//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Crystal Empire Redux Part 1/3 // Story: A Storm of Emotions // by MelodyMori //------------------------------// About an hour later, I finally knocked on Button Mash’s door to see if he wanted to come with us. After a few moments, the door was opened by the colt in question, who looked slightly annoyed. I offered a small apologetic smile and waved my hoof in greeting. “Hey Button Mash! Uh, do ya have a moment?”  He raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I was in the middle of a game but sure. Why?” “Well, uh, Ah am heading up to the Crystal Empire with Dash, Soarin, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. And Ah was wondering if you wanted to come with?” I looked up at the slightly taller colt and gave an awkward smile.  “Uhhhh. I have to ask my mom.” Button looked back into the house proper before yelling at the top of his voice. “MOOOOOOM! CAN YOU COME TO THE FRONT DOOR?” My fluffy ears twitched a bit at the yell but I forced myself to keep a straight face. After a few seconds, Ms. Heart came to the door, looking a bit frazzled like she woke up from a nap or something. She looked at Button in concern before turning and looking at me and letting out a sigh of relief. “Don’t scare me like that Button, I thought it was something concerning.” Ms. Heart chuckled and ruffled Button’s mane, making him whine and try to block her with one of his own hooves. “Now what can I help you with sweetie?” “Ah’m not Sweetie, Ah’m Storm.” I responded with a small smirk at my dumb joke. “And Ah was wondering if Button could come up to the Crystal Empire with the Crusaders, Dash, Soarin, and me.” Ms. Heart blinked in surprise and raised one of her eyebrows. “The Crystal Empire? That’s quite a far trip for a last-minute thing.” I shrugged, my wings flaring out for a second as I did so. “Yeah, it was somethin’ with that map that Princess Twilight has. Made Dash and Soarin’s cutie marks glow! Er, and the Crusaders.” Ms. Heart let out a sad sigh and shook her head. “I’m sorry Storm but I don’t want my baby going somewhere dangerous. Maybe another time when it's a normal trip, not some ‘Harmony business’.” “Wait, I’m not a baby!” Button angrily defended himself, his voice cracking a bit. “I’m a grown colt!” Ms. Heart raised an eyebrow at Button, “Uh-huh. The answer is still no, Button.” Her voice dripped with that mix of kindness and sternness only a mother could have. “It’s fine Ms. Heart, Ah understand.” I felt my ears droop a bit despite myself but kept my voice as level as I could. “Thanks for listening at least. See you later Button!” I waved with a hoof and began the trek back to Dash’s cloud house. Hours later, the six of us piled out of the Friendship Express or whatever the train was called. The three Crusaders were hopping in place as excited as a group of fillies could be while Soarin desperately tried to rein them in from above. Dash started pulling bags from the train car so we didn’t lose anything, shaking her head at the Crusaders’ antics.  I just people pony-watched. There weren’t many other ponies disembarking at the Crystal Empire, and most were just crystal ponies that looked like they were returning from vacations or business trips or whatever. A few were tourists, easily picked up by the looks of awe on their faces at the crystal city. One was a weird-looking silvery earth pony with what looked like a bit of electricity stuck on her front right hoof somehow. I tilted my head in curiosity but she walked away too fast for me to get a good look at her or her cutie mark. Otherwise, it was a complete and total ghost town. Other than the ponies getting off and one or two pegasi guards overhead, there was no one walking the streets at all. Thankfully I wasn’t the only one to notice that, as Soarin and Dash gave each other a nervous look at the sheer oddity of the situation. The other three fillies just ran over to Dash, a strange mix of excitement and concern on their faces. “Dash! Where is everypony?” Scootaloo wondered, her ears drooping. “Yeah! I thought the Crystal Empire was supposed to be a busy city!” Sweetie Belle chimed in, her eyes wide. “Maybe the crystal ponies are ghosts...” Apple Bloom muttered to herself in concern. “Maybe we should go straight to the palace.” I stepped up next to the Crusaders. “Cadance and Shining Armor might know what’s going on.” Sweetie Belle let a gasp out of nowhere, making all of us jump. “Maybe we could meet the princess and prince!” “I’m sure we can squeeze in a quick meeting.” Soarin chuckled, “‘though haven’t you guys already met a princess?” “Who?” Apple Bloom asked, her head tilting in confusion. “...Ah think he’s talking about Twilight.” I raised an eyebrow in faint surprise. “She does live in Ponyville after all.” “Oh, but that’s Twilight.” Apple Bloom waved a hoof dismissively. “We’ve seen her dozens of times, we’re talking about a real princess!” “Didn’t you see her at the