I didn’t know that.” Nanako thought before tossing the book she was looking into to the side. “I don’t see what’s so hard about changing up a generational process that could use a lot of changes. It shouldn’t be that hard, right?” As she reached for another book to look into, she noticed that this book looked different. Compared to the black, gray, or white colored book, this book was pink and had a picture of a crystal heart on it. The alien girl blinked in surprise as she examined it. Given how strict the rules were in the palace. Having something like this would end up having the person be sent to jail or have this book turn to ash. Curiosity got the better of her and she decided to open the book to have a peek of what was written inside it.

“Long ago, in the land of Equestria, there was a kingdom to the north that was made entirely of crystals. As in its appearance, the Crystal Empire was a kingdom that was made entirely of frozen crystals of all types. Led by their leader, Princess Amore, the kingdom was on the fast track to peace and prosperity.” One turn of the page and some images coincided with it. Images of what appeared to be Equine creatures. Some looked normal while others were made of crystal. Some had horns. Some had wings. Some had both. Most had neither. However, things took a dark turn real quickly as Nanako continued to read. “However, this peace was short-lived. One of the delegates in Amore’s court, Sombra, attacked the princess in a coup to seize the power of the throne. However, as Amore was beginning to fade away, she cast a spell on Sombra, turning his heart into a crystal. Along with that, came her final words to the Mad King.”

“You will live as long as the heart is in your possession and your magic will forever be bound by it. When someone other than you claims the heart, your reign will fall and you will fall with it!”

“Horrified by the prophecy, Sombra acted swiftly, hiding the empire with his magic. Now, the empire is said to have been all but lost.”

“Seriously, that’s it?” Nanako said after turning the next page to see that it was blank. “All that build and there’s nothing else? What kind of book is this?” She said in annoyance and was about to toss the book to the side. That is until she notices something lighting up on the page. She soon blinked in surprise upon seeing ink bleeding onto the page.

“But the story is not over…One hero. One that has been shunned by the likes of her kind will be chosen… and bring the end to Sombra’s tyranny. Who is that hero you ask? Well…That is you. Nanako Otsutsuki.”

“...Wait, how does this book know my name!?” Nanako yelled as she was about to close the book, but it was too late. In a split second, a flash of light burst out of the book as it engulfed her in a veil of light. The light soon vanished as the alien girl and the book were gone.

[The Empire of Crystals]

“Anypony who is out during the curfew will be placed under arrest, and be taken to the dungeon for questioning!”

The streets of the Crystal Empire were crawling with guards, enforcing the evening curfew that was strictly placed on the city. It put fear into the hearts of Mares, Stallions, and children alike. Nothing was ever the same since the current ruler, King Sombra, took total control over the Crystal Empire. His greed and thirst for power led to the corrupt king taking over total control of the once-peaceful kingdom. Many times before, he had said that this was to protect the ponies. But there was nothing to protect the people from. He has said many times before about a rebellion against the empire and that the curfew was to catch any rebels. But over time, it soon became apparent that these, like everything else the king had said before, were nothing but lies. But, no matter what was said, Sombra still accused numerous ponies of treason. All for just speaking against the king. The tyrant's reign needed to end, but the people were missing one thing. Somepony to lead them. Somepony to guide them. Somepony to save them…well it wouldn’t be a pony, but something from out of this world.

Nanako’s vision slowly returned as she found herself lying in a pile of snow. She slowly began to pull herself up from the ground as she looked around to get her bearings straight. At first, she thought she was in a snowy area on Earth due to how cold it was and the snow she was lying on. But the moment she made her way out of the dark alleyway she was in, she noticed that buildings were made out of crystal, not stone or wood.

“Yep, I’m no longer in the palace…or on earth.” She said before staggering her way into the streets of this place made out of crystal. The girl noticed that she was still holding onto the book she found, but noticed that the book was a pale pink and worn out for the most part. Nanako quickly opened the book to find that the pages didn’t have anything on them. They were blank. No words, no pictures, nothing. As she flips through the pages, she soon notices a page with words on it as she reads it.

“This is all I can do, brave soul from the stars.”

“What the hell is going on?” She asked before seeing more words appear on the page.

“All will be explained in time, yet my time has ended. For now, your journey begins by looking up.” Nanako blinked upon reading this as she looked up. Upon looking up, she blinks in surprise upon seeing a giant castle made out of crystal glistening in the pale moonlight. It was the same image that she saw in the book she was reading.

“Okay book, start explaining yourself. Why the hell am I in the Crystal Empire that I read about in the book?” She asked as the book said nothing. “Hey! Don’t ignore me! I asked you a question!” No matter how many times she tried, Nanako couldn't contact whoever or whatever the magical being was in the book. “...Don’t think this is over whoever you are that brought me here!”

“HEY! WHO’S OUT THERE!?” yelled a gruff female's voice as Nanako turned her attention behind herself after hearing a pair of footsteps heading her way.

“And this place has guards…great.” She said before quickly flying up high into the air. The moment she was in the air, she noticed a small group of armored ponies making their way to the area she was in.

“See anything?” asked the female pegasus as a female earth pony shook her head before noticing a sword lying on the ground. She soon walked over to it and began expecting it before picking it up with her mouth. “What are you looking at, private Amber Foxtail?”

“I think somepony of the guards dropped their sword, ma'am.” The earth pony said as the pegasus captain walked over to examine it.

“...What kind of knight carries around something like this?” She asked before pulling the sheath off of the blade. A whistle escaped her lips upon seeing the craftsmanship of the blade and how smooth it looked. “Must be one of King Sombra’s treasures that he gave to one of the knights here. If it’s on the ground, then they either lost it or were killed off by him and he didn’t care to take it.”

“Should we return it to him?” Amber asked as the pegasus stared at her with a flabbergasted expression on his face.

“Are you joking? Do you want to have your head on a pike or something? It would be best not to tell him and just say that the blacksmith made it for you.” She said before motioning for Amber to follow her. “Meet me in my chambers tonight. We need to talk about something important for tonight.”

“Yes ma’am,” Amber said before placing the sword onto her sash as she quickly followed after the pegasus and the group they were with to the castle. As they were walking, Nanako groaned in annoyance due to her losing her weapon like that. While she did have many other weapons in her inventory, she did prefer something that wasn’t so highly advanced in case she was in a position where the scientific ninja tools wouldn’t be available for her at the time.

“Suppose this would be a golden opportunity to get some information from this planet’s inhabitants. That and some answers to what I need, seeing how the book isn’t going to help.” Nanako said before making herself invisible as she quickly and quietly followed the group of ponies to the crystal castle.

Chapter Two: Princess of Darkness

Chapter Two

Princess of Darkness

[Crystal Castle]

(Captain’s Private Room)

The Crystal Castle, home to King Sombra and the citizens who either serve as his maids or butlers, or who are part of his royal guards, either by choice or against their will via mind-controlling magic. It is here that Nanako is currently following the earth pony and pegasus down the hallway of the castle. From what she could tell while floating down the hallway, the place was in ruin. Pieces of the wall had either cracks or giant holes in them, cloth that was hanging on the wall or ceiling was torn up or rotted away due to time, dried up blood spots, and maids with tired and broken expressions on their faces as they tried to clean up the place or were forced to do so due to magic influence.

“So the book was right, the king has gone mad and is forcing them to work until they die.” Nanako thought before seeing a mare off to the said fall to the ground. “I shudder to think what would happen if the others try to recruit this madman…or pony in this case.” It was when she noticed the earth pony and pegasus stopping in front of a red color crystal door as Amber and the pegasus mare entered the room. Nanako quickly followed them inside just as the door was about to close. Once inside, she noticed that the room was just as bad as it was in the hallway, safe for the bed for the most part. It was when the captain removed her helmet to reveal a pale copper-colored mare with a black and dark brown red mane and two scar marks trailing down her right red eye.

“I take it, you know why I brought you here, Amber?” The captain asked as Amber removed her helmet to reveal an orange-cream-colored mare with a light orange and brown mane. It would be noticed that her tail resembled that of a fox’s tail, though instead of one tail, there were three.
“I take it tonight’s the night for the rebellion?” Amber asked as the pegasus nodded. “Are you sure about this? I mean, I’m all for somepony to take down King Sombra, but you know there’s no way normal ponies like us can defeat him.”

“It’s not like we have much of a choice in the matter. Look at the state everypony is in. For years we have been under that mad pony’s hoof, suffering unimaginable humiliation, watching loved ones die left and right because he accuses them of being traitors or threats. How long are we going to wait for the princesses to come and save us?”

“I know, but it would be suicidal if we attacked him without a means to stop him. Every unicorn in the kingdom is either under Sombra’s control or has magic-canceling rings on their horns, we can’t fly or dig our way out due to the barrier around the Kingdom, and everypony can’t fight because they lost the will to fight.” Amber said before taking a seat on the floor.

“I know, but we can’t go on for another generation like this. We need to put an end to this. Even if we die in the process. I can’t handle having to kill another little kid or their family just because of some stupid reason from the king.”

“Well unless we get some kind of miracle or something from who knows where, then we’re up a creek without a paddle in this rebellion of ours…plus I don’t think we’ll be able to do much with just three ponies.”

“Four if you count Princess Umbra in the dungeon. But you’re not wrong about that…if only there was a way for us to change the tide to where we can come out on top.” Rusty said before hearing a voice speak up within the room they were in.

“Um, excuse me? But if you’re having some kind of problem, then maybe I can help in that department?” Nanako asked as Amber and Rusty quickly took up a defensive stance and scanned the room to see where the voice was coming from.

“Crap, we’ve been found out! I didn’t think Sombra would send one of his guards to spy on us!” Rusty said as Amber quickly moved over to her with the sword she had picked up in her mouth.

“I knew this day would come, I just didn’t think it would be now,” Amber said while looking around the room as well. It was only when Nanako made herself visible near the door to Rusty’s room was when they both stared at her with widened eyes due to being in shock from what they were seeing.

“Hello, weird but adorable-looking ponies of this planet. I hope I didn’t startle you or anything…but I suppose me speaking while I was invisible and you two seeing me now might cause some…mental problems?”

“...Am I the only one seeing this?” Amber asked while looking over at Rusty who was looking at Nanako with a disgusted expression on her face.

“You’re not the only one…just what in Equestria is it?” Rusty asked as the alien girl deadpans.
“Rude, but I suppose that’s understandable given your…no offense. Low intelligence to the unknown.” Nanako said before noticing the glares coming from the two ponies as she defensively raised her hands. “I said no offense, that counts towards something…right?”

“Explain yourself, creature. Who are you and how did you make it into the castle? There should be guards watching over the entrance of this place.”

“Well to answer your first question, my name is Nanako Otsutsuki of the Otsutsuki Clan. As for how I got into the castle…you do know there’s like a giant hole near the entrance of the castle, right?” She asked as the two mares looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Nanako.

“Alright…Nanako…are you in league with King Sombra? Because if you are, then we’re going to have to kill you so you won’t report to him about our rebellion.” Rusty asked as she took a step forward.

“Whoa, whoa, easy! I’m not with that mad king that you serve. I just got teleported here by a book I found in the palace of the Otsutsuki Clan’s library!” She said before quickly reaching into a small dimensional door to pull the worn-out book. The pegasus stared at the book for a moment before slowly walking up to it. She examined it for a moment before her eyes widened in shock upon seeing the book.

“....How in the pits of Tartarus did you get this book?”

“You know what that is, captain?” Amber asked as the pegasus snatched the book from Nanako, only for it to appear back in the girl’s hands.

“That book belongs to Princess Amore.” She answered which took Amber by surprise. “A long time ago, during the first generation. King Sombra wanted everything that belonged to the previous ruler burned to ashes. Rumor has it that there was one book left behind by the princess that would appear from time to time. So King Sombra made it a decree to burn the book upon sight…And you’re telling me that the book brought you here to this place?”

“Pretty much. I mean I thought it was just a random storytelling book that someone left behind by accident. But the moment my name came up in the book, that’s when I ended up being brought here against my will. The last thing that was said was that all would be explained once I went into the castle. So I decided to follow after you two after the pony with the fox tails picked up my sword…Speaking of, I would like to have it back thank you?”

“Oh, okay,” Amber said as she was about to hand over the weapon to her, only for a wing from Rusty to stop her from doing so.

“Not that I don’t trust you…okay scratch that, I don’t trust. What makes you believe that you’re not in league with King Sombra? For all we know, this might just be a trap.”

“Was kind of hoping this would be a bit easy, but I suppose it’s understandable given what I saw and mostly read.” Nanako thought before focusing on Rusty. “Okay, what would I need to do to gain your trust?”

“...You can do two things,” Rusty said, which caused Nanako to raise an eyebrow at her. “If you can convince the princess in the dungeon to aid us in our rebellion, then I’ll be willing to trust you. If she refuses, then you’ll have to kill our king.” She said which took Amber by surprise.

“Are you crazy!? This girl doesn’t even look like she could last long in a fight, let alone with somepony like King Sombra!”

“Okay, I take offense to that. Ever heard of the phrase, "Never judge a book by its cover?”

“Given how you look like a pale-ass demon from Tartarus. I believe we have every right to judge.” She answered, which caused Nanako to deadpan the pegasus. “Those are your only options. Take it or leave it.”

“...Fine. I suppose I could do something about this problem. Do any of you know where they’re keeping the princess?”

“Just head down the hallway, make a left, and you’ll see a guard blocking a blood-covered door. Shouldn’t be that hard to find.”

“Alright, fine. Can I please have my weapon back?” Nanako asked as Rusty lowered her wing for the earth pony to hand the weapon over to her. “Thank you.”

“If you die, then I’m taking it back,” Rusty said, which caused the girl to stare at her for a moment before walking over to the door.

“Do keep in mind that if I do survive, then I’ll be sure to come back and smash your face in.” She said before leaving the room.

“Aren’t you being a bit rude to her? I mean, she seems like a nice pony…or creature?” Amber asked which caused Rusty to roll her eyes.

“Get real. Do you think that thing is on our side? This could be one of King Sombra’s traps just to get us killed. Having her do those impossible tasks will get rid of her and we can focus on our plan on taking the king’s head.”

[Crystal Empire, Dungeon]

Originally, the Crystal Empire never had a dungeon during the early years of Sombra’s rule. Mainly because of killing ponies that he assumed were spies or trying to take over the throne. But halfway through the five-hundred-year mark, it was decided that a dungeon would be made to house either his victims for pleasure, food, or for torture purposes. The door to the dungeons opens up as the smell of rotting flesh, waste, and other unmentioned fills the girl’s nose causing her to recoil back and gag.

“Dear god, this place is almost as bad as that dimension I went into by accident!” Nanako said while trying to regain her composure. “And the princess is in a place like this?” She asked before looking over at the knocked-out guard. “Right, knock him out the moment he turns his back…If it weren’t for the fact that these creatures are adorable looking, I would’ve left this place when I had the chance…Speaking of.” She looked over to the side of herself as Yomotsu Hirasaka was activated. The dimensional hole she made appeared as she tried to enter through it, but felt herself recoil backward due to some kind of unknown force pushing her back. An annoyed expression appeared on her face before making the dimensional hole disappear and then reappear again. Only this time the portal led to what she would call a pocket dimension where she would store certain items within it. She soon reached inside it to pull out a futuristic-looking ax that was the length of her body as she examined it.

“Hm…Seems that I can’t leave this place, but I can still use Yomotsu Hirasaka to open up my pocket dimension to retrieve stuff…possibly hide inside it as well.” She said before placing the scientific ninja tool on the magnetic holster on her back. “Suppose I’ll have to figure out more about this place after killing the King.” With a sigh, the alien girl was about to step into the dungeon, only to pause and quickly turn around with her finger extended forward. The moment she did that, her finger would be pointed at the pony named Amber who yelped in surprise from her nose being booped upon by Nanako.

“Um…h-hi?” She said while scrunching her nose a bit before rubbing it.

“...I was wondering who was tailing behind me, just wasn’t expecting to be you…Amber, right?” Nanako asked as the earth pony nodded. “Did your captain order you to follow me?”

“No…I kind of lied to her and decided to follow after you. Just to make sure you weren’t hurt or anything.”

