Chapter 20
Here Comes The Reign
Earlier, when the Magical Magnetic Pulse (M.M.P) spread across Equestria (and beyond), the "villains" sat in the dusty remnants of their castle as the magic washed over them. They sat there as the sphere illuminated the darkest parts of the castle with each pulse of its purple light.
"Well, it seems to be working," Discord walked over to the Master as his wings stretched and folded with each pulse, apparently the sphere's magic trying to fight his.
"Yes, it seems like it," the Master watched the purple wave stretch to the horizon, through the window.
"And why isn't it affecting us?" Discord asked, scratching at his oversized tooth.
"Because we're already human, therefore, the magic will only strip us of any magical or 'uncommon' appendages." The Master looked at the former Dragonequus and smirked, "But it seems the Spirit of Chaos likes to hold on to things."
"Only my trademark horns, wings, tooth, umbrella, rubber ducky-" The Master had held his hand up to stop the trickster, so Discord stopped pulling things from his coat. The pile of stuff, he had, came up to his knees and his just gave a shrug to the Master.
"Only you and Eris," the Master shook his head, disappointed, and looked back out the window. The purple wave still pulsing and the light illuminated the Everfree forest as if another full moon. The Master sighed as he looked out into the dark, his breath fogging up the window; in a flicker of light his reflection, in the fogged glass, changed to that of Missy. The Master touched the face of the glass and the reflection took on his own, again, and he gently leaned against the glass as a tear formed in his eye. "For you, my Love. Revenge is close at hoof." The Master watched as his tear ran off his cheek, realizing how much he missed his mare doppleganger. "If only I knew what time we had gone to. If I only had the Tardis." More tears were forming, in the Master's eyes, and the watery vision brought Missy's reflection back, once more. The Master put one finger on the fogged glass, and was about to say something when the still air was cut.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie…wants another grape." Trixie, relaxing on Trixter's lap, opened her mouth as she kept pointing to the ceiling.
"Is it really necessary to do that, every time?" Trixter gently fed Trixie another grape and shook his head out of disbelief.
Chrysalis, admiring herself in the mirror by the hall entrance, spoke softly to all, "It will be hard to take Equestria by storm when we have her yelling like that." She tried on another form, then reverted back to her given form, this one a girl with blond hair, "This I still like. Amorphous, is my hair alright?"
"Yes, Dear, but a little young for you, yes?" Amorphous leaned back in his chair by the fireplace, to get a better look at her. His given form was young too, thus his spot by the fire didn't suit him so well.
"Oh, it isn't. It will allow me to have the element of surprise. So does yours." She shot him a scowl and sauntered over to the Master as she saw Discord and Eris cleaning up their discarded things: rubber ducks, tissues, Twi-scepter, and so on. "Do you know we have idiots working with us?" She rolled her eyes in acknowledgement of the rest of the room.
"No, I didn't." The Master kept his gaze on the window, but retracted his finger. He turned to Chrysalis and gave her a stern look, "But, if you weren't so self-absorbed, maybe we could sharpen our cohorts into better allies."
Chrysalis stood dumbstruck, never had she heard the Master raise his tone towards them. She understood he meant it and straightened her posture. "Fine, I'll see what I can find in this castle. It would be more help if we had Oscura and Sombra, though."
"They are controlling the Crystal Empire as we speak. Extending its reaches, for us to conquer Equestria." He waved his hand to get Discord's attention, "You, Eris, and Chrysalis get to work assembling more Changelings," he turned back to the window, "and I will take the rest in the room to prep for the coming siege." He grinned at the thought of taking over the planet he stood on, but the thought faded as he saw the moisture, on the glass, pool where he had touched, and trickle down the reflection of his cheek (in his eyes, Missy's). "We strike at dawn," he uttered to the room.
Meanwhile (actually, before the M.M.P had even gone off), Sombra and Oscura had dawned their armour and cloaks and breathed in the air as they sat in the caboose of their train, headed to The Crystal Kingdom.
