//------------------------------// // 54. The lost Empire - Part 2 // Story: My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship // by Danieru //------------------------------// The dark cloud around the Crystal Empire was getting closer and closer... And within it, was the evil Unicorn King who wanted to engulf it in darkness along with the Crystal Empire. “What do we do now?” Star Twinkle asked in a panic as he watched how the massive black cloud of darkness approached the Empire. Watching the cloud coming closer sent a shiver down on Star Twinkle's back. The thing he wanted to do more than anything now, was to run. But there was nowhere to run to and Cadance was too weak to cast her spell to protect everypony. There was nothing that could be done now. Star Twinkle cursed himself to not being able to do anything in this situation when his mind wasn't clouded by fear at the moment. Shining Armor looked over the incoming threat as well, but instead of showing fear or losing his calm, like Star Twinkle, he looked over to Princess Cadance who laid on the ground due to the exhaustion to keep the protection spell around the Crystal Empire up. He helped her up again, causing her to regain some strength. Cadance pulled herself together and activated her protection spell again. The barrier around the Empire rose up again and managed to keep the darkness out. However, the barrier was much smaller now and barely covered the empire, meaning that once it breaks again, there will not be enough time to protect the Empire anymore. Star Twinkle was relieved but he was also aware that it would only delay the inevitable. Cadance already broke down once so there was probably not much time left to begin with. Star Twinkle slowly felt like that this was a hopeless cause. The barrier would break down, the Empire would fall and who knows what would happen to him and his friends. However, Shining Armor managed to get Star Twinkle out of his thoughts. “I have to find the Crystal Heart!” He said determined, causing Star Twinkle to look at him confused because of what he witnessed just now. “What is he talking about? Can't he see how hopeless this all is? Why is he still so determined?” Star Twinkle asked himself after he heard Shining Armors words and looked at the determination in his eyes. “No,” Twilight interrupted, causing her brother to make a confused face. “You stay here with Cadance. She needs you, Shining Armor. I'll retrieve the Heart,” Twilight suggested before she attempted to leave. “She too? Didn't they both saw what just happened? Cadance already collapsed once! We will never find the heart in time!” Star Twinkle thought, once again trying to be realistic. Twilight stopped for a moment after she realized that Star Twinkle wasn't following her and quickly turned toward him. “I know what you are thinking right now,” she started, grabbing Star Twinkle's attention, who believed that this wasn't true. “Remember what you said before about my test?” Star Twinkle was not sure what she meant at first and because of his nervous thoughts right now, he was not able to remember. But Twilight formed a smile and reminded him. “If Princess Celestia wouldn't believe that I was able to protect this empire, then she wouldn't have sent me to here,” Now that heard those words again, Star Twinkle did remember saying them to Twilight, though he didn't like that she was using them against him. That wouldn't be the first time though. Twilight's optimism seemed unchanged. “I believe that we all can save this empire as well!” She said in confidence. “Come on, we have to get to work!” She said before she ran towards the inside of the castle, expecting that Star Twinkle would follow her this time. However, Star Twinkle hesitated at first and lowered his head in disappointment. “She knows how difficult all of this is...and yet she still continues... Because the Princess believed in her? No... Because I believed in her?” Star Twinkle turned his around and looked over to Shining Armor who was holding Cadance in his legs. “Those two... They didn't give up as well... Shining Armor didn't give up and wanted to retrieve the Crystal Heart... And despite being so exhausted, Cadance still keeps up her spell...” His thought was then turning towards his friends. “And the others...they wouldn't stop now as well... And what did I do? I just stood there, paralyzed by fear and gave up the moment things looked bad...” He started to get angry at himself and his reaction from before. It's not like he knew what to do against previous threats either. Things somehow worked out because he and his friends didn't give up. “I can't cast a protection spell or fight King Sombra...but what I can do is help everypony who refuses to let this kingdom fall! That's the least I can do!” He said determined before he finally started to follow Twilight. Twilight was running down the stairs to get outside and turned her head around after realizing how Star Twinkle was now right behind her. She then looked forward again with a smile on her face before she focused on her test again. “I've been trying to figure out how I'm meant to pass Celestia's test. Retrieving the Crystal Heart must be it,” Twilight figured. “But still...we also have to keep the Faire going,” she added, much to Star Twinkle's confusion. “Don't you think keeping this Unicorn king out is a little more important right now?” Star Twinkle pointed out, not understanding why Twilight was asking for that. “The whole purpose of the Crystal Faire is to lift the spirits of the Crystal Ponies, so they can activate the Crystal Heart,” she started to explain. Star Twinkle slowly began to understand. “So you think if everypony finds out about King Sombra then their “spirit” won't be able to power the Crystal Heart?” He guessed. “Exactly,” Twilight responded. They both exited the castle and found themselves in front of the place where the fake Crystal Heart was positioned in the middle, covered by a flag. