//------------------------------// // Weaponized Elements // Story: The Crystal Changeling // by Zoljen //------------------------------// “How is your wing?” Tesla asked as he looked over Silverwing. It had been about a half hour since they had been given the bracers. Dark was sitting on the opposite side of Silverwing, looking over his own hoof. Silverwing was flexing both of his wings, with both him and Tesla staring at the one that had been damaged. “It feels like new,” Silverwing said slowly. “I swore I wasn't going to fly for a few weeks, but I feel like I could fly a marathon right now.” “Likewise,” Dark remarked. “Except for the whole flying a marathon thing. But my hoof is healed.” “I think it was that wave that passed over us,” Rose spoke up, looking at the pair. “I felt rejuvenated after it.” “That would make more sense then after getting the Elements,” Dark almost growled as he huffed and looked away from everyone. “What has you so upset?” Rose sat next to the brooding unicorn. “Everypony knows the legend of them, how there are six things that make up harmony and peace. Kindness towards others, being generous and sharing laughs, being honest with those around you, and finally remaining loyal to those you’ve befriended. That makes up the Magic of Harmony.” “Uh huh, and there are seven of us.” “So why did an earth pony get Magic?” Dark turned to face Rose while he pointed at Dust, who was sitting next to Crystal. “Why not a unicorn? Who can actually USE magic!” “Hey! Dust is very skilled with his own magic!” Rose stood to face Dark. “We all are, so it could have fallen to any of us!” “I wouldn't say I'm skilled with magic.” Tesla casually remarked he looked at the bracer on Silverwings arm. The simple item with the image of a hoof shaking with a griffin paw on it. Tesla looked down to his, a few coins in the center of it on his. “But these symbols. I don't understand them.” “Kindness for our pegasus,” Dark started up, a faint growl still audible at the back of his throat. “And Generosity for you, dear dragon,” He gestured to Rose. “Rose here is our Loyal guardian, our morphling is Honest from what I saw. Leaving Dust as Magic.” “You forgot me!” Peter shouted, making Dark turn to face him. The moment he did, Dark had to close his eyes as a cream pie splattered all over his face. He flattened his ears as he heard faint laughter from those around. “Oh yes, Laughter. From our wonderful griffin.” Dark muttered as Peter merely laughed. “Where did… nevermind.” Dark heard Rose start to ask as he wiped the cream from his face. Meanwhile, Dust had been sitting next to Crystal who still had a hoof on the tree and her eyes closed. “Crystal?” He asked quietly. Crystal slowly opened her eyes and looked at Dust, gazing at the ring on his forehead for a moment then looking back at him. “Yes?” She asked slowly. “So, we found a rare tree, and it gave us relics. What do we do now?” Dust watched Crystal look down at her bracer. “I don't know. I think for now we shouldn't show these off. We don't even know what all these can do.” Crystal sat and looked up at Dust. “The library in Roan may have a clue or two. So hopefully we can figure something out then.” “So what should we do?” “For now, we should rest. I find it strange that our wounds have healed, but I don't want to risk it just yet. We are still safe near the tree for now and we can head out tomorrow.” Crystal turned and took a few steps before she got stopped. “Are you okay?” Dust looked at Crystal, worry evident in his eyes. Crystal sighed and looked down. “No. My friends are in danger, our homes are in danger, all of Equus could be in danger for all we know and this tree gives us all something we have no clue how to use,” She sighed, her wings sagging. “I'm tired, I want to rest, and most importantly, I want answers and food.” Dust nodded and turned to stand but stopped short as he noticed his pack floating in front of him in an deep brown glow. Both he and Crystal stared at it few a few moments before Dust screamed and back pedaled away from it. The bag fell to the ground with a soft plop as Crystal looked to her adoptive brother, and noticed a similar brown glow from the ring fade. His scream drew the attention of the others, who looked in his direction. He sat and stared at the bag that lay at Crystals hooves. “Wha… how…” He mumbled and stuttered. Crystal stared at the pack for a moment, before floating it up in her magic and moving it to Dust. She set it down and gestured to her horn with a faint grin. “I think you may have picked up a trick. Try to pick it up again.” Dust nodded and went to pick it up with his mouth, only to hit a green bubble. “With your mind.” “But Dad always told me how complicated it was to learn magic! To form those disconnects and…” He trailed off as Crystal just glared softly at him. He let out a soft sigh as he focused on the bag. Crystal watched her older brother as the ring soon started to glow, a long, slightly curved, and transparent brown horn formed through the ring. A few moments later the bag was soon in a similar glow and started to float up. “Oh great! So now he’s a faux unicorn?” Dark exclaimed as he, and everyone else, watched. The sudden sound broke his concentration, and the bag fell