"The Master is powerful, bringing us back from the shadows." Oscura looked out the window, over the fields and imagined a barren wasteland that she would soon call her own.
"That he is, but I sense he is holding back something. Him and the dragons." Sombra looked this way and that, about the caboose, as his cloak hid him from onlookers.
"What do you mean, my King," Oscura's crimson red horn glowed as she pulled her hood down farther, as the service stallion came close.
"I believe they are working in a higher order-"
"Cupcakes, anyone? Freshly made this morning from SugarCube-" the service stallion's speech fell short as his eyes went dark. The sweets cart he had been pushing casted a shadow across Sombra as the stallion succumbed to Oscura's mind control.
"Oh, don't mind if I do. And I won't be needing to pay you, right?" Oscura's words hissed out of her, with such sarcasm and pompousness, as she floated one of the pink treats over to herself. In turn, the enthralled stallion nodded slowly and started pushing his cart away. Oscura snickered as she saw the stallion wake from his trance, only when he was on the porch just outside the caboose.
"My Queen, hold your magic," Sombra barked, a little louder than a whisper. "We are almost at the magical bearer," he added, sweeter, for he saw how astonished Oscura was with his tone.
Their cloaks frazzled in and out of existence as the barrier swept over them, the magic on the garments wasted. Now, the hoods only shielded from other's view as the two darkened souls walked amongst the crowd, which kept them from view of the guards, on the train platform.
Oscura slowly pulled her hood lower as she and her newfound king walked down the lane to the castle before them. "To think, I may be truly in love with him," Oscura thought as she leaned on Sombra as to make them seem less of a threat.
"If only I could express my feelings," Sombra contemplated as they stopped, hoof falls from the main gate and its guards. He slowly turned to Oscura and winked, "Now, this is power." Sombra stomped his hoof and shadow crystals slowly engulfed the guards.
Oscura was impressed, but quickly sent a shard at the guard in the bell tower. "They are always prepared, I see."
Sombra nodded and pushed the gates in, leading to the inner city. "They've added more security, since last I was here."
"But now it will all fade," Oscura gave a small giggle and stomped her hoof, erecting a shard tower in front of where they stood. The ground shook and cracked, as if the tower had always been underhoof. "This will be the beacon. This will destroy the barrier."
As the words were spoken the tower casted its shadow along the lane till it hit the barrier, everypony frantically scattering from its reach. When the shadow hit the purple dome the tower erupted in red electricity, which shot skyward and shattered the enchanted barrier.
Sombra looked on, in awe, and then shouted, his voice amplified by his magic, "Changelings, attack!"
Nothing seemed to happen as guards surrounded the sinister pair, but then a single thunder cloud pushed itself through the sky and stopped above the tower. Red lightning crackled from the tower to the cloud and changelings started pouring from the sky, taking down the guards for the King and Queen to saunter on through.
"This can't be happening. Not again," Cadence gasped as she galloped from the window to Shining's post, outside her room. They both watched as the darkened cloud grew, setting a grey light upon their empire.
"This portal idea is very useful," Sombra stated as he held the castle doors open for Oscura.
"Indeed," Oscura strutted in, Sombra at her side.
Sombra and Oscura made their way through the castle, up to Cadence's room. At each floor they were pleased to find the guards overpowered by their changeling. When they got to Cadence's room, they stormed in.
"Strange, they're not here." Sombra gritted his teeth, then shouted orders to the changelings, behind them, to find the missing royalty.
"I think they saw us coming," Oscura's breath hissed out in anger as she surveyed the city through the window.
"What do you mean, my Queen?" Sombra came to her side to see Cadence and Shining racing towards the train station. He stomped his hoof in anger, "No! They must-"
Oscura stopped Sombra's voice, with a nudge on the neck, "Let them go, soon, they'll strike fear into everypony's hearts when recalling our attack."