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both making sure that nopony would get too close to it and kept everypony busy. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed, getting both of their attention. Twilight then explained the situation to them as well. While she was looking for the Crystal Heart, they should focus on the Crystal Faire. They quickly understood and did as Twilight said. Rainbow Dash was flying to the others to inform them as well while Applejack kept the fake Chrystal Heart hidden from everypony. This only left Star Twinkle and Twilight to find the Crystal Heart. “Alright, everything is taken care of. Now let's find this Crystal Heart!” Star Twinkle suggested. “No, you will help the others with the Faire. I have to find the Crystal Heart!” Twilight then explained which left Star Twinkle a little confused. “I think we have enough ponies to deal with the Faire. If we both look for the Crystal Heart, then we should find it faster,” Star Twinkle pointed out. “No, this is my test. So it's up to me to find the Crystal Heart,” Twilight demanded, determined to do this on her own. “Twilight, I think saving this empire is a little more important than your test right now!” Star Twinkle said, reminding her that there is much more at stake. “Princess Celestia sent me to save this empire so it has to be me who finds the Crystal Heart. It's as easy as that,” Twilight insisted, not letting her being talked out of this. “I can't waste any more time, I need to go!” She then said before she ran off to who knows where. She didn't even give Star Twinkle a chance to reply to this which made him feel a little angry because of her stubbornness. “Is she serious? In times like this, she worries about her test more than the safety of the empire?” He said to himself in disbelieve. He couldn't just stand there without doing nothing so he decided to follow Twilight against her will. Especially, since she wasn't looking like as if she knew exactly where to start with her search. She stopped in the middle of the road and rubbed her chin to think for a second before she noticed how Spike walked up to her. “Twilight, wait! I'm coming with you!” He most likely was informed by Rainbow Dash what Twilight was up to and wanted to help as well. “You can't. I have to retrieve the Crystal Heart by myself,” Twilight replied, again insisting to not accept any help. “How about that,” Star Twinkle started, making Twilight notice him behind her. “Let us just accompany you at least. We won't touch the Crystal Heart at all and let you save the empire but at least let us help you find it,” he explained, trying to get Twilight to let her help a little. Twilight didn't seem to be too happy about that suggestion but surprisingly enough she agreed. “Alright. But do not lift a hoof,” she said, still not fully ready to accept help. “Or a claw, Spike,” Spike added before he crossed his arms,” he was then levitated on Twilight's back by her magic before she ran towards the castle again with Star Twinkle following her again. “Where are we going exactly?” He asked. “I think I might know where King Sombra hid the Crystal Heart,” Twilight replied. “The king would've been counting on the fact that nopony would dare come looking for it here. They'd have been too afraid to even try,” she explained. That made sense to Star Twinkle. Since King Sombra took over the empire, he most likely was staying in the castle, keeping a close eye on the Crystal Heart. Even if somepony knew where it was, they had to deal with King Sombra to get to it which was something that was probably impossible. The three made it inside of the castle and looked for any clue where the Crystal Heart might have been. While doing so, Twilight made sure that both Star Twinkle and Spike wouldn't do anything to help her. This started to bother Star Twinkle. Not only did he thought that saving the empire had more priority but they were also running out of time. Given that Twilight is usually aware of what is important, it was almost shocking to him that her fear of letting Princess Celestia down would endanger a whole empire. While continuing their search, Twilight came across the throne room and stopped in front of it to take a look at the throne. Not sure what this was all about, Star Twinkle just stood next to her, wondering what she was looking at. He was then startled by Twilight who suddenly spoke up again. “Of course!” She said happily as if she figured out where the Crystal Heart was. Spike, who was left behind