The crystals did indeed prevent any means of escape. They resisted all kicks, teleportation attempts ended in failure, and flying just resulted in bumping up against an invisible barrier. All the while Shining Armor just sat there, staring forlornly at the ground.
"Come on, Shining! Get up!" Soarin stubbornly declared as he flew towards the prince. "We're not beaten yet! Tell us what to do and we'll do it!"
Shining only shook his head, refusing to look up at Soarin. "There's no point, Soarin. It's hopeless. Sombra has returned better than ever, the Elements of Harmony are gone, and all of Equestria will soon be at his mercy," A sorrowful sigh escaped his lips. "After what happened with Cozy Glow I knew I wasn't ready to be supreme leader, but I never thought I'd mess up this badly and so soon."
Several sets of eyes fell upon Braeburn, who just looked at his friends with the most puzzled look on his face. "What? Why's everypony starin' at me?"
"Come on, cousin, you're always the optimist among us. Mister 'Look on the bright side'," Big Macintosh encouraged. "You're always the one tryin' to rally our spirits and convince us that things ain't nearly as bad as they look. This time we could probably use one of those statements."
But Braeburn somberly answered. "Well I hate to disappoint all of y'all, but for once even I don't think I can find somethin' positive about this," Though with a look of fiery determination in his eyes he added. "But that just means that this is serious! And I'll be darned if we just sit around here and do nothin'! I don't know if we can bring back the happy times, but we can at least try! We gotta at least try to give everyone a reason to smile and be happy again!"
Soarin nodded his head. "My thoughts exactly," And then he turned his attention to Shining Armor. "Look, what happened with Cozy Glow was unfortunate and tragic. But you're not the only one who's lost or come close to losing someone you care about. Someone you feel responsible for the well being of."
"Soarin's right!" Fancy Pants declared as he stood up. "It's too late for Cozy Glow, but if she were here now she'd want us to keep fighting! And the best way to honor her memory is to ensure that Sombra is stopped!"
Shining slowly rose to his hooves. "But how are we going to do that? We don't have the Elements of Harmony."
"So? They weren't needed the first time Sombra reared his ugly head. The Crystal Heart took care of him for us," Thunderlane suggested. "I'm sure we'll think of something. But it ain't gonna do us any good until we figure a way out of here. So come on! We need our leader back! We can still continue to fight! And this time it's personal, this time we've got something to fight for: The memory of a pony who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the land."
The words slowly sank in as Shining stood up all the way, wiping away what few tears still lingered in his eyes. He sniffled a bit. "You're right. There's no point feeling sorry for myself now, it won't change anything. What matters most is that we stop Sombra before he takes over. And this time, it's for the last time!"
But Big Macintosh was concerned. "So, how exactly do we get out of here?"
Shining bent down to the ground and started digging with his hooves. "We'll just have to tunnel our way out! It's so obvious that Sombra never thought of it! Now come on, who's with me?!"
The rest of the stallions joined in and started digging alongside Shining. It was slow going, but after a while they managed to create a hole big enough and deep enough to escape. Once free of the crystals' reach, Shining lit up his horn and teleported them out of the gorge where the Tree of Harmony had once stood proud and tall.
Soarin immediately flew up to get a better vantage point, which allowed Shining a chance to look back at the remaints of the tree and the elements it had gifted long ago. His thoughts quickly turned to Cozy Glow. "Cozy Glow, you sacrificed everything to protect the harmony in this realm. I won't let it all be in vain. I will avenge you if it's the last thing I do!"
But just seconds later Soarin called out. "We're too late! Sombra's already been here! And it looks like he wasn't kidding about that army of darkness!"
Horrified, the stallions rushed back into Ponyville! But just as Soarin had said the town had already been overtaken by Sombra's influence. Several citizens had their eyes glowing sickly green, indicating that they were under the greedy king's control.
There was worse to come as a quartet of familiar fillies and one very familiar colt came trotting past! It was none other than the Cutie Mark Crusaders, including their often reoccurring honorary member Diamond Tiara (the fact that she was not with her parents who were also mind controlled did not go unnoticed).
Big Macintosh and Fancy Pants dashed up to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle respectively, pleading with them as best they could! "Come on, snap out of it! Whatever hold Sombra's got on you, ya gotta fight it!" Big Macintosh pleaded his little sister.
