//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: My Little Pony: Mystery of The Crystal Empire // by copperhaze //------------------------------// Haze Rune opened his eyes and groaned, shaking his head, small scratches all over his body, but nothing too serious. Rarity unfortunately had a broken hoof, and she couldn't really go anywhere. The fate of the others, were unknown. Rarity still hasn't awoke from the blast, and Haze determined it was a few hours later. It was snowing heavily in this part of Equestria, and really cold. Haze noticed a cave nearby, and carefully dragged Rarity to said cave. He then gathered any wood he could find. He would of used the magic of his horn, but he wasn't very knowledgeable about magic. Haze was wishing he did learn more about it, as of right now. Haze immediately started a fire, to keep Rarity nice and warm. She right away shifted, and opened her eyes slowly. "Oh! Ow, my hoof!" Said Rarity. Her ears lowered, and she was looking at the hoof that was broken. Haze looked to her with alarm, and ran to her side. "Rarity, hold still. It seems you broke your hoof. I just, never learned how to treat it." Haze said, sadly. Rarity looked around, and her face lit up with hope. luckily her bag she brought with her, was there! With one of the many scarfs she packed, she had Haze use some wood she carved with magic from her horn, and put both of them on her broken hoof. One carved wood, on the front side of her leg, and the other on the back. She used to scarf to hold it there. She tied it greatly, for it would stay. Haze frowned greatly and lowered his ears. "I'm sorry. Rarity, I thought something was off with Trixie. I mean Queen Chrysalis. I should have said something to all of you. If only..." Said Haze, but Rarity held her hoof up. "Don't blame your self, darling. You didn't know. Nopony is to blame." Rarity replied. Haze sighed softly. My Cutie Mark, it feels like I'm not even living up to what I'm meant to do." "Oh, nonsense. Haze. You did great. With out you, I wouldn't be safe and sound." Replied Rarity, with a smile. "Thank you, Rarity. Your words does bring warmth to my heart. Being friends with you, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash does make me happy." Haze was near the mouth of the cave, and he was shivering. It was awfully cold, and night time was approaching fast. Rarity noticed this, and looked to her bag. She had one other scarf, she was waiting to where that, to show off to her friends. She wanted to be the first to wear it, but Haze needed it the most, it would keep himself warm. "Haze, come here. You can wear my scarf. Don't worry. It can be worn by a stallion or a mare." Rarity then used the magic from her horn, to take the heavy scarf, and wrapped it around his neck. It did warm him up indeed. "Thank you, Rarity. That was very generous of you." Said Haze. "Oh, and I promise, I will unite you with the others." He concluded. Rarity looked to him and nodded. She lowered her head, and took a nap. ------ Twilight lay still in the grass, and Queen Chrysalis stood over the Princess. "Oh. What a wonderful day this is! I've planned this for years now! You and your friends were only lucky to haven been able to usurp my plans in the past. But this time! You will not beat me! Your pupil was easy to get rid of. Quite disappointing really. I expected more. Consider this the ultimate revenge on you, Starlight Glimmer, and everypony you ever cared about!" Said the dark mare. Twilight's eyes were still closed, but she spoke. "First, you try to ruin Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's wedding, and then you kidnap Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo and Applebloom. Starlight, Discord, Thorax and Trixie saved us from you, and you tried to get revenge on her for having most of your changelings abandon you." Said Twilight, getting up, and shaking her head. a patch of fur on Twilight's chest has a burn mark. Queen Chrysalis chuckled. "Ah, but you don't know my plan, do you 'Princess'." Said the Queen with a triumphant sneer. Twilight's ears lowered. The dark mare was right. She couldn't figure it out. "But why? I don't understand why you keep doing the things you do." Said Twilight. The reasons behind her actions were always never clear. The Queen stood in place, her ears slowly lowered, but shook her head and growled. "Why would you care, besides! I have my reasons. Nopony ever cared for me before, so why should I care for others? Don't pretend like you care!" Exclaimed the Queen. The Alicorn Amulet glowed red, and the Queen vanished. Twilight looked around frantically, but could sense the evil mare was long gone. For now. She closed her eyes, and her horn had a purple aura. She opened her eyes, and ran northward. Pinkie Pie and Applejack were closer then she thought. Meanwhile in the southern part of Equestria. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were in the Everfree forest. Rainbow Dash looked over Fluttershy, until she would wake up. The howl of Timber Wolves awoke the yellow pony. She shivered and clung to Rainbow Dash. "It's alright Fluttershy, they won't harm us. They're too far away. Look, I can see Zecora's hut. Let's go there." Said Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walked to Zecora's hut, and RD knocked on the door. Zecora took a few seconds to open the door. She invited the two in. Rainbow Dash told Zecora of the events that that occured. "Ah, trouble seems to be stirring indeed." Said the Zebra. "Yeah, we need to find the others, I'm worried for them. What if..." Said Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, I'm pretty sure everypony is okay." Replied Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy emitted a small whimper, and nodded. Meanwhile, Twilight was looking for Applejack and Pinkie Pie. "Girls, I can sense your aura, but where are you?" Twilight called out to her friends. She could hear a faint voice in the wind. "Twilight, we're over here." Said the voice. It was Applejack's voice. Twilight followed the voice, and could see them both. She ran to them, and nuzzled their faces. "We must find the others. I can sense that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are in Zecora's hut. Rarity and Haze are in a cave. I'll have Owlowiscious go to RD and Fluttershy, while I will contact Spike to go and find Rarity and Haze." Said Twilight. Princess Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie walked the rest of the way to the Crystal Empire. Twilight didn't need to tell the guards that were