It was a dark time for the Crystal Empire. After stealing the Crystal Heart, Sombra, now going by the title of King, had turned Princess Amore into crystal and shattered her. No sooner had the crown touched his head had the once timid unicorn asserted his iron hoof over the entire empire, declaring the entire province his own.
The once brilliant and rainbow hued Crystal Empire succumbed to Sombra’s dark magic; without the Crystal Heart, it was only a matter of time before the empire collapsed, or worse, became a bastion of darkness to rival Tartarus.
Emerald Edge watched from an alcove as two crystal constructs escorted a crystal pony down towards the mines where Sombra was holding most of the others, careful not to let even a single one of her pale green hooves be seen. Sharp faceted hulking monsters called out from Celestia only knew where, Sombra made use of them to corral any dissenters into the caverns beneath the castle where they were set to work in the mines. Mining for what, nopony quite knew, but Emerald Edge didn’t care. One thing she did care for at the moment were her friends. They were still somewhere in the castle, and before she did anything drastic, Emerald Edge planned to find them. Hopefully they had evaded capture; if not, she did not relish the idea of going down into the mines to look for them. Nopony ever came out of there alive, not since Sombra had taken over.
One thing at a time. Double checking for any dark sentries that might be lurking nearby, Emerald Edge unfurled her wings and took the sky. It was dim and cloudy without a single hint of the beautiful auroras that the empire was known for, as though the very heavens mourned the loss of Princess Amore. The wind lifted the hood off the pony’s head, freeing her turquoise mane, tied up into a ponytail near the top as she flew, making sure to stay in the lowest level of cloud cover. The golems couldn’t fly, at least not to her knowledge but there was no need to take unnecessary risks. It was one of the first things she had learned from the previous royal spymaster, and it had saved her life on more occasions than she cared to count. The rest of her body was wrapped in a dark cloak, another lesson she had taken to heart. Crystal ponies, by default were rather easy to spot due to their sparkling coats and manes. For a pony who specialized in subterfuge and spying like Emerald Edge, concealing oneself was paramount to staying hidden. At least there were plenty of clouds to hide in tonight.
How could they have been so blind? The signs had all been there. The sickness during the Crystal Faire, the odd reaction to the prophetic Crystal Heart, the sudden change of attitude after coming back from the frozen wastes. Sombra had fooled them all, simply by befriending one of their own.
Radiant Hope. Emerald Edge prayed that she had made it out all right. That mare’s kind heart may have been their downfall, but the pegasus could not find it in her own heart to blame her. She had done what any citizen of the Crystal Empire would have done. No, the one at fault was Sombra, who had taken advantage of their kindness and stabbed them all in the back with it.
Nearing the once glorious palace of Princess Amore, now crystallized in black from Sombra, Emerald Edge tucked her wings in for a neat four point landing on a deserted balcony. Replacing her hood, the pegasus hurried inside. She kept to the shadows, making sure to check every corner before proceeding. It wouldn’t do to get so far and get caught because she was in a hurry. She soon found herself in the throne room, hiding behind a pillar as more crystal constructs stamped into the space. Each one was the rough shape of a stallion, made of black crystal and covered from head to hoof with glassy edges that could cut through armor like paper. She’d seen it happen to some ponies that had openly opposed Sombra moments after he had shattered the statue of the princess. Emerald Edge suppressed an involuntary shudder. The poor souls had never stood a chance.
She silently and skillfully made her way to the next pillar, constantly keeping her eyes on the sentries, just in case they were to look her way. Fighting her way past was out of the question. Nimble as she was, there was no way she’d be able to destroy them all before one of them turned her into a shishkebab. One of the constructs turned towards her, forcing Emerald to get behind a nearby curtain. It stared in her direction for five heartbeats, then stomped away with the rest.
That was way too close…
Only when the sound of crystal on crystal was far away did the pegasus risk a peek out from behind her hiding place. She headed towards the throne after making sure the last of the constructs left the room. Behind the late princess’s seat, there was a secret room that only a few knew about. The Princess had made it for her closest allies, just in case something were to happen to her. Emerald Edge hoped that her friends had made it to the room and not the mines.
