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

The world all-around Cadence seemed to slow down as she shockingly lost her sense of reality. Droplets of blood were falling to the floor, but what shocked the alicorn of love the most was one apparent fact: It wasn’t her blood. In addition, Cadence didn’t even realize that she was now splayed onto the floor, mere inches away from the two beings who were now locked together.

“Nnngh…” Luna grits her teeth in pain as a large wound was now present on her right shoulder, blood streaming down.

“How lucky, niece,” Corrupt-Celestia comments with a devilish grin, “Looks like good old Lulu is still fast on her hooves,” She chuckles, “You always were a master of popping up from the shadows, Lulu.” Celestia’s mockery then turns sideways and kicks Luna a distance away with a hind leg.

The Lunar Princess lets loose a painful grunt upon making contact with the floor.

The shock present within Cadence’s form is now turning into sorrow as it was revealed that in the very last moment, Luna had appeared out of the pink alicorn’s shadow, pushed her aside, and took the blow in her stead, but failed to dodge herself completely. Incidentally, the tablet that Luna once held was now positioned on the floor nearby, where she once stood before she saved Cadence.

“Aunty Luna?! Are you ok?!” Cadence questions with a concerned yet sorrowful tone.

“How utterly boring. And disappointing,” Corrupt-Celestia says as she looks towards Luna’s downed form, who in turn was starting to raise her head, but still laid on the floor with blood leaking from her shoulder wound. “What did you hope to accomplish by saving Cadence’s useless flank?”

“D-dear… Niece… it’s t-time…” Luna said, strugglingly.

“If by that you mean ‘time for you both to die,’ then yes.” Celestia’s mockery said.

“Wait, aunty… you can’t possibly be asking me to-”

“Thou art far more potent than thou gives thyself credit for, Cadence,” Luna interjects.

“Seriously? Her?” Corrupt-Celestia questions mockingly, pointing a forehoof towards Cadence, “Oh pleeease, she’s easily the most useless of us alicorns and-”

“Thou truly art a fool if thee believe that to be so! But that’s to be expected from a mere mockery of our dear sister! Thou knows nothing about our niece’s might!” Luna roars out.

“I’ll give you this; your mouth can sure flap about even at the very end,” The corrupted Sun Princess then smirks as she glances towards Cadence and speaks in Ocram’s voice:

“We must admit, we are not familiar with this so-called power of yours, Cadence. Not that it will do you any good.”

“Ocram?!” Luna exclaims in shock.

“How are you here with us?! You’re fighting with The Primordials!” Cadence exclaims.

“Our mind isn’t as limited as that of you mortals. We didn’t earn the name: The Hivemind, for nothing. All who serve The Corruption are mere extensions to our will. Even as we contend with these annoying Primordials, we can still see, hear, and interact through Celestia’s form.”

The mockery of Celestia then regains her normal, yet still hauntingly adjusted, voice: “Indeed, my lord… so what say we get to the meat of all this?” The corrupted alicorn then starts to walk towards Luna, all four of their wings protruding outwards.

“No! Get away from her!” Cadence roars out and starts to run towards the fallen Sun Princess.

“And here comes the useless calvary,” Corrupt-Celestia mutters as she waits for Cadence to get closer.

“Yaaaah!” Cadence roars out after she hops into the air and meteors down with her right hind leg, intending to strike at the corrupt alicorn’s form.

Corrupt-Celestia chuckles in response before sidestepping at the very last second, firing up her horn with bolts of lavender electricity and blasts Cadence away with a magic comprised beam, sending her flying into a nearby wall of the chamber.

“Sit down, little filly,” Celestia’s mockery comments with a side glance, “The big mares need to talk.”

“Cadence! Thou must use- graugh!” Luna’s words are cut off, and she cries out in pain as a lavender aura surrounds her neck region. The Lunar Princess is raised into the air and floats rapidly towards the corrupted Sun Princess.

Now floating before Corrupt-Celestia, Luna struggles against the unknown force holding her up by her neck with her two forehooves. All while a haunting purple glow alights her features via “Celestia’s” flaring horn.

“You’d better hurry up, Cadence. Or else Lulu here will be the next one for Ocram to ‘resurrect.’” Celestia’s mockery said.

“Please! Don’t do this! I can’t-”

“Wrong answer!” Corrupt-Celestia shouts as she releases Luna from her invisible grasp but brutally impales the Lunar Princess on her horn, through Luna’s stomach region, before raising them into the air and over her head. Luna exclaims in pain, and this brutal scenario looked as if the corrupted Sun Princess had just hunted the poor dark alicorn, mounting her on full display in a fierce fashion.