“That’s…unexpected. I figure you wouldn’t be that trusting towards someone like me.”

“Well, you seem like a nice creature…plus I have a feeling that you might need some help figuring out where Princess Umbra is located in the dungeon.”

“...Fair enough, she never did tell me what the pony looked like.” She said as Amber nodded.
“Yeah, so you’ll need my assistance in this mission,” Amber said before taking the lead and motioning for her to follow.

“Alright, suppose that’s fair as well.” She said before following Amber. “If you don’t mind me asking, why is the princess in a place like this?”

“Well given the past one thousand years of her failed attempts to overthrow the king, King Sombra had enough and sentenced her to the dungeon for the rest of her life. Which given how she’s been corrupted by King Sombra, it would be forever.”

“And keeping her in a place like this would make it better?”

“The king wanted her to understand the consequences of her actions. It doesn’t help that she is in a cell with the remains of those who stood by her side.”
“So rubbing salt in the wounds of her failure. And I thought Hephaistos' treatments of his twisted experimentations were bad. Was he always evil, cruel, and mad with power?”

“From what I could find in the library before it was burned down for heat during the cold nights. King Sombra used to be a kind and noble king, but something happened to him that caused him to change. I don’t know what it was, but whatever happened pretty much made him what he is now.”

“Does the princess know about the reasoning behind his descent into madness?”

“Not even she knows what caused it, and she’s the oldest mare in the kingdom.”

“Wonderful, guess my curiosity about this kingdom’s history is going to be a pain to read. God, this place is making me want to throw up my lunch.”

“Be lucky you’re not the pony that has to clean this place up without some kind of protection. At best the last pony that was ordered to clean this place up ended up dead within three days. Even the guards have to hold their breath when they patrol this place and they only do it once a week.”

“Isn’t there a way to escape this place? Surely it’s not sealed off from the outside world…is it?”

“There were some that were able to escape…but they didn’t last long seeing how they couldn’t survive long in the harsh cold of the empire. I mean given what you’re seeing so far with the dungeon, it should be obvious as to the state of how us ponies are in, right?”

“Fair enough.” She said before hearing the sounds of footsteps heading their way. “Seems like we have some company heading our way.”

“We need to hide,” Amber said as she quickly pushed Nanako over into an empty cell. The moment they entered the cell, the duo noticed two bulky earth ponies making their way down the hallway, only to stop near the cell they were hiding in.

“Seriously, why are we the ones on guard duty Flan Berry? Especially in a place like this?” The earth pony asked. “I mean, it's like we’re given this duty just because he enjoys seeing us suffer.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, Flan Berry,” StarBurst said as he placed a hand on Flan's shoulder. “But I think watching over the princess is better than cleaning this place.”

“Fair point. Though I feel bad that Umbra is forced to be in a place like this.”

“It’s either this place or having her head cut off by her father. Who wouldn’t take the life in prison thing over having your head mounted over a fireplace?” He said, which caused Starburst to shiver at the thought of it. “I hate to find out what will happen to us if he finds out we’ve been sneaking her food during our shift.”

“So long as we use the magic storage bags, then we’ll keep our heads on our bodies,” Flan said before walking down the hallway of the dungeon. “Come on, we better check the other prisoners to make sure they’re in their cells.”

“What other prisoners? It’s just Umbra down here.” StarBurst said before following Flan.

“It’s King Sombra’s orders. We do what he orders otherwise he’ll kill us.” As the two stallions left, Amber and Nanako popped their heads from within the cell as they watched them move down the hallway. Once they were out of sight, they quickly moved from out of the cell and up the hallway where the guards were coming from.

“Didn’t think King Sombra would get Flan Berry and StarBurst to guard Umbra,” Amber said before noticing Nanako’s bewildered facial expression. “What?”

“Flan Berry and StarBurst…what kind of names are those?”

“Oh, and your name isn’t weird?” Amber asked as Nanako was about to reply, only for the earth pony to stop her. “And keep in mind, we’re in a pony society not….whatever it is you’re from.”

“...Alright, fair point…Though you would think their parents would give them a better name.”

“Not to sound rude, but how is your name any better than their name?”

“Well, technically my name is royalty so…I guess that makes it better?”

“So…you’re a princess…from….where are you from anyway?”

“Well…We don’t have a name for the planet that my clan lives on. But for future references, you can say that I’m a Celestial Being from another dimension.”

“So you’re an alien princess from another dimension?”

“I guess? I never really paid much attention to that kind of stuff. I was mostly busy researching and enjoying the finer things in life.”

“...You’re weird.”

“How am I weird?”

“Well you’re royalty, right? So how can you have a conversation with somepony that isn’t? Wouldn’t you rather be with somepony that’s rich or something?” Amber asked, which caused Nanako to shrug.

“Just because I have a fancy title doesn’t mean I have to be with other rich people…or ponies in this case.

“Doesn't matter to me if you’re rich or poor, nor should it matter. You would have to be stuck up or snobbish to think you’re better than anyone just because you’re royalty.” She said before looking around the area they were in. Now, do you know where this princess is being held?”

“Up ahead. Fair warning, she might not be that much in the mood for talking…pretty sure she will try and kill you.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised, but I’m sure my skills of persuading can be of use.” She said before following Amber as she led her to the cell Umbra was being held in. The moment they were in front of the cell, a dark mist could be seen escaping as a chill ran down the unicorn’s spine. “By the dark mist of magic seeping out of this cell, I can only assume this is where your princess is being held in?”

“Yes…she does this as a means to not let anypony see her. I don’t blame her given how some of them do have a grudge against her for leading their friends and families to their deaths.”

“Well, now we’re going to need her assistance in this,” Nanako said before taking a few steps toward the cell. The moment she did that, the dark unicorn slammed herself into the bars of the cell as a means to scare them. While it works on Amber as she stumbles backward, the celestial being is not phased by Umbra’s attempt at scaring. The dark unicorn smirked at Amber’s reaction but was taken by surprise by Ruby’s appearance.

“....What in the name of Equestria is this thing?”

“I should be asking you the same thing,” Nanako said as she eyed the former princess up and down at her malnourished body. “Dear god, you look like a walking corpse. I would’ve almost mistaken you as a walking undead had Amber not informed me about who you are.”

“...You, earth pony. Explain what this creature is and how it can speak our language.” Umbra ordered as Amber pulled herself up.

“This…creature as you call her, is named Princess Nanako Otsutsuki of the Otsutsuki Clan…. She didn’t go into that much detail about it, but she’s here to help.”

“...You’re joking, right? Do you honestly think that this small creature can kill my father? Either you’ve gone insane, or you’re just mocking me due to my failure.”

“I assure you that we’re not here to mock you, and what I’m saying isn’t a joke,” Nanako said before placing a hand on the bars of the cell. The moment she did that, the bars crumbled into dust causing Umbra to be taken by surprise from this. “If I’m being honest, my options were to either see if you’re willing to help us or to fight the king by myself. And seeing how I prefer not to fight a battle without some kind of information about who I’m dealing with, you’re the best option I have.”

“....Earth pony, just where in the name of the crown did you find this…creature?” Umbra asked as she shrugged.

“I guess you could say she’s an alien from another world?” Amber said, which caused a moment of silence to hang in the air for a good few seconds before the dark unicorn spoke.

“...Faust, we’re scraping at the bottom of the barrel aren’t we?”

“Given how we have a mad king, it pretty much speaks for itself on how desperate we are.”

“Of course,” Umbra said before looking over at Nanako. “Alright princess from another world. Why should I help you in killing my father? Judging from the way you look, you don’t look capable of holding your own in a fight.”

“Well I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I think I can manage my own against him…I think?”

“You think or you know?”

“Kind of hard to know if I haven’t fought him before. Hence why I came here to get you out and for information.”

“What makes you think I will help you? While I am impressed you can make the bars to my cell shatter seeing they were designed to keep me from using my magic, you’re not even confident in killing Sombra. It would be best that we just gather whatever we can gather and leave this awful place.”

“And you’re not worried about your subjects?”

“Of course I am, but what good am I to them if I’m reduced to this?” She said while presenting her body to the celestial being. From what she could tell, she could see that she was malnourished and had shackles around her hooves and neck. “Were it not for Flan Berry and StarBurst sneaking food into my cell for me to eat, I might be looking much worse than what I look like now.”

“Hm, you make a valid point, but you can still be of help. Knowledge wise.” Nanako said which caused Umbra and Amber to raise an eyebrow at her. “You may not be up to fight due to your condition, but you can provide me with some much-needed information on how your father fights. With that and my abilities, fighting against him shouldn’t be that much of a problem given my age and size.”

“...You must be either overconfident or stupid if you think you can win. You’re just a child…a short child to be accurate.” She said, which caused Nanako to sigh.

“Hm, perhaps we should talk about this in the confines of the captain’s room. But first, let me take care of those shackles so you don't end up handing in mid-air when I teleport us out of here.” Nanako said before clapping her hands together. Within a matter of seconds, she would pull her hands away as Umbra would notice a small clear white cube with a small glowing ball of light inside it. "Particle style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!" She said before making the cube split up into five smaller cubes and latch themselves onto the chains of the shackles. The moment they did, the chains quickly disintegrated into nothingness as Umbra moved her now-freed limbs.

"What kind of magic is that!?" Umbra asked as she noticed Nanako motioning for Amber to walk over to them. The moment the mare was close to her, the two felt the floor below them give out as they all fell through it. Within a matter of seconds, they would appear in the middle of the pegasus knight’s room as Umbra and Amber flopped face-first onto the bed, while Nana landed onto the floor back first as she let out a small grunt.

“What the hell!?” Rusty yelled as she saw the trio fall from the portal that the celestial made before it vanished.

“There we go, though the landing could’ve been better on my end.”

Umbra and Amber slowly pull themselves up from the bed as they look around to see what Nanako means by that. To their surprise, they were inside the captain’s quarters given how the pegasus was still in the room. The duo soon locked eyes onto Nanako who was pulling herself up as Umbra spoke.

“Just what are you, creature? Because what you just performed was high-level magic that not even I could do.” She asked before noticing the celestial being cracking her back before speaking.

“As Amber said, my name is Nanako Otsutsuki, a scholar of the Otsutsuki Clan, and a princess from what Amber informed me. Why am I here? Well given what the book said, I’m here to save you ponies from your mad king.” She said before bowing down to Umbra and Amber.

“...What have I gotten myself into?”

Chapter Three: The Road to Victory

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter Four: KingSlayer

Chapter Four

KingSlayer

(King Sombra’s Throne Room)

A door within the walls of the throne room opened up as Umbra, Rusty, Amber, and Nanako exited. From what they could tell, given the doom and gloom atmosphere and iron throne off in the distance, they were inside the throne room of the tyrant king known as Sombra. The group scanned the area they were in before making their way out of the secret pathway that led from Rusty’s room to the throne room, which in turn caused the door to seal back up once they entered.

“So this is the throne room of King Sombra,” Nanako said as she stared at the blood-covered crystals and bones scattered around the room. “Take away the whole blood splattered around the room and iron throne, and this would be a nice place to sit upon for conversational purposes.”

“It used to be like that nine hundred ninety-nine years ago. But due to father’s constant killings, brutal executions, and maids dying due to exhaustion from his mind control spell. This is the result of it.” Umbra said as she sneered at the sight. “Makes me sick just remembering how much he would laugh and enjoy his entertainment.”

“Right…so if this is the throne room, where is the mad king? Shouldn’t he be here if he knows that Umbra escaped so he can wait for the guards to bring her here?” Amber asked as the group moved closer to the center of the room. It was only when the sound of footsteps echoed through the room that she looked over at the throne. The throne room slowly began to light up with green-colored flames from the crystal columns as King Sombra descended from his throne and slowly made his way towards the group with a devilish smile on his face.

“Dear daughter, I would think you spending a long time in your cell would let you see the error of your rebellious phase. But it would seem I’ll have to make it even more ingrained in your head about the consequences of your actions.” Sombra said before looking at Amber and Rusty. “I’ll start with gutting the two mares and place their heads on spikes, then I’ll-” He paused upon seeing Nanako as he blinked at the celestial being. “What in the name of the empire is that thing!? It looks like a pale hairless albino monkey with bad fashion sense.”

“....Wow, aren’t you just a rude little thing,” Nanako said while moving in front of Amber, Umbra, and Rusty. “First of all, I am not a hairless albino monkey. My name is Nanako Otsutsuki of the Otsutsuki Clan. Princess of the Moon and-”

“You, a princess? Don’t make me laugh, monkey.” Sombra said as the celestial being’s left eye twitched. “Run along creatures, otherwise you’ll be killed along with the ones I’m going to kill.”
“Heh, you shouldn’t underestimate her father,” Umbra said as she took a step forward. “You think I wouldn’t come up here without so much of a plan? Then you have lost your mind.” She said before gesturing to Nanako. “For you see, with the assistance of Amber and Captain Rusty, I have summoned a being that will deliver this kingdom from your madness!”

“....I’m sorry what?” Nanako asked before hearing Umbra whispering.

“Follow my lead and just kill the bastard when he’s distracted.” She said before focusing her attention on Sombra who let out a burst of laughter.

“You mean to tell me you were able to summon this creature? Oh how priceless this is. You’re sending this creature to its death and thinking it can defeat me? You should know how this will end up, right? I end up injuring them, I send you to prison, and then I kill them in front of you. Slowly and painful-”

“Steel style: Steel Projectile!” Before Sombra could finish his sentence, he quickly summoned up a magical barrier around himself to block three Medium-sized steel balls that crashed into the barrier causing him to stagger back slightly from the force behind Nanako’s attack. “Darn, was kind of hoping to at least knock you out while you were focused on the others.”

“...Hm, interesting. So this monkey can use magic.” Sombra said before levitating the steel balls thrown at him around himself. He soon focused his attention on Nanako as he fired the steel balls back at her, which in turn caused her to knock them off to the side. The moment she knocked the third ball away, a dark crystal shard was inches from her face. The alien girl casually moved her head to the side as the shard flew past her head and into the wall behind her in the distance. “Quick reflexes too…Monkey, what is your name?”

“Nanako Otsutsuki of the Otsutsuki Clan. Normally I wouldn’t repeat myself to a lower life form who would disrespect someone like me.”

“Yes, yes, whatever. How would you like to serve me as my right-hand mare?” He said, which took the group by surprise.

“....I’m sorry what?”

“Must I repeat myself? I want you to be my right-hand mare. You seem to be something new that this kingdom has never seen before, I’m sure you have more magic beside summoning those metal balls, and your reflexes are impressive given how fast my magic is. So it would be a smart move to serve me. I can offer you anything you want. Fame, glory, ponies who will admire you. The sky’s the limit.” He said before looking over at Amber, Rusty, and Umbra. “All you have to do is kill the earth pony and pegasus and punish my daughter for her betrayal of the crown. It would be a simple task for you-”

“I’ll pass on that.” She said which caused Sombra to blink in surprise by this.
“...Excuse me?”

“I said I’ll pass. No offense…well actually all the offense, but given what I’ve been seeing in this short time in this place, you’ve completely lost it and you’ll just kill me the moment I turn my back. So out of the interest of not getting shanked or stabbed in the back or kidneys, I’ll just kill you and be on my way.”

“...Pity, I suppose the clan that you’re from will have a funeral. Because you just sealed your fate.” He said as his horn began to glow and fired off a beam of dark magic at the celestial being. Nanako casually tapped the ground with her foot as a wall of steel appeared in front of her and the others to block the beam from hitting them. The moment the beam vanished, she quickly jumped from behind the steel wall, only to be met with another beam of dark magic. Nanako raised her right hand as it gave off a slight glow. The moment his attack hit her hand, she began to absorb the attack into her hand as she aimed at Sombra.

“Dark Style: Judgment.” She said before unleashing a torrent of light blue flames at the mad king. The unicorn’s eyes widened upon seeing this as he quickly placed a barrier around himself but was pushed back and sent flying through his throne and into the wall behind him. The moment he fell to the ground, the wall that he slammed into fell on top of the stallion. “Huh…I was not expecting that to work…especially given how magic isn’t chakra…or is it?”
“...Okay how is that possible!?” Umbra asked as she and the others stared at her in shock.