Etched into the floor were a cluster of eight runes, each one carved there by Princess Amore herself. Emerald Edge’s hoof touched them in a pattern that had been drummed into her memory by her predecessor, smiling as they lit up to confirm her success. A heartbeat later, a segment of the polished floor shimmered and slid aside to reveal a narrow spiral staircase, leading down into the depths of the castle. She skipped down the stairs, willing herself to move faster. She was just about to find out if any of her friends had made it. Whether good or bad, she just had to know.
Emerald Edge arrived at the bottom of the stairs, finding her way through the darkness towards the only door at the end. She found the secret panel in the wall on the left and pressed it in, unlocking the door in front of her.
Please be here, please be here, please be here-
As the door swung open, a pair of hooves shot out of the shadowed doorway and grabbed hold of Emerald Edge, pulling her inside while another pair slammed the door shut.
Disoriented, the pegasus stayed limp as the mystery pony set her down in the dark. A tiny flicker of light flared into existence, illuminating the tired but relieved faces of her friends.
“You made it!” Light Speckle exclaimed in hushed tones. She held an oil lamp with her magic, setting it down on the dusty stone table that dominated the small space. Light Speckle had been Princess Amore’s court mage and Emerald Edge’s best friend, still clothed in the flowing silken robes that she had worn under the princess’s service. “We were starting to get worried.”
Emerald Edge couldn’t help it, she laughed. “You were worried? I was worried I wouldn’t find any of you here!” She threw back her cloak, revealing a tight fitting set of flexible armor, befitting a spy of her rank. A blade was mounted on the side of each of her forelegs, to be used as a last resort if caught spying.
Gathered around the room were five more of her friends, including the captain of the guard, the esteemed Jade Crystal. Like her, their coats and manes had dulled to a nearly opaque shade, reflecting the grief in their hearts.
“Good to see you safe and sound, Emerald,” Jade Crystal said, giving her a small smile.
“Yeah!” Crystal Flare, another of the royal guards, added in. “Although, I knew you of all ponies would get here. You being the royal spymaster and all.”
“Not good enough to save Princess Amore from Sombra,” Emerald muttered bitterly. “What kind of spymaster am I if I can’t even spot a threat right in front of my face?”
“Hey,” Jade Crystal said sharply. “None of that. If anyone should be blamed, it should be me. I stood guard over the throne room every day, just letting that… scum go up and meet the princess. Some captain I turned out to be.”
“None of us could have possibly known what that colt would become,” Light Speckle added. “But there’s no point dwelling on what we could have done in the past. We’re all here tonight to discuss what we can do now, to hopefully put an end to Sombra before he ruins the empire beyond repair.”
“If it isn’t already beyond repair. No Crystal Heart, no Princess Amore, and no help from Canterlot. Either Sombra has blocked off all help from outside, or they don’t care about us.”
“I’m sure Canterlot’s coming to help,” Light Speckle assured, putting her hoof to the ground. “They’ve never abandoned us. Why would they forget about us now?”
“We can’t wait for them,” Emerald admitted. “Who knows what Sombra might do by then.”
Dash Spiral, Spirit Flicker, and Amber Spring, other guards under Jade, hung in the further reaches of the light, giving Emerald Edge big smiles. Things that she hadn’t seen in what felt like forever. Ever since Sombra took over, they had been on the run. But no more.
Emerald Edge returned to Jade Crystal. “Jade. We’ve got to stop Sombra. The princess must have given you a backup plan.”
The others looked at Jade before she started. “Yes. She did. Somehow, she knew something like this would happen someday, so she gave me this.”
Jade Crystal pulled out a key from her pouch. It was golden key in the shape of a sharp square.
“What’s that key open?” Amber Spring asked, her yellow eyes focusing on the object. It seemed such a small, insignificant thing, yet the captain was eyeing it like it was her firstborn.
Jade Crystal took a deep breath, knowing she’d need it. “The princess told me of a secret room in Star Swirl the Bearded’s workshop, under the castle. Inside it, there’s a special mirror. Long ago, when Star Swirl still created his magical items, those that he deemed unfit for use, or things that were too dangerous to leave around to fall into the wrong hands, he threw into the mirror, so that they could never be used for evil. This key unlocks the door to his workshop.”
“Uhh… I’m not sure you can throw things through a mirror,” Light Speckle said.
“This isn’t any ordinary mirror, mage," Jade continued. “According to the princess, at specific times, it acts as a portal to another realm. Every thirty moons, this portal opens, allowing us access to where Star Swirl the Bearded sent his unwanted items. If we can go through, perhaps we can find some of those artifacts and bring them back to defeat this dark king.”