“Please! Stop!” Cadence pleads with tears threatening to stroll down her features.

“Lookie here, niece! I just got myself a new crown! How does it look?” The fallen alicorn inquires as she shakes Luna about, who in turn coughs up blood, “Here, wanna try it on?” Celestia’s mockery spins around and thrusts her head forward, which unhooks Luna from her horn and sends The Lunar Princess flying towards Cadence before skiing on the chamber’s floor.

“Aunty Luna!” Cadence shouts as she trots over to aid the wounded alicorn.

“Oh, don’t worry, I made sure to avoid anything vital. But Lulu must be hurting like Tartarus right now.” Corrupt-Celestia says before proceeding to laugh uncontrollably.

“Aunty! I’m here; let me heal you.”

Luna coughs up blood, “W-we… we’ll m-manage, niece. But thou must... Thou must use thy strength to win this battle,” Luna coughs again, “Thy true strength.”

The corrupted Sun Princess recovers from her laughter, “How many times do I have to tell you? Cadence is useless! And why are you so insistent on having her-”

“Alright then… I’ll do it, aunty.” Cadence interjects, which not only cuts off ‘Celestia’s’ words but also causes Luna to smile, despite her wounded state.

“The time hath come, Cadence. We art in great pain, but we can tend to our own wounds,” Luna then turns her gaze to the corrupted form of Celestia, “It is your role to stop our sister’s defiled form.”

“I understand,” Cadence responds with a content expression as she then raises to her full stature and spreads her wings to their full-lengths, “I vow to not only stop you, aunty Celestia, but to also free you from this.”

After staring at the duo with a questioning expression, Celestia’s mockery scuffs before saying:

“Oh really? And how, pray tell, do you plan to do that, niece?”

“I’m surprised that you don’t remember,” Powerful energies start to gather around the pink alicorn, “After all, you’re the one who taught me to always practice restraint. You always told me that love is a tremendous source of power,” Cadence’s mane and tail flutters about, “So much power that even the might of the sun and moon can sometimes pale in comparison.”

A powerful pink aura starts to gather all around Cadence as even The Crystal Heart, positioned in the center of the chamber nearby, seemed to react to this phenomenon. The corrupted Celestia’s eyes start to widen as Ocram himself once again takes over and speaks through her:

“What is this power?! How are you doing this?!”

With an earth-shaking voice that was nearly reminiscent of the renowned Canterlot Voice, Cadence answers:

“I guess you’re not as ‘above us’ as you might think, Ocram. I am The Princess Of Love! Just as my aunts are powered by their celestial bodies and Twilight grows through her bonds of friendship, I am empowered by the greatest emotion given to all living things!” Cadence then powers up as her body starts to glitter with the crystalline form of a crystal pony. “I hold back my power because I’m afraid of what would happen if I went all out, full throttle! It’s the same thing that aunt Celestia always feared if she drew too much power from the sun!”
……….

Incidentally and throughout the entire Empire, ponies began to turn into crystal ponies as well, as the battle both within and outside of The Empire rages on.

……….

”Throughout The Empire, all of my subjects, friends, and loved ones are fighting! The leaders of The Coalition! My Shining Armor! Even my former foe, Chrysalis! They’re all fighting out there for various reasons!” Cadence prepares to lunger forth, ”And guess what drives them to do so? Love! It empowers me!”

Cadence kicks off of the crystalline floor and leaves a small crater where her hooves once stood as she rockets towards her foe and shouts:

“I am Cadence! I! Am! Love!” With that exclamation, Cadence causes the entire castle to quake in response to her rising power, ”And you’ve made me mad!”

“It doesn’t matter what you’re powered by! Love is nothing compared to our sin!” Ocram roars out from Celestia’s form as the two alicorns collide with each other. A shockwave is then let loose which also pushes Luna away from the conflict.

“You’re wrong, Ocram,” Cadence comments as she and the corrupted Celestia struggle against each other, “Love is the force that combats sin. The two are often at odds with each other, and as the Princess who governs over it, I shall no longer hold myself back against you!”

Cadence then teleports behind the corrupted Celestia before wrapping her forehooves around them, “Let’s take this outside...” With a single flap of her wings, Cadence lifts them off of the floor, spins around, and forcefully throws ‘Celestia’ out of the same hole in the wall that was made by The Primordials and Ocram’s earlier collision.

The pink alicorn was about to give chase, but Luna exclaims:

“Wait, dear niece!”