“What’s possible?”

“You just took his spell and sent it right back at him tenfold. How can you do something like that if you don't have magic?” Rusty asked.

“I would explain how that’s possible, but that will have to wait until later once I have time to study this world.” She said before hearing an explosion go off she looked over to where Sombra was as the wall that he was under exploded into pieces. An annoyed expression was plastered on his face as he glared daggers at Nanako.

“You’ll pay for that monkey.” He said as his horn lit up once again. This time, he fired off pillars of dark crystals from the ground and made them head towards Nanako. Nanako jumped into the air to avoid the oncoming pillars of crystals heading towards her. Once in the air she looked down at Sombra and brought her hands up.

“Storm style: Laser Circus!” She yelled as a halo of midnight blue-colored energy spread around her hands. It soon encircled her hands and fired off multiple beams at the unicorn. Sombra quickly summoned up a wall of crystals to protect himself from the barrage of lasers, but to no avail, as pieces of the wall shattered upon making contact with the attack and shot past him as they either missed or grazed his shin. The unicorn quickly lunged himself backward with the assistance of a pillar of crystal he summoned underneath him to get some distance. The moment he had a good distance away from Nanako, he summoned up sickly green and black colored balls of magic around himself before firing them off and appearing around Nanako.

“Let's see if you can dodge this!” He yelled as the balls of magic started zooming around the celestial being before firing off small concentrated beams of dark magic in all directions. Nanako reaches into her sleeve to pull out a white scroll. She soon opened it to reveal the word shield on it in Japanese letters and used it as a shield to block the beams while occasionally dodging them. As she was blocking and dodging, Sombra would take the opportunity to turn into his shadow form and sneak into the darkness of the throne room. The moment she revealed her blind spot to the dark king, Sombra grinned as he soon lunged towards her in his solid form in an attempt to attack with shards of crystals forming around him and ready to impale her body.

“Nanako, behind you!” Amber yelled as she watched Sombra impale her body with the shards of crystal, though the sound of them cracking before breaking which took the earth pony by surprise.

“What the, how are you not impaled by my crystals!?” He asked before noticing her skin being of a different skin color. Instead of it being a pale white, it was grayish-black.

“Steel Style: Impervious Armor.” She answered before performing a quick spin as she backhanded the stallion in the face with a steel-covered hand and sent him tumbling off to the side. In doing so, the balls of magic disappear as the celestial being quickly closes the gap between herself and the king. Once Nanako was within striking range of the stallion, she soon delivered a quick jab to his face to stagger him followed by a right hook to his rib cage.

The force behind her right hook caused him to slide backward as the celestial pivot of footing proceeded to follow after him. The moment she was close to him again, she began to deliver three quick jabs to his face, followed by a high kick to his head, a punch to his throat, and a pair of steel-covered fists to his chest. The mad king staggered back with his hooves covering his chest as he gasped for air. He soon felt himself hitting a column made out of crystal followed by the girl delivering an earth-shattering punch to his liver, which in turn caused him to vomit out blood as he felt Nanako delivering punch after punch to his body.

Off to the side, Umbra, Amber, and Rusty were staring in shock at what was being displayed in front of him. King Sombra, the mad king, the most powerful unicorn in the Crystal Empire, the one who was able to out-match Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, was being used like a ragdoll by an outworlder like this was nothing but a sparring match. Mixed emotions swelled up inside of them, though it would be noticed that Umbra was slowly cracking a smile at seeing her father being taken down a peg or two.

“This girl…she is a faust sent from the heavens.” Umbra thought as she noticed that each punch that Nanako delivered would cause the ground to shake and the crystal column to crack more and more. “She could win this…so long as she doesn’t get overconfident and lower her guard.” Just as Nanako was about to deliver a left hook to his face, she quickly jumped backward to avoid a pair of spikes made out of crystals shooting from the floor before forming a dome around himself. Once the dome was made, the mad king fell to the ground before letting out a coughing fit followed by vomiting blood onto the floor.

“How long has it been since I had felt pain before?” Sombra thought before looking down at the blood below him. “Not since my battle with the princesses or the previous rule have I felt like I was on the verge of defeat…Finally, I challenge worthy of a king such as myself!” Looking up, he could see Nanako punching her way through to him as the sense of fear started to creep up his spine. “I have to kill this beast of a creature. Much as I would like for this fight to continue for all eternity, I can’t allow my kingdom to fall by this invader summoned by my daughter. This is my Kingdom, no one else!” The mad king gritted his teeth in excitement as he quickly turned into his shadow form and burst out of his dome. Once he was freed, she started to spread his body out as darkness consumed part of the area they were in. Upon seeing this, Umbra casts a barrier around herself along with Amber and Rusty as they watch Sombra glaring down at Nanako.

“I must admit, you took me by surprise. Never have I ever met someone that could hurt me. It’s been a long time since I had this much fun with an opponent who wouldn’t cower in fear upon seeing me. It's exhilarating to the point where I want it to last forever, but even I know nothing lasts forever. I can not, and will not allow my kingdom to be taken away from me. Not by you or anypony for that matter.”

“You have gone off the deep end if this is how you run your so-called kingdom,” Nanako said before taking up a fighting stance. “What kind of king treats their subjects like they're nothing more than pawns or tools for their own needs?”

“The kind where he would kill to prevent treason. The previous ruler ran the kingdom like a fool, always forgiving, and always trusting fools that would betray her later on. I had enough of it. To see that this kingdom would stand the test of time, I had to kill her and seize the throne for myself. This kingdom has become a better place for everypony to live in.”

“I…think your definition of a better place might be misleading. Especially seeing how almost half the population in this place are on death's door or dead already.”

“You’re a princess, right? Surely you know what it’s like to be betrayed or watching a ruler being a fool.”

“Not really, I mean I can see what you mean by that. But I’ve never ruled a kingdom or watched someone rule a kingdom…Unless a small village counts?” She said, which took the king by surprise.

“You're joking…right?” he asked as Nanako shook her head. “You mean to tell me you’re a princess who never ruled a kingdom in her life? How in the name of Tartarus are you this strong!? No commoner can ever achieve combat skills that you have.”

“Well, I’m a traveling scholar who has been studying, experiencing, and practicing ninjutsu and taijutsu.” She said as Sombra fell silent for a moment before letting out a fit of laughter.

“You’re an oddity that I’ve never seen. It would be nice to see more creatures like yourself in this place.” He said before returning to his original form, though Nanako would notice shadow-like tendrils appearing from his shadows. “It would make this dull place more lively~”

“Perhaps, but I think this place would be much better if you were gone,” Nanako said before getting back into a fighting stance. “You need to retire. Let the next generation of ponies lead your kingdom to a better future.”

“It will be a cold day in Tartarus before I let that happen!” Sombra said as the tips of the tendrils formed into spears as they began to launch themselves at Nanako. The Celestial quickly deflected the oncoming assault with her fist before closing the distance between them. The moment she was about to deliver a right hook to his face, Sombra’s horn lit up as a jet-black sword appeared from his shadow and blocked the punch. Once it was blocked, he soon parried her fist off to the side, countered with a kick to her stomach, and sent her sliding backward. The moment she stopped herself from sliding, she quickly bolted toward the stallion as she tried to deliver a haymaker to his horn. Sombra moved his head back to avoid the strike as he countered with a barrage of quick thrusts from his sword and tendrils. Nanako would deflect or dodge most of the attacks as some would graze her clothes, leaving behind either holes and slashes but no damage to her skin due to it being covered in iron. Upon deflecting a strike from his sword, the celestial being jumped backward as she took in a deep breath.

“Fire style: Great Fire Annihilation!” She yelled before firing off a giant wave of fire at Sombra. The stallion’s eyes widened upon seeing this as he quickly summoned up a wall of crystals in front of himself. Within a matter of seconds, the wave of fire started to settle down as the mad king used his magic to send the wall of crystals to Nanako at an alarming rate. The alien girl cracked her knuckle before bringing her fist back and delivering an earth-shattering punch and shattered the wall into pieces. As pieces of the crystal wall shattered around the area, Sombra appeared from behind the one that fell behind her as he thrust his sword into Nanako’s back.

“Skilled as you are, you’re not that skilled to fall for something like this.” He said before noticing something odd. It felt like he was hitting something hard, but it wasn’t the girl. He looked up to see Nanako’s reaction, only for the girl to explode in a puff of smoke to reveal that he impaled a piece of crystal.

“Lava style: Ash Stone Sealing.” Before he could react, Sombra felt something wrap around his body. Looking down he noticed a thick cloud of black ash wrap around his body. He was about to use his magic to teleport out of his bindings but soon felt the cloud of ash wrap around his horn as it temporarily stopped him from teleporting. Sombra soon looked behind himself to see Nanako spewing out a black cloud of ash from her mouth before wiping it once she was done.

“How did you do that?”

“Substitution jutsu. Comes in handy when you need to avoid being attacked from behind or something along the lines of that.” She said before launching herself as Sombra, grabbed his horn from within the cloud of ashes, and snapped it off with little to no effort. The stallion let out a low grunt from feeling his horn ripped off as Nanako crushed it into pieces. “And with that, it’s checkmate.”

“Of course, she would tell you how to disable my magic. I should’ve killed you when I got the chance instead of keeping you in the dungeon and molding you into the next ruler.”

“Yeah, because I would become the next ruler of a somewhat dead kingdom,” Umbra said in a sarcastic tone as she walked up to him and Nanako. “I never would’ve imagined I would see the day when you were brought down like this…it would be sad if it weren’t for the fact that I have no love for you anymore.”

“Well, congratulations welp. You finally took your old man down. Shame that you had to get outside help. But if I have to ask, what are you planning to do now? You can’t take over the Crystal Empire given how the ponies would never follow you given how you’re the daughter of the evil king, you can’t pick any of the royals seeing how I killed them all, and you can’t kill me otherwise the spell I have on my subjects will kill them. Can you bear the weight of their lives on your shoulders dear daughter?”

“You think I want to rule over this place? You kept me a prisoner here throughout my entire life. Why would I want anything to do with something like this? I can handle the fact that I brought a lot of death on my end due to my reckless rebellions and poor planning, what’s another couple of more deaths under my belt? Not like I’ll be staying here anytime soon anyway.” She said before turning her back away from Sombra. “You watch how this kingdom turns out from the afterlife, for now, I have nothing else to say. Nanako, kill him.”

“Alright,” Nanako said before focusing her attention on Sombra. “Any last words you want to say before I kill? No, saying that you’re sorry about what you did? No trying to plead for mercy?”

“As if a king would plead for his life. I lived my life as I see fit and I have no regrets about it. Though I suppose being killed by your hands rather than imprisoned by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna is a mercy within itself.”

“Anyone else have anything to say before I kill him?” She asked before looking over at Amber and Rusty who were in shock at what was displayed in front of them. “I’ll take that as a no then.”

“Just hurry up and get it over with. Unless you’re planning to spare my life, which I would recommend that you don’t,” he said before noticing a white cube with a ball of energy in the center of it slowly appearing in her hand.

“Particle style: Atomic Dismantling jutsu.” She said before firing off the cube at Sombra and quickly engulfing his torso before making it vanish. The stallion’s eyes widened upon feeling this as his legs, part of his tail, and head fell to the ground. His head would move a bit due to trying to gasp for air while still trying to process what had happened to him. Within a matter of a minute, his head would slowly stop moving as the life within his eyes vanished.

“Why did you leave his head and legs alone?” Umbra asks as she notices Nanako walking over to Sombra’s remains.

“Just to show that King Sombra is dead to the remaining ponies of the empire. While I’m sure your world would show value to some, having proof that your father is dead would cement it for everyone to see.” She said before looking at Amber and Rusty. “I believe this would be enough to gain your trust more…right?”

“Um…y-yeah…that will do…I-I’m sorry I’m just…still in shock at what I just saw,” Rusty said before heading towards the throne room’s doors. “I’m…gonna take a leave of absence for a while…Amber, you’re in charge until I return.”

“W-Wait what!? But I can’t be in charge! I don’t even know the first thing about being a leader!” Amber yelled as she watched the pegasus leave. “Aw, horse apples! This is not going to end well for me. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Well if my knowledge about the whole hierarchy is accurate, Umbra would be in charge because Sombra is dead. So you would be getting your orders from her.” Nanako said as the foxtail earth pony looked over at her.

“...Go around the castle and bring those that are still standing and order them to take any injured pony to Northstar,” Umbra said as a shiver ran down Amber’s spine.

“You sure? I mean, we could get somepony other than her to treat the ponies.”

“Much as I would love to, she’s the only pony with a medical degree under her belt…plus all the other doctors are dead, so she’ll have to do it.”

“Alright…I dislike going to her.” Amber said before running off. The moment the earth pony left, Umbra motioned for Nanako to follow her.

“While they’re busy, I need to speak with you in private.”

“...Does it involve something related to the Crystal Empire?” She asked while the dark unicorn nodded as the Celestial being began to follow after Umbra. “Mind telling me what that is?”
“I have a request for you if you’re willing to accept it. Sombra wasn’t wrong in what he said, but not because everypony in the kingdom would distrust me. If anything they trust me more due to my acts of rebellion against my father. But due to him corrupting me with dark magic, I’m no longer suited to rule over the Crystal Empire.”

“Seems a bit far-fetched if you ask me. I mean just because your body is corrupted, doesn’t mean you can’t rule a kingdom.”

“It does when the crystal heart is involved. What they don’t know is that Father will return within a matter of days due to his connection with the crystal heart. Should he return, then the whole cycle of death and terror will begin again. But if someone else were to touch the crystal heart.”

“Then the cycle will break and the empire will be free…but there’s a catch isn’t there?”

“I’ll explain more once we reach the crystal heart,” Umbra said as the two appeared in front of a wall. The unicorn’s horn lit up for a second as it revealed a secret passageway for them to walk through. “Come, it’s not a long walk. So we’ll be able to return within an hour or so depending.” She said as the two made their way into the passageway as the wall closed up behind them.

Chapter Five: From Scholar to Ruler (edited)

Chapter Five

From Scholar to Ruler

“Is there any particular reason why your father hid the Crystal Heart in a place like this?” Nanako asked as she continued to follow after Umbra through the slightly dark passageway.

“You read what was in the book left behind by Princess Amore, right?”

“You will live as long as the heart is in your possession and your magic will forever be bound by it. When someone other than you claims the heart, your reign will fall and you will fall with it.” Nanako quoted. “That’s what was written in the book before it vanished…which would explain now why he would hide the heart in a place like this.”

“Indeed, father was paranoid that someone would steal the heart from him, so he hid it in the throne room where nopony would expect to look. If what was written in the book is true, and if my hunch is correct, then you’re the prime candidate to free the Crystal Empire and rule over it as its ruler.”

“So this is what you were talking about. You want me to rule over the Crystal Empire, right?” Nanako asked as the unicorn nodded.

“Indeed, much as I wish to rule the Crystal Empire…but the drive I had…died a long time ago. If I were to rule in the state I’m in now…it wouldn’t last long.” She said as the two would soon enter into a large dark room with the only light source being the Crystal Heart in the center. “If we’re to see this place going on the right track, it needs somepony to lead it to a brighter future. You killed my father, so it’s only natural that you would claim domain over the Crystal Heart and the Empire.”

“Are you sure you want me to do this? I am an outsider after all.”

“Well, it’s not like we have many options. Plus I’m pretty sure you’re stuck here given how you haven’t left yet.”

“I…Suppose you make some valid points.”

“I’ll stick around to offer some assistance, but once that’s taken care of I am leaving this place. Don’t expect me to return any time soon unless a crisis is involved.” The unicorn said as they reached their destination. “We’re here.” Nanako looked around Umbra to see a pale-colored heart made out of crystals as it was engulfed in a black aura of darkness. The unicorn moved to the side for Nanako to see as she slowly walked up to it. As Nanako came closer to it, the heart gave off a small pulse as the Celestial being felt her own heart pulsing a bit with the crystal.

“How do I take care of the darkness around the heart?” asked Nanako as Umbra shrugged.