“But how long does it stay open? Is it even open now?” Crystal Flare asked, flapping his wings a little. “I mean, what if we get stuck on the other side? We’ll have to wait thirty moons to return! Imagine the damage Sombra could do while we’re gone!”
“I won’t lie to you, Flare, this isn’t something I’m bringing up lightly,” Jade nodded and paced the room. “But if we don’t try, Sombra wins. I want to at least put an effort into stopping that maniac.”
“So what’s the catch?” Spirit Flicker, a brown pegasus mare, piped up. “How long do we have?”
Those who knew Jade Crystal well knew that when she began chewing her lip, she was nervous. She was doing that now. “I’m not sure if it’s even open or not , but it stays open for exactly three days. After that, we have to wait another thirty moons if we want to come back. I know it sounds dangerous, but it’s the only plan I have left.”
“The captain’s right,” Dash Spiral told the others as he joined the group near the light source. “We should find this mirror and bring these artifacts back.”
“Yeah!” Spirit Flicker seconded. “Who cares if we can’t find the artifacts? Sombra still wins if we stay here and do nothing.”
“Alright,” Jade Crystal decided. “Then we push to the workshop. We find the mirror and the artifacts, and we return to give Sombra what he deserves.”
Everypony nodded. Even though none of them thought that this was in any way a perfect plan, it was better than sitting around grieving or digging in the mines. Emerald Edge led the journey, the first to open the door to check for anymore crystal golems. Seeing as the coast was clear, she gave the signal as she walked out the door, the rest of her friends following carefully behind her.
According to Jade Crystal, Star Swirl’s workshop was at the east wing of the castle; almost the opposite from their current location. Emerald couldn’t risk flying. Some of her friends couldn’t fly, and to carry them in the skies would only slow them down and make themselves bigger targets. They would have to get through the castle on foot.
“Let’s move,” Emerald ordered as quietly as she could.
They trotted down the hallway, listening closely for anything that sounded like crystal against crystal. After the next turn, Emerald heard it. The crystalline hoofsteps of Sombra’s constructs. They seemed to be coming from one of the turns in the hallway.
“Back, back!” Emerald murmured to her companions as they backtracked to another hallway.
She waited until they were all behind her before looking back to the previous hallway. The clinking on the floor was getting louder as the constructs got nearer, but she still couldn’t define which entrance they would be coming from.
“Does this current hallway lead us closer to the workshop?” Dash Spiral asked the captain as he looked down the hallway they were in.
“Perhaps,” Jade Crystal remarked. “Maybe we should follow it. See if it leads us back around the golems.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Crystal Flare added. “We’re wasting time! Let’s check it out.”
Emerald Edge nodded and headed to the front of her group, leading the way forward, while carefully searching the area for any stray constructs. Nothing was seen or heard in the hallway they were in, but Emerald kept a sharp eye out, just in case. The walls glinted sinisterly in the pale blue candlelight, casting long shadows before them, each dark phantasm taking the form of claws, teeth, or blades.
“Stay on guard,” Emerald Edge warned her friends in a whisper, sweeping her wary eyes around the room. “I’m pretty sure we’re alone, but stick together. I can’t be sure Sombra hasn’t cast some kind of curse on the palace itself that lets him see what’s going on inside it. Stick to the shadows.”
“Curses don’t scare me,” Crystal Flare commented, following behind the spymaster. “But now that you mention it, I haven’t seen Sombra at all since he took the throne. Where is he?”
“Right here.”
As one, everypony froze on the spot as ice coated their bones. The usurping unicorn melted out of the obsidian walls, eyeing the crystal ponies hungrily as if they were a dish destined for his table.
“Sombra…” Jade Crystal said at last, staring the dark king in his eyes. “You will never be king.”
Sombra’s laugh resonated down the hall even as black crystal pony golems melted from the walls and floor. “I am already king, and as your ruler, I ask you. What are you doing in MY castle?”
The crystal ponies took a few steps back, but stood their ground. More clinking sounded behind them as more crystal constructs emerged, surrounding them with two walls of diamond sharp edges. Sombra grinned as the ranks closed, his tongue slithering out as he anticipated what he would do to them.
