Guardian

CHAPTER 11 – SUCCUBUS

“M-m-m-more tea, Lord Terror?” A crystal stallion butler, formerly a servant under Cadance and Shining Armor, struggled to hold up a tray on his back as he shook violently in fear before the massive shadow on the throne.

“Hmmmm... Yes, I shall partake.” Terror took the kettle of tea from the tray and opened his shadowy mouth, downing the boiling pot instantly. This proved to be too much for the pony to witness, for he fainted. Terror watched the pony collapse on the floor clumsily and spill tea across the floor, then let out a booming laugh as he set the kettle down.

Some time passed, about an hour or so. Terror rested his head against his hand, listening to the nearby clock as each tick seemed to get louder and louder. Tapping his fingers in unison to the ticking, Terror found some alleviation to his boredom, though this did not last long. He grunted and stood up.

“Do you think maybe I failed to power my barrier with enough of Cadance's magic?” Terror queried a guard nearby as he walked past. The injured guard shook fearfully, attempting to hold his statuesque, attentive position as Terror neared him. The shadow stopped in front of him and looked down upon him, the guard sweating profusely. “Well?” The guard didn't respond. Not verbally, anyway. He simply collapsed on the floor in unconsciousness. Terror looked around at the other guards lining the walls. “What about you?” Silence responded once more.

“I ask... But I should be aware already that none of you will disagree with me.” The shadow turned and walked down the hall and out of the castle. Stepping into the snow-covered land was enough to instantly draw the attention of all of the crystal ponies who were outside at the time. The shadow stepped slowly across the stone as he walked the length of the main road. He looked to each side of him and began to think up random ideas before a hollow slam against the barrier was heard above.

Looking up, Terror caught the sight of shadows outside of the barrier slamming into the tri-colored dome. Terror smiled, pleased that his plan had finally worked. Raising his hand up to the air, the specter released a tri-colored pulse into the air that caused the barrier to suddenly shudder and fail, opening up to the outside world. The snow was absent this time, no longer present due to the clouds having moved on, but in its place was a swarm of insect-like ponies that swooped down to the ground all around the Crystal Empire, landing harshly on the ground and surrounding the terrified crystal ponies. As an army built up before Terror, a larger changeling slammed to the ground before him on all fours, raising her head and peering at him from under tatty cerulean hair. She adjusted her dark crown and sneered at the shade.

“How foolish of you to open your barrier to me.”

“How foolish of you to enter.”

“Funny. I must commend you, though. To have taken care of Shining and that wretched Cadance, you must be quite talented.”

“You flatter me.”

“Oh, but it's so true. You managed to not only get rid of them, but you use their powers and their castle for your own. How devilish. I have an offer to make to you. You obviously have a large sum of power. Join me, join my forces and serve as my right hoof. I will make sure you become even more powerful.”

“That's quite an interesting proposition from someone that fell to a power as pathetic as love. You, make me stronger? Funny.”

“Watch your tongue, pleb! I will state this ultimatum only once more. Join me or your newly-conquered land will be sucked dry of the love you've coated it in. I promise this.”

“No. But I will give you this proposition: Join me, surrender your powers to me, and I shall be kind to you.”

“How ridiculous. And if I should resist?”

“I'm certain you know the answer to that.”

“I've seen through my scrying pool just what you're capable of, shadow. Your scare-tactics will not work on me. I've lived in torment all my life. There is not a single thing you can do that will mentally harm me at this point.”

“Very well, then. Physical it is.”

“Fool!” Chrysalis lunged forth at the shadow, “I will crush you under my hoof!”

Terror dodged to the side of a kick, jumped over a spinning slash from the Queen's horn, and burst into a cloud of smoke before reappearing a few feet away.

“Running, coward?”

“I suppose you could call it that.”

“Worthless.” Chrysalis looked back at her army. “Attack, my changelings! Claim their love and this empire!”

“I'm afraid I cannot allow you to do that to my property, Chrysalis.”

“And you think that you can stop me? Get him!” A mass of changelings surged forth at Terror and enveloped him, latching on and digging their fangs into his form. “How weak. You didn't even try to move. You know just how powerless you are against me, don't you?”

The Queen scowled at Terror as he began laughing from under the changeling coating.

“Making your lackeys fight for you is just as bad, you roach. Do you honestly think that your underlings could pose a threat to me?”

