Author's Notes:

(resubmitted after some corrections.)

The Worshipers of the Dark Crystal hideout, Sigil's office

"How is he?" Sigil asked to the nurse.

"In bad shape..." The earth mare opened the medical report and searched the pages. "Several bruises on his upper body. A bullet wound in his back near the one of the lungs, but we didn't find any projectile. An artery torn in his left nostril. Some glass shards and wood splints we removed from superficial wounds. Full body muscular burnout. And to end the list, his fingers all bruised with open wounds and the bones almost broken."

"It was an ugly round... for that 'bulldozer'" Sigil whispered.

"What now?" Copper asked while standing against the wall with his arms crossed.

"He's sleeping on the infirmary connected to the machines. Two of my assistants are on his behalf by turns. Took us some hours to operate him and make the full diagnosis. Thanks to our master scribe Inked Quill, he helped us understand his muscle's condition."

"Yes!" The old unicorn appeared by the door. "Now that you mention It! I warned that idiot about the use of body magic over the limit. And you three!" Quill pointed at Sigil, Copper and Pinkamena. "I want you to tell me what happened there and what made him do It. That information can't be missed in our files."

"It wasn't his fault..." Pinkamena muttered. "He almost lost control of It."

"What was that?" Quill looked at her with attention, while grabbing a blank piece of paper and a pen.

"I'm going back to my office. I'll keep you posted if there's anything new about his recovery. And before I forget, we couldn't define a date for his recovery or awakening." The nurse closed the file, putted the hood of her cultist robe back in her head and left the room, leaving those four with their matters.

"Like she said, Mane lost his control for some minutes." Sigil repeated in a calm tone.

"Wait wait! Let's start from zero. How did this all began?" Quill's horn sparkled and prepared to start writing. "And spare the action, I want to know Mane's details."

"Well..." Pinkamena took a deep breath. "It started from nothing, his eyes were wide open and he started breathing really heavily and loud. the veins on his neck were clearly seen. I can tell his heart was racing as if he was about to have a heart attack."

"But things got... scary." Sigil's turn arrived.

"I think terrifying is the best word." Pinkamena interrupted.

"I agree. A dark purple aura started forming around him and getting bigger while time passed. He started grunting as if he couldn't contain that strange power inside him."

"Then his horn started glowing with his normal red aura around It." Copper continued. "But then It became like thunder raging out of him, this strong red literally illuminated the whole room. By this point, we were pissing ourselves for being in the same room with him in that state."

"Miss Diane." Said Quill after writing the last thing he heard. "You know Mane better than us, did this ever happened before?"

"No. It was the first time he experienced this, Mane himself said It."

"So that means he came back to his senses?" Quill asked.

"Yes, but let's not get side tracked here, there's still a lot to say."

"You're right, let's leave It to the end." Quill prepared to return to his writing task.

"After all this, he just... roared loudly like a forgotten beast of Equestrian mythology, and all that aura got absorbed inside him and started manifesting on his eyes."

"A purple aura coming out of his eyes?!" The old one baffled.

"Yes." Sigil concluded. "We saw It too."

"It was like witnessing King Sombra himself... but a lite version." Copper Spear waved shook his hands in an enthusiastic way.

"And what happened after that?" Quill insisted.

"After that... was chaotic." Pinkamena whispered but Quill managed to hear It. "Mane was walking as if he didn't feel any pain, and proceeded to start beating an Elite Juggernaut. He even stopped his fist by just hold It, and he managed to crush the gauntlet along with his hand inside while using his crystal hands."

"To be expected from the test results..." Quill whispered while writing.

"But It didn't there. Then he managed to kick that giant to the ground and he started punching his helmet without mercy..." Pinkamena started sobbing but without crying. "His hand's skin were open and bleeding but he didn't care, he wasn't feeling any pain at all, and he almost killing the guy by crushing his skull along with the helmet."

By this point, Pinkamena stopped talking and lowered her head. Copper served her a glass of water which she accepted, while Sigil petted her back to keep her calm.

