Prologue - Champion of Destruction
Hello! I hope you fair well this day! Today, I will be telling the tale of the lost book of prophecies. This prophetic book was a tomb that told stories and future events. That being said, it’s obvious that many wished for the book in their hooves to see what lies before them in life. They would simply open the tomb and see everything they could. The unfortunate aspect of that is whenever somepony looked into the book with excitement; they closed it with bitter hatred and disappointment. What was the reason for this? The book was not meant for mortal eyes. Rather, it was not meant for any eyes! The tomb held dark secrets and mysteries that confused and angered the poor residents of Equestria. It told them what the dark days ahead of them looked like, making the reader scared for the rest of his or her life. Some stories state that some couldn’t take the pain and hung themselves. Thus, the tomb was henceforth called the Dark Prognosticus. The ruler of the land at that time, a red and tan alicorn, sealed away the book to the darkness from which it came. This tale is the tale of the banished book’s last owner, a tale of love… dangerous love. So, now that you know the background of the book, let’s delve into the pages.
Everything around Shining Armor was white; the floor, the sky and the scenery. At first, he thought it was but a dream that he awoke into, but it couldn’t have been, for sore muscles ached his magic-filled cranium. The memories of the night before had vanished like rogues, leaving no trace. His crusty eyes were difficult to open, as if he had been asleep for weeks, undisturbed. He heard loud chatter from not too far behind him, but couldn’t decipher their speech. He was wearing some sort of clothing, blood crimson and white to the touch. He began to force his eyes to twitch open as he groaned of the pain he was receiving. What he began to see he simply could not believe.
The parasitic, bug-like evil his mind processed as the Changeling Queen Chrysalis stood before Shining with a smile nearly stretching across her whole face. He excerpted a terrified gasp from his lungs and moaned as he attempted to stand up on his tired legs. He plopped back onto the ground pitifully and embarrassingly. He soon noticed that the Changeling Queen was not the only sinister being within his presence. To his left, his eyes witnessed a sinister-looking creature that was alien to his eyes standing next to a dark and evil colored pedestal. The being levitated above the colorless ground, cloaked in a mind-suffocating violet shade. He held a baton with a diamond tip firmly in his right hand, all the while his left hand wrapping himself in his villainous cape.
“Finally awake, Shining Armor, prince of the Crystal Empire? How lovely… says Count Bleck mischievously.” the being said with a cracking chuckle. His voice pierced Shining Armor’s soul, sending a parasitic chill down his spine, feeding off the fear that the evil Count Bleck had given him. Shining Armor’s sleeping legs began to wake up, all four granting him a tingling sensation, barely allowing him to stand on the foreign ground. He could see the villain clearly now and the fiend’s wretched smile paralyzed Shining into place. His monocle and top hat whispered faint secrets that only Count Bleck could hear.
“Wh- What’s going on?” Shining asked cluelessly, rubbing his head. He saw the crimson on his clothing and flinched down to his chest. He was wearing his uncle’s favorite suit, the outfit he wore to his wedding. The Count tipped his top hat and laughed a soft, maniacal laugh.
“Oh, come now, you wouldn’t forget your own wedding, would you? ... asked Count Bleck!” The count’s odd third person speech pattern was distracting. Shining gasped and the pupils in his eyes shrunk in size as he heard the word “wedding” be expelled from the count’s mouth. Shining shook his head in denial, making his aching head hurt even more than it already had.
“W—wedding,” Shining glanced at the Changeling Queen, cracking his neck along the way, “with HER!?” He spouted as saliva erupted from his mouth angrily. The Changeling queen innocently giggled like a school filly.
“Oh, Shiny, why must you be so bashful? This is our big day!” She said cheerfully. Shining’s heart sank to the depths of his body, leaving him nearly speechless. His mouth dropped like an anchor to as far as it could fall. It looked like it could just jump off of his surprised face.
“I- I’m married already! This is ridiculous! Let me out of here!” Shining exclaimed, shaking his hoof violently at Count Bleck. The Count shook his head accompanied by a sigh of lonely evil.
“Contain yourself, prince Shining, this is for the greater good… bleh heh heh!” The Count mischievously laughed. “Besides, you wouldn’t want to disappoint your own empire, do you?”
Count Bleck slammed his baton on the ground and pointed behind Shining Armor. Turning around, Shining saw a long, white stairway. At the bottom, to his surprise, were crystal ponies, cheering at him, chanting his name and whistling loudly. Their faces were expressionless as the ground they stood on. Shining glanced back at the Count, who spread his purple cape out, revealing his suit and tie underneath. No body lay in it.