Fancy Pants, meanwhile, was trying desperately to pull Sweetie Belle away! "This isn't you, Sweetie Belle! I know you would never do something like this! Please, think about Rarity! Think about your parents! If they see you like this they'l be heartbroken! You don't want to break their hearts, do you?!"
Even Thunderlane got in on the action, trying to plead with Rumble. "Rumble, come on, it's me! You recognize me, right?! Thunderlane, your awesome big brother you've always looked up?! The one who made you want to be a Wonderbolt after he joined the team?!"
But the Crusaders paid no mind to anything they heard, they just trotted past while mindlessly repeating. "Must obey." And soon, despite the best efforts of their family members (official and honorary) they were out of sight.
Shining was just about to make a dash to the School of Friendship, when his sister called out to him from afar! "B.B.B.F.F!"
Shining rushed over and embraced his sister as soon as he saw her! "Twily! Oh thank goodness! I thought for sure Sombra would've gotten to you!"
Twilight shook her head. "I don't think he knew about the castle or the school. And from the looks of things he didn't get to Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy. But..." She began only to have her lips quiver.
Shining immediately took notice of something that he hadn't noticed earlier in his mad dash. "Wait a minute: Where are Spike and Starlight? Shouldn't they be with you?"
Twilight gulped as her lips continued to quiver. "I'm sorry, I tried to send warning to them about Sombra's return but... but..."
"Don't tell me: He got to them before you could!" Shining realized and his suspicions were confirmed with a sad nod from his sister! "Well... that's just great," He bitterly and sarcastically remarked. "Like we needed more trouble. Things are going south really fast here! I don't dare to wonder how things could get worse!"
Excellent job on this latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all well done in all the right places. I particularly liked the "situation is so serious that I can't think of anything positive, but just means we try harder" point as well as the group helping Shining overcome enough of his grief to get his head back in the fight. And, yeah, definitely having a bad feeling about Starlight and Spike being under Sombra's control. But no matter how bad ANY situation ALREADY IS, you never, NEVER say it "'can't get any worse'", because it ALWAYS DOES. Though, to be fair, saying things CAN get worse is JUST AS BAD, even if you DON'T give a specific example.
Definitely looking forward to seeing the boys turn the situation around in the final third (last four chapters) of this arc.
No further ideas for THIS arc, but I DO have some possible bits for the "twenty years in the future" final chapter:
1. At the appropriate point, when Luster is showing doubts about friendship being worth the effort, Shining can admit "I'm sorry. It's just you are reminding me SO MUCH of Twily (and to a lesser extent, myself) at that age."
2. At the appropriate point, Luster can admit "Look, I have nothing against working with others. If those others know what they are doing, you can get the job done faster and more easily. And they can even let you see perplexing problems from a different perspective. I fully acknowledge that. It's just that, well, there is a VERY big difference between "'short term cooperation'" and "'long term friendship'" and, of the two, the former is much simpler.
3. It can be revealed that Braeburn had a pony/buffalo hybrid child (currently a teenager) with (now-no-longer-so-Little) Strongheart (I can't think of a good name, but I figure you will have a fair number of months to think of a good name).
4. At the appropriate point, Soarin' can comment "Mac and I WOULD have been here sooner, Shiny, but we had a doozy of a time with the chores AND finding sitters for the foals still too young to help out with said chores."
and 5. When Shining is taking Luster to Ponyville to learn friendship/giving MOST of his friends a ride home, there could be a brief scene where Shining is talking to Twilight at the Friendship School "So has Spike told you when he expects his and Gabby's eggs to hatch? I bet you are REALLY looking forward to becoming a grandmother."
But, of course, I can definitely understand if you have other/better ideas.
So...does that mean AJ, Pinks, and Rarity are being mind controlled? And why weren't Flutters and Dashie hypnotized? were they just not in Ponyville at the time? (Wonderbolt practice/meeting/whatever, and the sanctuary, respectively?)
Oooh, or will Dashie appear with the other Wonderbolts in Canterlot and Soarin will have to fight her off? (because Soarindash is my OTP)
9944870 I probably will include RD and the other Wonderbolts in Canterlot and probably Rarity since in this universe Fancy Pants is her employer.
9944931
Okay, can't wait!
Oh boy ponyville is in mind Controlled by king Sombra magic