"Sweetie..." Quill called, and she looked at him. "If you don't wanna talk It's okay, I understand if you are going through a trauma."

"It's not a trauma! It's about what he did then!" Pinkamena putted the glass back in the table with a loud bang in the wood. "I dared to stop him, but the his brute strength made my fingers slip! I was screaming on top of my lungs but nothing, and when I tried to pull him back, he tackled me and I fell on my back! He only stopped when I started crying frmo seeing him in that way, taking the way he taught me not to..."

She got silent while staring at the elder, which kept writing everything she said. Quill didn't want to press on her but he still had one more question, and took him a while to talk.

"I got one last question if you allow me, but after this, how did you all escaped the army?"

"It was Mane again." Copper answered. "He looked at all of them and none dared to move, even Shining Armor himself, the top captain of the Royal Guard. Then Mane screamed to leave him alone, and all of them just walked away in a fast pace... and that was It."

"Legit!" Sigil supported.

"I see... you know, that way of imposing power under those defying your authority. It was one of King Sombra's powers. The way of inducing fear and control were one of the things that made take control of the Crystal Empire back in the days his reign of terror started." Quill conducted an explanation as if he was giving a lesson to his scholars.

"Quill..." Pinkamena interrupted.

"What is It?"

"That power... Mane had no absolute control of himself during his rampage, and I can tell, that was NOT him! I've seen him angry before but not like that, he was completely out of character! He almost killed a Royal Guard and that was not of him!"

"So you think that enraging power came out from somewhere else?" Quill asked.

"I ain't no magic student or specialist even if I'm an earth mare, but I won't deny It... Also, the walk to here was not easy too. I kept guiding him all the time, he barely could walk properly as if his whole body was numb and It was like he was lost in time and space. He would go to the left and I had to pull him to the right! And then... we were almost arriving here and he fainted."

"There's a lot to analyse..." Saying this Quill finished his writing.

Not so far away, near the Crystal Palace.

What was a noisy camp was now like a graveyard. Dead silence.
The soldiers were not talking after that morning, they didn't even feel like training or walk out of camp much less under their captain's order to not disturb their target or any of his associates.
Shining Armor was on his tent finishing his second bottle of wine to forget what he witnessed, when two officers walked inside, one from his army and the other from the Crystal Army.

"Captain?" The royal sergeant saluted.

"What?" Shining didn't look at him, and his face was slightly red from the alcohol.

"We recovered them with the help of carts. They are recovering in the infirmary tent. One with a broken muzzle, another with an fractured skull and in coma. Our champion, we had to request our blacksmith's help to open the helmet, his head was stuck in It. Also, part of his skull is fractured."

"Urgh..." Shining groaned. "I bet none of the other men feel like going out to look for Mane Shaker. By this point the rest already knows of the story." He finished his glass of wine. "Anyway, why are you here?" He pointed at the crystal officer.

"I demand to know why your scouts ordered all of my soldiers to stop their stationing orders. You have no control on my men." The crystal officer pulled a chair and sat in front of Shining Armor, while the royal sergeant left them in private.

"Because I'm the high captain of the Royal Army!" Shining babbled.

The crystal officer took away from him the glass and the wine bottle and groaned. "You know It's not a good example for the high captain to be seen half drunk his ass. Now I want to know what happened out there and what this Mane did."

"Haha..." Shining giggled in his drunk voice. "It was like seeing King Sombra reincarnated! His eyes had the same aura when he was alive before Our Highness executed him herself with her holy Solar Blade!"

"What do you mean? His poster nickname 'The Last Sombra' was this literal?"

"Oh you bet. This city is on red fucking alert..." The captain hiccuped. "One of my scouts wrote to Princess Celestia and her sister and sent through our message dragon."

"What do you expect?"

"An answer!" Shining laughed while hiccuping.

Somewhere outside the city.