“Don’t know. I can only guess you just need to touch it and the heart will be yours.” She answered as Nanako examined the crystal heart for a moment before placing her hand on it. It felt cold for a moment but slowly began to heat up as the darkness that was engulfing the heart slowly vanished. The girl’s eyes widened upon feeling some of her chakra being pulled into the crystal; it soon lit up with the same midnight blue color as her chakra. Within a matter of seconds, a wave of magic spilled forth, causing the darkness in the room to vanish and brighten up. This caused Nanako and Umbra to cover their eyes as the light soon spread throughout the crystal empire where it could be seen for miles. Within seconds, the bright light slowly vanished as the two slowly opened their eyes before staring in shock at how well-lit the room was.

“I was not expecting that to happen,” Nanako said as she looked over at Umbra. Upon seeing how she blinked in surprise at her looking younger than, and standing up similar to how a human would stand on their two legs. “...Okay, yeah this is something I was not expecting.”

“What do you mean by that?” Umbra asked as her vision began to return. The unicorn felt off for some reason as she decided to look over herself. The moment she saw herself standing on her two legs, she let out a yelp before falling backward onto the floor. “What in the name of Tartarus happened to me!?” She asked before noticing her voice was different. She unintentionally used her magic to take a piece of the crystal wall off and brought it over to her to look at herself in the mirror. Upon seeing herself at the age of nineteen, her mouth hangs open in shock.

“I believe whatever the heart did, just made you younger than how you were before…I know it’s an obvious statement…but I’ve seen anything like this before.”

“Dear Faust…I feel so…I don’t even know how to describe it.” Umbra said while admiring herself in the reflection as she tried to stand on her two legs once again though would stagger a bit due to losing her balance a bit. “Full of energy or something along the lines of that? How is this even possible?”

“I would like to study this phenomenon, but we have more pressing matters to attend to.”

“What could be more important than this?”

“Like did this affect the citizens and the kingdom as well,” Nanako answered as she pointed at their newly lit surroundings. “Because if I’m correct and this heart is the symbol of this Kingdom, then that wave of energy must’ve spread throughout the empire as well, right?” she asked which caused Umbra to realize what she meant and motioned for her to follow her back to the throne room. The moment they reached the throne room, the two made their way over to a nearby balcony of the castle.

Upon making it to where they could see the entire kingdom from the castle, their eyes widened in shock upon seeing it. From what they could tell, instead of the place being covered in snow and blood covering most of the streets and buildings, it was replaced with a more Eastern-style setting. The crystal trees were blooming with cherry blossom petals floating in the wind, houses were more of an old Japanese style home with a bit of modern setting added to them, and the streets were covered with crystals with certain middle parts of them carved out as water flowed down them. This wasn’t the only change that was made, when they looked up a bit, they would notice that the mountain terrain changed drastically and the dome that covered the Empire had vanished.

“Okay…this is something I was not expecting to happen when I touched the crystal heart,” Nanako said as she continued to stare at the scenery in front of her for a while before looking over at Umbra. “You do know that the ponies are going to ask questions about this, right?”

“I know, which is why we’ll give it to them in the coming morning. Right now we’re going to have to do damage control for tonight. And by we I mean the crystal ponies.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I’ll teleport you to my private chambers so you can get some sleep. I’ll come get you once morning comes. You earned it seeing how you killed my father and freed us from his tyranny.” Umbra answered as the celestial being noticed her horn glowing. Before she could get a word in, she was soon teleported out of the throne room and into her private room leaving the dark alicorn alone on the balcony as she looked up at the moonlit sky. A smile could be seen across her face as she turned around and headed back inside to do damage control of her father’s misdeeds. In the skies above the Crystal Empire, the changes did not go unnoticed by the local population. Soaring through the clouds, a small group of pegasi were currently staring down at the newly lit kingdom of the Crystal Empire. The four of them stare at each other for a moment before one of them orders the gray-colored pegasus to fly off to Canterlot at breakneck speed. While the pegasus was flying as fast as he could to reach Canterlot on time, the others decided to watch from above the clouds to keep an eye on the location in case something else happened.

Nighttime fell upon Equestria as ponies began to close up shop or began their nightshift in their respective job that they work in. Within the castle of Canterlot, Celestia was currently looking at a magical projection of both the planet Earth, Equis, and thousands of crimson-colored threads connecting. The white alicorn stared at the image for what seemed like forever, that is until the sound of energy erupting out of the ground could be heard from outside of her room. Looking out at the balcony, she saw a burst of midnight-colored energy shooting up towards the sky in the distance. Celestia’s eyes widened upon seeing this as she was about to make his way over to the balcony until he noticed the magical projection flickering.

“What’s going on?” She asked as the image vanished for a few seconds before reappearing. She noticed that the threads connecting to Earth and Equis quickly change as the symbol of the Otsutsuki Clan appeared in the center of the two planets. The moment the symbol was in between the planets, threads from both planets connected to the threads from the Otsutsuki Clan's symbol. Once connected, the crimson-colored threads mix with the midnight blue-colored threads. “What in the name of Equestria is going on? The Web of Life has never done anything like this before. Could this have something to do with Peter?” Before she could think of any other possible reason behind this strange anomaly, the door to her private chambers opened up as Princess Luna burst into his room with a shocked expression on her face.

“You saw it too didn’t you, sister?” Luna asked as the mare nodded.

“It’s hard not to notice a light like that in the middle of the night,” She said before paying attention to the magical projection. “Especially given what’s been going on with the web of life.”

“What is that symbol?” Luna asked as she pointed a hoof at the Otsutsuki clan’s logo.

“I don’t know, but if it’s here, then it might be something to do with what Discord said about Osborn having his chaos magic.”

“You think he’s starting his attack sooner than expected?” Luna asked as Celestia shook her head.

“Traveling between worlds is difficult enough even with chaos magic. Though we shouldn’t rule out the possibility of him sending someone or something into Equestria to cause trouble,” She said before noticing something was coming into the distance in his field of vision. The white alicorn squinted her eyes for a moment before widening at the sight of the pegasus wearing a wonder bolt uniform barreling into Celestia’s chambers. From what the siblings could tell, the pegasus was covered in frost on certain parts of his body.

“S-Sorry for the intrusion, but I have urgent news to r-report to you both.”

“Mother of me, what happened to you!?” Celestia asked as she quickly made her way over to the pegasus and assisted him up to his feet. “Did Osborn do this to you?”

“No, that’s not the reason why I’m l-like this,” He said before taking a few deep breaths before speaking. “It’s the Empire…The Crystal Empire has returned.” Celestia and Luna stared at the pegasus with widened eyes before looking at each other with shocked expressions. There was a moment of silence hanging in the air before Celestia spoke up.

“Report to the medical wing and get yourself some rest, Luna and I will take care of this matter.”

“U-Understood.” The pegasus said as the white alicorn teleported the pegasus out of her room. She soon turns her attention to Luna who has a stern expression on her face.

“If the Crystal Empire has returned, then that must mean King Sombra has returned?” Luna asked as Celestia nodded. “Should I bring Sunset and the others here?”

“No, not tonight. Going to the Empire at night would be dangerous and would give Sombra an advantage. I’ll send a letter to them that we’ll meet up in Sunset’s home and discuss the matter and how to deal with King Sombra.”

“I’ll inform Shining Armor and Cadance about this matter as well. Having the captain of the royal guard and an alicorn to counter Sombra’s magic would help if we have to do battle with the mad king.” Celestia nodded as the dark blue alicorn made her leave via teleportation. The moment she left, Celestia made her way over to the balcony of her room and looked up at the moonlit night and the sea of stars. A sigh escaped her lips as memories of how she and Twilight used to look up at the night sky as they would make a game to see how many constellations they could find within a minute or so.

“Twilight…I hope you’re doing okay.”

Chapter Six: Welcome to The New Age

Chapter Six

Welcome to The New Age

Morning arrived upon the Crystal Empire. Nothing had changed since last night other than the ponies noticing the change to themselves and their home. No longer were they forced to stay inside their homes and only be allowed to leave for important matters involving King Sombra. No longer were they in fear of guards killing them if they looked or acted suspicious. And no longer was the sky constantly covered in a veil of darkness and clouds. It was as if the nightmare they’d been experiencing was finally broken as ponies began to wander around the newly built kingdom.

While the ponies were currently trying to figure out what had happened and talking to some of the guards who were carrying the weak & wounded to the hospital, Nanako was sleeping on the bed of Queen Umbra without a care in the world. However, that would come to an end as Umbra, Amber, and Rusty entered the room. Upon seeing the celestial being halfway off the bed like a bum, Rusty deadpans at the scene before speaking.

“....This is the being that you choose to become our ruler?” Rusty asked.

“Well, it’s better than anypony else that we got. Do you think anyone would be okay with me ruling after what my father did to them?” Umbra answered as she made her way over to the window and opened the curtain to her room, causing the sunlight to hit Nanako’s face, but she was still asleep.

“I mean she does make a valid point,” Amber said before making her way over to the celestial being. “She looks cute when she’s passed out…I think?”

“Perhaps, but I still have my doubts about her. You sure she won’t betray us like Sombra did?” Rusty asked as Umbra shook her head.

“Given how the Crystal Heart accepted her, I have reason to believe she won’t do that.” She said before looking over at Nanako and using her magic to push her off the bed. The sound of something hard hit the floor as Nanako fell face-first onto it. There was a moment of silence in the room before hearing Nanako grunting and pulling herself up from the ground. “Rise and shine princess~”

“Geez…must’ve been tired last night if I was sleeping face down like this,” Nanako said as she slowly pulled herself up while covering herself with the blanket from the bed. “What time is it?”

“It’s nine o’clock, Queen Nanako,” Amber answered as Nanako let out a loud yawn. “We have a lot to do today given how you’re the new ruler of the Crystal Empire!”

“And that would be?”

“Addressing yourself to the Crystal Empire,” Umbra answered before using her magic to make a list appear out of thin air. “Afterwards, you are to meet with ten of Sombra’s hoof-picked generals…and by hoof picked, I mean forced to work for him, otherwise he would kill them.”

“Understandable, who wouldn’t work for a guy that can mount your head on a pike? Mind telling me their names?” Nanako asked as Umbra used her magic to bring up a magical image of three unicorns. One was a cream-colored unicorn with red hair, the other was a blue unicorn with yellow hair, and the third was a white unicorn with orange & white hair and had a fox-like tail similar to that of Amber, only the unicorn had multiple tails. “First we have the science and medical leaders who consist of Mayfield, Northstar, and Haiku.”

“This place has a science department?”

“It does, but it was only used one time to create magic-canceling rings for unicorns and mind-control helmets. Afterward, it was liquidated because he didn’t have any use for it. Now that he’s dead, we can make something useful and patch ponies up if they’re injured or sick.”

“Hm, the one with the fox tails. She wouldn’t happen to be related to Amber, would she?” Nanako asked as the unicorn nodded.

“Haiku Foxtail, mother of Amber Foxfire and Aqua Foxwater. Haiku is the kingdom’s leading expert in plants and is the owner of the apothecary shop.”

“So she’s a botanist and chemist, interesting. What about the other two?”

“Mayfield, leader of the scientific technology department & security, and Northstar is in charge of the medical science department. You need somepony in need of a prosthetic or a physical check-up, they’re the two you can rely on…despite one being an airhead with a thing for magnetism and the other being crazy over seeing new species of animals or beings.”

“...Should I be worried about Northstar?”

“Yes…yes you should,” Umbra said before bringing up four images of five ponies. One was a male pegasus, the other two were female pegasi, one was an earth pony, and the fifth was an old gruff-looking unicorn. “Next we have the military department. You already met Rusty Heart.”

“You kind of owe me a new room seeing how you did damage it with that weird thin magical beam attack.”

“It’s not magic, it's ninjutsu, and you can take money out of the treasury to repair the damage done to your room,” Nanako said as she looked back at Umbra who continued.

“She along with Emerald Spade and Star Loyalty are the captains of the aerial division, Hateful Freeze is the captain of the ground soldier division, and Blazeheart is in charge of the unicorn division and the kingdom’s blacksmith.”

“Alright, nice to see this place has some kind of military forces. But what about interior workers? Like carpenters and clothes designers?” Nanako asked as Umbra brought up three images of three earth ponies.

“Thunder Hoof, Glamorous Icon, and Tarot Deck. Thunder Hoof is in charge of housing and construction, Glamorous Icon is the empire’s fashion designer, and Tarot Deck is our fortune teller, astrologist, and chef.”

“A chef huh, I would like to meet Tarot Deck seeing how she’s the chef, and I am a bit hungry.”

“We have food set up for you in the dining hall. Can’t start the day without something to eat right?” Umbra said as she made the magical images disappear. “Amber, take Nanako to the dining hall, I have some things to set up before the meeting around ten o’clock.”

“Yes ma’am!” Amber said before looking over at Nanako. “Follow me if you would, my queen.”

“Please don’t call me that. Queen seems a bit too formal for my taste.” Nanako said before making her way off the bed and floated after the fox-tailed earth pony to the dining hall. While the two were walking down the hallway, Umbra looked over at Rusty with a smirk on her face.

“Still think she can’t be trusted?” Umbra asked as Rusty rolled her eyes.

“Fine, I suppose I can give her the benefit of the doubt. She didn’t kill us off the bat like Sombra did when somepony woke him up.” She said before walking down the hallway in the opposite direction. “But that still doesn’t change the fact that not everypony is going to trust her off the back.”

“Hence the meeting we’ll be having. It’ll show that my father is dead and they can no longer fear death or worse.”

“Do you even have a plan for how she’ll get them to trust her? Because words alone aren't going to cut it.”

“I’m sure she’ll have some idea of how to prove to them that she can be trusted. For now, you may return to your duties and inform the other about the meeting.” Umbra said as she sank into the shadows and disappeared. As Umbra and Rusty went their separate ways, Nanako and Amber entered the dining hall. To the celestial being’s surprise, she was expecting the table to be covered in food that would be suitable for a pony. Not that it wouldn’t matter to her, she could just turn it into something edible to eat. Food is food even if it wasn’t human food. But instead, the table was covered in an assortment of foods ranging from vegetables, meats, fish, fruits, and pastry goods.

“Wow, I was not expecting this if I’m being honest,” Nanako said as she admired the food on the table. “ Well the meat part at least, I can understand the fish. But I was expecting plant-based foods given how you’re ponies.”

“If you mean the meat on the table, it’s not animal meat,” Amber said as Nanako raised an eyebrow at her.

“Is it some kind of plant-based meat?”

“No, it’s bug meat.” said a new voice as the two looked over to their right to see an amber-orange pony with black colored hair, a witch's hat on her head, and a white apron around her waist. “So you’re the one that took down King Sombra. When Umbra said that you were something beyond, she wasn’t kidding about it..”

“I get that a lot. I’m going to assume your name is Tarot Deck?” she asked as Tarot nodded.

“Yep! Tarot Deck is my name. I’m the empire’s fortune teller, astrologist, and chef…that last part was kind of forced on me because King Sombra killed the last chef two years ago and pretty much chose me to take his place…it was not fun having to deal with his outrageous food pallet.”

“Given my short interaction with him before his death, I can see why you wouldn’t find it fun,” Nanako said before looking at the spread of food. “While I do appreciate that you did this for me, I don’t need to eat this much. Though I will make a plate for myself, can you give the rest of the food to the ponies in the castle and if possible throughout the empire?” She asked which took Amber and Tarot by surprise. “What? Did I accidentally say something wrong?”

“N-No…it’s just that…King Sombra never offers anypony food…he just leaves us with scraps of whatever he doesn’t eat…which is rare.” Tarot said as she looked over at the table for a moment before looking back at Nanako. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Yes, I’m sure about that.” She said before walking over to the table as she made herself a plate of food for herself. “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you get bug meat that’s the size of an animal?”

“W-Well due to the environment that we live in, a lot of the animals that we had died off. So King Sombra had an idea to use an enlargement spell to increase the size of all bugs within the Crystal Empire. While it did help with providing food for the empire, it also caused the local wildlife to change.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but when did he do that?”

“Northstar assumes that it happened nine hundred years ago, which makes sense seeing how the change couldn’t happen so suddenly,” Amber answered.

