My Little Destroyah: Rise of the Crystal King

Chapter 01 - Rise of an Empire

Millennia ago, before the very founding of Equestria, before even Godzilla's clash with the mighty Destroyah, there was another monster, a beast of unprecedented power. This monstrosity clashed with his earthly counterpart in a blazing battle of beams and crystals but he was unable to win. The demonic monstrosity lost, destroyed in a fiery crimson explosion... or so the world though. Defeated and badly injured, the extraterrestrial demon was forced to retreat back to his home turf, just barely escaping with his life. After the destruction of the human race and during the formation of Equestria, this monster sent a piece of himself down onto the regrowing planet in an attempt to establish a sort of 'home base' to begin his conquest of our now defenseless planet once his wounds healed. This piece of him hit the high north of Equestria which was encrusted with snow and ice. The blast shook the planes, sending the white powder into the sky in a blizzard of hail. When the snow had settled once more, a tall crystal spire stood tall and proud from the epicenter of the impact zone. The clear blue tower sparkled with a mystifying elegance that captured the eyes of all who gazed upon it. It was not long before this beautiful spire was discovered by the ponies that inhabited this barren landscape of frigid winds. By the time they could reach it, other smaller crystals had grown around it, stretching out from the original crystal, now referred to has as crystal zero, the starter of an icy kingdom. It took quite some time but the ponies did manage to carved into the crystals and they soon made homes out of their protective and vibrant casings. This is how the crystal empire was birthed. The land was in harmony and happiness but this peace was not meant to last. Destiny condemned it to suffer so.

Their Queen, Chrysalis, had gotten into a heated debate with the darker version of her husband, King Sombra. He cursed her with his new-found shadow powers, twisting her form and turning her gifts on herself. Her form, once ready to give love to all, was condemned to take it from all who encountered her. Chrysalis the broken queen soon left and Sombra reigned unchecked. That is until he was turned to shadow and banished to the ice of the north. But as legends say, Sombra hexed the empire and it disappeared with him. As these horrible events unfurled, the monstrosity responsible for the magnificent crystals gazed down upon our Earth, observing the progress of his infectious crystalline army from beyond the cosmos...

Present day Equestria.

Seven figures trudged through the snow.

"We... er rather I have been assigned to keep you guys safe. Stick close, I don't want to lose any of you."

Destroyah in his obsidian Nightmare Moon style armor led the elements of harmony through the snow toward the crystal kingdom. Shining Armor would hopefully meet up with them. The cold was harsh and the wind stung their faces with its howling whips of bitter chill. Even Destroyah's armored hide began to burn from the sheer cold. Together they trudged through the icy winds and soft powdery snow which began to free onto the ends of their legs. Ice, it had ti be the cold, Destroyah though to himself as he begrudgingly trudged on. Extremes of cold were the only thing that fazed the kaiju-pony morph, everything else he just shrugged off like water on a duck's back. The snow and ice slowed their moment as it began to compile upon their limbs and the whipping icy winds snapped and froze with a single touch at any bit of exposed fur or flesh. After what seemed like hours of enduring the icy flames of the wind and snow the ponies passed through the barrier of the crystal kingdom. The ponies shook the last bit of cold from their limbs before continuing. Destroyah was the last to do so, though he quickly caught up with the rest of them. However, they where stopped soon enough by armed guards in gleaming armor of crystal, their blades held at the ponies, especially the one that resembled a demon. Destroyah hissed in defiance, hate and other old dark emotions still present within his gleaming golden eyes.

"What is the meaning of this, you petulant foals!?"

The guards crowded around the ponies in a semi circle but this circle opened momentarily to let in a single guard but this one was different from the others. He was more buff and obviously a fighter. Scars where prominent on his left shoulder. Another scar ran from his forehead, down his left eyelid and down his cheek to the midpoint of his neck. His wounds ran deep and most definitely told a story of a fatal encounter of a sort. His grey fur and black mane swayed in the breeze and he ruffled his wings at the tiny intrusion. His ocean blue eyes surfed over the ponies and landed on the demon pony.

"Sorry for the hold up but you see we are in negotiations with the griffons. Nopony is allowed into our city at the moment."

His voice was smooth and calm. He seemed like the negotiating type but his scars indicated otherwise. Destroyah was agitated with such an answer.

"Griffons. The greedy little bastards."

"Yes, I have no love for them either but it is what the princess has decided."

Twilight ever the negotiator walked up to the pony who regarded her with his ever calculating eyes.

"Can we please see the princess? We are here to help with security."

"Hmm... Ah yes! The Element of Magic Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps I can avert my eyes just this once."

"You seem to know who I am but the real question is, who are you?"

"Oh where are my manners? I am General Scorpia."

True enough to his word he shifted his armor and his scorpion cutie mark showed. He shifted the armor back over and led the way to the crystal spire of a palace. They walked through the bustling city and climbed up the cascading stairs into the palace. At the top Twilight was heaving and panting.

"What... is it... with... Sombra... and his... stairs?"

"It seems he had a thing for this nifty contraption."

Scorpia held up an iron coil in his hoof. Suddenly, Twilight got a horrible vision of King Sombra joyfully watching a slinky descend the stairs singing the slinky theme all the way down. Twilight shuddered. Soon enough they where brought to a large set of crystal double doors. They slowly opened as if on their own, revealing a large room with a heavy circular table at its center. Seated at the table we several recognizably high-ranking figures of both the pony and griffon species. On a pedestal in front of the large table stood Princess Cadence and next to her Shining Armor. All heads and eyes where now in their direction. One griffon in particular was glaring at the ponies. He was the burly type with rather generously-sized muscles. He wore bits of armor on his chest and fore-paws as well as rather nasty looking blades on his wings. Destroyah had only laid eyes on him for a few moments but he could sense the maliciousness in the creature's heart already. He already didn't like the look in his eyes. Though, there was something oddly familiar about him and yet the only griffons he had ever seen he brutally slaughtered. Tensions where running high in the room already. It seemed as if blood could be spilled on this day, and Destroyah was waiting for the moment but all attention was seized by the princess.

"... Anyway as I was saying, the crystal empire should remain neutral during the conflict."

The griffon slammed his paw on the table, obviously angered.

"But if this war is to end swiftly, we must be in control!"

"A war in which YOUR country started, am I not right Feather Wing? Besides, the country has just manifested after a thousand year banishment. You MUST give it time to recover. This is my final answer."

The griffon reluctantly sat back down in his seat, grumbling and obviously crestfallen and seething with anger. This wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

To be continued...