“What are we going to do?” Spirit Flicker trembled, her courage cracking with every step Sombra took toward her. It wasn’t fair, to be caught so early. They hadn’t even made it to the workshop.
Backing into one another, everypony was surprised to hear Light Speckle’s voice.
“On the count of three,” she breathed. “Close your eyes, and at my signal, run for the workshop.”
“But-”
“Do it! One…”
The court mage shut her own eyes, praying that none of Sombra’s minions would pounce.
“Two…”
Sombra growled, sensing danger. A glimmer gathered around the base of Light Speckle’s horn as she began channeling a spell. The dark unicorn’s mouth opened, the order to kill already on the tip of his tongue.
“Three!”
Suddenly, blazing hot light cascaded out in an expanding sphere as Light Speckle released the spell. Cutting rays of sunshine ricocheted off the polished walls and the pony golems’ hard, polished bodies. Sombra was blinded, an inequine roar shaking the very foundations of the palace itself as his minions pounced onto empty air.
The instant the other ponies had seen Light Speckle’s horn ignite, they had guessed her plan and each divined a path of escape. Thousands of hours of drills and military practice suddenly came to the forefront of each pony’s brain as they rolled, dived, leapt, flew, and teleported past every single attacker. By the time Sombra recovered, the seven of them were already four corridors away and running.
They heard the king roar one more time as they galloped down the next corridor, watching the walls and floor for any movement.
"I know this path!" Jade Crystal shouted, the adrenaline pumping through her body, her form and pace not faltering as they made it past the central wing's gates.
The seven crystal ponies listened as more constructs began popping out around them. They picked up the pace, not wanting a repeat of what had happened only moments ago. Three constructs materialized in front of them, blocking the path, but with a short teleport spell, Light Speckle got them behind the constructs as they kept going, not stopping to face them. The constructs were strong, and it would take too much time. If they stayed back and fought, they wouldn’t make it to the workshop before Sombra caught up with them.
The team entered the east wing, rushing down the open-aired corridor, heading straight for the turret with a single door built into it.
"There!" Jade Crystal directed, galloping past Emerald. "The entrance to the workshop!"
She arrived and kicked the door open, standing at the entrance while she filed the others in, making sure none of them would be left behind. Only Dash Spiral and Spirit Flicker remained, but when Jade Crystal beckoned, they stopped.
"What are you two doing?" Jade rushed. "Quickly! We must seal the door!"
The two guards looked at each other and nodded before turning back to their captain.
"We're not coming, captain," Dash Spiral told her calmly. "We'll hold them off for as long as we can."
"We'll give you more time to get to the mirror," Spirit Flicker added, pulling out her sword and clenching the weapon in her teeth.
"No, I cannot allow this!" Jade replied, shouting at them. "You'll die here!"
"If you don't get through the mirror, then we're all already dead!" Dash Spiral protested. "We're going to give you that extra chance! Go! Time's wasting!"
The two guards would hear no more. Dash Spiral drew his spear and joined Spirit Flicker, facing the other end of the corridor.
Emerald Edge returned to the door, understanding where the last three members of her group were. The other two were about to give their lives for the sake of their empire and friends.
"Jade..." Emerald tried to sound as reasonable as she could, though she too was shocked to the core. "They're buying us time... If we stay here, we're wasting their lives. You need to open the door to the mirror. Dash and Spirit have already made up their minds, and there's no changing them. But us? We still have a mission to accomplish. For the Empire and for the both of them. We will find the artifacts and we will stop Sombra."
Jade paused and thought about it for a second before nodding to Emerald Edge. She turned to her two friends, a single tear tracing its way down her cheek. "It has been an honor..."
Emerald nudged Jade as she made her way down the staircase past the door. She turned to look at Dash and Spirit one last time before closing the door behind herself.
Dash Spiral and Spirit Flicker held their ground, awaiting the fight together. The pegasus gave Dash a wan smile. Licking her lips, the two stood back to back as the sounds of dozens of black crystal hooves thundered toward them.
“Ready for one last dance, my friend?” Tears glinted in her eyes, contrasting with her fearsome snarl.
Despite everything, Dash Spiral smiled. This was what he was meant to do; to give his life in service to the Crystal Empire. Doing it next to such a remarkable mare, now that was just a bonus.
“Always.”
Jade Crystal and Emerald Edge flew down the spiral staircase, joining the others at the bottom.