Cadence glances over her right shoulder in response.

“Thou must take The Crystal Heart with thee. It is the key to saving Celly.”

“How do you know that?” Cadence responds, her echoing voice still present.

“Both ourselves and Chrysalis hath spoken to a very particular individual last night. Two of them, actually. There is much that we must discuss after this conflict with The Corruption is done with. However, we simply ask for thee to have faith, dear niece.”

Cadence nods in response before lighting up her horn and floating The Crystal Heart over to her. The pink alicorn then flies off and exits the chamber via the hole in the wall, leaving behind only Luna.

The Lunar Princess then turns towards the mysterious tablet that was given to her by The Primordials. She lights up her horn and floats it closer to her while saying:

“This strange tablet… And those Primordials, as Ocram called them, they too called us: Nightcrawler. By the stars, what is going on here?” She turns the tablet while floating it before her, “Rajah Rabbit told us about our parents being the reincarnations of Nightcrawler and Daybringer, but there must be more to it. Why would we be called that name?”

“Do I need to give both you and that weird tablet some ‘alone time,’ Princess? You’re staring at it longingly.”

Luna’s ears perk up in recognition, chuckling, “Tzana, we art pleased to see that thou hath managed to reach the castle,” Luna takes notice of Tzana’s companions, “Ah, and we art relieved to see you two hath escaped unscathed from the dungeons, Tempest, Grubber. No doubt thanks to Tzana’s doing.”

“Tzana sure took her sweet time doing it,” Tempest comments with a smirking side glance.

Tzana rolls her eyes and shrugs, “You try making your way through a battlefield with giant parasites and worms crawling about while members of The Coalition want you dead,” The mare smirks, “I could’ve just left you down there and only saved the hedgehog, you know.”

Tempest laughs lightly in response.

“Wait a second, what exactly did Tempest and I miss while we were locked up?” Grubber questions.

“Many revelations hath been made during thy absence,” Luna comments, and turns her gaze to Tzana, “What is the status on the battlefield outside of The Empire?”

“Complete and utter shit, Princess. Both sides are taking losses, but The Corruption’s forces have two very big advantages, literally: Tirek and The Eater Of Worlds,” Tzana then smirks, “Luckily, we brought something with us that should be of use. The original plan was to use it on Discord, at least that’s what Tirek wanted.”

Suddenly, various other individuals entered the chamber as they held and supported a very particular object: Grogar’s Bell.

“I gotta say, I was surprised that went off without much of a problem,” Capper comments as he holds Grogar’s Bell.

“Did you ever doubt the great and powerful, Trrrixie? Illusions are Trixie’s specialty.” The show mare poses confidently.

Sunset Shimmer chuckles, “You left out the part when Stygian stayed behind and used shadow magic to clone us all, while your smoke provided the cover.”

“Trrrixie did most of the performance! Stygian was simply Trixie’s assistant,” The show mare huffs and looks away.

“Um, If I may, your highness,” Capper says as he garners Luna’s attention with a raised finger, “You mind telling me why some giant monster and three weird creatures erupted out of this here castle?”

“And that’s not even mentioning the rest of The Empire,” Tzana comments, “The creatures still think that we’re on their side, but those giant worms and parasites, not to mention the slimes, are erupting from within The Empire.”

Sunset Shimmer shoots her gaze towards Luna, “Oh that’s right! And we even saw Princess Cadence fighting what looked like a horrible version of Princess Celestia!” Tears threatened to leave Sunset’s eyes, “B-but… that can’t be… Celestia is…”

“We know, Sunset Shimmer,” Luna responds sadly, “Our heart breaks at seeing our sister’s current state. We can’t even tell if it’s a form of resurrection magic or simply Ocram manipulating our sister’s form like a mere puppet. Or both,” Luna walks closer and lifts Sunset’s chin with a forehoof, “But alas, our sister shall be saved and we hath entrusted Cadence to see to it,” Luna smiles, “And you.”

“M-me?” Sunset questions with sleight shock.

Luna extends her wings to their full-lengths and speaks authoritatively, “Hear us well, dear agents,” Everyone comes to attention, “Recent revelations and events hath changed our plans slightly, but we art still dark knights,” Luna looks to Tzana, Grubber, and Tempest, “Tzana, thou said that thee hath seen the creatures of The Corruption already enter The Empire’s boundaries?”

“Yes. They were coming out of the ground, but-” Suddenly, Tzana’s features morph into realization as she says: “Of course…”

“What is it, Journey?” Tempest questions.

