The flash brought them all the way to the freezing arctic, very near the entrance of the Crystal Empire. The harsh weather retarded their progress, but they boldly pressed on through the blistering winds and ice-cold snow. Fluttershy's wings were so cold, they would not even be able to produce her the movement to fly. Thus, the pegasus of the group had to walk like the rest of them. With nighttime not too far off, it became increasingly difficult for Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie to venture on, their near-blinded vision becoming cloudier and dimmer with each passing minute. It was nearly an hour before they felt warmth in the air and grass below their hooves. They were in the Crystal Empire.
However, Luna had been incorrect in her hypothesis about King Sombra's attack patterns. He had already reached the Crystal Empire, only more destruction and rubble greeting the ponies as they limped to the location of the Crystal Heart, it still hovering in the center of the Empire. They collpased in front of it, panting from exhaustion. Twilight closed her eyes. A shadow stretched over Twilight. She opened her eyes and looked up, seeing a familiar face staring down at her: Princess Cadence: in about the same condition as Princess Luna.
"Cadence," Twilight coughed, trying to put some happiness and enthusiasm into her voice, but failing.
Princess Cadence did not reply immediately. As delighted as she was to see her sister-in-law again, there was a gruesome image of her beloved family member right at her hooves. She could not ignore that. She turned around. "Shining Armor! Twilight and her friends are here! I think she needs help!"
Twilight lost consciousness before she could even hear her brother's voice.
After a long, quiet night, Twilight found herself in a bed somewhere in the realm of the Crystal Empire, near Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, in a room which appeared to once have been a hospital. With the town vacant, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor used it for their personal purposes.
"Wha...where am I?" Twilight asked, rubbing an eye. She looked around.
Shining Armor heard her stirring and approached his sister's bedside. "You're in what used to be the hospital here at the Crystal Empire," he said. "And boy am I glad to see you, Twilie. I thought something terrible happened to you."
"Wha...what happened?"
"You passed out shortly after you arrived here. Cadence found you and we brought you here right away. You and your friends slept through the night. I guess you must've been busy yesterday."
"You have no idea," Twilight replied meekly. She cleared her throat. "Where's Cadence?"
"Protecting the Crystal Heart," Shining Armor answered. "King Sombra swept through here some time ago. We've been constantly vigilant about the Crystal Heart ever since. He already gained control of it once - there was no way we'd let him do it again. We managed to keep it from him, but not before he destroyed the entire Empire with his powerful magic. He used magic I had never even seen before - I had no idea how to react! So, Cadence and I just protected the Crystal Heart. The Crystal Ponies were marenapped, but at least we still have control over the power of the Crystal Empire, even though it's a giant circular pile of rubble now. Better question is: what are you doing here, Twilie? Not that I don't enjoy your company."
"We were sent by Princess Luna for you two. She said that if we combine the power of your love and the power of the Crystal Heart, it might be enough to defeat King Sombra."
"Combine our powers? Hmm..." Shining Armor paced the room. "That thought never occurred to me. The only thing is, I fear what might happen if we leave the Crystal Heart vulnerable for even a moment. King Sombra has not returned since his attack, and with the strength his mysterious magic is giving him, he could be anywhere by now. And we don't even know where he took all the Crystal Ponies. It's too great of a risk to even try. I'm sorry, Twilie, but...I'm afraid it might be a while before Princess Luna's request is met." He sighed. "Besides, I don't even know how to combine magical powers. You'd probably have to look it up in a-"
"Book!" Twilight exclaimed, bursting to life and hopping out of bed. "Don't worry, Shining Armor! Leave this to me!" Twilight hurried off to the Crystal Library as fast as her hooves could carry her.
"Good luck, Twilie!" her brother hollered as the distance between them grew ever larger.
Twilight found the ruins of the Crystal Library. With no librarian to guide her and a great deal of the place in smoke, her search became both more difficult and easier. Obviously, all the ash and fallen fragments of the building in her way, searching the shelves was a going to turn into a chore. But, a good number of the books were torched along with the building, thus narrowing her search. She did not need to check out any of the books which were nothing more than a pile of ashes.
Many minutes passed, and Twilight started to grow doubtful of the successfulness of her mission, when one of the books she was dismissing dropped to her hooves, and revealed an archaic page. She studied the page: it was a map of the area around the Crystal Empire. A mountainous region to the west was circled in red ink.
"Huh? What's this?" she studied the map further. "This looks important." She ripped the map right out of the book and brought it back to Shining Armor. By now, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had awakened, both of them also interested in Twilight's findings. "I couldn't find anything in the library on combining magic, but I did find this old map."
"Hmm..." Shining Armor closely examined the location of the encircled mountains. "I wonder what that circle is highlighting."
"Me too...but I just can't put my hoof on what it could be."
"Maybe it's a secret cave, and in its walls is the most powerful magic known to Equestria!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Everyone looked at her with blank expressions on their countanences. "Or maybe it's just a gold mine." She looked sheepish.
"Maybe it's an old campground for the Crystal Ponies," Fluttershy theorized. "After all, they have been here over a thousand years. It's possible that maybe that's where their old Empire was."
"If that were true, then why would it be circled instead of the new location?" Twilight asked.
"It was...just a thought..." Fluttershy mumbled, lowering her head.
"My question is not so much as what it is, but whether or not we should bother exploring it."
"Well, Twilie," Shining Armor began. "If something like this is as old as this map, I'd probably discourage you from even going near there. But, these are desperate times. And desperate times call for desperate measures. After all, what choice do we have than to explore all of our options? Princess Cadence and I will join you, since we don't know what's out there."
"But what about protecting the Crystal Heart?"
"It's unlikely that King Sombra will return. However, just in case he does, I'm sure we can trust your friends to keep it safe and sound while we're gone."
The decision was made, and the guard performed by Princess Cadence was replaced with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. The ponies bid their goodbyes, and then trudged through the bitter cold to the location of the circled mountains. It was a long and painful journey, the powerful snowstorm bringing nothing but despair to the dishearted clan. As they neared their destination, a shady, pony-like figure spontaneously appeared. It appeared to be nearly black in color, the size of Twilight, and had eyes as red as fire. It hissed and panicked the ponies.
With no time to think, Shining Armor braced himself and shot at it with his horn. The pony-like creature went flying through the air and landed in the snow. Shining Armor approached it and zapped it a few more times, fearful that it would get back up and attack them. He made sure it was down. It was then he was able to get a good look at it.
The creature was definitely a former Crystal Pony. Its mane, its tail, and its coat were shiny underneath all the blackness which shrouded its beauty.
"What the heck was that?" Twilight asked, shouting over the noise of the intense snow.
"It's a pony," Shining Armor answered in equal volume. "A Crystal Pony, to be exact. At least, it was. This probably has something to do with what King Sombra is doing with the ponies and Crystal Ponies he captured. C'mon, I'm sure the mountains are not too far off from here. Just a little further."
It was several more minutes before the ponies were face-to-face with the mountains. At the foot of the mountains: a mysterious cavern of some sort. They stood at the entrance to the cavern, all three mares and stallions hesitant to enter, but knowing there was no other way. As soon as Twilight put a hoof forward, a shadow emerged from within the cavern. A dark, shady figure approached the three ponies, its face and its whole appearance in shadow, hidden from sight.
"Wh-who t-the heck a-a-are y-y-you?" Twilight asked, shivering.
The stallion removed his black hood and stepped forward, revealing a large, blue wizard hat over a head of white, curly hair, pale-yellow eyes, and a long, white beard attached to his gray coat.
"One lucky stallion."