Don Topaz groaned while Beryl kept silent as always next to him. The atmosphere in the luxury living room was heavy while Topaz scanned his thugs up and down, while sitting on his couch, smoking a cigar with a whiskey and ice on the table next to him. Some with blood in their white suits and others unscratched.

"You all had to run away, didn't you..?" The godfather grabbed the glass and moved It allowing the ice to mix with the drink. "You all had an arsenal and numbers to defeat four damn guys!"

"T-there's nothing we could d-do, sir." Said one of the thugs with fear.

"AND WHY IS THAT?!" Don Topaz screamed, making them all stand back.

"T-the army got there. B-but some of us stayed behind to see what would happen..."

"And what do you have to say? At least give me good news! One is all is ask!"

"A grey guy managed to make them stand back for some minutes, until Canterlot's army arrived to give them support, even with their highest rank captain, I believe It was the guy who controls the whole Royal Army."

"Shining Armor?" Topaz asked raising an eyebrow. "I've heard things about him. He participated in the liberation of the Crystal Empire by fighting side by side with the Royal Sisters."

"Well... He arrived with some squads and three gigantic guys, strong like Beryl." The thug pointed at the bodyguard while he stared at him in the eyes. "But the grey guy managed to beat two of them alone in duel, one at a time, while the other three who were with him searched the rooms."

"What about the last one?" Topaz asked.

"He managed to beat the grey one really painfully, but then something happened and the grey one was... possessed."

"What do you mean by 'possessed'?!" The Don made the quotes with his fingers.

"Um... How can I explain... It wasn't me who stayed behind to see, but for what they told me, he had these eyes surrounded in purple, and he had an unmatched force. He almost killed the last guy who claimed to be the box champion in the Royal Elite." The thug looked at the bodyguard. "Beryl, I know you brawled with him before and won. And with all due respect I swear, but if he enters in that state next time, you won't survive."

Beryl grunted towards him, Don Topaz gestured him to get close and whispered on his hear. The huge heart stallion nodded and walked out of the room, leaving the boss alone with his goons.

"As for you all... I won't blame you for running away when the army arrived, It was the better thing to do. But next time we will be prepared, even if they can't find us here." Don Topaz seemed more calm while taking a sip of his whiskey.

"Uhm... sir?" One of the thugs raised a finger.

"What is It now?"

"The thing they were looking for. The pink mare that was with them found the safe and managed to open while the grey guy distracted the juggernauts..." The thug stopped talking.

"They know of our location..." The guy next to him completed. "It's just a matter of time before they launch the next attack."

Don Topaz went from calm to livid in a second. He smoked the rest of his cigar in almost on puff with his nerves on the edge, and smashed the glass on the floor in pieces, spilling the drink all over the floor and some drops on his pants, and he stood up.

"You are all lucky I'm short of men in the moment! FIRST they sneaked in my mansion and escaped my prison! THEN they completely ruined my house, and to had more insult to the pain, the army took recognition of my undercover activities! THEN was the worse so far! They robbed my entire arsenal hidden in the Crystal Mountains after starting a fucking war in there, while all of those idiots had enough to supply an army! NOW they did It! THREE! Three in a row in less than twenty four hours!" Don Topaz made the number with his hand in fury. "ONE! They attacked one of my best associates and killed him and his guys! TWO! They attacked one of hideouts when NOPONY in the entire world suspected of us there. AND THREE! From all the places they could strike, they had to go at Cobble Motel! The place where my info was! You all get the fuck out and start checking the weapons we have at the moment! Make improvements of your own if you must to! Those four guys must die!!!"

Canterlot's Palace

Things weren't so calm in the Equestrian capital for one character in particular.
Half hour ago a servant had delivered the letter to Princess Celestia and she didn't loose time heading to her sister quarter's, but she wasn't there. Neither in the gardens nor anywhere in the palace.

Celestia walked out to the barracks close to the palace, facing the soldiers surprised by seeing their Highness walking alone without any soldiers on her behalf. But as soon they would follow her, she ordered in a panicky tone to leave her alone.
She headed to where the sparring sounds of steel on steel were coming from, to find squads of soldiers practicing their swordsmanship.