back to the ground as Dust panted, opening his eyes to look down at the bag. “Well, that was certainly interesting,” Crystal commented with a chuckle. “Seems when you did that, your little ring there conjured up a horn. I think you can finally live up to your name now.” Dust rolled his eyes in response as he put a hoof to the band. “As long as I have this, sure.” “So he became a unicorn?” Twilight asked when Crystal had made another pause to take a bite out of a cupcake. She nodded in response. “In a sense, yes. He never grew the horn, as far as I am aware. But every time he did magic like a unicorn would, that horn would appear. And every time it did, Dark got upset.” Crystal looked over the cupcake in her white glow. “Also, how much sugar is in this?” “Far too much for my tastes,” Talon made a face, before a cupcake suddenly hit him in the face and knocked him out of the chair. The mares laughed as Applejack turned to Crystal. “But y’all just found the elements, just like that?” Crystal nodded as Applejack continued. “We got them as necklaces, except for Twilight here. Her’s was a crown.” “As Peter said, they change with the seasons. At that time, I did not understand it. But seeing all of you, it all makes sense.” Crystal looked out the window of the train, watching the rolling countryside go by. “As I think back on it, a lot of things he said make sense now.” “So Dust was able to use the magic right away?” Twilight arched an eyebrow. “I know it takes unicorns a long time to learn how to use magic.” “Hey, Soarin picked it up fairly quickly.” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Crystal chuckled softly as she turned to Rainbow Dash. “And he’s a pegasus!” “His father was a unicorn. He taught him various methods of meditation and how to harness the magic of the land around him. His power only grew after getting imbued with the Element of Magic.” Crystal sighed as she went back to looking out the window. The group waited as Crystal fell silent. After a few minutes Twilight coughed softly into a hoof. “What happened next?” Crystal looked over at her, “We slept and rested for the rest of that evening. The next day we decided to venture out. The shadows were waiting for us and attacked the moment we left the cave, forcing us back in. They followed us in and it became another free for all. The Elements were proving useful, though, but it seemed the shadows were never ending.” She looked out the window again. “Can we go one day without a fight?” Rose groaned as he deflected a black beam of magic to the ground. He was back to back with Tesla, who was failing to deflect the magic. The shadowy unicorns had managed to get them trapped within the entrance of the cave. Dark and Dust had also been forced back to back against a pair of unicorns, while Peter was defending Silverwing from a shadowy pegasus. “That would be nice!” Crystal shouted back, as she narrowly dodged a heavy blade. She was facing off against Quake, again. The pegasus growled as he kept swinging his sword. “At least these things are helping!” Peter commented as he held down a pegasus. Where he was holding was sizzling, like the fur was being cooked. Peter’s paws were glowing a faint dark pink as well. Everyone else seemed to be holding their own, including Dark who was dodging and attempting to fire off beams of magic. Crystal, however, didn't seem to be doing so well as she kept narrowly dodging Quake’s blade. She reared up onto her hind legs as she brought an arm up to block a swing, conjuring up a little shield to aid in it. She grunted as the blade impacted, making her slide a little. She kept her wings spread out to provide balance as Quake reared up, sword held strongly in his mouth. She moved to her left, dodging a downward swing. “Quake! Stop!” She shouted, making the pegasus flinch before swinging the blade towards her. She raised up another small shield in time to stop it from connecting with her barrel. “That magic won't save you, Crystal!” Quake growled as he stepped back, tossed his blade up slightly to clap his hooves around it, and bring it in a sideways swing. Crystal quickly jumped back and brought her hooves up defensively as Quake quickly turned the swing into a thrust. She thrust her hoof out, deflecting the blade to the side. “It can and it will Quake!” Crystal growled as she watched Quake rear back, his wings spread out and the sword’s hilt seemingly stuck to his hoof as he took a stance. In the din of battle around them, the pair seemed focused on each other, waiting only a few moments before Quake lunged forward. Crystal dodged to her left to avoid the sword, then bounced to her right to dodge another thrust. She turned and quickly threw up a shield to block a third thrust. Quake used the momentum of that deflection to turn, spinning around to bring the blade towards her. She ducked the first swing and bounced up as he kept spinning to avoid the second, but as she landed she could only bring up a shield to save her from getting sliced in two. As the sword hit her shield, she wasn't firmly planted on the ground, and it sent her flying away into and through a cave wall. She groaned as she laid there, barely feeling her hoof brushing against something that wasn't stone. She looked