Max Jumper: Guardian of Empires

Episode 1: Shattered Crystal

Written by Caleb/Max Jumper/CMANsurvives

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."

-Albert Einstein

Ext. Outskirts of the Crystal Empire

Time: 2:02 PM

He woke up to a dark mist, red lights flashing through it, creating glowing crimson rays all around him. He looked up. Above the bright lights there was nothing but blackness. The lights stopped flashing. Good, that meant that the bombardment was over. Now came the real battle; the hoof to hoof, horn to horn, wing to wing battle that would soon become a war. The peace that had been in the Crystal Empire would be over, and the only good thing about it was the fact that the slaves to King Sombra would be freed and leave the terrible place.

However, in the dazed pegasus' eyes, there was no good thing at all. The slaves were the citizens, and his job was meant to keep the citizens inside of the empire at all times. Even now, they were probably being freed from their camps by the Canterlot army. No doubt that the great King Sombra himself would be pitted up against Canterlot's two princesses: Celestia and Luna. He looked up to see pegasi flying over him, on their way towards the Crystal Palace. Most likely from Canterlot. He looked around as the smoke cleared, preparing for whatever might come out of it.

What he saw appalled him. The battle line had pushed back further than he expected. Had he not have been knocked out by some lucky catapult shot, he would have led his troops and pushed out the forces of their opponents. But he must have been knocked out for some time; at least enough time for Celestia and Luna to arrive and turn the tides. King Sombra had expected him to handle Celestia and Luna, but now the king would be forced to battle them. Max Jumper, whom had been entrusted with being the general of the entire army of the Crystal Empire, had failed.

"I've failed," he said out loud, just to beat himself up. He felt no pity for himself; in fact, he had been trained to never feel pity for anyone. He was a soldier, but not just that. He was King Sombra's only advisor, only assistant, and only general. Max Jumper was everything to King Sombra. And now he had failed him. So what? The Crystal Empire had come too far to crumble apart now. The army was strong enough; they only needed to be reassembled. Max galloped as fast as he could towards the castle. Time was short, and the end would be nigh if he did not make it.

Int. Crystal Castle, King Sombra's Throne Room

Time: 2:07 PM

Princess Celestia was down; knocked out. She would not open her eyes again for hours. The unicorn King Sombra laughed over what he thought was a dead corpse. He turned towards Luna, whom was standing firm in her hatred for the king. "Oh, Princess Luna," he said, sarcastic sorrow in his voice, "It appears that your sister is… deceased." He laughed deeply as his dark magic swirled around him, shielding him from Luna's array of attacks. "Come on, Miss Luna," he reasoned, "You have nothing left to look forward to. Your life in Canterlot is over. Aw, hay, your life in Equestria is over, period! Join me, and we will rule over this land with iron hooves. We will become unstoppable!"

"No, Sombra," she responded, not giving into the fear of her sister's death that was trying to break into her heart.

"'No, Sombra.' That's your answer? Really? I truly expected more from someone like you, princess, especially because of your… dark origins."

"I know not from where I began," the Princess of the Night replied solemnly, "But it matters not. This day shall be your undoing!" She let out all of the alicorn magic she possessed… yet it was still not enough to break through King Sombra's shield.

The dark and evil king laughed. "You truly think you can defeat someone as powerful as me with your foolish alicorn magic? Please, in order to defeat someone such as me, you have to give in to the darkness within. So why don't you give in, princess? Why don't you?"

Little did Sombra know that she already was.

Ext. Crystal Palace, Front Door

Time: 2:18 PM

Max Jumper killed as many soldiers as he could as he entered the palace doors. As expected, the battle was raging on mostly in the main hall. To think that it had come to this, and then to think that it could all have been prevented… but now was not the time to think of changing the past. Now it was time to create a secure future for the empire forever. The blades attached to his wings swung around as he turned and slashed at the necks of the Canterlot stallions. He somersaulted over a few more of the soldiers and allowed for the knives sheathed in his sides to fall on top of their unsuspecting heads.

Once he landed, he jumped right back up again, and by shear leg power, he rose fifty feet into the air and came back down to break the backs of more Canterlot soldiers. That was the thing about Max Jumper; he never used his wings. It wasn't that they didn't work or were handicapped in some way, it was just that he liked to use his legs more. Your body is a weapon, and should be treated as such. That sort of mindset was one of the factors that led to King Sombra choosing him as the general of his Crystal Army, among many other reasons.

Max passed by more soldiers as he ran up the stairs towards the throne room. He hoped he wasn't too late. Two guards who were fighting broke open the throne room door to let him in, and then quickly shut it, locked it, and barred it behind him. It was the last thing they ever did. Inside the throne room, Max realized that the secret staircase had been opened. Celestia had been knocked out. He heard noises; noises that sounded like bursts of magic going back and forth. He looked down into the abyss of the stairway and saw flickering lights. There was never any light down there, which could mean only one thing: Princess Luna was down there, and so was the king.

Int. Crystal Palace, the Secret Staircase

Time: 2:31 PM

King Sombra was having the fight of his life. Now he knew what was going to happen. He had unleashed Nightmare Moon, not the Princess of the Night, but the Princess of the Darkness. Her power was uncontrollable, and she could not be stopped. "You wanted the darkness," she mocked him, "Well, you've got it!" She fired a black blast from her horn, and it shattered Sombra's shield. The next blow would kill him, he was sure of it. In one final desperate attempt to save his own life, Sombra let out a beam of his own evil magic, and so did Nightmare Moon.

The black flames met, forcing each other back and forth, but Sombra was getting weaker. He could not hold up for much longer. Then, out of nowhere, Max Jumper landed on top of Nightmare Moon, knocking the air out of her and sending her to the ground. "Max!" Sombra shouted, relieved, "How did you get down here so quickly?"

"I jumped," Max smiled. But the smile was not to last long. Nightmare Moon recovered quickly and fired one last shot, but this time, it was not at Sombra. It was aimed at the top of the king's throne room. Once the beam hit, the Crystal Palace began to disappear. In fact, the entire empire began to disappear, from the top to the bottom.

"Max…" King Sombra's voice was cut off as he vanished from Max Jumper's view. Celestia fell from the floor that had once been there, and Princess Luna caught her, no longer Nightmare Moon. But Max knew that the darkness was still in her. He hid from the many soldiers around him. His army had gone with the empire, and now he had nothing.

The Crystal Empire had been broken, and it was all his fault.

He had failed.

END of Episode 1.

Notes from the author (Caleb/Max Jumper/CMANsurvives):

-Hello! Thanks for reading my story. I'll continue it when this story gets enough views. Please leave a review, it really helps! I love to improve.

-This story will eventually tie into the storyline of the FanFic called "BlazingWing's Adventure." Take a look at that story. I'm the editor for it. This makes it better. DON'T TELL DONNY I SAID THAT!

-I was going to make this chapter go along with the YouTube video "Fall of the Crystal Empire," but I had my own ideas. Maybe it could still work with it, but, whatever. Who cares? I'm awesome.

-#HayBrowns

-Don't ask me why it's a hashtag, just read BlazingWing's Adventure episode 2 and you'll understand.

-Yes, I know "Shattered Crystal" has to do with Sonic Boom. No relation is intended. SEGA and Big Red Button stole my freakin' title. Deal with it.