The huge crowd of crystal ponies began to scream in horror and anger as they began to taunt Abstract and Sombra to come down to them to set things straight, yet, the majority of the anger seemed directed at the crystallion. They had just learned that it was his fault that Sombra had returned and managed to pass the barrier. The stallion of fear chuckled whole-heartedly and spoke:

"Yes! It is thanks to him that I was able to recover my reign and governance over you, my small foals. Yet, you seek to meet me and my...associate directly? I cannot move from my post, for I have important matters to attend to. I do believe, though, that said associate would be more than happy to oblige and receive your complaints. Abstract?" Sombra gestured to his friend with a grin and leg movement.

The crystallion unfolded his crystal wings and flew from his high perch, swooping down with no emotion until he folded his wings back onto his back and slammed onto the ground, tossing tiles everywhere. The ponies around shielded themselves from the debris caused by this landing, but quickly looked up to see the sining white lights in Abstract's "eyes" move to the front. He was looking at the six arrivals.

"Abstract, what are you doing here?! I thought you left for good!" Twilight yelled in fear.

The crystallion did not answer. In fact, it silently moved forward. The only sounds being made were of his crystal hooves clicking off the ground as the wind accompanied it. Twilight stood back up and yelled once more while her friends prepared to fight what the elements could not destroy before, or rather, what they couldn't try to destroy in time.

"Why would you be working alongside Sombra? The minotaur said that you and your species hated anything non-crystallion like. Is he manipulating you? Are you being controlled?"

"Twilight, I don't think he wants to answer." Rarity stuttered.

"Why not?"

"Don't you remember what we did to his...erm...'children'?"

"Yeah. We destroyed them to...restore...Oh...Well..."

"We can't justify the destruction of living beings, Twilight, even if they were despicable monsters trying to enslave the world."

"I'm not one to fly away, but I think we should be getting out of here. We should call the princesses for help." Rainbow suggested.

"She's right. We gotta go." Applejack added.

However, before they could do so, a pair of stallions from the Crystal Kingdom jumped into the air whilst brandishing spears. The Crystal Kingdom's army hadn't grown much since Cadence came to bear the burden of a populace on her shoulders, but it had been growing steadily. These two, however, had no armor, and their yelling gave away their actions immediately, yet Abstract did not move a muscle. Instead, he blocked the spears by getting them stuck between the crevices of the crystals composing his wings, then snapped the poles in half. He then twisted around to jab the two stallions painfully in the throats, literally tossing them far away and through the walls of a house.

"Hey! What did you do?!"

"You hurt our friends!"

"You ruined our home!"

"We'll teach you what we can do."

"No. Wait!" Fluttershy yelled.

A whole group of ponies from the sides came towards the one responsible for their conquering, and encircled him. Once again, Abstract did not care. Instead, a ring of darkness began to form around his horn. It spun wildly and, despite it having the appearance of a dark thunderstorm with purple bolts of lightning, it seemed rather tame. However, as soon as the ponies came within mere centimeters of him, the crystallion seemingly exploded into an orb of the same configuration. It engulfed the whole attacking group, and this stayed that way until the orb collapsed back onto Abstract the Dark. Those who didn't attack him all gasped in horror. The assaulters had turned into crystal themselves.

Sombra snickered at the thought of the ponies actually becoming 'crystal ponies' with that move. One of the statues in front of Abstract remained in its previous position. It had a hoof outstretched to punch him, the pony itselfhaving the face of a snarling beast. He observed it slowly and tipped it over, stomping it afterwards. It blew into pieces. Pinkie Pie gasped in horror. Twilight heeded her friends' suggestions and quickly scampered away with them until the lavender unicorn was caught by Abstract's magic. She was tossed into the air then thrown powerfully against the ground. If it wasn't for her quick reactions by creating a shield, Twilight would have certainly perished. The mare's friends immediately intervened, with Rainbow Dash charging in head first whilst Applejack planned on making the crystallion trip onto her bucking legs. She was hoping for a broken jaw. Pinkie Pie had somehow already prepared her party cannon with a "special" ingredient in it. Abstract was not impressed.