stationed at the entrance, of who she was. Pretty much everypony knew who she was now. Twilight was very happy to see the Princess that used to foal sit her when they both, were younger. Twilight observed the Crystal Empire. She hasn't been there for some time. Of course, She eventually became too busy, being a Princess. Soon enough, the three of them reached the Crystal Castle. Twilight smiled warmly, very excited to see Princess Cadence again. The three of them entered the throne room, and there she was: Princess Cadence, looking over an important business on a piece of parchment. Cadence glanced to the three, and tucked the piece of parchment away for now. "Princess Twilight. Applejack. Pinkie Pie. It's nice to see you." She said with a smile, but stopped smiling. "Where are the others?" She asked. "Queen Chrysalis ambushed us all, when we were heading to the Crystal Empire. The rest of us were separated, but I need to send a letter to Spike, and I also need Owlowiscious to go to Zecora's hut, I'll tell you more later." Explained Twilight. "We need to go to the Crystal Empire Library, we met a Crystal Pony, yet he doesn't know how he ended up in Canterlot. We were hoping that we'd find any information about him, or anything that would bring us closer to finding out what's going on." Said Applejack. "Wait a minute! "Said Pinkie Pie. "Didn't this weird stuff start happening since Haze came to Ponyville? And since the Queen pretended to be Trixie. Does she have anything to do with Haze Rune?" Asked Pinkie, tilting her head. "That's a good observation Pinkie, we will keep that in mind." Said Princess Twilight. The three of them headed to the Library, while Princess Cadence stayed behind. She encountered the Queen in the past, and had extra precautions made for the Crystal Empire, since the evil mare's intentions were not very clear. She had extra guard surrounding the Library and her castle. Soon enough, they entered the library, and Pinkie sighed softly. "I forgot how big this library was." Said Pinkie. Immediately the three began to search for the books. The first book Twilight decided to look through was "History of the Crystal Empire." She read as much as she could, and couldn't believe what she was reading. "Girls! I think I found something!" Said Twilight. Meanwhile back in the cave, with Rarity and Haze. It's been two days since the surprise attack by Queen Chrysalis, and Rarity's broken leg slowly, but surely began to heal. Haze managed to gather some flowers for Rarity to eat. Thankfully the cold didn't destroy said flowers. She thanked Haze, and he nodded in respect to her. Rarity nibbled on the flower petals and smiled. "Mmm, these taste good." Said Rarity. "I'm glad you like them Rarity." Said Haze. Outside of the cave, both of them could hear the wind whistling, but differently. A tall purple dragon flew down, and looked through the cave. Rarity tilted her head. "Spike? Is that you?" Asked Rarity. Meanwhile in Zecora's hut, an owl flew to it, and pecked at the door softly. The zebra answered and the owl took no time to enter, and it dropped a piece of parchment at Rainbow Dash's hooves. She opened it, and nodded as she read it. "It's time to go to the Crystal Empire, Fluttershy." Said Rainbow Dash. Spike made sure Rarity was alright, when she was resting upon his back, the magic from her horn made sure she wouldn't fall as well. Haze Rune held on to Spike's scaly back, and off they flew toward the Crystal Empire, to meet with the others. At the same time. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew to the Crystal Empire. Meanwhile in the Crystal Empire. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were looking in the history book of the Crystal Empire. "It says that the Crystal Heart was created by the founders of the Crystal Empire, and the founders were all family. Also, that one family member had to be chosen to be permanently linked to the Crystal Heart, in order for it to truly work. The youngest, a foal. Was chosen to be linked. " Said Twilight as she read through the book. "Thus being linked to the Crystal Heart, granted the foal immortal life. For with out the heart, or the foal, the Crystal Empire would cease to exist." Twilight finished reading it. "That means...Haze Rune is the foal!" Exclaimed Applejack. Twilight nodded, totally baffled by this information. "Queen Chrysalis must know this! She must be stealing the love and light coming from the Crystal Heart. That must be how she got so powerful again." Explained Twilight. "Oh No! She is after Haze Rune, isn't she?" Asked Pinkie Pie. Twilight nodded. "Oh, I hope the others get here soon." Said Pinkie Pie. The three of them left the library after Twilight put away the history book, and Twilight could see Spike arriving, while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash landed near them. Spike landed a few seconds later. Spike smiled at Twilight, but catching up had to wait, as they all heard a buzzing sound from far away, pretty soon it only got louder. It was an army of Changelings! And Queen Chrysalis was in front of them. The Alicorn Amulet glistened from the sun. Spike glared at the army, and bared his sharp fangs. Right away Pinkie grabbed her part cannon, and smirked. "I can't wait to use this again." Said Pinkie with a smile. Princess Twilight took a defensive stance, as well did the rest of her friends, including Haze Rune. The evil mare landed and chuckled darkly. "Ah, it's good to be back. This time, you all will fail, and I will finally rule Equestria. But first, I must take over The Crystal Empire." Said Queen Chrysalis. Her horn glowed red, and a powerful beam hit Haze Rune. The Alicorn Amulet has made the evil mare, insanely powerful! Even Twilight alone couldn't stop it. Haze Rune grunted and just stood there, as the beam vanished. His eyes were hazy, almost as if he was blind. He was mumbling. And the Crystal Heart made a wailing sound, as it was sad. Dark and sad memories were flashing through Haze Rune. Thus causing the Crystal Heart great distress. He even remembered when King Sombra first attacked the Crystal Empire. Fluttershy and Applejack ran to the Crystal Pony. "Sugarcube. Don't let the Queen's spell get to you, It's only a spell. I know the memories hurt, but you can pull through. I'm here for you. That is the honest truth." Said Applejack, nuzzling his snout. Fluttershy nodded. "Oh yes. Think of the kind memories you had with the others. We're your friends, Haze. Think of the good memories you have, and the ones you can make." Said Fluttershy.