More changelings marched in, behind Sombra and Oscura, and the new King and Queen of the Crystal Empire issued order to take a section of the storm cloud and aid in the Master's siege of Canterlot. They did so as Sombra's and Oscura's shadows engulfed the Crystal Empire.
"Now it's our turn to rule Equestria!" Trixter chuckled as he sprawled himself across Solaris' throne.
"Hush, we haven't won yet. They're somewhere in the castle still," the Master turned to his allies as he witnessed Trixie and Amorphous settle themselves in two of the other vacant thrones.
"The changeling will take care of them," Amorphous called.
The Master was about to say something, but an explosion shook his train of thought and covered the room with smoke. The denseness of the smoke screen forced all to shut their eyes, but the Master caught a glimpse of a white hood before he was knocked out.
The smoke cleared just before the pony friends came into the throne room. They saw no one and proceeded.
"This way," Sapphire spoke, running to the hidden door she remembered was behind the tapestry.
The friends rushed inside, the door slamming behind them.
The bang woke the Master and he found himself tied up, in a side room somewhere, with Trixter drooling on him, Amorphous snoring, and Trixie leaning back to back with him. "Wake up, you idiots!" The Master tried to wriggle himself free, but his three sleeping cohorts weren't helping. He growled and was about to head butt Amorphous when he noticed a sleep dart in the kid's neck. "Well, that's helpful," he chomped down on the dart and slid it out and proceeded to cut through the ropes, using his magic to heat the needle to aid him. The ropes fell apart, after a few minutes of cutting, and the Master spit out the dart as his got up. "I bet that was the Doctor," he thought as he screwed up his face while trying to wipe off Trixter's drool.
"Alright, everypony, get a weapon and let's get going," AJ and Apple Jack called as the friends scavenged the secret armory.
"So these are human weapons, eh?" Rainbow Dash picked up a bow and helped herself to a full quiver.
Fluttershy saw Dash's movements and proceeded to copy, knowing she should be well off with projectiles that had wings.
Butterscotch and AJ picked up some cylindrical weapons. "Uh, this note says these are 'guns'?" Butterscotch and AJ looked confused and shrugged to one another as they strapped the things on their backs and were convinced they were some sort of high tech spears (they were really shotguns, they will learn).
Fluttershy had caught a glimpse of the note when AJ held it up to Butterscotch and realised that was the Professor's and Blitz's handwriting.
Elusive, as he shouldered his shield and sword, mimicking Dusk's and Twilight's, and Rarity's movements, he notice a torn pack nearby and picked it up. "Hey, Twilight, this bears Blitz's-," he's voice cut off as he realised he was alone, the royals and friends leaving as they bore their arms. He ran after, shouldering the pack as well and shutting the vault behind him.
The Master heard the bangs of doors and became furious. "How dare I be imprisoned," he grunted as he pushed the locked doors once more.
Trixter mumbled, "Keep it down, I still feel nauseous."
Amorphous and Trixie nodded in agreement.
The Master had been able to wake his partners, but the drugs must have been too strong, for they weren't up to helping the Master break the doors down. "Then, I guess I have to show you my power," he touched the door and concentrated.
Amorphous leaned closer to the two wizarding hats and whispered, "We all know he's only brains. A simple pegasus can't do much compared to us-"
"BREAKRÈ" The Master's voice echoed with power as darkness dimmed the lights and broke the doors outwards.
The three cohorts look dumbfounded at one another as the lights flickered back to life and the magical outlines of the Master's outstretched wings vanished.
"He's an alicorn?" Amorphous, speaking to himself, looked confused and hurt.
"You told us you were just a pegasus," Trixie barked.
The Master swung around and made eye contact, and in his unwavering tone he answered, "Yes, I did. 'Rule number one: The Master lies.'" He straightened his blazer and gave a fanged grin, "Now, shall we take what is ours?"