He head-butted Rainbow Dash onto the ground, then dodged Applejack's lasso and jabbed her in the throat as well. That mare was lucky that Fluttershy had caught her, otherwise she would have flown far away. She might have even flown outside of the dome. However, Pinkie's cannon exploded in her face, and its goo had become some sort of burning poison changed by Abstract. She was screaming and running around whilst smoking like a hotdog. The creature reverted its gaze back to Twilight, however. He began to press against her shield with a highly concentrated spear of dark energy. The lavender unicorn began to break as her horn and body began to receive the pressure on the shield. Rarity wanted to jump in and save her, but she had to help Rainbow Dash catch her breath.

"T...Twilight?"

Shining Armor was being called back into the world of the living simply by hearing the cries of his sister. Functioning on a basic mindset alone, he began to force himself out of his restraints, yet Sombra's magic was still affecting him. This meant that the dark king was more than aware of his attempts to break free. The dark king did not budge. In fact, he was simply curious to see what would happen. This would be a good test to see if his magic was in need of reworking or if it still had its strength from before. His question was answered almost immediately. The stallion broke off of the obelisk despite being covered in the fear crystals, and, after landing on the ground, charged at Abstract and slammed into him. Twilight's friends grabbed her and galopped away, intent on reaching the carriage.

"Wait! We have to get my brother!"

"It's too late, Twilight!" Rarity shouted.

"No! I's not! Let go of me! Huh?"

Shining did slam into Abstract's side, but it didn't have much of an effect. Instead, the stallion, was punted away. Before he could strike again, the crystallion jabbed his horn into Armor's mouth. The sounds of coughing and gurgling could be heard as crystals formed all over his writhing body, essentially turning him into another statues like the others, although this seemed imbued with Sombra's dark magic. But, something was wrong. Instead of remaining immobile, the statue began to move, a face of pure horror etched on it like a tortured soul. The eyes were no more. Instead, a tiny sparkling ball of pink and purple energy represented the pupils. It looked at Twilight slowly for a second before the crystallion pointed it back to the castle. The "zombie" obeyed and slowly, but statically, moved towards the castle.

As Twilight became breathless to what had just happened to her poor brother, Sombra boasted as his associate returned to him.

"Look, crystal ponies! Look at what will happen if you disobey me! Any who harbor ill will against me shall also suffer his fate. I will have my kingdom and its citizens back, and you will all be my tools to be thrown away once your use has ended. Hahahaha!"

---

The six had escaped outside into the cold blizzard. It was still as violent as it was a few minutes earlier. The six circled back around to find the carriage, only to see that it had been destroyed and its two guardians had disappeared.

"Oh no! What'll we do now?" Fluttershy worried.

"Only one thing we can do. We gotta get back to Equestria on hoof." Rainbow Dash suggested as she struggled to stand.

Her head was pounding.

"Abstract has a really hard head. I don't remember him being like this before. He didn't even say anything. He would always monologue."

"Yeah. He was always like 'You puny ponies' or 'I'll conquer you all' Pinkie joked as she sizzled a little more."

"Uhh...Gals?" Applejack forced.

There was some sort of monstrous beast of ice standing above them. It was hunched and covered with white fur. It was some form of yeti, as the stories would have it. However, as it stared the six down, crystals began to expand within the crystal kingdom towards them, and it was doing so with an increased violence shown by the ground being tossed into the air in large chunks or hills splitting open.

"What do we do?! What do we do?! WHAT DO WE DO?!" Rarity stressed.

"We...fall...asleep..." Rainbow Dash answered.

Somehow, all these events, which happened so quickly, drained the group of their energy. Well, it was either that, or the strange tiny serpents that had somehow reached and bit them in the neck. Twilight was already dead tired, but she was the only one to see strange black figures walk up to them and speak in a strange language. The yeti walked away whilst the figures looked at the state the kingdom was in. Now, for Twilight, there was nothing but a soft bliss. Everything that had happened was certainly just a dream and she was going to wake up soon from it. She had to.