“I told you to watch your tongue!” The Queen rushed forth again, but was blown back with the changelings as Terror released a rose-tinted shockwave. Chrysalis sat up in surprise. “You... You can use Shining Armor's power on your own? How?”

“Oh? Now that is simply hilarious. You thought I was forcing him to use his powers?” Terror began laughing hysterically. “How naïve of you, Chrysalis! To think that I would risk having a pony turn their powers against me... Just how much of me did you even spy upon through that scrying pool of yours?”

“I witnessed you crush Cadance's mind and that was all I needed to see to know how to defeat you!” The Queen burst forth once more and was swatted away by a backhand from Terror.

“Oh? So you failed to see just what kind of power I had stolen beforehand?”

“You had stolen powers already?” The insectoid queen sat up and peered at Terror. The shadow smiled.

“Feast your eyes, my Queen, upon these fine delicacies...” Terror withdrew the three orbs from his shroud containing the trembling forms of Shining Armor, Cadance, and Sombra. “A king, a prince, and even an Alicorn princess... All of their powers are mine. And soon, so shall yours.”

The Queen growled and stood up, then began laughing.

“Nice try, shadow. Your intimidation will not work on me. Look around you. I've already won in the short time we've spoken.” Terror looked around at his surroundings.

Homes burned, buildings were collapsed and destroyed, the roads shattered and the crystals cracked. Crystal ponies laid about randomly in the wreckage or were beaten by changelings who took on the forms of their prey. All the while as Terror took in the sight, the Queen laughed.

“All that you worked so hard for is destroyed! Everything is gone now, you worthless shadow! And it will all end with your demise!” The Queen stopped her laughter as Terror began to chuckle, then became confused as his chuckle grew into a maniacal laughter. “Just what do you think about this is so funny? Your Empire is destroyed!”

“Who cares about a few buildings and ponies? I DON'T BREAK.” Terror disappeared and reappeared before Chrysalis, his claw reaching out before she could react and grasping her by the face, lifting her into the air as she struggled furiously to escape.

“Release me!”

“I'll tell you something, though, Queen Chrysalis...” Terror held the Queen in his talon as dozens of Changelings latched onto his form in an attempt to rescue their monarch, “Your exoskeleton might make you look tough on the outside and your words might make you sound tough within... But I know all too well that you are nothing more than a big bluffer.” Terror's red eyes glowed intensely as his gaze pierced into Chrysalis' mind.

The Queen awoke within a gray orb. She glanced to both sides and noticed that she was aligned with the orbs containing Shining Armor, Cadance, and King Sombra. She attempted to stand up and free herself, but the orb proved to be quite impenetrable. She then looked out at her surroundings. What she saw shocked her.

“What is this!” Her voice echoed out through the orb and across the empire where the bodies of changelings polluted the city. Smashed chitin and green slime coated the stone walkways of the Crystal Empire. The sight was too much for Chrysalis to take. She turned away and bit down on her tongue in an attempt to wake herself from the nightmare... But no awakening blessed her.

“Finally awake?” A familiar voice near her caused her to turn and look back upon the towering figure of Terror.

“What is this? What have you done to my children?”

“It seems that you did not lie. My powers truly had no affect on your mind. You are the first to not be affected. Not that you resisted, but it was simply impossible to infiltrate that bug brain of yours.”

“Let me out of here!” Chrysalis slammed about in the orb, causing no affect.

“You'll find escape from that orb to be quite impossible. I suggest you stop struggling. Take in the sight. Magnificent, isn't it?” Chrysalis stopped and peered over her shoulder at the abominable sight of many of her species smashed and killed in multiple ways all throughout the city. She quickly turned back around and slammed against her prison violently in an attempt to attack Terror in any way she could. “I told you to STOP STRUGGLING!”

The prison suddenly shrunk and became something of a coating on the outside of Chrysalis' body, hindering her movement entirely and changing her view to the city that she did not wish to see. Her attempts at closing her eyes became impossible as well, the coating holding her eyelids open.

“It's a shame, really. Your brain is so entirely odd that I could not take the easy route with you. Up until this point things had been simple: Infiltrate their mind, give them a lucid vision of their worst fear, wait for their psyche to collapse, put the dream in auto-pilot, then strip them of their powers and imprison them. But you, heh, you just couldn't let me claim you so simply. Let's go for a walk.”