a little stumbled into Twilight and fell down to the ground with his arms still crossed. “What? Did you find it?” He asked, which is exactly what Star Twinkle would have asked a second later. “No. Because this isn't King Sombra's castle,” Twilight replied which confused both Star Twinkle and Spike. “Well, isn't this where he lived when he was in power?” Spike wondered. “It is. But it didn't look like this,” Twilight replied, which didn't explain much to the two. There was probably an explanation because Twilight wouldn't say something like that without a reason. Star Twinkle figured that she was about to either explain or show where the Crystal Heart was right now. However, the next thing that Star Twinkle saw was not what he expected at all. Twilight began to concentrate and focused some magic in her horn. But instead of the purple aura that usually covered her horn, there was now a black aura followed by something that looked like purple bubbles. She also had those purple auras coming out of the sides of her eyes. This all strongly reminded Star Twinkle to King Sombra, making him feel kinda nervous. Whatever she was doing, it did look pretty exhausting. Twilight was sweating and groaning heavily, indicating that this kind of magic was really hard to perform. She eventually managed to shot out a magic beam directly at a crystal which was on top of the throne. After it was hit, a shadow emerged from it and spread towards the area in front of the throne. The shadow revealed a staircase beneath the ground which would lead a good way down. “Whoa. When did you learn to do that?” Spike asked impressed. “That was a little trick Celestia taught me,” Twilight replied proudly as if she was happy to pull it off herself. “Aaand what exactly was that?” Star Twinkle asked while still feeling a little uncomfortable after seeing that. “Princess Celestia describes this kind of magic as dark magic. It's magic that draws power from negative feelings like hate or fear,” Twilight explained. For some reason, Star Twinkle didn't feel any better after that explanation. It was still really hard to watch her using magic like that. “King Sombra used this magic so it's kind of obvious that he would use it to hide the Crystal Heart,” she further explained. “Uh uh,” Star Twinkle only replied a little cautious. He had to admit that this might have made sense. Twilight seemed unaffected by this so called dark magic that she just used so Star Twinkle began to forget what he just saw and concentrated on his task again. However, when he tried to go down the staircase, that just appeared, Twilight blocked him by putting a hoof in front of him. “You two stay here,” she said, remembering Star Twinkle that she wanted to retrieve the Crystal Heart herself. Remembering that, Star Twinkle rolled his eyes and stepped away to let Twilight walk down the staircase who lit her horn with some magical light to let her see something while walking down. Since he wasn't allowed to follow her, Star Twinkle took the opportunity to take a look outside. What he saw there send fear down on his back. The magic barrier around the empire was flickering, indicating that Princess Cadance's spell was getting weaker. “We're running out of time. You better hurry Twilight...” Star Twinkle mumbled to himself as he looked over the Empire in concern. Star Twinkle then joined Spike who was waiting on top of the staircase and looked down to the almost endless depths in which it would lead into. They both waited a little while also speaking to Twilight from time to time to make sure if she was alright. But Twilight stopped responding which worried the two of them. “She hasn't answered for a while now...” Spike said in concern. “Yeah...” Star Twinkle replied, getting a little worried himself. “You think she is alright?” Spike asked while he was peeking over the edge to look down on the staircase. Of course, Star Twinkle couldn't give a clear answer to that. He did wish that she was okay and strongly tried to believe that but if she was entering the place where the Crystal Heart was hidden, then chances were pretty high that there could be some obstacles to prevent her from getting to it. With this in mind, Star Twinkle began to walk down the stairs as well. “Only one way to find out,” he said as he left Spike behind. “But Twilight said-” Spike tried to say but he was interrupted by Star Twinkle. “I don't care!” Star Twinkle exclaimed a little angrily while continuing his way downstairs, leaving Spike a little confused. It took Star Twinkle quite some time until he reached the bottom of it. This made him guess that Twilight might not have responded because she was simply too far away but that was very unlikely. When he was almost on the bottom, he could see Twilight, making him feel a little better. “Twilight?” Star Twinkle said after getting a little closer to her. However, she was standing there motionless and almost in trance, staring at something that looked like a door. Star Twinkle walked up to her and tried to figure out what she was staring at. “What are you looking at? It's just some ordinary do-” But he couldn't finish his sentence and felt some kind of flash appear. ... There was some kind of light that blinded Star Twinkle for a