“Yes, indeed…where are these giant bugs?” Nanako asked.

“There’s an underground entrance outside near the entrance of the empire. Sombra would bring a group of unicorns with him to kill the bugs and extract the meat from them. It tastes really good if you know how to season it.” She said before noticing Nanako taking a loud crunchy bite out of the bug meat. A low moan of pleasure escaped the celestial being’s mouth as she looked over at the earth pony chef.

“Dear god, this might put the food I eat back home to shame. And you made this all on your own?”

“I mean I had help from the boys in the kitchen, but the idea to use a special sauce was my idea.”

“Well, you did one hell of a job. Keep up the good work Tarot~” She said before taking a seat at the table. “Feel free to give the rest of the food to the others.”

“U-Um, of course! Thank you, Queen Nanako!” Tarot said before quickly making her way back into the kitchen.

“It’s Nanako! Not Queen Nanako!” She yelled before letting out a sigh of slight annoyance as she looked over at Amber. “Is this going to be a thing?”

“Being called Queen after an act of kindness? Yes…I think.” Amber said before making herself a plate of food and sat to eat. While the earth pony was eating, the celestial being would notice the earth pony’s jagged sharp teeth which piqued the girl’s interest.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why do you have teeth that were meant to rip apart teeth?”

“Oh, so you noticed?” Amber asked after taking a bite out of her bug meat. “I’m not the only one that has teeth like these. A lot of the ponies in this kingdom have it. Northstar said it’s mainly due to evolution seeing how normal ponies couldn’t survive this long in a place like this. Generation upon generation, our normal flat teeth, and pony anatomy had to change to adapt to our…prison. She said that first started to be noticed around the one-hundred-year mark of King Sombra’s ruling during the great devegetation that lasted for a good fifty years or so.”

“So that would make you all omnivores.”

“Correct…at least with this generation of ponies.”

“Well that answers a few of my questions on the whole razor-sharp teeth…but why do you have a fox-like tail while everyone else has normal tails?” She asked as the fox-tailed earth pony shrugged.

“You’ll have to ask my mom about it. Because that’s where I along with my sister got it from…oddly enough she never tells me why we have tails like this.”

“I’ll make a mental note to ask Haiku about your family's genetic traits. But for now, I’ll just focus on the meeting in front of the castle and the food I'm eating.”

“Got anything to say to the ponies of the empire? Because I’m sure words aren’t going to cut it.”

“I have a few ideas that I’m hoping will work,” Nanako said as she looked over at the pile of animal meat off to the side of them. “...Question…how good are you with stuffing meat inside of a taxidermy body of a pony?”

[An hour later]

“Attention ponies of the Crystal Empire!” yelled Umbra as everyone within the area of her voice turned their attention. “As all of you know there have been rumors going around about somepony killing our ruler King Sombra. Well, I would like to say that the rumors are true, King Sombra is dead.” Ponies within the crowd started to mumble to each other. “If you’re all wondering who did, well I would like to introduce our savior and the new ruler of our empire.” She said before turning around and motioned Nanako to walk up. “Queen Nanako, the Kingslayer!” As Nanako made her way to the platform, trumpets began to play along with confetti being thrown into the air celebrating their new ruler's arrival. It would be noticed that she would be carrying something on her back that was wrapped in bandages as she stood in front of the coward of ponies.

“Greetings ponies of the Crystal Empire. My name is Nanako Otsutsuki, your new ruler and killer of King Sombrero.” Nanako said as some of the ponies laughed at her misspelling of their old ruler’s name.

“It’s King Sombra Queen Nanako.” Umbra whispered.

“Right…but does it matter? The guy’s dead so I don’t see why I should call him by that name.” Nanako whispered back before turning her attention back to her new subject. “Now most of you are wondering what I am if I’m not mistaken. Well to make a long story short, I am a celestial being that was brought by a book left behind by the late Princess Amore. Her wish was to see that this kingdom was free of King Sombrero’s tyranny.” She said before placing what she was carrying on the ground. The moment she revealed the dead body of King Sombra, everyone within the vicinity of the area could be seen gasping in shock. Nanako took notice of the crowd's reaction as she used wood style to position Sombra’s body on a cross as he hung in the air. She soon looked over at the crowd with a stern expression on her face. “As proof of what I did, I have his dead body right here upon display.”

“How in Tartarus was she able to assemble his body like that?” Umbra thought before noticing the stitches on certain parts of Sombra’s body. A smirk appeared on her face as she started to put the pieces together on what Nanako was planning on doing.

“For years you all have been suffering under this mad pony’s lust for power. For years you all have been forced into slavery by his tyranny. You've been humiliated, and forced to kill your families, friends, and loved ones just so you can survive to see another day. This pony killed Princess Amore just because he wanted power and turned his daughter into a corrupted monster after failure upon failure to rebel against him. If this continues to go on, you all could've been wiped out from the face of this planet. It was by a last-ditch effort by your late princess that she summoned a champion from the stars, and that champion is me.” She said before taking a few steps away from the corpse.

“For many years I’ve been fighting to try and reclaim the throne and end my father’s tyranny. Sadly, I have failed and for that, I am sorry.” Umbra said before bowing down to the citizens of the Crystal Empire. “Due to years of corruption from my father, I am not suited to lead you all. But this goddess from another world, I have faith that she will do what I failed to accomplish. It’s time for a new age to come, one where you will not bow down to a tyrant. But instead, take them down!” Umbra said as Nanako set King Sombra’s body on fire with a fireball.

“As Ruler of the Crystal Empire, I will be laying down new rules which will be written and implemented within a couple of months. Here are the first three,” Nanako said, upon saying that, the ponies within the crowd had worried expressions on their faces as they saw Nanako pull out a piece of paper. “Rule number one, the curfew that Sombra placed will be lifted. You all can wander around at night whenever you want, but there will be guards wandering the city to make sure no one is up to any crimes. Rule number two. Schools are now reopened to all fillies and colts.” She said before hearing a loud groan from the young fillies and colts within the crowd. “Sorry kids, but them's the rules I’m placing. Anyway, schools are now reopening, but things are gonna be a little different.”

“Different as in how?” Umbra asked.

“Those who are still eligible to go to school will be learning not only basic knowledge but also combat training. It would notice that you are standing on your back legs similar to how I’m standing and the way this empire looks right now, correct?” Nanako asked as the ponies looked over themselves at the sudden change in their anatomy. “This might be because I touched the crystal heart. And because of that, it might have given you a bit of my powers. This isn’t the only reason why I’m implementing combat training, but I need to make sure you all can stand against anyone who tries to hurt you or your loved ones. You at least have a fighting chance instead of cowering in fear.”

“Suppose that’s understandable in a sense.” said a random pony as the celestial being continued.

“Rule number three, all ponies if they can will help with the reconstruction of the Crystal Empire. While this place is nice and peaceful, we need a means to protect this place in case a conqueror tries to invade us. In short, we need to upgrade everything. I’m talking about improving the walls around the empire, armor, weapons, knowledge, medical supplies, arms, and magic.” Nanako said as she took a few steps forward and made this list vanish out of thin air. “You all have been through a lot over the past one thousand years. The scars that Sombra left may take some time to recover, but they will heal over time. For I, Nanako Otsutsuki, Goddess of the Star and Kingslayer, will lead you all into the golden age of the Crystal Empire. But for this kingdom to grow, I will need the help from all who can help.” The Celestial being took one step back as she bowed down to the ground crowd in front of the ponies. “So I will ask you this request. Will you help me bring this kingdom into the new age of freedom for as long as I live?” There was a moment of silence upon Nanako’s request. The ponies along with Umbra were stunned at what they saw. No pony in the history of the Crystal Empire besides Princess Amore, bowed down to their subject in a way like that. The moment of silence was broken when a small filly in the crowd clopped her hooves together.

“I’ll help you, Queen Nanako.” She said as a few more ponies clop their hooves together. Soon the entire crowd began to clap and cheer for their new ruler.

“Thank you,” Nanako said as she pulled herself up from the ground. “I won’t let you all down.”

Author's Note

Northstar and Mayfield

Haiku Foxtail

Emerald Spade

Star Loyalty

Thunder Hoof

Blazeheart

Tarot Deck

Glamorous Icon

Hateful Freeze:

Chapter Seven: Plans are in the Works

Chapter Seven

Plans are in the Works

“Well, that went better than expected,” Umbra said as she and Nanako were walking down the hallway of the crystal castle.

“Well having the king’s dead body set on fire and stating my intentions also helped,” Nanako said as she cracked her neck due to how stiff it was. “I wasn’t expecting the conversation to last this long.”

“You did go into great detail about who you were and your messed up family of planet-eating aliens. Which was a risky gamble if you ask me.”

“Better be truthful now, then for it to come out later and have everyone shun me or worse. Plus, I’m pretty sure no one here would judge me considering what they’ve done over the years of Sombra’s ruling.”

“Fair point…still aren’t you worried that your family might come here and try to eat this planet?” Umbra asked as Nanako paused upon hearing this. The dark unicorn would sense malice coming from the celestial being as a smile appeared on her face.

“I would kill them, and possibly eat them if given the chance.” She said which caused Umbra to blink in surprise by this. “I made it clear to them that I wasn’t going to go and make chakra fruits out of planets with sentient life on them. Should they do that, then I have no problem going genocide on their asses just to prove a point.”

“...Didn’t think you had a side like this.”

“When you've been around for a long time like you have, you tend to learn a lot and experience things that will change your mindset and opinion of things.” She said as the malice Umbra was sensing vanished instantly. “Anyway, you said earlier before meeting the masses that I had another meeting with a group of ponies?”

“The ten generals of the empire. For years, my father would pick ten ponies to serve him should one of them die off due to age or him killing them. Bear in mind, try not to take their hostility to heart, they’re so used to dealing with my father that they might come off as rude at times.”

“Noted,” Nanako turned her attention to the huge door that she and Umbra appeared in front of. “I guess this is the meeting room?”

“Indeed it is,” Umbra answered as she pushed the double doors open to the meeting. The ponies inside the room turned their attention to Nanako and Umbra as they entered the room. “Greetings, I have brought to you our new ruler. Nanako Otsutsuki.” She said as she pointed a hoof at Nanako; who simply just smiled and waved awkwardly.

“So you’re the creature that took out Sombra,” Blazeheart said as he looked at Nanako up and down. “Hard to believe someone like you could take down Sombra.”

“Given what Umbra showed us. I’m not surprised~” Northstar said as she grinned in excitement. “A being from beyond the stars. I would love to examine you from head to toe~” She said, which caused Nanako to move a bit closer to Umbra.

“Don’t mind her, she tends to be a bit excited when meeting new ponies. Or in your case, a new creature.” Mayfield said. “Pleasure to meet you by the way.”

“Likewise,” Nanako said before looking over at the group of ponies. “Umbra informed me about every one of you and the field you work in. I can only assume you all were only able to due to the bare minimum because of Sombra being a paranoid idiot?”

“Bit of an understatement, but accurate given the dead bodies in the prison cells and on the streets,” said Thunder Hoof as stuck his tongue out in disgust. “Made me sick that I couldn’t do anything about it at the time.”

“Well he’s dead, so you don’t have to worry about having dead bodies around the empire and castle. Speaking of dead bodies. What of those who couldn’t survive Sombra’s mind control spell?” Nanako asked.

“Currently the bodies are being held within the medical wing of the castle. We’re planning on burying them in about a month or two once we locate a proper burial ground for them to rest in.”

“When you do find a resting place for them, I will be the one to bury them all,” Nanako said as everyone in the room was surprised by this.

“As…interesting as that is. I don’t think someone of your status should-”

“You think I care about what my status is? I may be a queen, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit on my ass and have you all do the work alone.” She said before moving closer to the group of generals. “You all have stagnated, pushed to the side to rust, and forced to agree with an idiot king for too long. I want generals who aren’t afraid to speak their minds when they see something wrong. I want ponies who are willing to come after my head if I end up becoming a monster. I want ponies to be able to stand together even if the kingdom falls. I will see to it that you all grow strong together and I will be the one to do it.”

“Care to explain how you’re going to do that?” Freeze said with an unamused expression on his face. “It’s not like you can be in two places at once.”

“Oh I believe I can~” A smirk appeared on Nanako’s face as she clapped her hands together. “Shadow clone jutsu!” She yelled as a cloud of smoke engulfed the room which in turn caused everyone to cough while covering their eyes. As the smoke started to disappear, their eyes widened upon seeing multiple copies of their queen spread around the room. “Still think I can’t be in two places at once?”

“....Okay, that answers a few of my questions.” He said before looking at Umbra. “Did you know she could do that?”

“No…though it doesn’t surprise me that she can do that given the fight she had with my father.”

“I can make as many copies as needed to assist those in need of my vast knowledge,” Nanako said before making the clones vanish. “While I wouldn’t mind answering a few of your personal questions. I would like to get down to business with how I would like things to run for this empire. You ten are the smartest ponies in the field you’re working in. With the curse keeping this place hidden from the world, we need to focus on the kingdom’s basic needs.”

“And those basic needs are?” Loyalty asked.

“Knowledge, power, and defenses. We don’t know what’s going on in the outside world, and I am planning on taking a look around once we have this place up to code. But we need to be prepared for anything that might come for this place. Hence the rule I added for everyone in the empire to learn how to fight.” She said before looking at those in the military department. “That’s where you guys come in, I’ll be handing you all a set of books for you and the rest of the ponies to look over and practice. I’m making it a mandatory thing for them to show me what they’ve learned by the end of this week. This includes you all as well.”

“Hm, I take it these books are for hoof-to-hoof combat training?” Emerald asked as Nanako nodded.

“It’s taijutsu from my home planet. These moves will be difficult to perform, but I’m sure you’ll be able to get the hang of it over time.” She said before reaching into her sleeve to pull out a small book, which she then tossed over to the green mane pegasus. Emerald used her wing to catch the book as she looked inside to read its contents.

“Hm…Interesting set of moves. I’ll see what I can do with this, but I can’t make any promises.”

“Perfect,” Nanako said as she looked over at Thunder Hoof and handed him a small book as well. “Thunder Hoof, you’re a construction expert, right? Think you’ll be able to recreate the stuff in that book.” She asked as the earth pony quickly read some of the information within the book.

“Shouldn’t be that hard to pull off with the stored material we have in the storage houses we never used.” Thunder Hoof said as he placed the book in the saddle bag he was carrying. “I’ll have to ask the engineers and Blazeheart if they can make the mechanical parts.”

“Which brings me to Blazeheart’s smithy and Mayfield’s technological knowledge,” Nanako said as she now focused her attention on the stallion and unicorn. “I need you both to work on making what I like to call scientific ninja tools. I have the blueprints and materials for you both, and I will guide you both on how to make it. That is if you’re willing to let me help?”

“Never thought I would be the first stallion to make weapons from beyond the stars. This should be an interesting challenge to test out my skills.” Blazeheart said as he heard the blue unicorn giggle in excitement.

“Oh~! Alien technology! How can I not pass up an opportunity like that!” She said with interest. “I was only limited to making radios and small trinkets, having something like this would boost my skills in that field.”

“The king of stagnation strikes again,” Nanako said in sarcasm. “Whatever weapons and armor you two can make, give them to the knights suited to use them. Loyalty, Rusty, Emerald, and Freeze. I need you to pick your most skilled and trustworthy ponies to train them in taijutsu.”

“Consider it done,” Freeze said before hearing Hailu speak up.

“I take it you have something for me to do, dear?” she asked as the celestial being spoke.

“I’m giving you access to the library and free range of anything plants and drugs for medical purposes. You’re also free to leave the empire to explore the local plant life around. That is if you can defend yourself on your own?”

“Oh, you’re willing to let somepony like me free to roam around~?” Haiku asked in a teasing tone. “I could just leave with my family and never return.”

“If that is what you want, then I’ll allow it.” She answered before looking at the others. “This also applies to the rest of you as well. You’re free to leave at any time you want. Given what you all went through, I do not blame you for leaving. But I would like for you to train someone to replace you if you’re planning on leaving.”