“Where’s Dash Spiral and Spirit Flicker?” Light Speckle asked, realizing the two guards were no longer with them.
Jade Crystal turned her head away and continued down the dark passage, leaving it to Emerald Edge to notify her friends of what had happened.
“They stayed behind.” The words tasted terrible even as the spymaster said them, but there wasn’t any point in trying to soften the news. “To give us time.”
Jade stopped halfway down the hall, continuing to stare at the ground. “We must not let their sacrifice go to waste. We carry on.”
The captain of the guard approached the door at the end and inserted the gold key into the lock. She turned it, hearing the resounding click of the locking mechanism. She slowly pushed the door open and walked into the room. The rest of the crystal ponies followed behind, looking into the room filled to the brim with pieces of metal, dust and cobwebs. Nothing stood out as a magical mirror, unless said mirror was extremely small.
Ignoring the puzzled glances of her fellows, Jade Crystal trotted over to a barrel that was filled with old jousting lances and pulled on one with her teeth. The weapon resisted for a moment before shifting with an audible clunk. Another section of the wall shuddered, loose bits of crystal plinking down as it slid into the floor. A dark flight of stairs yawned beyond, leading down into the depths. It smelled old and stale, as if it had never been opened until now. In all likelihood, it probably hadn’t.
“Come on. We’re almost there,” Jade Crystal cantered down the hallway.
“How long has that been here?” Spring Amber asked. “I’ve been stocking old weapons in here for years and I never knew there was a secret passage here.”
Emerald Edge gave her a nudge, reminding Amber of the urgency of their mission. “They’re called secret passages for a reason. Now let’s go.”
Emerald Edge was reminded uncomfortably of a crypt the further they descended. The steps were roughly hewn and steep, and more than once only the vigilance of another pony and quick thinking saved them from plunging off the side and into oblivion.
Light Speckle walked next to Jade Crystal, lighting the way ahead with her magic. Each of their hoofsteps echoed all around them, as if they were in a cave. Emerald wondered just how further down they would be going, and just what Star Swirl might have thought dangerous enough to hide all the way down here. Old harvest tales from many a Crystal Faire ago began to creep into the spymaster’s mind, of ponies who delved too far and awoke unspeakable horrors from the bowels of the earth. She shivered and pulled her cloak closer around her body. Something worse than Sombra? Now that was a truly terrifying thought.
Before long, the steps started to even out and widen. The ceiling dipped down to meet them as well, stalactites and stalagmites meeting midway to form toothy stone pillars. It was uncannily like walking in the mouth of some gargantuan creature, and everypony breathed a small sigh of relief once a tall metal door came into view.
“This is definitely it,” Light Speckle said as she extinguished her lighting spell. “I can feel the magic behind this door; it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”
The captain of the guard nodded and walked up to the door’s highly polished surface. Glyphs were etched in concentric spirals on in the metal spiralling around Star Swirl’s cutie mark. Jade Crystal drew out the key and inserted it into a hole in the dead center of the carvings, turning it once it snicked into place and pushing. The door glided inwards noiselessly on perfectly balanced hinges.
“Get inside, everypony. Light Speckle, seal the door.”
The mage did as she was bid and fired a spell of locking onto the door once her fellow ponies were all inside. The room was filled with more of Star Swirl’s old experiments and gadgets, lying in heaps on the floor and table. Had this been any other time, everypony, especially Light Speckle, could have spent days here going through the wizard’s old stuff. This time however, they weren’t given the luxury of browsing. They had to find the mirror. Fast.
“I think it’s over there!” Crystal Flare pointed out, directing the group’s attention straight ahead to a small lifted platform.
A pony-size mirror shaped like a horseshoe sat atop the platform, partially hidden behind a big pile of clock shaped machines. A scroll had been nailed to the wooden frame and the glass itself was smudged and dusty, but looked intact.
“So, how does this work?” Light Speckle wondered out loud, inspecting the mirror from afar. “Do we have to cast a spell or something?” She walked up to it and tapped the glass. “Are you sure this is the right mirror?” The mage pony leaned in closer, trying to find an activation rune on the frame.
Prying the scroll from the frame, Emerald Edge read it quickly. The lower on the page she went, the more color drained from her face until she was almost chalk white.