“Ocram’s so-called main base of operations,” Tzana answers, “Canterlot was just a decoy this entire time, he told me that himself,” The mare turns to Luna, “Princess, are there any types of caverns or mine shafts below The Empire?”

Luna’s eyes widened in response, “The crystal caverns! That must be how he managed to enter the castle and is where more of these monsters are spawning from. How could we be so foolish as to hath not thought about them!”

“Caverns?” Sunset Shimmer questions.

“Some time ago, and when Chrysalis was still the Queen of the changelings, she trapped our niece and Twilight Sparkle within the large caverns beneath The Empire. Ocram must be utilizing those caverns.” Luna answers.

“And it’s no doubt where we’ll find the last purple orb,” Tzana comments, “Ocram took it with him when he and Cozy Glow entered the portal together. It must be down there and from what he said about Blueblood’s involvement… we could be looking at an underground Corruption Biome.”

Everyone lets loose their own form of reactions from small gasps, shocked expressions, to gritted teeth.

“Ahahahaha! Fear not, innocents, for I am here!” A small rabbit exclaims nearby, standing in the hole that used to be a wall of the chamber, “Rajah Rabbit! I see The Primordials made good on that debt they owed me. I saw them contending with Ocram, most excellent!”

Immediately, Rajah Rabbit is knocked forwards as Slag Fury is thrown against a wall, nearly getting buried in rubble. He manages to put up a wall of fire to defend against the multiple projectiles homing in on him and breathes a sigh of relief as Ocram’s attention turns elsewhere.

“Ah! Speak of Terra, there’s Slag!” Rajah exclaims happily.

“R… Look, Big R… We did our best, but… Omni’s gone. I’m next, not gonna be able to stick around long…” says Slag, motioning to the molten lava seeping from several marks on his chest. “I don’t know how the fuck he got so strong… I really thought we had it...”

Realizing Slag’s current state, Rajah’s features morph from gleeful recognition to absolute horror as he hops over to the downed Primordial.

“Slag! Are you alright?! By Terra, what did that monster do to you all?!”

Everyone else present watches on with both questioning expressions and shock.

“Omni got taken down, got cratered into ash. I got slammed with some kind of energy beam. Things we didn’t expect to see from the bastard…”

“Please… stay with us, Slag. You can pull through this time, right? Come on, old foe… don’t make this rabbit cry…”

“You’re the Defender of the Innocent, Big R. I ain’t exactly innocent, don’t cry over dried magma… heh… Aquaius is still fighting him. She needs help, man… She’s the most honorable of all three of us.”

Luna, Capper, Trixie, Grubber, and Sunset Shimmer watched on in sorrow. Tzana and Tempest close their eyes in military-like fashion.

Rajah rabbit could only stare on in sorrow as the downed Primordial slowly degrades further. The bunny then clasps his right paw into a ‘fist’ and says:

“And help she shall receive…” Suddenly, smoke starts to surround the small rabbit’s form as he literally begins to enlarge before everyone else present. What was once a small bunny, is now a hulking behemoth who stood at nearly twenty feet tall.

The newly transformed entity conjures forth a unique weapon, a staff, with a rabbit-inspired theme making up its appearance.

“I, Rajah Rabbit, vowed to save the innocent,” The giant rabbit looks down to Slag, “And you’re wrong about one thing. To me, you’re not just some ‘dried magma’, you are an entity I’ve come to respect,” Rajah then turns away, “Just like Oblivion. Heck, even Discord’s earned it.”

“Big R… Wait,” says Slag, stopping the rabbit champion before he can leave, barely keeping a solid form. “There’s one thing that you need to do. You’ve got to revive us… In that form. The one you fought all those years ago. We’ll be able to fight together then… Not as enemies, but as allies.”

“I give you my word, Primordial,” Rajah chuckles, “Harmony and I never regretted bringing you all with us to this world, I want you to know that.” The giant rabbit then turns towards Luna and the others, “You must enact your plan, Lulu. It’s a sound one.”

“Wait, how did thee-”

“When you hang out with Harmony and the Ancients for as long as I have, you pick up a trick or two. Mind reading is one of them.”

“What about thee, Rajah?” Luna questions.

“I’ve got an innocent Primordial to save and a foul villain to defeat. For I am, Rajah Rabbit!” The giant rabbit finally takes his leave as duty calls to him.

The Primordial smirks weakly, watching the rabbit bound off, before silently dissipating into nothing more than steam.

Next Chapter: Chapter 13 - Ocram Strikes Back. Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 32 Minutes