Hm, interesting offer.” Haiku said before making her way over to Nanako. “But I think I’ll stay a bit longer. I’m curious as to how far you’ll go as our new ruler. Will you lead us into a new era, or will you fall from grace like King Sombra? I want to see with my own eyes as to how this plays out.”

“I take it you’re staying then?”

“For now, yes. Plus it seems my daughter Amber has taken an interest in you as a friend. So I will give you a chance to prove your worth to me and do my duty as your general…though if I can make a suggestion, I would like to have a separate workstation far away from Northstar.”

“Is there a reason why?”

“I prefer not to look over my shoulder and see a mad mare trying to take a blood or hair sample from me.” She said before glaring at the mare, who was grinning and showing off her sharp teeth.

“It’s not my fault you have such interesting features that pique my interest. I mean, where on Equis have you seen a pony with multiple fox tails that can be used as extra limbs? You can’t expect me not to try and find out who or what you are~.”

“See what I mean?” Haiku asked as the celestial being nodded.

“I’ll allow it…mainly because I have a feeling that I’m gonna end up in the same situation you’re in given my…alien nature.”

“Oh come on, I would never do anything to harm our queen…within the lines of not killing them.”

“....Well…I know now that I’ll have to sleep with one eye open now.” Nanako said as she shuddered at the thought of her being experimented on…again. “Anyway, you have your orders on how I want things to be run. Show me some progress within a week so I can make sure what I’m seeing is correct and good. Does anyone else have any questions they would like for me to answer?” She asked as the ponies shook their heads. “Good, then this meeting is done for today. You’re free to go as you please.” With that, the ponies would make their way out of the meeting room, leaving behind Umbra and Nanako to talk.

“Well, that was a productive meeting…been a long time since we had one without someone getting their head cut off,” Umbra said as she noticed Nanako letting out a sigh of relief.

“I’m just glad it didn’t turn out as bad as I thought it would.” She said before stretching her back a bit. “If there isn’t anything else going on, I’m gonna have a look outside the empire. Mainly because I’ll need to set plans to create a path for ponies to walk on so they don’t get lost.”

“Hm, I suppose that wouldn’t be a bad idea. Don’t want ponies to end up getting eaten by the giant bugs in the forest.”

“We have a forest now?”

“Seems like it from what we got from the pegasus scouts before the meeting. How long will you be out?”

“Possible until nighttime. Having a group of clones to scout the area will help see how the others will be busy.” She said before making her way to a nearby window as she opened it.

“I’ll inform the others of your absence. But do try not to wander off too far, you are our queen after all.” Umbra said as she watched the celestial being casually flop out the window before seeing her fly off into the distance.

Chapter Eight: The Unicorn and The Kage

Chapter Eight

The Unicorn and The Kage

“Hm, interesting,” Discord said as he was currently in the astral realm rewatching the fight between Nanako and King Sombra. “I never would’ve guessed that there would be another outworlder appearing on this planet. And this one doesn’t seem to hold much heroic moral values compared to most heroes.”

“You think Twilight was the one that summoned this girl to Equis?” asked a clone of himself as the original shook his head.

“Doubt is considering how she’s been busy trying to become all-powerful due to the alicorn amulet you left her with.”

“I wouldn’t say I left it for her. More like…give to someone that knows what to do with it~” Discord said as his clone gave him a deadpan expression while smirking. “What? It's not my fault; she wants revenge on Peter for picking Luna over her.”

“Don’t forget the others that betrayed her~”

“Right, right…” He said before reaching for a remote to change the visual of Twilight making her way through the forest of the Crystal Empire. “Oh dear, Twilight found her way to the Crystal Empire.”

“And that’s a good thing…right?” The clone asked as Discord waved his hand sideways before a grin appeared on his face.

“That would depend on how it turns out. If this creature kills Twilight out of self-defense, then this will cause Peter to be destroyed and war between the two kingdoms.”

“And if she doesn’t kill her?”

“It’ll still be an interesting show to watch regardless.” He said before making a bucket of popcorn appear. “Plus it’s not like we have anything better to do.”

“Don’t you mean you? Because I’m just an image you made just to fill the boredom of being stuck in this place.” The clone said as Discord snapped his fingers to make the clone disappear.

“No one likes a smart alec.” He said before returning his gaze to the magical screen. “We’ll have to see how this turns out. Either Way, this will be an interesting turn of events.”

[Crystal Empire]

[Forest]

[Nighttime]

Just like the change with the Crystal Empire, so did the forest outside of the city of crystals. For the past couple of hours, the celestial being explored a huge chunk of the untamed forest with surprising interest. Given the books she was able to salvage from the library and Haiku, a lot of the plants that were said to have died off seem to have returned but she also noticed some of the plants that she came across in her travels seem to be in this place as well. Not to mention that there weren’t any mammals within the forest, only insects that Tarot mentioned that they kept underground. She could only assume that they managed to escape due to her touching the crystal heart and changing the layout of the kingdom.

“Hm, I can only assume the crystal heart took information from me and was able to make it possible for something like this to happen.” She said while examining a plant with crystals covering it. “So I can assume by mixing magic with my chakra, it somehow resulted in a mix of two supernatural substances to form a new source of energy. If that’s the case, then that should apply to the ponies of the Crystal Empire as well…I’ll have to ask Northstar if she could help me test a hypothesis for me if she can.” While the celestial being was currently enjoying the local flora and fauna of the region, she soon noticed one of her clones making their way over to her.

“Man, you weren’t kidding about this forest being big. Glad we have the same ability as you do, otherwise mapping out this place would be a pain in the ass.”

“Find anything that might be worth looking into?” She asked as the clone handed her a map with markings on them.

“There’s a few places I marked on the maps that would be worth looking into considering they’re tombs belonging to the royal family that were killed by Sombra.”

“How can you tell?”

“Well, having the name Sir Carbuncle The First, house of the Carbuncle family might help…I swear with a name like that, it makes me think of something else in mind.”

“I know, but we can’t judge a species’s culture and lifestyle to a certain degree,” Nanako said as she examined the map. “If there’s treasure within those tombs, we’ll be able to add them to the treasury.”

“What about the body that might be inside the tombs?”

“We’ll bury them along with the other fallen ponies of Sombra’s cruelty.” She answered before placing the map in her sleeve. “What about a path that leads from the empire through the forest?”

“We found one, but we’ll need to make a lot of clearing due to the trees.”

“And the giant insects?”

“Docile for the most part. They will attack if provoked or if you intrude on their territory. Other than that, it's a pretty calming and relaxing forest compared to most places we’ve been in.”

“Yeah, you’re not wrong about that,” Nanako said while staring at the scenery in front of her, though her smile slowly faded as she looked over at her clone. “Shame it’s gonna be damaged within a matter of minutes.”

“Because of our unwanted guest sneaking up behind us.” She said as they looked behind themselves to meet their unwanted visitor sneaking up behind them. From what they could tell, it was a unicorn wearing a black cloak that covered her entire body except for her horn, red glowing eyes, and an amulet with a red gem in the middle of it. “Didn’t think I would see a pony in the middle of the forest like this. Any particular reason as to why you’re here?”

“You…so you're the source that brought me here to this place.” The unicorn said as she eyed Nanako up and down. “To think that my search would lead me to an outworlder…actually, you two might prove to be useful in my revenge.”

“...Okay, well we’re just gonna leave you to whatever it is you’re gonna do-” Just as Nanako was about to leave, the unicorn’s horn lit up as magical chains erupted from her body and attempted to restrain both the celestial being and her clone. While Nanako managed to escape by jumping away onto a nearby tree branch, her clone ended up getting impaled before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

“A clone…interesting~,” She said before focusing on Nanako “It would be in your best interest if you just come with me quietly and without resistance. I prefer not to break a new tool for my revenge.”

“First of all, I am no one’s tool. Not anymore.” Nanako said as she glared at the unicorn. “Second, who are you and why are you here in the Crystal Forest?”

“Who I am is not important, what I’m doing here is finding power to make my enemies pay for taking everything away from me.” The unicorn answered as her horn started to glow. “This place used to be a snow-covered wasteland until that flash of light erupted and spread across this place. I can only assume you have something to do with this seeing how I’ve never seen a human like you before…odd how you’re able to maintain your form and not turn into a pony like Peter, but I’ll be sure to examine you once I have you under my control.”

“I’m going to give you fair warning. Walk away and I won’t have to hurt you badly, kid.” Nanako said as she noticed the unicorn firing off a magical beam of black & purple energy at her. The celestial being jumped off the branch she was standing on and descended onto the ground. “So, you choose to do it the fun way then.”

“Don’t you mean the hard way?”

“Heh, now why would this be hard?” Nanako said before extending a hand toward the unicorn. “Wood Style: Great Forest!” She yelled as her arm shot out branches of wood at an alarming speed at the unicorn. The unicorn quickly summoned a barrier around herself at the branches wrapped around it. Upon seeing the branches wrapped around the dome she made, the mare caused the dome to expand as a means to knock the branches away and counters by shattering the dome she made into shards of magical glass and sending them towards Nanako. The celestial being took in a deep breath as the skin on her fist turned to steel as she casually deflected the shards away from her in different directions.

“Impressive, but nothing that I can’t handle.” She said before using her magic to rip off a piece of a nearby tree and began using it as a Gatling gun as she fired splinter-like bullets at Nanako. Upon seeing this, the celestial being quickly coated her entire body as the splinter deflected off her body, though her clothes ended up getting torn up a bit.

“Dammit, these were my favorite garments,” Nanako said in annoyance before casually dodging a magical beam heading for her head. “Might want to try something else other than magical beams and long-range attacks.”

“You mean like this!?” Twilight yelled as her horn lit up. Upon doing so, the ground below Nanako began to shake as two slabs of earth appeared on both sides of her. Within a matter of seconds, the two stone slabs collided with each other as they encased Nanako in a stone. A smirk appeared on Twilight’s face as she teleported in front of the celestial being. “Ha! Seems your overconfidence was your downfall, human.”

“Are you sure about that? Because it seems you're the overconfident one in this situation.” Upon hearing a voice behind her, Twilight quickly turns around to see Nanako standing like nothing happened. “Not bad, but kind of predictable if I’m being honest.”

“How in Equestria did you escape that? I placed a binding spell on it just in case you could use magic.”
“Might’ve helped if I was able to use magic this entire time. But I wasn’t, so that wouldn’t do much to stop me.”

“...Right, you must be some kind of human with mutant powers similar to Peter. Should’ve guessed that was the case.”

“I don’t know who this Peter person is, but I doubt it has anything to do with what I’m going to do to you.”

“Don’t think just because you’re a mutant, doesn’t mean you’re not acceptable to magic,” Twilight said as she quickly teleported onto a nearby tree, and was about to fire off a spell to seal Nanako in a magical prison, only to notice that she was gone. “What the, where did she go?”

“Storm Style: Laser Circus!” Nanako yelled as Twilight looked above herself to see a barrage of lasers coming down upon her. Her town lit up as she created a dome around herself, causing the laser beams to be deflected in different directions. The moment Nanako’s attack ended, Twilight quickly teleported off the tree she was on, and appeared above Nanako. Once above her, the unicorn fired off magical chains from her horn and made them chase after the celestial being. Nanako effortlessly dodges the chains before slipping through a dimensional door. The unicorn blinked in surprise upon seeing this as she began to scan the area to see where she had gone.

“She can even create portals, just what is this human?” Twilight asked as she searched the area for where the celestial being was hiding. It was only when she felt something gently land on her back was when she looked behind herself. To her surprise, Nanako was lazily relaxing on her back while holding a bowl of ramen in her hands.

“You’re easy to read, you know that?” Nanako said as Twilight looked behind herself to see her sitting on her back while eating.

“Are you mocking me!?”

“Not really, I just got hungry and figured I would eat something while you let out some steam…no pun intended on that.” She answered before reaching into a portal to pull out a pair of chopsticks. “Want some? I got an extra bowl.”

“Stop messing around and take this seriously!” Twilight yelled as she teleported away from Nanako and appeared off to the side of her. “What is wrong with you!? Why are you casually playing around as if your life isn’t in danger.”

“Because it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, you’re interesting for the most part. But on a scale of one to ten, you’re just one, threat-wise, that is.” Just as she was about to take a bite out of her meal, Twilight aimed at the celestial being’s food via a beam of magic causing it to fly off into the woods.

“Think I’m not a threat now?” Twilight asked with a smirk on her face.

“No, now I think you’re annoying, and I will have to hurt you.”

“You think you can hurt me?” She said before pointing a hoof at the amulet she was wearing. “With the alicorn amulet and years of training under Celestia’s wing, I’m more than powerful to take you down.”

“Yet you can’t seem to keep an eye on where I teleport or move,” Nanako said as she moved her head to the side to avoid a magical beam to her face.

“It’s only a matter of time before you slip up. When you do, that’s when I’ll be able to use a spell to force you to serve me.” Twilight said as her horn lit up, causing the magical chains from before to shoot out and attempt to restrain Nanako. A sigh escaped Nanako’s lips as she casually fell backward into a portal she made to avoid the chains. She soon appeared above Twilight as the unicorn quickly fired off more chains upon looking upwards. Within seconds, the celestial being was quickly wrapped and was sent falling to the ground in front of Twilight.

“You think I didn’t expect you to appear above me!?” Twilight asked with a smug expression on her face.

“I did, hence why this is a clone that I made to keep you distracted,” Nanako answered as she slowly melted into mud. Twilight’s eyes widened upon seeing this as she quickly scanned the area to see where Nanako was hiding. While looking at her surroundings, her ears picked up the sound of birds chirping in the distance.

“Birds, in the middle of the night? No, that’s impossible. Owls are one thing, but even they don’t sound like that. Could it be that she’s using this as some kind of distraction?” Twilight thought as her ears picked up the sound of birds chirping was getting louder and louder by the second. Upon picking up where the sound was coming from, her eyes widened upon seeing Nanako appearing from out of a nearby bush with lightning coming from her hand.

“Lightning Style, Chidori!” Nanako yelled as she started charging at Twilight with incredible speed. Within seconds, Twilight quickly brought up a barrier as a means to protect herself from the oncoming attack.

“It’s okay. With the alicorn amulet, the barrier will hold against an attack like-” The sound of metal cutting through an object was heard inside the barrier. A sharp pain radiated from Twilight’s head as the barrier she made vanished. Before she could register what happened, another sharp pain was felt in her chest as she looked down to see Nanako’s hand thrust through her body.

“If you’re wondering how I was able to disable your barrier,” Nanako used her free hand to motion to the side. Twilight looked over to her left to see a clone of the celestial being off to the side as she made a small. The unicorn soon felt something poke her on the head, and she looked up to see the hand of the clone holding a katana in her hand with a piece of her horn balancing on the tip of it. “Rule one when fighting someone, always keep an eye on your surroundings.” She said before pulling her hand out of Twilight’s body as the unicorn fell to the ground. “Also never go into a battle against an unknown entity that you do not know of.”

“N-No f-fair. You use a clone to cut off my horn just to gain an advantage?”

“Of course I did. What? You expect me not to take advantage of my opponent’s weaknesses in a fight?” Nanako said as she knelt before Twilight and placed a hand on her head.

“What do you think you’re doing? Let go of me or else-” The moment Nanako pulled her hand away from Twilight’s head, the red scarlet color in her eyes vanished as her body went limp. In the celestial being’s hand was a purple-colored soul as she began to examine it.

“Now, let’s see what was behind the reasoning for attacking me?” she asked before placing her other hand on the unicorn’s head to read her mind. To say that Nanako wasn’t phased by what she was seeing is an understatement...unimpressed by information about the world outside of the Crystal Empire. Equestria, the history behind it, the rulers, the inhabitants of Equestria, its rulers…honestly she wasn’t impressed by this peaceful planet for the most part…though she was interested in a certain unicorn’s descent into madness. “Perhaps, a different path might be a good thing in your case.”

“So, is there anything worth knowing?” The clone asked as Nanako shook her head.

“For the most part. Though I’m not that impressed by the outside world beyond the Crystal Empire.” She said before reaching for the alicorn amulet tries to remove it. “Hm, seems like the information about this thing was right. It won’t come off unless the user takes it off themselves.”

“Any particular reason why you want that thing removed?”

