Chapter 31 - Close Call
Train Bound For The Crystal Empire August 1st 1001
The train was on it's abnormal route to an empire that hasn't existed for over 1000 years.
The worst part: There's only 5 passengers.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat across from each other, hoof wrestling. Rarity was trying to calm Fluttershy down with the help of Spike.
"Don't worry Darling," Rarity said, "we'll just go in, find a way to defeat this naughty king, and then we'll head right back home once everything is fine."
"A- Are you sure he'll be really easy to beat?" she asked back. "H- He is a k- king after all."
"Fluttershy," Rainbow began, "No matter who this King Sombra is, he will not defeat us as long as we are friends."
"But w- we're not anything s- special against him. Without Twilight, Pinkie Pie and The Elements of Harm-"
"Stop yer fussin' and yer worryin' Fluttershy!" Applejack said. "We will defeat 'im, no matter what it takes to do so."
"But-"
"No buts." (Stop Laughing) "No negative thoughts, doubts or anythin' of the sort. We will defeat 'im."
"W- We will d- defeat him," Fluttershy repeated.
"Good. Now do ya want to come over here and cheer me on in this wrestle?"
Grazil Library August 1st 1001
Books are the ultimate resource for all knowledge. Cures of sickness, mathematics, science, ect.
But Twilight wasn't looking for any of that. She was looking for anything to help with a coma. She, with the help of Graymayne, looked all night for any clue for what seemed like a mythical name.
Va-Korum. Must be one of the strangest names ever given to a strange pony- or, whatever he was.
Twilight was still determined to find out who he is, but she can't do that without the help of a friend, who just so happens to be in a coma.
So that is why she was searching in those old books for something on a coma. Blue was the only one with any information on this, Va-Korum, and she was determined to find out who he was.
"Have you found anything Graymayne?" she asked the black stallion who was at the other side of the library, also searching for anything to help.
"Not yet," he replied, "but I'll keep looking."
"Well, I hope we find something soon. We're running out of books to look through."
"I'm sure everything will be fine. How about we take a break and visit Blue in the hospital? Visiting hours are from now until 5 tomorrow."
"Yeah... Lets do that."
Grazil Hospital
Graymayne and Twilight arrived with loads of time to spare. On the way there, Graymayne was feeling regret for what he was doing to Twilight.
He knew all about who Va-Korum was. When Blue had said that dreadful name yesterday, that proved even more that he knew a lot about his past. He kept it hidden from Twilight, for he believed that she didn't need to know.
Telling her would explain a lot, he thought, but she doesn't need to experience that other-dimensional stuff again. Its better if I just keep it a secret.
Blue lay in the same bed from yesterday. He facial expression was still pained.
"Blue," Twilight began, "We need you. Please be okay." She held his hoof with one of her own before continuing. "If you can, please give us a sign, like what you told us yesterday."
Blue stayed motionless on the bed, his breathing was shallow.
Graymayne sat next to Twilight. "Blue... We need you." He wrapped one hoof around Twilight.
And then, he was whacked in the face.
"OW!" he screamed. Then, he looked around the room. "What was that for!"
Twilight looked around in shock. "What?" she asked.
"Some wise guy just hit me! Where'd he go? I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"
"Umm, Graymayne?"
"Wherever he went, he's going to get it good! He has no idea who he's messing with!"
"Graymayne..."
"Did you see him Twilight? Where did he go? What did he lo-"
"GRAYMAYNE!"
He stared back at her in shock. "What?"
"Look." She pointed a hoof at the bed.
He obliged and saw Blue's hoof from the opposite side of the bed hanging in the air.
"Wha... how...?" Was all he could manage. Twilight walked toward his hoof and poked at it. It stayed in the air where Graymayne's head used to be.
"What did you do?" Twilight asked Graymayne. "When I spoke to him, nothing happened. then you spoke and he whacked your face. You did something, and he reacted."
"I... don't know," he said. "I just said: 'We need you', and wrapped my hoof around your shoulder. Then I was whacked."
"Wait... do you remember when he reacted yesterday?" He nodded. "We had hugged then, and he spoke. Do you see a connection?"
"No."
"Well I do. Whenever you do something positive, he reacts. Do you know what that means?"
He thought for a moment, and then shrugged.
Twilight sighed. "It means that you are the key to helping him."
Train Bound For The Crystal Empire
The train arrived at its destination about ten minutes after Applejack won the hoof wrestle. They exited the train to a cold wasteland.
Rainbow, who's hoof was very hurt after that long wrestle, decided to fly and stay off the injured hoof. The air was very cold, but a pegasus can still fly very well in a cold wasteland like this. They were always flying high in the air, so they were used to the cold.
Rarity was having troubles, given the fact that she wasn't given time to pack anything for the trip. Rainbow guessed that she probably would have packed a hundred scarfs if given the time.
Applejack and Fluttershy were staying very close to each other. Applejack was very resistant to the cold, but Fluttershy was't like other pegasus. The orange earth pony blocked most of the wind coming from all around them, helping Fluttershy with getting around.
Spike was having trouble staying up too. He was small enough to easily be blown away by the strong wind. He kept rolling backwards, and was covered in snow. Rainbow swooped down and picked him up.
"Whew, thanks Rainbow!" he said. "I thought I would never get around here!"
"Whatever you need, Spike," she replied.
"Beggin' yer pardon," Applejack began, "but where is this Crystal Empire?"
All of them turned their heads in all directions possible, only to find little clue about where they were.
"Over here!" a voice called.
They all turned their heads toward the sound of the voice and saw Shining Armor walking toward them. He had a big black scarf over his face, muffling his voice, and a pair of goggles to protect against the snow.
"Quickly! We must get to the empire!"
"What's the rush, besides getting out of this snow?" Rarity asked.
"The Crystal Empire isn't the only thing that returned."
Nopony spoke after hearing those words. Instead, they all followed the former captain as fast as they could through the snow.
They marched on for about 5 minutes before seeing the sight of a magical barrier.
"We're almost there! Just hang on!" Shining said.
Rainbow turned around and saw a dark cloud coming toward them. "What's that?" she asked.
All of them turned around and saw the black mist. "Get to the empire, Now!" Shining screamed.
None had a second thought about looking back. Rarity, Rainbow, Applejack and Fluttershy all went as fast as they could toward the barrier. Spike was still on Rainbow's back.
Shining Armor stayed behind and turned to face the dark cloud. His horn ignited as he was engulfed.
The barrier was simple to pass. It allowed all of them to just run right through without any trouble. Once inside, they all stopped and hoped that nothing bad had happened to Shining Armor.