The Queen, unable to talk or resist, felt herself lift off of the ground with the orbs next to her and hover next to Terror as they traveled down the steps of the Crystal Castle and into the road. She was turned forcefully and made to view the sight of all of her kind maimed and crushed violently as the train of orbs moved through the city.

“You claimed my property, I claim yours. Equivalent exchange. Where I come from, it's a law of nature. I think it only fair to be a law of your nature too, yes? Back to what I was saying before, you just could not allow me to do things simply with you. I said I would do things physically, and here we are.”

Terror stopped and looked up at a signpost, then turned Chrysalis to gaze upon the object. The Queen felt tears well up in her eyes at the sight: The entire pole upon which the post was made had been impaled through some twenty Changelings and then set back into place. Unable to let her tears escape her eyes due to the form-fitting barrier, Chrysalis begged in her mind for the nightmare to end.

“Do you like that one, Chrysalis? Rather artistic, don't you think? I call it: 'You Should Have Listened to Me.' Quite a marvelous display. Anyway, as I was saying before, I did things physically. You can tell by all of this, I'm sure-” Terror turned Chrysalis as they continued walking, forcing her to look upon the crushed and destroyed corpses of her precious subjects, “-That I did not lie. I couldn't collapse your mind with a dream...” Terror turned and raised Chrysalis to eye-level with him, forcing her to look into his petrifying eyes, “...So I just made your worst nightmare a reality.”

“Yours was rather typical, even though you thought yourself to be so auspicious in comparison to others.” The shadow continued as he dragged the orbs and Chrysalis behind him, “You're nothing special. You're just another foolish pony who thinks that they can stop anything with their foolish magic. You think that you can claim things for yourself with your unnatural power. Then when a reality such as myself enters the scene, you have no one and nothing to protect you.” Terror turned and knelt down to Chrysalis, “Nothing.” He stood back up and turned, pulling the chain behind him.

“But,” he continued, “I must thank you for finally showing up and curing my boredom. I was planning on dividing my empire in two and forcing the two halves to fight to the death.” The group turned the corner of a large building at the end of the main street, forcing Chrysalis to look upon the most horrifying scene she had ever witnessed. “I'm glad that I had your army to use for that instead.”

The field that had been green with patches of melting snow now sat dyed various shades of red and yellowed by the fluid that bore life into the changelings. Bodies and green guts were strewn about randomly, smashed bodies of insects laid all about the field. Chrysalis could not turn her gaze away, nor would Terror turn her.

“All I had to say was 'Fight to the death or your Queen dies,' and they killed each other. They tore themselves apart in hopes that I would free you. They died for you, their Mother, who was powerless to defend them. You are worthless as a leader, and as a parent, you know that?”

Terror slowly turned back and turned Chrysalis to face him. Her visage was still locked in the angry form it had taken during her attempted escape, but tears squeezed between her chitin and the barrier.

“What is this? Do you weep for your fallen children? Are you sad that they are all gone because of your inability to face me?” Terror extended a talon and the barrier dispersed from around Chrysalis, who fell to the ground sobbing.

“You're a monster... A monster...”

“No. I am reality. It's time for this world to wake up from its foolish dream and see the truth. The truth that the world is a sad and vile place. The truth that no world can exist without sacrifice.” Chrysalis, no longer able to retaliate, laid upon the cold, green-stained stone and wept for her offspring. “Was it worth it, Chrysalis? To use your shape-shifting powers to change your brain into a structure that I could not invade? Was it worth it to not have your psyche crushed by a false reality rather than the truth? This is what happens to those who are insolent to me. You are not clever.” Terror extended a talon and allowed the tendrils to envelop Chrysalis and steal her colors and powers for him, then encased her in a gray orb, drawing her back beneath his cloak.

He looked around the city momentarily before scoffing.

“Your kind truly caused a mockery of my recently-earned reward, roach. They're dieing in cages now because of what your bugs did to them. You've caused the downfall of not just your changelings, but the crystal race of ponies as well with your actions today. I hope you're pleased with yourself.” Terror turned and began walking towards the border of the Crystal Empire, releasing a black, green, rose, and blue shockwave behind him that caused the cracked Crystal Castle to shatter and collapse. “You've soiled the Crystal Empire with your filthy green blood. And I don't even have anyone to clean it up. Now I have to exert more energy to travel again. You keep making my day worse, Chrysalis.”

The shadow exited the border of the Crystal Empire and began his trek south-west.