“It’s causing problems for her body. From what I can go by through her memories, she’s been accumulating a lot of magic within this amulet. Because of this, it’s causing her mind to become more warped and taking a lot of years off her life. If I had to guess, she’ll most likely have about maybe fifty years to live.”

“You’re planning on saving her, aren’t you?”

“Something like that. More like, giving her a reset and setting her on a different path.” She said before raising a hand. Within a matter of a second, a dark circle appeared next to them as a demonic head with rinnegan eyes popped out with its mouth open

“Once you do that, I’ll throw her body and soul into the King of Hell. Once she's restored, she should have a much better mindset to have a decent conversation with.”

“And you think something like this will work on a pony like her?”

“Won’t know until we try. Now, cut off her head so we can head back home. I think I had enough excitement for one day.” She said as her clone nodded in agreement. The clone soon walked over to Twilight’s body and positioned her weapon near the unicorn’s neck.

“Sorry about this, but you did attack us first.”

Chapter Nine: New Morning, New Surprises

Chapter Nine

New Morning, New Surprises

[Friendship Express]

[Morning]

“How long is this train ride going to take?” asked Rainbow Dash, tapping her hoof in annoyance. “Didn’t Celestia say that we would be there in about a few hours or something?”

“She said we’ll be there in about a day or two,” Applejack answered. “RD, you’re just as impatient as a little filly on a sugar rush.”

“Well, she did say this was important, right? Those ponies have been locked away for about one thousand years with that mad pony as their ruler. You can’t expect me not to be impatient about something like this? Who knows what King Sombra is doing to them now.”

“We understand that Rainbow Dash, but you can’t just fly off alone. Remember, we’re a team. And there’s no I in the word team.” Peter added as he dawned on his hero costume. “Plus, this does allow us to come up with a plan of action before we get to our destination.”

“For once I agree with that,” Sunset said, casually looking through a book. “From what Princess Celestia told us and the book she gave us, King Sombra was, or in this case, is a powerful unicorn that even she and Luna couldn’t beat.”

“Yeah, but we got the Elements of Harmony, Princess Cadance, Spider Knight, and the captain of the royal guards. There’s no way we can lose to this joker.” Rainbow Dash said as Shining Armor spoke up after her.

“While I am flattered that you think highly of us, that’s still no excuse to lower your guard.” He said while adjusting himself in his seat. “If we have to fight Sombra’s soldiers, then Spider Knight and I can create an opening for you all to get inside. Once inside, and if the layout of the empire is still the same as it was all those years ago, then it should be a straight shot to where the Crystal Heart is.”

“And then afterward, we can throw them a party! I mean think about it. Being locked away for so long with King Sombra must be awful. I doubt they even celebrated anything party-related.” said Pinkie Pie as she reached into her mane to pull out a thick blue binder with pieces of paper scattered around her. “Now to think of a title for the banner…how about “Welcome from being locked away for one thousand years.” sounds?”

“Pinkie darling, I don’t think now is the time to plan for a party.” Rarity added. “Though I am a bit worried about what to expect of the ponies in the empire.”

“We’ll find out once we get there,” Cadence said while looking off in the distance from the window. “Until then, we should prepare ourselves for what is to come when we get there.”

“Attention passengers, we’ll be arriving at the Crystal Empire in twelve hours. I repeat, we’ll be arriving at the Crystal Empire in twelve hours.” said The Announcer pony as Rainbow Dash let out a loud groan of annoyance.

“For hoof sake! If I can fly there, it wouldn’t take this long!” The mare said as she slid out of her seat dramatically.

“Well, you can’t, so get used to it,” Applejack said before looking over at Fluttershy. “You okay sugarcube?”

“O-Oh, I’m fine…a bit scared about what Princess Celestia said,” Fluttershy answered.

“You mean how there might be somepony other than Sombra we’ll have to worry about?” Rainbow Dash asked as the pegasus nodded. “Relax Fluttershy, there’s nothing to be scared of. As long as we stick together, nopony will beat us!”

(Crystal Empire)

(Crystal Castle)

As Nanako and Umbra were making their way towards Northstar’s office, the celestial being stopped for a moment, and looked outside the window next to her. A slight chill ran down her spine as if something was about to happen, but was brought back from her train of thought due to the earth pony clearing her throat to get Nanako’s attention.

“Is there something wrong?” Umbra asked as Nanak turned her attention to her.

“...Don’t know why, but something tells me that we might be getting a visitor soon.”

“You mean just like that unicorn prisoner you apprehended last night?” She asked as Nanako shrugged.

“Maybe…Have the guards keep an eye out for anything suspicious or someone trying to break into the empire once we’re done interrogating the prisoner.”

“Alright. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you planning on doing with her?”

“Depending on the answers I might get, I’m gonna try and persuade her into joining the empire. Talent such as hers would be wasted on revenge.”

“And if she doesn’t?” asked Umbra with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll let her go do her own thing, so long as she doesn’t plan on attacking the empire later on in the future. But I still want to have someone like her as an ally if possible.”

“Suppose that makes sense. But I’m kind of against something like this seeing how she attacked you.”

“Now, now, my adorable suicidal friend. An enemy one day could turn into a friend the next. Just have a little bit of faith in what I’m doing, okay?” Nanako asked as they would be in front of Northstar’s office before entering. Upon entering, they would notice maids currently cleaning up the place while throwing away stuff related to King Sombra.

“Huh, didn’t expect her to have the maids clean this place up anytime soon,” Umbra said before hearing Northstar enter the room from a secret passageway off to the right of the room.

“You can blame King Sombra for not letting me clean up the place with his random inspections. So I had to make the place look like a horror theme book.” Northstar said as she made her way over to Nanako and Umbra. “Now that he’s dead, I can finally get this place clean and looking like an actual office place. So, is there a reason why you three are here? Not that I’m complaining or anything.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a spare room available, would you? Caught someone trying to make me into their tool for revenge, and I want to question them before making my decision on whether to let them go, have them join us, or kill them so they won’t be a threat.”

“Oh~? You found an outsider in the forest last night~?” Northstar asked as a grin appeared on her face. “Want me to probe her for answers~?”

“God no…at least not yet. I just want to ask her some questions. No need for torture or anything like that.” Nanako said as the unicorn pouted in annoyance.

“Yeah, I have a spare room for you to use. But I am going to do my routine medical evaluation to make sure she’s okay on a physical level of being okay.”

“I figured as much,” She said before seeing Northstar motioning for the group to follow her. Once inside, they were both surprised by how clean and sterile the room was as Northstar made her way over to a bed right next to a window.

“Place the patient on the bed so I can examine her closely,” Northstar said as the celestial being made her way over to the bed. Once there, she brought up two fingers as a dark circle appeared next to her. In a matter of seconds, a demonic-looking head appeared out of it, taking Northstar and Umbra by surprise.

“What in the name of Tartarus is that thing!?” Umbra yelled as she noticed the demonic head slowly opening its mouth.

“I’ll explain once this is over, right now let’s focus on our-” Before Nanako could finish her sentence, she noticed something off upon summoning the king of hell. A purple light escaped from its mouth before making slight coughing noises. Within a minute, it soon coughed out a girl with brown skin, dark indigo hair, and a tail with streaks of purple & pink, and purple tattoos on her body. The moment the girl was placed on the ground, the demonic head quickly vanished and everyone was flabbergasted by what they saw. “...Huh…I was not expecting that to happen when I killed her.”

“...I’m sorry, what did you say?” Umbra asked as the celestial being gave her a sheepish smile.

“Well, she had this weird amulet around her neck that wouldn’t come off. Something called the Alicorn Amulet. So trying to get her to take it off on her own at the time wouldn’t work, so why not just cut her head off and take the amulet off that way.”

“...Already a day into your ruling and you already made a pony’s head roll off…literally,” Umbra said in a joking manner before looking over Twilight’s body. “I can only assume that the thing you summon with your magic allows you to bring the dead back to life?”

“It’s not magic, it’s ninjutsu. Well, that and having the Rinnegan helps as well.”

“Rinnegan?” Northstar asked as Nanako pointed to her own eyes.

“The Rinnegan is considered the most powerful visual prowess of the three main eye techniques which are the Sharingan and Byakugan. From what I’ve read in one of the books from the family library, it’s said that in times of chaos, the Rinnegan’s wielder is sent down from the heavens to become a God of Creation or a God of Destruction.”

“Does all your kind have that Rinnegan thing?” Umbra asked as Nanako shook her head.

“Not everyone, only a select few. There are some requirements to obtain them. One would be to obtain chakra from both Indra and Asura Otsutsuki, or someone with the Rinnegan embedding theirs into someone else. For me, I obtained mine when I was born…though I can only assume that I got them through the chakra fruits that my mom ate while she was pregnant with me at the time.” She answered before noticing their confused expression. “What? You can’t expect me to know everything there is about my family. Even they don’t disclose information to those of the lower ranking members.”

“Noted, but can you explain how a pony was turned into a…what do we even call her?”

“Human, and sadly I have no idea how this happened. I can only assume that due to me killing her and bringing her back to life with my powers, she became what you see now.”

“Oh, this is most exciting~!” Northstar said as she started poking and moving certain parts of Twilight’s body. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Being able to turn ponies into humans like this before. Oh, I want to examine her very thoroughly and see how it works~!”

“Hey, this is a living person, not one of your test subjects. Don’t even think about opening her up and taking out all her organs.” Umbra said as Northstar rolled her eyes.

“The thought never crossed my mind until now. Also, keep in mind that she is a criminal seeing how she did attack Nanako, so what’s a few missing organs going to hurt~”

“Please hold off on doing anything like that. We still need to question the poor girl, remember?” Nanako said, causing Northstar to snort in annoyance.

“Fine, killjoys. I never get to have fun with you all around.” She said before using her magic to levitate Twilight onto the bed. “Suppose taking blood and hair samples will do for the time being. First thing first, I need to clean her up before anything else is done. Don’t want to accidentally give her an infection or something while I take her blood and examine her.”

“You also might want to give her something to wear, humans have no fur on their body with the exception of their head,” Nanako added as Northstar walked off to gather what she needed.

“Is she going to wake up anytime soon?” Umbra asked as Nanako shrugged.

“Hard to say. She might wake up within a day or so…but keep an eye on Northstar…I don’t mean to sound rude, but I don’t trust her alone with the girl…at least not yet.”

“I’ll have Mayfield keep an eye on her. She’s more…normal when they’re together.” She said before noticing Northstar teleporting a large bathtub into the room they were in. “While she’s busy with the outsider, would you like to hear a report on the status of the generals and their progress with the renovations of the kingdom?”

“I take it they’re having problems with the stuff I asked them to implement?” Nanako asked as the unicorn shook her head.

“Surprisingly, no. If anything with my father being dead, they've been able to make a lot of head weight within the past five hours while you were asleep. If you want, you can look over the results of their progress before they’re finished?”

“I could…or better yet, I can join them,” Nanako said as she noticed a confused expression on Umbra’s face. A smirk appeared on Nanako’s face as she brought her hand up, and created shadow clones of herself. From what they could tell, it was roughly up to five thousand copies of the celestial being. “I’m not a huge fan of sitting by and letting other people, or in this case, ponies, do all the work, so why not have some clones assist them?”

“Huh…didn’t know you can make clones of that quantity…this might be more beneficial than I can imagine,” Umbra said before examining the clones closely. “How many can you create?”

“Shadow clones, fifty-thousand seeing how I’m not using nature elements this time.”

“Why didn’t you use them during your fight with my father?”

“Shadow clones are good for support, but depending on what they’re made out of, they’re not that durable. A simple hard punch to their face or body, and they’ll disappear into smoke. Plus having to use one to fight someone as weak as Sombra would be a waste of time and energy in my case.” She answered before looking over at the clones. “Think you guys can help out with the construction of this kingdom?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, but we do get breaks, right?” A clone asked as Nanako nodded. “Alright, then we’ll be off!” she said as the group teleported to different parts of the Empire.

“...Has anyone told you that you’re a jack-of-all-trades?” Umbra said as Nanako let out a small chuckle.

“I get that a lot. Now, let’s see if we can get rid of the stuff related to Sombra in the throne room. I prefer not to have ponies coming here and thinking of unpleasant memories when having a meeting with me.” She said before motioning for Umbra to follow her.

“Aren’t you worried that someone from the outside might come to this place and get lost in the forest?”

“Don’t worry, I left a safe trail and signs for anyone to follow away from the dangerous bugs and unstable environment.”

Chapter Ten: Challenge Accepted

Chapter Ten

Challenge Accepted

“So let me get this straight?” Umbra asked as she watched Nanako’s clones gather everything related to King Sombra and make a pile in front of her and the celestial being. “Other than killing Sombra and the guards he was controlling, you’ve never taken the life of anyone else before?”

“Yeah, Sombra and the guards were my first kills, and they weren't environmental kills.”

“So you’ve never been in an actual fight where you fight against someone?”

“I mean I used puppets to improve my fighting skills if that counts?” Nanako asked as the unicorn shook her head. “Okay, then yeah. I’ve never been in a fight against someone. A lot of the time when I do try to kill someone, it ends up missing and hitting something else, causing a chain reaction that gets them killed due to the environment. Of course, that was back when I was in my teens.”

“Right…speaking of, how old are you?”

“...You can keep a secret, right?”

“Who am I going to tell? It’s not like anypony in this kingdom doesn’t have their share of secrets that they haven’t told anypony else.”

“Hm, suppose that’s fair. If you want to know how old I am, I suppose I can tell you given how I can trust you. But I’m about nine-hundred-fifty years old.” She answered which took Umbra by surprise.

“...You’re joking, right? How the hay are you that old but still look so young?”

“Chakra fruits that I’ve obtained from god trees on uncolonized planets. They’re able to help us evolve and live longer. Been eating them since I was twenty and I have to say, the results are…intense..”

“Okay…and how does one obtain said chakra fruit?”

“Through the god tree. You see, my clan plants what we call a ten-tail sapling. Ten-tails are creatures made out of chakra that act as the seedling stage in the life cycle of a god tree. They’re used to assist in our evolutionary process by harvesting chakra and genetic data from planets we invade. They’re driven by instinct to devour chakra and will eat anything they encounter until they consume a family member of the Otsutsuki clan.”

“Wait, so you guys offer yourselves as a sacrifice to a monster that eats everything?” asked Umbra, causing Nanako to nod. “What kind of sense does that make?”

“Well upon eating one of us, it triggers their evolution into a god tree. Upon taking root, the god tree will start absorbing the chakra and blood of all living beings dwelling on the planet.”

“So basically kill off a family member to get a chakra fruit? Sounds like something my father would do.”

“Yeah, but I doubt your father has a means of bringing himself back to life.”

“You mean like how you did with that human?”

“You would think that, but no. You see we have means of escaping death by planting a karma on a host that we can use to be reincarnated.”

“Karma…as in good and bad karma for all the stuff a pony does?”

“No, Karma is something that my clan developed as a means to be reborn once they’re consumed by the ten-tails, or if they are killed by someone. Once a Karma is placed on a person, the member takes over the host’s body and returns for the fruit.”

“And what happens to the host of the Karma you guys place on them?”

“Anything about them, their life, their memories, their personality. Are replaced by the person that the Otsutsuki member has taken over.”

“And you do this to innocent beings?”

“Heaven’s no, I only do it on criminals and murderers beyond redemption. I may be part of a family of monsters, but even I have my morals and values thank you.”

“...You know what, that’s fair. A bit bucked up, but fair.”

“Anyway, for me to get the ball rolling for my way of godhood, I had to make a lot of deals with higher members of the family. I would be their sacrifice for one hundred years in exchange, they would not stop me from doing my own thing so long as I don’t go against the family. A pretty good deal if I do say so myself.”

“That’s good and all, but sacrificing yourself must have hurt, right? I mean you were eaten alive by that…monster sapling thing, right? So how can you maintain your senses after experiencing something like that?”

“I have a goal, and I want to see it through to the end. I want to reach the level of godhood to see if there’s a better path than the sacrifice of other civilizations from other planets. For each planet I go to that has some form of plant, animal, or environment rich in chakra, I’m on set closer to reaching it.”