wedding? I thought you three were the flower ponies?” Soarin looked at Dash, who nodded in confirmation. “Yeah but somepony wanted us to hang out with Rainbow Dash instead.” Sweetie Belle gave a pointed look to Scootaloo, who rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “Hey, who can blame her?” Dash chuckled before flapping up into the air high enough to look over the houses. “Looks like this place is even more dead from up here. Storm is right, let’s just go straight to the castle, not much else to do at the moment.” The walk through the Crystal Empire to the castle was way too similar to the first time I had walked through the place. Instead of streets filled with statues of crystal ponies, they were just completely empty. As we got closer I could start to hear the metal clanking of what I assumed (and hoped) was guard armor. Thanks to the sheer eerieness we all stuck close to each other, bar Dash who flew overhead to keep an eye in the sky. That and she seemed to spend almost all the time flying around anyway, probably just made her feel more comfortable or whatever. Probably just doesn’t like being around you. “What?” My ear twitched at the sound, but I didn’t recognize the voice at all.  “Hmm?” Soarin looked over to me, his eyebrow raised in concern. “You say something?” “Did ya hear that?” I looked up at him for a moment before I saw his expression shift from neutral to...slightly stressed? I quickly looked away, my ears slightly drooping despite my best wishes. “Uh, actually never mind don’t worry about it.” “Storm.” Soarin’s stern voice made me twitch, a shiver of what I hoped wasn’t fear going down my spine. “Ah said don’t worry about it.” I shot back, my voice not as confident as I hoped. “Please.” Soarin stared down at me for a few seconds before sighing and nodding. “Alright, if you say so Puffball.” I offered a weak smile before cantering forward to keep up with Dash and the Crusaders, who had gotten decently far ahead of the two of us as we chatted. Thankfully not too far, our little filly legs weren’t long enough to outpace an adult like Soarin. Which was fine...okay, a little weird after being an adult myself but eh, out of all the things I could fight I doubted I could fight leg length. There wasn’t anything else interesting during the trek to the castle, other than the fact that the pony ahead of us in line was that weird earth pony. Now that I could get a good look at her, I could see that not only was her coat a nice silver-grey, but her mane and half her tail were a slightly lighter shade of grey. The other tone in her tail was a darker blue-grey, giving it a nice dichromatic look. Her cutie mark was of a goldfish in a fish bowl, probably worked in a pet store or something. Wouldn’t explain the weird lightning-hoof but hey, Equestria is really weird so might not be that unusual. “I heard Princess Flurry Heart passed and wanted to come to pay my respects.” the earth pony informed the guards, her tired voice almost a whisper. “Is there a grave I can go visit or the like?” “No ma’am, her public funeral has been put on pause at the moment.” The guard shook his head, his partner remaining silent and maintaining eye contact the whole time. “I’d recommend returning home and coming back when the date has been announced.” The mare gave an audible sigh of disappointment but nodded. “Well, I took a week off of work for this, so I think I’ll stay for a bit and see the sights then. Is there a hotel nearby I can rest at?” The guard maintained his otherwise stoic face, but I could tell he was a little annoyed with the mare’s decision. “There is one down the street. Head down for ten minutes, take a left, right, left, and it should be there.” The mare nodded her thanks and turned to go on her way. Seeing Soarin as she turned her eyes went wide in recognition, taking a step back in surprise. Soarin himself raised an eyebrow at her reaction, confusion fighting for a space on his face as well. The mare looked away a little too quickly and walked away, moving quickly enough to gain ground quickly but not fast enough to be cantering. Soarin shrugged it off as Dash and the CMC approached the guards, the latter three almost bouncing in place. The guards once again lowered their spears, blocking their path into the castle. Dash grimaced as they did so, landing behind the CMC. I sped my pace up, standing next to the CMC while Soarin stood next to Dash. “What is your business here, Rainbow Dash?” the other Crystal Empire spoke this time, his voice just as flat. “We were called up by the Cutie Mark Map.” Dash waved a hoof over all of us. “All of us were. Er, I guess all but Storm at least.” I shrugged as the guard looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “Ah don’t exactly have a cutie mark t’ ping.” The guard turned his head slightly to his fellow, still keeping an eye on us. “Send a message up to Princess Cadance, she’ll want to see them.” The second guard leaned in to