-EQUUS, THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE CASTLE: CRYSTAL HEART CHAMBER-

Absolute shock and heartache now plagued both Luna and Cadence’s bodies as the debased form of Celestia stood before them, with Ocram floating just beside her.

This ‘Celestia’ was indeed a mockery of her former self as not even Daybreaker could compare to this imitation’s appearance. At first, it was merely just her eyes that leaked out a lavender aura. However, with every passing moment, she became more and more corrupt. The mockery’s once white fur began to change into a dark purple coloration while her mane and tail lost their rainbow-colored allure, replaced by a purple haze mixed with lavender flames. Her eyes became an abyssal black while her pupils matched those of The Corruption’s monsters: Orange/yellow. All complete with black slitted pupils. Her purple wings protruded outwards but what was most interesting was the fact that she now sported a separate pair of bat-like appendages. Finally, her horn curved and sharpened menacingly in a chaotic fashion, which puts even the horn of Chrysalis to shame. In essence, a four-winged corrupt alicorn made her debut.

“What’s wrong? You two seem to have seen a ghost?” The corrupted Celestia remarks.

“Why don’t you tell your sister how happy you’ve been with us?” Ocram questions the tainted alicorn.

“Oh! But of course!” Corrupt-Celestia claps her forehooves together, “You should really join our side, Lul-”

“Enough!” Luna interjects in absolute rage, “Thou art not our sister! Thy abomination art but a mocking imitation!”

The resurrected Celestia pouts, “Aw, is that any way to speak to me, Lulu?”

“Silence!” Luna roars out, then turns to The Hivemind, “What hath thou done to our sister?!

As this goes on, absolute shock and horror overtake Cadence as the chamber begins to darken. Luna’s eyes start to glow in a slitlike manner as her teeth sharpen to points.

“Oh no, Luna. We have gifted your sister with life and power...” Ocram comments in their ever-present original form, chuckling. “And renewed… purpose.”

“Insolent cur! Thou darest to defile our sister’s form?! Thou shalt pay dearly for this insult!”

“It’s so beautiful, Luna,” Corrupt-Celestia comments, “You have no idea how great this feels! You’re all fools to fight against the beauty of The Corrup-”

[WHAM]

Luna strikes Corrupt-Celestia’s muzzle with her left forehoof in one swift motion. However, this action doesn’t affect the mockery of Celestia much as Luna’s forehoof rested on her sister’s mockery’s left cheek.

“Is that the best you can do, Lulu?” Corrupt-Celestia says while Luna’s eyes widened in response, “Let me show you how it’s done… dearest sister!”

[WHAM-FWHOOM]

Luna’s form is sent hurling up towards the ceiling as the corrupted Celestia strikes her with a forehoof. A sickening collision echoes outward as the Lunar Princess collides into the chamber’s overtop with the force of a freight train.

“Graugh!” Luna shouts painfully, spitting out blood before falling to the floor. However, the change that was overtaking Luna’s form was still progressing all the while.

Cadence starts to back up in fear, but not due to Ocram’s actions. A swirling mist of darkness engulfs Luna’s form as she begins to rise from the floor. The Lunar Princess starts to grow taller. Her wings lost most of their angelic appearance and are replaced with near bat-like appendages but still feathered all the same, much like those of Nightmare Moon.

“Raaaaaawr!” Luna roars out with her head raised high, like a wolf howling to the moon.

Ocram chuckles, “Yes, Luna… give in to your darkness… your sins. Allow us to empower you as well,” The Hivemind hums in thought, “We sensed the disappearance of Cozy Glow not too long ago. She has served us well, but you’ll make a fine replacement. Come, join your sister as our new pawn!”

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be! Just give me more power, Lord Ocram!” The corrupted Celestia exclaims gleefully, then turns to Luna with a satisfied expression, “Is this how you felt when you became Nightmare Moon? No, this is probably even better! I love it! Oooh, yes, my wings are erect to their full lengths!” Her cheeks are now flustered as if she was experiencing absolute pleasure from this power.

Realizing The Hivemind’s intention, Cadence starts to plea: “Aunty Luna! You mustn’t give in to the darkness!”

“She ain’t gonna!” Yells a vibrantly-striped filly, flying as fast as she can into the room, beelining towards Ocram as she turns around and bucks the monstrosity nigh through a wall. She follows up with several more rapid jabs, finishing with a deadly drop onto the top of the Corruption mastermind, crushing it into the floor, before leaping off and flinging a strange tablet towards Luna.

“SNAP OUTTA IT, NIGHTCRAWLER! WE GOT WORK TO DO!” Ambient yells, splitting into the three Primordials once again. It was apparent the red one was yelling at the alicorn, as it seemed to be glowing quite brightly.

Recovering from the sudden beatdown, Ocram tries to hover into the air with green ichor pouring from his wounds.

“Wh… h-how did you- no! Blueblood should’ve killed you all when we ordered your extermination!”

“Bitch, we ain’t going down to some half-assed power-hungry motherfucker!” Says the red one triumphantly before locking eyes with a very displeased Aquaius. “Sorry, Motherbucker. Either way, attacking us just got you a one-way ticket to Dreamland!”

