//------------------------------// // *The Last Defence: The Crystal Heart // Story: A Rubber Pony in Equestria // by Lightbuster30 //------------------------------// As everybody got off the train Luffy damn near bolted into the city on his own, and would have to if not for Applejack holding him by the tail at the last second. "Now look here Luffy I get that you're the excitable type, but could you for once control yourself?" It was difficult convincing him, Luffy was quite possibly the only pony with less self control than Pinky. Yet despite making a promise not to go anywhere, somepony caught his attention. It was a light purple mare in a cloak who had been on the train in a separate car. Luffy in particular was an idiot to say the least, but had incredible instincts about people, and this pony was really setting them off. He felt like she was someone important, and so Luffy slunk away from the group to follow her. "Huh? Is anyone there?" The cloaked mare turned around when she thought she was alone, yet hearing something. "Must have been my mind playing tricks. YIKES!" When she turned her head forwards she saw Luffy nose to nose from her face. In her shock she jumped backwards. Luffy didn't seem to notice her shock, and went up to her. "Hi my name is Luffy. What's yours?" He put on his big grin, and extended his hoof out. The mare cautiously looked at him. He seemed friendly enough. "I uh, don't feel comfortable giving out my name." The mare said looking for a chance to run. Luffy put on a frown and sighed, dissapointed. "Can you at least tell me why you are here?" "Why do you care?" She asked backing up into a wall. "Shishishishi! You're funny!" His laugh was kind and friendly. "I like you." She was stunned by his demeanor. He didn't seem at all suspicious or threatening. If anything he seemed childlike and curious, and now wanted to be her friend. Maybe she could trust him, she allowed her naivety get the better of her. "Let's say I'm her to help a friend." She still carried suspicions, and told him little. Luffy carried a smile. "Really? Who is he? Do you want any help?" "Um no. I don't think you'd like him. He is um...different from the average pony." Luffy just let out another laugh. "Oh it's fine! I'm friends with all kinds of weirdos. There is this walking skeleton, a cyborg, a racoon dog, and this weird snake guy. Maybe your friend would want to be friends with me?" His words caught her off guard, not too many ponies would want to be friends with the person she wanted to help. "No I don't think so. He is a little unstable to say the least. But I know I can help him!" Her voice was full of conviction and determination. Luffy placed hoof on her shoulder smiling. "Man I thinks it's cool you want to help your friend so badly. I know how you feel. I hope you succeed." The mare smiled back, but jumped when Luffy started screaming. "OH CRAP!" He was freaking out. "Hey whats wrong?" She asked worriedly. "Oh man oh man! I promised my friends I wouldn't get seperated, and here I am!" He placed his hoofs on the mare's shoulders. "Do you know where the big Crystal Castle thing is?" She akwardly pointed to the obvious spire that could be seen from across the city. "Oh man thanks! It was nice meeting you!" He shouted as he ran towards the spire. The mare still felt shaken by his outburst, but managed a small smile. "It was good meeting you too." She said in a whisper. "I can't believe that fool bolted into the city on his own! I knew we shoulda put leash on him like we did in Canterlot!" Rainbow shouted, and occasionally flew upwards scanning for Luffy. "Oh Dashie, I'm sure he didn't mean it. Maybe he just got lost." Fluttershy tried reassuring her friend. "It isn't easy to blame him. This place gets more gorgeous with every visit!" Rarity said. "Except we aren't here for visits, we are here on urgent business." Twilight reminded. "When are we not?" Spike asked in his usual snark. "Which reminds me. Why are we here? Shouldn't we be searching for Black Ice?" Applejack questioned as they followed Celestia to the location of the Crystal Heart. "We won't search for him, we will get him to come to us." Celestia answered. "Black Ice wants to freeze everything and everypony in Equestria, and that includes the Crystal Empire. But thanks to the Crystal Heart, any freezing he does to the Crystal Empire won't be permanant. We'll activate the Crystal Heart, which will attract Black Ice to it's location, and he will try to destroy it." "And we will be waiting for him." A different voice spoke, it was Discord. "Discord! You're