whisper, but my sensitive ears still picked up his words. “Are you sure? There is a changeling on the loose, could be one of them.” “Would be a bold move for one of them.” The first guard let out a small sigh. “Just go send the message, the Princess will determine if they are who they are better than us.” The second guard let out a non-commital grunt but nodded and pulled out a well-cut piece of emerald from one of the pockets in his armor. I could see it glowing with a faint pink light from the inside, which was kind of strange to see from an otherwise opaque piece of crystal. He whispered some words into the crystal, which glowed slightly brighter as he did so. After a moment it died back down, leaving him expectantly staring that the emerald. In a flash of blue light, Mo- I mean, Aunt Cadance teleported in front of us, forcing me to quickly blink spots out of my eyes. As I was blinded I felt two strong forelegs wrap around me, pulling me into a tight hug. I couldn’t help but let out a squawk of surprise as I was hugged by who I assumed was Aunt Cadance based on the fact I also got hugged by a set of wings. “Oh, Summer it is so good to see that you are safe.” Aunt Cadance muttered in my ear, making it twitch slightly. “Uh, auntie, it’s only been like two days,” I muttered back, my eyes now finally somewhat clearing. Aunt Cadance flinched and let me go, a grimace of pain on her face. “Y-yes. Sorry, it’s been quite a busy few days.” I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, but before I could comment Scootaloo jumped next to the two of us. “Don’t worry Princess, the Cutie Map called us up to help!” “Ah, that is good to hear. Thank you Scootaloo.” Aunt Cadance flashed the filly a smile and tousled her mane. “I assume that goes for everypony here?” “Everypony except Storm got called to help with whatever is going on, Princess.” Soarin nodded his head in respect to the alicorn. “I assume that she wasn’t called since doesn’t have a cutie mark.” I awkwardly rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment. “Yeah, it’s only been like two days, Ah’m still working on it.” “It’ll come in time, dear. Just try not to force it.” Aunt Cadance gave me a warm smile. I nodded, a smile on my own face, although it quickly dimmed by the sheer quietness of the city. “Say, where is everyone?” Aunt Cadance’s smile immediately slipped for a moment, turning into a grimace instead. “Yes. Well, how about we head up? I’m sure you’d like to put your bags away before we talk about...recent events.” Her grimace returned, although it was once again quickly shaken off. “Yeah, it is a little annoying to fly around with these saddlebags.” Dash chuckled, a wide grin splitting her muzzle. Aunt Cadance led the six of us into the castle, heading up a circular stairway that wrapped around the small courtyard at the base of the building. While not the best use of time, it did give a spectacular view of the Crystal Heart floating in the middle of the courtyard. Several sets of guards were posted throughout the castle, all the more noticeable with the lack of other ponies walking through the halls.  Once we got to the guest quarters, the actual divvying up of rooms was actually pretty easy. Soarin and Dash took one room, while the Crusaders all wanted to split one room together like a sleepover. I went to get my room but Scootaloo jumped in the way, her wings buzzing in excitement. “Storm, wait! We should all bunk together!” I tilted my head, my brows furrowed in confusion. “Uh, yeah, yer all bunking together.” “You’re invited too, silly.” Sweetie Belle stepped next to me and nudged my flank with her own. “Isn’t a Crusaders sleepover without you after all.” I blushed in embarrassment, having forgotten about the fact that I was part of the friend group. “Sorry, Ah’m not used to having friends. C’mon, let’s get our stuff set up then before we hit the city then.” The girls all started giggling and cheering, racing into the room to toss their bags inside. I followed them inside, excited enough to go explore the city for once, but I couldn’t help but lag slightly behind as my ear twitched thanks to hearing something. I heard Aunt Cadance whisper to one of the guards to bring somepon- someone named Sunburst down. I shrugged to myself and went into the room, tossing my bag next to the bed like the other Crusaders. “So what do ya want to check out first, Storm?” Apple Bloom looked down at me, her smile showing that she was definitely enjoying her slight height over me the most out of the Crusaders. “Ah mean ya were here a few days ago with the Princesses, did ya see anything cool?” I felt my ears droop a bit as I shook my head. “Nah, we kinda quickly came and left. A lot was going on so Ah couldn’t really take in the sights, sorry.” “Hey, that just means we get to check them out together!” Scootaloo cheered, hopping on the bed with a grin.  “Yeah!” The four of us cheered, raising a hoof up in a high five. High hoof. Whatever.