down at her hoof through squinting eyes to see it slowly engulf in her green fire. Rose swept his hoof down to deflect a beam of magic, after he watched his lifelong friend get slammed into a wall. Quake was already stomping towards him as Rose focused on the unicorn that had been pelting him and Tesla with magic. Another beam shot towards him from the unicorn and this time he managed to deflect it back to hit the unicorn, he turned just in time to see Quake get ready to leap into the air, only for a loud screech to fill the air and silence almost everything going on. Quake stopped and turned back to the hole, where a silver and black griffin stood on its hind legs. Its white eyes glaring at Quake as it held a brightly hued sword of some rainbow colored metal that Rose couldn't identify. Quake snarled and leapt at the griffin instead, whom brought the blade up block the swing. Rose watched as Quake brought his sword down, the griffin blocked it with its own blade. Quake snarled and bounced back, holding his blade in front of himself with it glued to his hoof, a wisp of mist swirling around it. Quake started his attack, swinging the blade in a side sweep. The griffin blocked it easily and seemed to only be on the defensive at Quake unleashed various swings and thrusts. Quake growled as each swing was blocked and soon started to swing wildly. The moment he leapt up and brought the blade down with both hooves, it was over. The griffin sidestepped him and leapt up, bringing the blade up with the uppercut. Rose yelled out a “NO!” a moment to late as the blade cut through the shadowy pegasus. However, instead of slicing him in two, a shadowy copy of the pegasus seemed to appear just before it shattered. The blade did however leave a nice sized scar up Quakes side. The griffin landed and turned towards another one of the shadowy figures. Its form engulfed in fire, revealing a familiar unicorn for all of a few seconds before it disappeared, only to reappear next to a shadowy unicorn attacking Peter. “Crystal?” Rose mumbled as he watched her sweep her away across the various shadows. Each one she sliced didn't leave behind a body, though, and instead screeched in fear or horror. She cut her away among the shadows, and soon made her towards the one that was fighting Dark. Dark turned and watched as the shadow got sliced down, only for the griffin-disguised changeling to turn on him. “Wait! I'm good!” Dark screeched out, as Tesla and Rose shouted. “Crystal! Wait!” The griffin stopped the blade an inch from Dark’s horn. The griffin blinked, the white of her eyes getting replaced with green eyes. She blinked again, looking at the sword, then to Dark, gasped and quickly stepped back, dropping the sword to the side. A muted metallic rainbow colored blade laid out on the table in front of the girls and Crystal as she fell silent and stared at it. She had withdrawn the blade and sat it down as she got to that point in her story. “When I first laid my eyes on this, I was scared. But I am getting ahead of myself,” Crystal looked up at Twilight. “I paused to withdraw this blade, because this is when I became terrified of myself.” “Why is that?” Twilight asked, her eyes never leaving the blade. “That last part, Rose Wind had told me what I had done. He barely recognized me when I emerged from the wall, but the way Quake focused on me, and with where I had gone and come from. He put two and two together, as it were.” Crystal sighed, looking out the window of the train car again. “After that, we rested for an hour or so to lick our wounds before we headed out. Dust insisted that I keep the blade, even if he carried it until we camped for the night.” Crystal stared into the campfire as the group sat in silence. It had been a full day and they had made good progress towards Roan. However the entire trip was silent, even Peter kept quiet as the air around Crystal and Dark were both dark. Dust was sitting next to Crystal, holding the blade and scabbard up and looking it over. “Well, we at least know how this works, mostly.” He commented, looking up at the group. Tesla and Silverwing were currently looking over and making sure Quake was comfortable and his ‘wound’ was clean. Tesla nodded in response, as Silverwing spoke up. “Cleanses the body of possession, but…” He trailed off as he looked over the wound. It looked clean, but would leave a scar, a large scar. “I don't know when he is going to wake up, or if he even will.” “I'm sure he will, but he has been possessed for a while, at least a week.” Dust sighed, looking at Quake. “In the meantime, we shall continue to carry him back to Roan with us.” “Oh yeah, it totally won't look bad with us carrying in their top captain,” Rose commented sarcastically as he gestured to Quake. “I mean, I'm sure we’ll be labeled as heroes! And totally not thrown in jail!” “Hey! It would still be better than just leaving him in that cave!” Silverwing snapped at Rose, making the bat pony flatten his ears and lower himself. “Look, we are all on edge right now,” Silverwing gestured around at the group and continued, “I suggest we just get rest. We will be in Roan tomorrow and together as a group we can deal with whatever happens.” “You didn't stare down a blade and watch your