second, causing him to close his eyes. When he opened them again, he was no longer in the staircase but instead on the streets of Ponyville. “What? Why am I...how?” He wondered as he checked his surroundings. It made no sense how he was suddenly in the middle of the road of Ponyville. He saw Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie not too far away but they didn't seem to notice him so he walked up to them in order to find out what was going on. “What are we all doing here?” Was the first thing he asked out of his confusion. They turned around after Star Twinkle spoke up but for some reason, they didn't look too happy and gave him a glare. “Oh, it's him...” Applejack said almost hostile towards Star Twinkle. “You have some nerves, trying to talk with us after what you've done!” Rainbow Dash said while she crossed her front legs while flying. Star Twinkle didn't know why he deserved this hostility that was clearly thrown at him. “What do you mean? What did I do?” He asked confused but also a little nervous. “The last thing I remember is that I was following Twilight who was looking for the Crystal Heart,” he added. Fluttershy then suddenly started to cry, leading Rarity to comfort her a little and throwing a glare towards Star Twinkle as well. Needless to say, Star Twinkle got confused why she was crying now. “Why is she crying? What happened? Did we managed to save the Crystal Empire?” He began asking out of his confusion. “No, we didn't! And it's all your fault!” Rarity exclaimed angrily which was probably caused by Fluttershy crying next to her. “What?” Star Twinkle replied confused. “Why? What did I do?” He asked. “If it wasn't for you, mister, the Empire could have been saved!” Pinkie Pie replied unlikely angrily. “What is she talking about? The last thing I remember was looking at this strange door under the castle...wait,” “Where is Twilight? The last thing I remember was that I was helping her to look for the Crystal Heart,” Star Twinkle explained nervously. Applejack then walked up to Star Twinkle with a depressed look on her face. “Twilight, as well as Shining Armor, Princess Cadance and the rest of the empire, were all swallowed by the darkness,” she explained, making Star Twinkle's heart skip a beat for a moment. However, she was not finished. “She managed to save us all in time...” she added a little hesitantly. “What?” Star Twinkle replied quietly with his mouth feeling to get dry because of the shock. “Yeah! And you were supposed to look after her!” Rainbow Dash then busted out in anger. “But what did you do!? You were the first one to run away after King Sombra was entering the Empire!” She added, now fully snapping at Star Twinkle. “I did?” Star Twinkle said with fear in his eyes. “I ran away?” He said in disbelieve. Affected by Rainbow Dash's outburst, the rest of the girls were snapping at Star Twinkle as well and bombarded him with hurtful words. “It's all your fault!” Applejack exclaimed. “You coward!” Pinkie Pie said angrily. “To think that we once called you a friend!” Rarity said almost disgusted. “You better not show your face in Ponyville ever again!” Rainbow Dash said angrily. “Just get out of our life!” Fluttershy said in disappointment and sadness. All those words hammered down on Star Twinkle and made him feel worse by the second. The worst thing is, that he can't even remember anything after meeting Twilight on the bottom of the staircase in the castle. His friends didn't stop insulting or blaming him for what he apparently did. But the worst thing was that Twilight was not around. He began to think what might have happened to her after King Sombra's attack. “King Sombra won? Is the Empire gone? What happened to Twilight? Was it really all my fault?” He began to blame himself as well and cowered on the ground burying his face under his hooves out of frustration. He could hear his friends words and just wished that they would stop. Tears were starting to form in his eyes and he closed his eyes, wishing that all that was just a bad nightmare. Suddenly, some noise made Star Twinkle open his eyes again. He only saw a glimpse of what happened but from the looks of it, there was some kind of magic beam fired at his friends, making them disappear in an instant. Needless to say, seeing that shocked Star Twinkle and he jumped back a few feet out of shock. “What!?” He said in a panic while he hectically moved his head around and ducking for a moment out of fear that he was about to get hit by whatever that was as well. But there was nothing after that. With fear in his mind, he turned his head around to find out what the cause of this was. This is when he noticed somepony behind him. He saw himself facing into the other direction, making Star Twinkle only see the back of himself or at least somepony who looked exactly like him. “Is that me?” It reminded him of the scene he saw at the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance. There he was seeing himself standing in front of a defeated Princess Celestia. This scene right now was giving him the exact same uncomfortable feeling. Finally, the pony began to speak. But the words he said only confused him and for some reason send shivers down his back. “You are me... And I am