"Hello." Celestia called one of the officers conducting the exercises.

"DAMMIT Water Boots! This is a sparring session! Not a tickling exercise!" The officer screamed at a soldier.

"Excuse me!" Celestia poked the officer in the shoulder.

"What is It n-" The officer nearly turned white like the princess as soon he noticed who it was. "M-my biggest excuses, Princess Celestia!" The drill officer bowed down in respect.

"It's alright. Please, where is my sister? It's urgent."

"She's probably around the gym area, Your Highness."

The Sun Princess walked out and headed to the gym, and when she entered, a crowd of soldiers were surrounding her sister Luna while blushing and funny expressions in their faces, which was practicing her personal boxing training, wearing her tight black shorts, black top tank and boxing tap around her hands throwing punch after punch and sometimes a kick against a punching bag.

The presence of the older sister made the soldiers open room and let her through until she was next to Luna, which stopped when she noticed Celestia in the scene.

"Oh hello, my dear sister." Said Luna cleaning her sweat on the towel.

"We need to talk." Celestia sounded serious.

"We can talk here." Luna consented, but Celestia showed her the huge letter and where It came from. Luna pondered for a bit and ordered the soldiers to leave them and wait outside the gym. "Something happened?"

"Yes, a lot..." The older sister looked for the page among the papers composing the letter. "But I'll get to the point."

"It it bad?" Luna asked worried.

"Very bad!" Celestia grabbed the page and handed over to her sister. "Read It by yourself and you tell me."

Luna started reading the page and the tiny letters. It sure was a big message for the messenger not letting out any space unfilled, and more she read the more worried she grew. Luna requested the next page and Celestia gave It to her, and this time she got startled while fear took over her expression. She stopped reading and gave the two pieces of paper back to her sister.

"Oh my..." Luna whispered.

"I know. This is really bad. Seems Mane achieved a new level of power. Full control of his crystal sense, turning into smoke like the dead King Sombra, and now... he managed to put his hands and mind in a fraction of his uncle's full power."

"What do we do?" Luna asked. "And I quote what I read, he beat Brass Knuckles while he was on a rampage. One of our champions and almost killed him." Luna's expression changed to disbelief. "I mean, that guy was known for ruining the punching bags with his bare fists!"

"We have a situation here, dear sister. We may have to go in battle if necessary someday. With a power like this, he can manage to crush an army if he needs to. And I don't care if he never killed none of our soldiers or not!"

"I agree, but I think we shouldn't risk our lives for now." Luna attempted to get her powerful sister out of that idea, knowing she could easily triumph over Mane.

"Wise words. With our scientists latest achievement in military technology, we could improve their budget and tell what we want." Celestia raised a hand with a finger up. "This reminds me, Dr. Fumes is back in his hooves."

"That's good. With him back, the next weapons could use many improves. I tried some of them along with our soldiers and those things are efficient some times but they lack a lot of things."

"Back to the topic." Celestia looked back into the letter. "This only raises Mane's prize on his head. 1 000 000."

"Only 500 000 more?" Luna scratched her head. "Only because of this?"

"Only?!" Celestia grabbed her sister by the shoulders. "We are dealing with a devil here! It's only a matter of time until Mane gets full access and control of those unspeakable powers! This will remain between us and the troops stationed on the Crystal Empire. I'll write down a letter myself so nopony else here knows of It, and telling Shining Armor to tell his troops to never mention what happened there to the others here, or the punishment is unbearable."

"Okay..." Luna looked around making sure none of the soldiers heard It, and they were the only ones in the gym.

"I'll leave you alone for now. I must consider some changes around the palace." Celestia turned her back and left the place, with the soldiers coming back to their 'training', or more likely to see the sensual Princess of the Night in her tight training clothes and sweating body, showing her powerful moves.

"I need to talk with him. I could use a rest also... hopefully he's asleep."