“Uh... everypony?” she said in a trembling voice that dumped a bucket of cold water on her fellows’ nerves. “It says here that the mirror we’re looking for was moved to Canterlot fifty years ago.”
“What?! But-but-how?” Jade Crystal stammered, her face going slack with shock. “How can this be?”
“Don’t ask me, I wasn’t around fifty years ago!" Emerald snapped back. She walked up to the mirror to have a closer look. “This must be a prototype... there must be a way to get it working somehow.”
“We don’t have time for a prototype!” Jade Crystal shouted angrily. “We need the real mirror!”
“Well in case you haven’t noticed, dumbflank, the real mirror’s not here! Unless you have a better idea, shut the hay up and help us get this one working!” Emerald glanced at Light Speckle. “How much time do you think we have?”
“If we hurry, we should have-”
Just as the mage was about to finish, there was a deafening crash of something slamming into the door with enough force to put a serious dent in the reinforced metal.
Light Speckle turned her head to the door and gulped. “...none.”
"Check the mirror!" Emerald ordered as another dent appeared. The door was starting to crumple now, the hinges groaning under the strain of the repeated assaults. "There must be a way to open the portal! Spring Amber, you and Crystal Flare need to barricade that door! Don’t let anything through!”
“Yes ma’am!” The two guards sprinted in opposite directions, quickly returning with a heavy looking chunk of debris each.
As they got to work piling things in front of the rapidly disintegrating doorway, Light Speckle and Emerald Edge diverted their full attention to the mirror. The spymaster wasted no time in blowing away all the dust and grime with a gust of wind from her wings, allowing the unicorn an unobscured view of the entire platform and its cargo. The royal spymaster uttered a quick prayer to Celestia that her friend would be able to solve this riddle quickly; she didn’t like the odds if it came to a fight.
Jade Crystal, Spring Amber, and Crystal Flare unsheathed their weapons and got into position near the crumbling entrance. The barricade wouldn’t hold much longer than the door had, and through the cracks they could see multitudes of pony golems out there in the cave, their sightless faces locked onto their position, kicking and ramming the blockade with their hooves and heads. If the mirror was still not working when the barricade gave, then they would be the only thing standing between Sombra and any hope of saving the Crystal Empire.
“That’s what it all come down to, isn’t it?” Jade murmured, half to herself. “Hope.”
“What’s that, captain?” Spring Amber asked as she took up her position with them, aiming her spear at the entryway.
“That’s what Princess Amore believed in, even up to the end. She hoped that Sombra would make the right choice and return the Crystal Heart. She gave him the hope that he might one day be able to live a normal life in the Crystal Empire. And now Princess Amore has given us the hope of a better tomorrow.” The captain of the guard wiped a tear from her eyes, and as she did so, the tiny gleam of light that reflected off the teardrop grew and engulfed her, restoring the shine and sparkle to her coat and mane, just as it had been before Sombra had taken over. “And that’s something worth fighting for.”
“We’re with you, captain!” Crystal Flare grinned as his coat and mane regained their sheen as well.
"To the death..." Spring Amber nodded in agreement, her shimmering form returning too. “... and for Princess Amore!”
Emerald Edge watched from the platform as her friends steeled themselves for the inevitable onslaught. Invigorated by their spirit, she returned her focus to the mirror, inspecting its sides for anything that might clue them in on the thing’s inner workings.
“Hey, Light Speckle, take a look at this!” she called. “There’s something carved into the frame here, on the side. Looks like more runes."
Light Speckle hopped onto the platform to take a closer look. After a moment’s scrutiny, her face lit up in a flash of discovery and understanding.
“These are thaumaturgic imbibers. They were used back in the day before self sustaining enchantments were discovered.”
Another crash at the gates. “In Equestrian, please?” Emerald begged.
“They’re meant to absorb loose magical energy and channel it into the enchanted object! This mirror needs a power source to get it working!”
“Hey, you two,” Crystal Flare shouted. The three guards were pressed up against a long writing desk, struggling to keep it from being pushed aside by the invaders. “Can you hurry it up a bit? We’re not gonna hold out much longer!” His statement was punctuated by a sharp crystalline hoof punching through the wood next to his face and showering him with splinters.
Light Speckle bit her lip. “We need to find a magical battery, or a charged crystal, or, or anything. Without one, we’re not going anywhere.”