“Slag, enough. I appreciate your enthusiasm, as always, but I believe Ocram deserves a small amount of respect, if only for his courage in challenging us. Perhaps we should let him get a few hits in so he can boast in the afterlife.” Aquaius said.

“Unless I eat his soul first…” Says Omnicide.

“I am fairly certain that the soul of a corrupted entity would simply make you feel sick, Omni.” The blue Primordial, Aquaius, responds.

“You don’t know that… It could taste good...”

Sensing The Primordials’ radiating strength, Ocram, currently in his ‘Hivemind form,’ couldn’t afford to hold back as the abomination gathers all of its strength. A powerful lavender aura is emanating from the corrupt master’s form, shaking not only the castle itself but even a fair portion of The Empire. His body begins to shift chaotically and what was once the form of The Hivemind was now a separate entity altogether.

“I hope you enjoyed your gloating, worms. Now you face the very embodiment of The Corruption itself!” Ocram shouts as the newly transformed entity rush forth and slams into The Primordials during their chat.

“HEY! Not fair!” yelps Slag Fury as he disappears in a column of flame, leaving Omnicide to take the full blow. Omnicide gets sent flipping backward, as he was unprepared for the sudden attack.

“I will devour your essence for doing this to me, Slag,” he says as he manages to right himself, disappearing into the darkness.

“You insufferable Primordials! Begone!” Ocram roars out as he fires off a powerful lavender-colored energy blast towards the blue Primordial.

Aquarius calmly waits for the projectile to approach her before meeting the attack with her own, firing three water bolts to deflect the blast, nearly hitting Slag with the crossfire.

“Hey, watch it, sis! You coulda made me steam there!” he says, flaring a wall of fire in front of him which dissipates the bolts into the aforementioned substance.

“Perhaps you should actually help, then,” she comments, as six bubbles appear and home in towards Ocram. This is followed by Omnicide appearing from the shadows and charging directly into Ocram, causing the two to crash through the castle’s wall into the open air of The Empire. The two other Primordial siblings teleport out after them in a spiral of fire and typhoon of water, respectively, leaving the alicorns alone with the corrupted corpse of Celestia.

……….

The formerly enraged Luna slowly started to regain her composure as the tablet she wielded began to pulse with unknown energies. The longer she held it, the stronger the pulsing became.

Hesitantly, Cadence calls out with an extended forehoof, “A-aunty? Are you ok?”

Luna was breathing heavily while the tablet pulsates as she barely manages to respond:

“W-we art… feeling better… dear niece,” The Lunar Princess looks down to the tablet, “What is this thing?”

“Well… that was an unexpected scenario,” Corrupt-Celestia comments with a raised brow after seeing the conflict with Ocram and The Primordials. She then smiles devilishly, fanged teeth bared, and turns her gaze towards the two alicorns before her, “Anyway, where were we, dear sister? Ah! Yes, I was kicking your flank!”

Due to Luna’s current state of shock and recovery, she wasn’t able to effectively defend herself from Corrupt-Celestia’s attack. However, the imitation’s attack is thwarted by a certain pink alicorn’s interference as they erect a shield in response.

“I won’t just stand idly by and let you do this, aunty!” Cadence exclaims.

“Why not, dear niece? Standing on the sidelines is all you’re good for.” Corrupt-Celestia comments and smirks before lighting up her horn with The Corruption’s influence, lifts Cadence’s form into the air, and sends her flying towards The Crystal Heart.

“Now get back onto the sidelines! You useless ‘Princess’!” The imitation roars out.

Cadence recovers with a flap of her wings before she could collide with The Crystal Heart as she then gets an epiphany. The alicorn of love lights up her horn and attempts to channel her powers into the artifact while saying:

“Enough is enough, aunty. I’m so sorry, but this thing isn’t you!” The heart now starts to glow as it rotates rapidly, “As such I, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, hereby lay you to rest once mo-”

“C-Cadence?” The mockery of Celestia questions in confusion, “Wh-what’s going on? Where am I?”

Cadence was shocked by this turn of events and immediately chalked it up to it being the effects of The Crystal Heart.

“Aunty Celestia! It’s me, Cadence! You have to snap out of it!”

“I f-feel so… cold…”

The alicorn of love depowers her horn and trots over to ‘Celestia’s’ side. As a result, The Crystal Heart stops rotating rapidly and returns to a more neutral state. Cadence drapes a wing over her estranged ‘aunt’ and says in a soothing tone:

“I’m here, aunty. You’re going to be-”

“Nay! Get away from her, dear niece!” A recovered Luna cries out, but her words reach Cadence’s ears too late as the mockery of Celestia smirks devilishly and says:

“I can’t believe you fell for that... You stupid niece of mine…” The corrupted alicorn’s horn flares up as lavender electricity gather all around it.

“Nooo!” Luna exclaims in a pleading manner.

[SKROOOM]

The echoes of a powerful magical beam emanate soon afterward. But most disturbingly, so too does the droplets of blood.

Next Chapter: Chapter 12 - War In The Crystal Empire Pt:5 Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 45 Minutes