life flash before your eyes.” Dark muttered darkly, casting a glance to Crystal who only shrank more. “And,” Dust started up. “As for that, Dark, I suspect it's because of your dark coloration that you got targeted. She wasn't herself and she has forgiven you for it. Perhaps it's time you do the same to her?” Dark sighed and looked down, keeping quiet for a short moment before looking up at Crystal. “You’re right Dust. It was a hectic moment and we were nearly defeated if not for Crystal here soundly beating this pegasus that we are carrying,” He grinned weakly towards her. “So I am sorry for holding a grudge against being nearly sliced in two.” “Thank you, Dark.” Crystal grinned towards the stallion, before looking around. “So, who wants first watch?” Tesla raised a paw, “I’ll take first watch. I am still applying some of my healing oils to…” he trailed off as he glanced at Quake. “I believe you called him Quake?” “Yes,” Rose sighed as he trotted over and sat at Quake’s back, looking down at him. “The one who oversaw our training before everything went to Tartarus.” “Well, everypony should get rest. I’ll stay up and keep applying more of what I know.” Tesla looked up at Rose for a moment, before looking at everyone else. Everyone soon nestled down to sleep, Peter stayed up to help Tesla out as best he could while Crystal sought comfort with Dust and Rose. Dark slept near the little campfire they had going, keeping his back to Crystal as he slept. The night progressed on without interruption, and the next day proved to be bright and sunny early on. After eating some local berries and other nutritious things, they decided to move out. It only took them a few hours to arrive on the outskirts of Roan, where the sight of the impressive city took their breath away. The large wall that surrounds the city, with various towers along it. Beyond the walls are what appear to be homes, all lined up neatly and well kept. In the center of it lies a grand castle, outlined by a large and well crafted garden. While from a distance, the city looked small, but it acted as one of many capitals in this domain. As all eyes scanned the city, they all eventually landed on the gate, where a pair of guards stood tall. Tesla was the first to let out a sigh and start down the path. “Shall we get this over with?” “Hey! We need a positive attitude about this!” Peter grinned as he glided to catch up with the dragon. “We won't be immediately thrown in jail!” Everyone looked at him confused. “They have to escort us there first!” “As depressing as it is to admit the griffin is right, he does have a point,” Dark pointed out as Peter fluffed his feathers up and grinned. “How many of us have been to this city before? As far as I know, none.” He paused to look at Tesla. “Unless…” “I’ve avoided the big cities, remember?” “Right, okay so none of us have…” Dark trailed off as he noticed Silverwing hover up a little. “Huh, that garden is still there.” The pegasus mumbled. “You’ve been here before?!” Dark exclaimed as he looked up at the pegasus who looked down at him and shrugged. “I was born here. My parents are probably still running that hospital. Although I don't think we will be going there,” Silverwing sighed as he landed to trot beside the dragon. “Quake here will probably be taken to the medical wing inside the castle.” “Why didn't you mention you’re from here?” Dust asked as he cantered to catch up to the pegasus. “Nopony asked,” Silverwing chuckled as he heard a collective sigh of annoyance. “Besides, I left here almost a decade ago, been on my own since.” Crystal was about to ask something else before the guards caught their attention. “Halt! Who goes there?” Dust stepped forward, with Crystal beside him. They both saluted the guards as Dust started up. “I am Dust Horn, and we are here from the training camp that was located near the forest close to Mirror.” The guards blinked at the pair, before looking over the group. “We have heard of that camp, but we lost… contact...” The stallion trailed off as his eyes fell upon Quake, currently draped across the dragon’s back. “What happened?” Both guards quickly took a defensive stance. The group was about to say something else before the sound of a polearms blunt end hit the cobblestone behind them. The group looked beyond the guards to see a white alicorn adorned in heavy dark red armor that looked to be made of a combination of iron plates with leather beneath. Turning slightly, they get a good look at the long, almost quilted, barding adorning his sides, as well as the telltale scratches and repaired holes from many battles. The guards looked over their shoulder at the stallion, before stepping aside to let him out the doors. His red eyes scanned the group, falling upon Quake for a moment before looking down at the guards. “One of you shall escort these seven to the medical wing in the castle. Afterwards see they are placed in one of the visiting dignitaries room. We do have some exotic guests after all.” The alicorn finished as his eyes fell upon Tesla. “Yes, Lord Shiro.” The guards saluted him. One of the guards then led the group away, as Shiro watched them. “Hmmm.” He let his eyes linger on the changeling, and the blade on her back as they walked away.