back!" Fluttershy's face beamed as she hugged her friend. Discord had a look of confusion "Oh I uh it's good to see you too miss...?" This shocked everypony. "Um hello? Fluttershy?" Rainbow answered angered. "I know you're a jerk but could you at least remember the name of your friend?" "Well excuuuse me. All that searching in the snow for the magic anomaly has made me a bit sick, and it's difficult to remember things lately." He began appearing slightly green. "Oh trust me you're sick alright." Everypony was a bit wary of this change. Celestia and and Luna exchanged glances, and their Luna entered the room to the Crystal Heart on her own. After a few minutes she came back, and they started leading everyone to the Crystal Heart room, where Cadance and Shining Armor were waiting. "Princess Cadance!" Twilight shouted, and ran up to her sister in-law, and they did their greeting. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" "Twily! It's so wonderful to see you again!" Shining Armor called out to his sister. "Hello bbbff!" Twilight ran up and nuzzled him. It's been some time since we have seen each other." "Yeah well not as long as the last time." He said remembering the events of the changeling invasion. "A heartwarming scene to be sure. But in case you forgot, we have a psychotic ice pony to stop." Discord's comment earned many a glares. "He has a point. We can't let Black Ice run around." For whatever reason, Celestia's mention of the name made Discord twitch his eye in annoyance. "We need to activate it now." "I have already prepared the Crystal Fair. Everypony is ready waiting to activate the Crystal Heart." Cadance assured Celestia. "Well alright then, let's do this!" Rainbow Dash shouted as the Heart began spinning faster and faster. As the heart began powering up, a smug grin appeared on Discord's face, and he placed a frozen hand on Fluttershy, freezing her solid. "DISCORD! What have you done to Fluttershy?!" Discord began glowing blue, catching everyone off guard, and turned to face Celestia and Luna with a sadistic smirk on his face. He spoke, but with a different voice. "Hello Princesses! Miss me?" His blue form glowed brighter, and brighter before bursting outwards in an explosion of frost. Celestia gasped and managed to utter 2 words before freezing. " Black I-" With everything frozen Discord flicked the frozen Crystal heart off it's pedestal, breaking it. "Ooopsie. Did I do that? Oh well." His form began twisting and melting. Discords body now looked like ice, and further melted revealing a pony with wings and horn of ice. The pony reveled in his victory, before turning to Celestia's frozen form. "Princesses...MY NAME IS NOT BLACK ICE! Thats just a name you came up with! Don't worry, I froze you just enough that you can see and hear me. Man oh man you sure are gullible, I'd never be capable of doing this to Celestia of all ponies in a straight up fight, too bad this isn't a straight up fight. Wish I could have gotten your rubber friend too. But I have plans for him." He held up a potion that was a sickly yellow. "Oh and don't even think of using your magic! My stay in Tartarus has given me time to meditate on my powers, and through meditation, discover abilities I never knew I had. This includes the power to freeze anything. Yes literally anything, including magic. Yes I literally froze your magic, can you believe it?" He walked around, and turned to the frozen Twilight. "Aw look at you! You're trying to figure out how I did all this." He said with mockingly. "Let's say I made a deal with a certain Centaur. He causes a magic disturbance, attracts Discord, and badda bing I freeze him after putting down Discord. Wonder how? I've been watching your adventures with scrying spells. I've been planning this for a very long time. Black Ice shot a look at Twilight and Cadance. "Imagine my surprise when I find out the "Master of Chaos" can get sick by tatzlwurm snot. Oh he might be unkillable, but Discord can be temporarily slowed down. I may have milked some snot from the tatzlwurm in preparation for Discord. All that is left to do is wait for your new friend, and then I can eliminate the last wrench in my plan. It should be quite a while before he gets he-WHAT THE? Black Ice was wrong, Luffy had seen the entire thing, and was already throwing an attack. Black Ice barley managed to get out of the way of the stretching hoof. "Straw Hat! You're early!" He gave a sneer. Luffy stood outside the Crystal Heart room His face livid. "I found you Ice Jerk! Now I'm gonna kick your ass!" To be continued.