“Can’t you just power it?” Emerald pointed out. “You’ve got magic, right?
Light Speckle shook her head. “It needs to be either a constant stream of magic, or one big burst. I can’t do either, but I refuse to believe that Star Swirl didn’t keep some kind of power source in here to power prototypes like this. I just need one moment of quiet so I can cast a detection spell!”
Emerald Edge was about to say something along the lines of it being impossible to get any quiet in this situation when something abruptly struck her. It was quiet. The sound of hooves and horns trying to batter their way in had completely ceased, leaving the haggard breathing of the three guardsponies at the door the predominating source of noise. Emerald found herself holding her breath; she was reminded unpleasantly of an avalanche: one moment you were running for your life from a cascade of ice and snow, the next moment you were head over hooves in the cold and didn’t dare make a sound. Though, she thought privately, she’d much rather take her chances with an avalanche than with a horde of pony golems.
Crystal Flare was the first to find his voice. “Why’d they stop?” he gasped, pushing aside a sweaty lock of his crystalline mane.
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it...” Spring Amber cautiously peeked around the desk, but it was too dark out in the caves to see further than a few feet. What little she could see though, was eerily construct-free.
And suddenly the air was full of splinters and metal shards as an impossibly powerful pulse of dark magic smashed into the entryway. Crystal Flare, Spring Amber, and Jade Crystal took the brunt of it, the three guardsponies sent flying and colliding with the walls and ceiling at speeds pony bones were never meant to withstand. Crystal Flare was killed instantly as his neck snapped like a twig, but Spring Amber made a valiant attempt to get back on her hooves before slumping back down the ground in agony.
Jade Crystal had fared better, but as she went to check on Spring Amber, Emerald could see that she was hurt too. Every step made the captain wince; she suspected a fractured wing or a broken leg at the very least. She and Light Speckle, having been further away from the door, had gotten off lightly but a piece of shrapnel had managed to cut open Emerald’s forehead, just under her hairline. Hot, sticky blood kept dripping into her eye and it stung like a hot coal.
But the worst was yet to come. Darker than a moonless night, as fearsome as ten thousand manticores and just as deadly, King Sombra had finally arrived.
“My little ponies...” he hissed, black smog clinging to him like a cloak. “I wondered where you were running off to. I already said nopony leaves my kingdom, and as its ruler, my word is law.”
Two crystal constructs marched in, one on either side of the king. One had a spear shaft thrust through its glassy body, while the other sported the end of a broken sword in its head like a macabre unicorn doll. Both golems were stained with dark red, faintly sparkling blood.
“Your friends have already paid the price for disobedience. Bow down to me, and I may yet spare your pitiful lives. If not…”
Sombra whipped his head at the fallen Spring Amber and his horn fired a ray of dark energy at the helpless pony. Spring Amber didn’t even get to cry out as the beam scorched a hole straight through her body.
“You... you MONSTER!” Captain Jade Crystal screamed. She was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks even as she tried to rush the evil unicorn.
“Jade! No!”
The captain of the guard barely made it four steps before Sombra caught her in his telekinetic grasp and slammed her into the ceiling, letting her fall. But even as her ribs cracked, as her wings snapped, Jade Crystal would not back down. Sword in mouth, she took one faltering step after another at Sombra, whose only response was to flick her to the ground once more.
“I can’t watch..." sobbed Light Speckle. The mage was the least combat hardened of the entire party, and seeing so much death in one day was breaking her nerve. “Why is this happening to us?” She covered her ears with both hooves, vainly trying to block out the screams.
Emerald Edge would have cried with her had she not been trembling with rage. Rage at how Sombra had taken advantage of Princess Amore’s kindness. Rage at Sombra for ever coming to the Crystal Empire. Rage at seeing her friends killed like they were nothing. And more than anything, rage at Star Swirl the bucking Bearded for ever making this mirror in the first place and giving them false hope.
It was then that she decided that if she was going to die here, the final thing she wanted to do was to smash that accursed mirror into a thousand pieces, then throw herself at Sombra.
“Emerald,” it was Light Speckle, she vaguely registered through the haze of red that had descended over her vision. The mage sounded like she was calling her from a long way away.
“Kill you…” Emerald Edge whispered, fixing her eyes on Sombra as he grabbed hold of Jade’s wings and began to pull them apart. “I’ll kill you.”