“Now then, Count Bleck grows tired of waiting! Let us begin! Let us begin the end! Bleh heh heh, BLECK!” He laughed. With a tight grip, the Count pointed his baton at Queen Chrysalis.
“Do you, wonderful queen of the Changelings, take Shining Armor as your lovely husband, loving and cherishing him for eternity?” He asked her with a sharp grin on his face.
“Oh, most certainly! Mwa ha ha ha!” Chrysalis responded menacingly. The Count turned his baton to Shining Armor, who was still in complete shock.
“And do YOU, Shining Armor, prince of the Crystal Empire, take the lovely Chrysalis as your wife, loving her for all eternity?” He shouted. The Count’s hypnotic eyes began to absorb Shining’s hope and confidence, silencing him for a moment as he stared at his dual reflection.
“… Of course not! What absurd event is this!?” Shining snapped, breaking loose of the Count’s hypnotic trance. The Count drew a long sigh.
“I suppose I should have expected this. Nastasia! Come! … Ordered Count Bleck!” The evil Count shouted.
To his right, air began to stir and black lines began to cut a hole in the middle of space, linking the current dimension with another. Through the dimensional rift approached a young girl in a uniform and glasses. Her purple hair was tied in a knot at the top of her head like a school girl.
“You called, Count?” She asked in a monotone voice. Her body was as soulless as the evil Count beside her.
“Yes, yes. It appears our… groom… is not cooperating, as expected of course. Could we give him a little… convincing? We must not let this chance slip away from our hands, Nastasia. We will not get another.” The Count said, glancing at Shining Armor a few times.
“Yeah, I got it, Count. Hold a ‘sec for me.” She said as she floated over to Shining, who was angrily glaring at her, yet frozen in place by fear.
“Yeah, look, guy, I need you to just say “yes”, ‘k? It’s not that hard, really.” She said without nearly moving her mouth. Shining knew that under the glasses she wore, she was another being entirely. Shining could do nothing to free that being from the demon that possessed her, so he simply did what he could; refuse.
“Never! I won’t cooperate with mislead ponies such as you! You’re insane!” Shining spurted loudly. Nastasia sighed disappointingly.
“It appears we have to do this the hard way. How tragic.” She said as she put her hand up.
All of a sudden, a flash of light struck Shining’s eyes menacingly from Nastasia’s glasses. Bright pain rushed into Shining’s body in the form of electricity. Something was overpowering him; something evil and manipulative. The pain consumed his body, telling him to say “yes”.
“So, how ‘bout now? Will you take her as your wife? Just say yes, ‘k?” Nastasia asked while her glasses began to kill Shining’s soul with their paralyzing gaze.
“N-never!” Shining managed to struggle out of his mouth. Nastasia looked over to Count Bleck, who shook his head disappointingly.
“Look, Shining, all ya gotta do is say yes. It’s not hard and you can pretend you never said it. But if I have to do it again, I will.” The lost, purple-haired girl said as she adjusted her glasses yet again.
More sharp pain engulfed Shining. He was starting to see less and less as darkness began to blind him. The poor stallion was struggling to stay conscience to keep refusing.
“I’ll… Gnngh… never… say it!” Shining muttered. He salivated all over the ground as he said it, groaning and moaning at the pain he was receiving. It was if enslaving needles as sharp as spears were injected in his body, pestering him with the word “yes”.
“Mr. Prince, sir, please stop being resilient, it’s quite futile.” Nastasia continued. Once again, she adjusted her glasses. A scream of horrendous, torturing and pressuring pain erupted from Shining Armor’s mouth.
Then, all of it stopped. Shining was blind, he couldn’t feel and he could hardly hear the muffled sounds of evil itself talking to him. The pain had completely consumed his soul and spirit, and he couldn’t take it anymore.
“One last time, Mr. Shining, will you take Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the Changelings, as your wife?” Nastasia asked impatiently.
As she stared at the shaking stallion, a doom-bringing silence filled the air. The Changeling Queen stood still, frozen by nervousness. She hadn’t expected what she had saw and remained silent, staring expressionlessly at the poor overtaken stallion that lay on the floor in front of her, yet through all of it, her selfish mind regretted nothing she had agreed to. Her revenge was nigh and she was not about to let it slip away from her thieving hooves again. There was no wind, no movement and no emotion, only the scent of evil vengeance and dark deeds. The seconds of silence began to feel like minutes, and soon hours. Everypony knew what the answer was, they were just waiting to hear it.