“So you continue it out of morbid curiosity?”

“Yep, and I’m going to keep going until I reach that second plane of existence.”

“....Geez, you are something, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Wait, if your family member left you alone, how did you manage to get the fruit without their assistance?”

“Oh, I found a loophole around it. By using cells from a man known as Hashirama, an exiled member named Kaguya, and my own, I was able to recreate the body of an Otsutsuki member. That way I don’t need to use a family member or place a Karma on a random person and feed them to the sapling.”

“And it worked?”

“After the second time, it did. The first time didn’t go so well, but I was able to seal the sapling away inside me when it went on a rampage.” She said which caused Umbra to raise an eyebrow at her. “What? There’s always room for error when testing something like that.”

“I get that…but…I can only assume that the god tree is big, right?”

“Yes, if left alone and absorb everything from the planet.”

And I can assume the sapling is big as well?” She asked, to which Nanako nodded. “How are you able to seal something that big within your body?”

“...I could go into detail, but I’m sure it’ll fly over your head. So I’ll make it simple in layman's terms. Sealing jutsu is like shrink magic. I can make someone small and place them within or someone else. If that makes sense.”

“So you have a planet-eating monster inside you? Don’t you think that’s a bad idea?”

“I placed a lot of seals on my body to make sure it doesn’t escape. Someone would have to know Jutsu to release it onto the world. So until I can figure out how to give it sentient and cooperate with it, it’ll be used as a means for my endless supply of chakra to draw upon.”

“If you say so,” Umbra said before noticing the clones finishing gathering the remains of Sombra’s belongings within the room. “I take it you’re planning on burning all this?”

“That would take too long,” Nanako answered as she clapped her hands together for a moment before pulling them away to reveal a white cube. “Reducing it to nothing on an atomic level is a much better way to make sure it’s gone.”

(Crystal Empire)

(Entrance)

“For Celestia’s sake! Will you let us in!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she was face to face with Amber.
“And I’m telling you, jerk, that you’ll have to wait until Queen Nanako gets here. So shut up and sit down somewhere nice and quiet.”

“Don’t you even know how we are, or at least know who Cadence is?” Rainbow Dash asked as she pointed a hoof at the pink alicorn, who waved at the earth pony awkwardly. “You know, the true ruler of the Crystal Empire?”

“Again, with all due respect, I’ve never heard of you or Cadence. Even if she was the true ruler of this place, we already have a new ruler. And that ruler is Queen Nanako.” Amber said before turning around and flicking her tail at Rainbow Dash’s nose, causing her to recoil back from the pain she felt. “Now, I advise you to sit down, shut up, and wait until Poison Cross returns.”

“Why you little-”

“Rainbow Dash, we're not here to cause trouble or start a fight,” Peter said after quickly moving in front of the cyan pegasus. “We’re here to save the ponies from King Sombra as Celestia asked us to.”

“Who is dead, mind you? I was there when Queen Nanako fought against the mad king and was reduced to nothing with that weird cube magic spell of hers.”

“Yeah right. Even if that was true. How do we know your new ruler isn’t as evil as him?” Rainbow Dash said as it caused the earth pony to glare at her.

“....Just for that, you guys can leave and come back tomorrow. Enjoy the trip back home to where you came from.” Amber said as she was about to leave, only for Rarity to quickly move in front of her.

“Wait, please. I know Rainbow Dash can be a bit…inconsiderate and brash at times, but we do mean it when we say that we’re here to help you all.” She said, causing Amber to snort in annoyance.

“And like I said before, we don’t need help. The problem’s already taken care of thanks to Queen Nanako, so you’ll have to wait. At least one of you has manners instead of a certain pegasus.”

“Oh you are so-” Before she could attempt to tackle Amber, Sunset quickly used her magic to restrain Rainbow Dash as she levitated over to her.

“Rainbow Dash, what part of we’re not trying to start a fight did you now understand? We don’t know what’s going on and we don’t want to rush into something that might be a trap. All we can do is wait for this Queen Nanako pony to explain what’s going on. Once she does that, we can explain how Cadence is the Crystal Empire’s true air to the throne and everything will be settled, okay?”

“Gah! Fine, but don’t say I didn’t say so when I suggested that we just charge in there and take the throne by force from Sombra.” She said before feeling herself placed on the ground and the alicorn’s magical grip loosening up.

“Something seems off about that pony,” Peter said as Sunset turned her attention to the spider knight.

“What do you mean? She seems normal-” Before she could finish, she turned her gaze on the earth pony as she noticed she was standing on her hind legs. “Oh…I see what you mean."

“I can only hold that pose for an hour or five depending, but it seems like she’s been doing it for years and has been used to it.”

“You think that person she mentioned has something to do with it?”

“If she does, then I can only assume that she’s just like me.”

“A human that was brought here by the same magic Twilight used to bring you here?” She asked as Peter nodded. “You think that King Sombra is using the human to change the ponies' physiology?”

“Hard to say, we need to get inside before we assume the worst.” He said before looking over at Amber, then above her as an idea appeared in his head. “Doesn’t seem like there's a barrier around the place, think you can keep her distracted while I climb over it to get a better view?”

“You can try, but I doubt you’ll make it far due to the archers shooting you down on sight,” Nanako said as she was behind Peter and Sunet. The moment they heard her voice, they quickly turned around to see the celestial being standing behind them with a mask covering her face. “Greetings inhabitants of this planet,” She said, which in turn caused Sunset to yell in fear as she teleported herself, Peter, and Rainbow Dash away from her and next to Cadence and the others. Upon seeing Nanako, Sunset, Shining Armor, Peter, Rainbow Dash, Cadence, and Applejack quickly stood in front of the ground as they took up some form of fighting stance and glared at Nanako. “Not the reaction I was going for, but I suppose it’s to be expected seeing how I was behind you all for a good couple of minutes. So you all must be the ponies that Poison Cross informed me about. Not going to lie, not doing a good job with the first impression.”

“W-Who or what are you?” Applejack asked, causing Nanako to huff.

“That’s kind of rude don’t you think? And here I thought gracing you with my presence would be a good thing seeing how I am the queen of this kingdom.” Nanako answered as she noticed their confused expressions.

“Wait, are you Queen Nanako?” Peter asked as the celestial being nodded.

“Indeed she is,” Amber said as she made her way over to Nanako. “Introducing Queen Nanako Otsutsuki, princess of the Otsutsuki Clan, Kingslayer of King Sombra, and the rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire.” She said with confidence as Nanako rolled her eyes to her compliments.

“A bit much on the whole title aren’t you?”

“Well you are the one that defeated King Sombra, so why wouldn’t I hold you with such regard?”

“Just dial it down a bit in front of others if you don’t mind?” Nanako asked as she looked over at the ponies from Equestria. “Now back to the topic at hand, care to explain who you all are?”

“That’s queen Nanako?” Rarity asked as she looked at the celestial being up and down. “...If you don’t mind me asking, who is the tailor that designed that lovely outfit you have on?” She asked as her friends stared at her with deadpan expressions. “What? You can’t expect me not to ask somepony a question like that. I mean, the glowing aesthetic, the neighpon style clothes, and the mask…well not to my liking, but it does fit the theme well.”

“Aw, thanks. Nice to see someone taking an interest in my attire.”

“You made it all by yourself!? That’s even more impressive. Would you be willing to share some tips on-”
“Rarity, focus please?” Peter asked before focusing his gaze on Nanako, only to widen as Pinkie Pie began zooming around the celestial being with interest.

“Hi!I’mPiniePieandIliketosaywelcometoEquestriaandwhatareyou?Youdon’tlooklikeapony.Areyouan alien?Areyouaminotuar?Whydoyoulooklikesomeonefromneighpon-?” Before Pinkie Pie could continue, the celestial being placed a hand over the pink earth pony’s mouth before speaking up.

“Please refrain from talking so fast. While I can understand what you’re saying, others can’t.” She said before removing her hand from the pony’s mouth. “Now to answer your questions in order. I’m not a human or an alien…well, I suppose I would be classified as an alien due to being from space, but I am a celestial being for layman’s terms. As for my attire, I don't know what neighpon is, but this is an attire I made myself. You see I got the idea from-”

“Excuse me, but aren’t you forgetting something?” Cadence said as she and Shining Armor glared at the Nanako. “Just who are you and what happened to King Sombra?”

“Like Amber said, my name is Nanako Otsutsuki, the new ruler of the Crystal Empire. As for King Sombra, well let's just say he’ll be on early retirement for a long time…by early retirement, I mean he’s dead.” She said before noticing their shocked expressions.

“Y-You killed King Sombra?” asked Fluttershy, still hiding behind Applejack.

“I did give him the option to surrender, but he chose death over being in prison for the rest of his life.”

“And you couldn’t just let him spend the rest of his life in prison, or better yet reform him?” Peter asked as Nanako shrugged. “Don’t you at least feel sorry about taking another life?”

“...If I’m being honest, no, I don’t. I mean, would you rather have him here ready to kill you all? Because after looking at what he did to the ponies of the Crystal Empire, he’s better off dead than rot away in a dungeon, or plan something in the shadows to try and usurper me from the throne.”

“But there had to be a better way than just killing him.”

“What? With the power of friendship?”

“Well…yes,” Peter said, causing Nanako to stare at him for a moment before looking at the others. “Okay, saying it out loud might sound ridiculous. But trust me when I say this, that friendship is a powerful weapon.”

“You can’t be serious? You thought that the power of friendship was going to beat a corrupted unicorn with one thousand years of magic experience under his belt?”

“Well duh, we’re the Elements of Harmony!” Rainbow Dash said with her chest puffed out with pride. “We defeated countless enemies before you came along, and we could’ve beat King Sombra.”

“...Given what I’m seeing, only six of you can fight, the rest…yeah, I have my doubts you all could've taken King Sombra down. Not with such…naivety and luck on your side. Which isn’t what I call the best to have.”

“Hey! Watch it jerk! We’ve been defending Equestria for like, a long time. So don’t look down on us like we’re nothing!”

“I would watch your tongue pegasus. Otherwise, you’ll be sorry.” Amber said as she was about to take a step forward, but stopped due to seeing Nanako’s hand in front of her.

“Easy Amber, don’t bother trying to do anything violent like that rainbow hair pony was attempting to do.” She said before looking at Sunset. “I told you who I am, now you'll tell me who you all are or we’ll cut this conversation short and try again tomorrow when you’re more level-headed.”

“My name is Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset answered before pointing a hoof at the others. “These are my friends, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and P…Spider Knight.” She said as the only one that was waving at Nanako was Pinkie Pie, the others were either glaring at her or trying to avoid eye contact. “We were sent here by Princess Celestia to save the Crystal Empire from King Sombra, but it would appear that you’ve taken care of that.”

“I have my doubts that she did.” Rainbow Dash muttered before feeling Sunset elbow her in the ribs lightly.

“Nevertheless, the Princess would be grateful that the Crystal Empire is freed from King Sombra, and Princess Cadence can take her position as Princess of the Crystal Empire.” She said before noticing some of the ponies working on the walls of the empire. “Though I get the feeling that you had something to do with the way the empire looks now?”

“For the most part. I mean the moment I touched the crystal heart, the entire place changed along with it having a giant forest that I’m assuming you all came out of thanks to those signs I left behind. Right now we’re in the process of reenforcing the walls and setting up defenses for possible invaders.”

“...Wait, you found the crystal heart!?” Cadence yelled as Nanako nodded. “But how? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna couldn’t find the crystal heart themselves, how were you able to find it?”

“He hid it inside the throne in a secret room.” She answered as the pink alicorn stared at her with a dumbfounded expression. “Don’t see why people assume it would be someplace far away like a library or underneath the castle. But yeah, sound the crystal heart, touch it, and boom. I became the ruler of the Crystal Empire.”

“Well that and we pretty much want to see how well she does…so far she’s doing a really good job. At least in my opinion.” Amber added.

“...W-Well, while I can understand the situation you ended up in for the most part. I think there might be a problem with that.” Sunset said as Nanako and Amber raised an eyebrow at her before hearing Shining Armor speaking.

“My wife, Princess Cadence is the sole heir to the throne of Princess Amore, which means that she’s the rightful ruler of the Empire.”

“Excuse me, but we already have a ruler, and it’s Queen Nanako. And with all due respect, your wife can’t be our ruler seeing how she didn’t save us from a tyrant.” Amber said before hearing Rainbow Dash speak up.

“Well too bad, 'cause the real ruler is her.” She said before looking over at Nanako. “So get your stuff and leave, chop, chop, buddy.”

“Rainbow Dash, don’t be rude.” said Rarity before looking over at Nanako. “Please forgive my friend’s rudeness. She tends to be a bit…straightforward when it comes to certain stuff.”

“I’m sure we can work something out with the Princesses. If you were to come with us and explain to them what happened, I’m sure they'd be willing to make some commendation to live in Ponyville or something.” Peter said as the celestial being shook her head.

“While I can understand her distrust and attitude towards me, I can’t simply up and leave. Especially seeing how I’m stuck here due to a magic book that’s no longer working, and because I’m here to help improve and make the crystal ponies able to stand on their own once I make sure they can stand on their two hooves.” Nanako said before patting Amber’s head. “And with all due respect, what makes you think she’s fit to run a Kingdom? Just because someone is the heir, doesn’t mean they’re capable of running a kingdom. Not only that, I was elected by the ponies to be their leader, so giving the throne over to a mare that appeared out of the blue might not go so well.”

“Yeah, right. You expect us to believe that the ponies elected you?” said Rainbow Dash. “For all we know, you could be using some kind of mind control spell just to make them elect you or something.”

“...Nanako, can I please knock this jerk down a peg or two?” Amber asked as the celestial being shook her head.

“She can assume all she wants. All that matters is that I’m the current ruler of this place. And unless you can do something about it, there’s nothing you all can do about it.”

“You can’t do that.” Shining Armor said. “This kingdom was once part of Equestria and the princess sent us to reclaim it.”

“Well, to put it in layman’s terms and how your rainbow-colored friend would say. Too bad, you’ll have to find some other hunk of land to rule over. So, chop, chop~,” She said before noticing their dumbfounded expressions. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have important matters to attend to. Come back when you have a better attitude, or camp out in front of the entrance until tomorrow when we talk again.”

“Wait!” Sunset yelled, causing Nanako to pause and look over at her. “I understand that you’re the…new ruler of the Crystal Empire, but does the empire have an Ambassador to represent itself in Canterlot besides you?” She asked, causing Nanako and Amber to look at each other.

“Hm, we never did assign someone as an ambassador for the Crystal Empire did we?”

“I figure Umbra was an ambassador for the Crystal Empire?” Amber asked, causing Nanako to shake her head.

“No, she’s more of an advisor than an ambassador. Plus given her…suicidal tendency, she’s not suited for that role as an ambassador…yet.”

“Which brings me to a suggestion,” Sunset continued. “Have my friend, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, be the representative of the Empire. In addition, Shining Armor, who is the captain of the royal guard, can help with training your military.”

“Hm, while that is a good idea, there’s a bit of an issue. I don’t trust you guys one bit. Even more so thanks to your rainbow-colored friend there for the disrespect.” Nanako said, which caused some of them to deadpan at Rainbow Dash, who in turn snorted and looked away in annoyance. “If you want me to trust you, then you’ll have to gain my trust. And I can tell you this much, it’s going to be hard to do that.

“Hm, then perhaps we need to prove it differently.” Shining Armor said before moving towards Nanako. “How about we settle this in a duel?” He asked, which took everyone by surprise except Nanako as a look of interest appeared on her face.

“Hm, interesting, going with the whole “action speaks louder than words” approach?” She asked as the stallion nodded. “You got guts kid, something that empire smiles upon. But are you sure you want to fight me? I did take down King Sombra, and you don’t know much about me.”

“I can say the same to you as well. So I say we’re both on even terms of not knowing who can do what.”

“Hm, suppose that’s fair,” Nanako said before looking at Amber. “Is the training ground still open?”

“Well it’s still early in the day, so yes, it’s still open.”

“Perfect, then we’ll have the battle there,” Nanako said as she motioned for Shining Armor and the others to follow after her. “Try not to disappoint me, kid.”