“Emerald,” came Light Speckle’s voice again,only it wasn’t the mage speaking. The unicorn was still lying on the ground sobbing. So who…?
“Emerald…” the voice came again. This time it was loud enough to triangulate, and the pale green pegasus gasped. Crystal Flare was lying on his back nearby, his white fur matted with red and both his wings crushed, but he was alive. Alive and wheezing out words from punctured lungs. “Emerald, the mirror!”
The spymaster turned her head to look, the veil of red clearing like fog in a whirlwind.
Surely...this wasn’t possible? But there it was, as plain as day: the mirror of Star Swirl was lit up with a soft radiance, the horseshoe-like frame glowing cherry red like hot metal in a forge. Somehow, Sombra’s dark magic must have ignited the mirror.
“I-It worked,” she breathed in disbelief. “It actually worked. Light Speckle! The mirror! It worked-”
Emerald Edge’s words died in her throat as a bloodcurdling scream split the air. Horrified, she saw Jade Crystal’s lifeless body curled up at Sombra’s front hooves, covered in scarlet. The king himself smirked and threw aside the two wings he had been torn from the guard captain’s back and rounded on the two remaining ponies.
“Who’s next?”
Light Speckle shrieked in terror as Sombra’s magic yanked her off her hooves and sent her tumbling toward him and away from the mirror. Her hooves left drag marks on the floor, but Sombra was not to be denied.
There was only one thing to do. Wiping away the blood from her eye one more time, Emerald Edge spread her wings and flew at Sombra, screeching like a harpy. The wicked unicorn grinned in anticipation and let go of Light Speckle, his horn already lighting up with another evil spell. Then at the last minute, the spymaster executed a sharp turn, dodging the oncoming beam as it sizzled past her right ear. Sombra roared in surprise and indignation, but by then, Emerald Edge had picked up Light Speckle and was halfway to the mirror already.
“Come on, come on, come on,” Emerald chanted in her head, working her wings into overdrive. In just a few heartbeats more they would be through. Just a little more-
Then a bolt of green and purple seared past Emerald’s eye, followed by an unbearable pain in her left wing. She spun out of control, skidding and bumping along the workshop floor until the pair of them rolled to a stop just short of the mirror platform.
So close.
Emerald couldn’t feel her left wing any more, but that didn’t matter. Light Speckle was still all right; she could go through while she stayed behind to hold off Sombra.
An unexpected sense of peace washed over the spymaster. Spirit Flicker, Dash Spiral, Crystal Flare, Spring Amber, Jade Crystal- They had gone to be with their princess. Emerald choked back tears, but above all else she felt a great swell of pride in her heart. Soon she would join them, and would be able to tell the princess, with her head held high, how she had carried out her royal duty, even to the bitter end.
All of a sudden Emerald was hurtling through the air encased in a soft whitish magical aura. She looked down at her friend who was levitating her at the mirror’s surface. The side of her robes were smoking and half her face was burnt raw from the shot which had brought them down.
“Light Speckle! Stop!”
“Go on without me! The mirror’s going to melt down in a minute, and I’ll only slow you down.”
Emerald Edge fought against the magic with all her might, kicking and flapping with her remaining wing, but to no avail. As the glass drew near, Light Speckle said the words which she would remember for the rest of her life.
“It’s okay, Emerald... I’ll see you on the other side. I promise.”
The last thing Emerald Edge saw before she went through was Sombra bringing his hoof down on her friend’s neck.
Burning.
Emerald Edge was falling through an endless expanse of stark white sky, every inch of her body flickering with blazing white fire as she plunged downward like a meteor from the heavens. The flames flared and crawled all over the barely conscious pegasus’ body like arcane snakes, taking hold of each limb and engulfing the pony in a cocoon of purest white, molding her, shaping her.
Making her into something new. Emerald Edge gritted her teeth as the magic dove into her very heart, bones cracking and tendons screaming in protest as her body twisted in the grip of Star Swirl’s overpowering sorcery. Never in her life had she experienced anything so painful, not even when Sombra had burned her wing off. More times than she could count she almost gave up and slipped into the cold and comforting grasp of death, but each time one of her friends was there to pull her back, to remind her why.
How long she fell like this, Emerald would never be able to say, nor when she finally lost her grip on the waking world, but she would never forget how she awoke.
Face down in the dirt.