“…y….y…….ye…s…” Shining unwillingly muttered. Count Bleck smiled mischievously and quickly glanced to the pedestal beside him.
“It begins… says Count Bleck evilly.”
The ground began to shake violently, nearly tipping an unsuspecting Chrysalis on her side. Lights flashed from the pedestal as Count Bleck’s smile grew bigger and bigger. Nastasia floated in the air as still as a statue, staring at the pedestal. Inside her heart, she was scared, but on the outside, she was nearly robotic. Poor Prince Shining Armor still lay on the ground, nearly unconscious and unable to move.
The anguished future roared in agony as darkness spewed from the pedestal. It swirled and swirled, consuming any scream or cry for help in its way and taking the negative emotions they possessed to began to form the shape of a heart; a heart so corrupted and powerful that it could destroy the world in but a mere beat. All that has ever lived in the universe, gone forever. Billions of years living and inhabiting the vast universe all gone with a simple misuse of a heart made of pure greed and suffering. It was gray as the villain’s soul, who was now holding it in his hands.
“Finally, after years of preparing, it’s finally here. Timpani, no longer shall I search for you… no longer shall I search for anyone.” Count Bleck said as he looked up to the sky. His uncovered eye began to close peacefully, but an unfamiliar voice surprised him from behind.
“Not so fast, Changeling scum!” yelled a feminine voice from the crowd of Crystal Ponies. As Count Bleck turned around, he saw a pink dash erupt from the crowd. It landed with an aggressive thud on the ground in front of him.
“And who might you be? … asked Count Bleck!” the Count rubbed his chin. “I don’t believe I know you.”
“I am Cadance, princess of the Crystal Empire,” She scoffed, “and you are not taking my husband away from me!”
“Oh, but my dear…” Count Bleck said, tipping his hat, “the deed is done. The Chaos Heart is now in Count Bleck’s possession!”
Cadance suddenly charged, shrieking a battle cry like a banshee. Count Bleck grew a worried expression as she propelled herself toward him with her anger-infused wings. And then, he vanished. Matter had displaced the Count right before Cadance’s very eyes. She found herself pummeling straight forward into the soul-absorbing Chaos Heart. She hit the mysterious Heart with a crashing thud. All of the hate that had been stored inside of her immediately transferred out of her body and into the floating heart before her. It started to ring loudly like an angry church bell, hurting the ears of all around it. Nastasia adjusted her glasses and vanished.
Darkness erupted from the heart, creating a hole in the middle of the air. The manes of the helpless ponies began to flow like a river towards the dimensional distortion. Shining’s helpless body began to slide toward it as Cadance grunted and started to push back on the ground with her hooves. Screams of horror started to drift toward Cadance from her lower right. Crystal ponies flew past her with terrified expressions on their faces into the dimensional rift and disappeared. Then, Chrysalis slipped her hooves and let out a final scream before being sucked into the dark portal, taking Shining with her. Cadance then saw a flash of light, disrupting her concentration and making her slip. Her voice immediately vanished into the rift as it began to close.
The darkness subsided calmly and the Chaos Heart lowered itself to the pedestal. It sat like a bath content bird on a sunny day, awaiting its master to come back to greet it properly. Count Bleck returned to the Heart with a beaming grin on his evil face. Nastasia appeared beside him not too far after in time. The wicked Count brushed his glove on the Chaos Heart as though it was a child.
“Tampani…” he whispered into the darkness. Nastasia turned to him, her heart oddly beating strong emotion.
“Count, did you say something?” She asked. Count Bleck shook his head.
“Nothing of your concern, Nastasia. All you should know is that everything is going well according to the Dark Prognosticus.” He said in a rather depressing tone. He suddenly opened his cape to the world with harsh force.
“Chaos Heart! This is your time to take action! Go! Consume the world! CONSUME THE UNIVERSE! If I can’t have my ways, nobody can!” He yelled into the ears of innocent ponies. His voice spread throughout the universe, painfully effecting all living beings.
Then, in the span of mere seconds, it was done. The end of all things had begun. A void appeared from the Chaos Heart and began to suck all matter into it like a vacuum of never ending darkness. The three heroes were scattered around the universe, leaving but one unaffected purple unicorn to begin a journey to stop the inevitable end of all things and to bring peace to the entire universe.