you...” After these words were said, a fire was spreading around Star Twinkle, trapping him in a ring of flames. Star Twinkle quickly panicked but managed to keep his focus on the other pony. The pony slowly turned around and was about to look directly at Star Twinkle but just before his eyes were turning towards Star Twinkle, a voice echoed through his mind. “Star Twinkle!” The voice said which strongly sounded like Twilight. ... In an instant, almost abruptly, Star Twinkle found himself back at the bottom of the staircase again with Twilight and Spike next to him. “Are you alright?” Twilight asked in concern. “What?” Star Twinkle replied as he inspected his surroundings to make sure where exactly he was right now. He realized that he was in fact, back in the Crystal Empire and not in Ponyville anymore. “But I was in Ponyville just now,” he said still confused about what just happened. Twilight took it upon herself to explain. She pointed on top of the door which Star Twinkle remembered looking at. ”King Sombra's dark magic. A doorway that leads to your worst fear,” “My worst fear?” Star Twinkle replied a little muzzled. “When I looked at this door, I was back in Canterlot. Princess Celestia told me that I failed my test and that I was no longer be able to be her student anymore,” Twilight explained. “So what I saw was just an illusion?” Star Twinkle asked. Twilight nodded. “Yes. Don't worry about it anymore,” Twilight assured. “If you don't mind me asking, what did you saw?” Star Twinkle felt a little embarrassed. He didn't feel like telling her how he was responsible for hurting her. Maybe he was also trying to not show how sad it made him and therefore avoided telling her about it. But that meant that he had to come up with something else. “I was falling!” He suddenly burst out in a panic. “Falling?” Twilight asked confused. “Yeah! You know, through the air! My fear of flying and height!” He Star Twinkle explained further. While Twilight noticed how weirdly Star Twinkle explained that, she also understood and believed him. “Figures,” she just replied with a little smile on her face. Star Twinkle was just happy that she bought that lie and let out a small sigh of relief. However, he couldn't just forget what he just saw. "I get what the first thing in this illusion meant...I'm afraid of letting the empire down and losing my friends, right?" He started to think. "But...why did I saw myself? My greatest fear is...myself?" He wondered, trying to make sense out of what he saw inside of this door. “Um, guys...” Spike then suddenly spoke up. “Don't we have to find a Crystal Heart?” He pointed out, reminding the two ponies about their current task. Twilight used her magic on the door, just like before with the throne, causing it to open. When the door opened, the three of them were greeted by another staircase but this time it was going up. Twilight was definitely not looking forward to climbing those. The staircase was pretty much as long as the one before, meaning that it would take a long time until she would reach the top. “Alright, we wait here. Go and get this Crystal Heart,” Star Twinkle said. But Twilight hesitated for a moment. She lowered her head in concern and looked over to Star Twinkle and Spike who were both waiting for her to continue. “Maybe you two should come with me, this time?” She asked a little hesitantly. Judging from what happened a few minutes ago, she was either afraid to continue alone or she maybe understood that Star Twinkle and Spike wanted to help too. Whatever it was, both of them smiled at each other and followed her without a question. Star Twinkle, for example, was just happy that he was allowed to help. However, a little later he regretted to follow her because there were a lot of stairs to climb. It didn't even feel like as if they way halfway through and Star Twinkle was already exhausted. Twilight and Spike didn't look better as well. Twilight was in front of Star Twinkle and Spike but only because she was eager to finish her test. “What if this is just more of his magic? He makes a door that leads to your worst nightmare. Why not a staircase that goes on forever?” Spike pointed out. It actually was not unlikely that this would be the case, thought Star Twinkle. Apparently, Twilight thought so too and came up with an idea. “Hold on to me,” Twilight said, however, before Star Twinkle and Spike could even answer, they were both levitated near her by her magic. She then used another spell which engulfed herself and Spike, who was riding on her back, and Star Twinkle in some kind of light. The next thing, Star Twinkle knew was that he was sliding down the stairs. Twilight must have manipulated gravity or something, thought Star Twinkle. This sudden change made Star Twinkle panic while Twilight seemed pretty excited. “I actually studied gravity spells, thinking it might be on my test! Turns out I was prepared for this!” She shouted in her excitement while sliding down the stairs. “I'm glad that one of us is having fun!” Star Twinkle shouted in a panic. After some more sliding and screaming, the three of them were about to reach the end. Twilight used that gravitation spell from before once more in time and they found themselves on top of the castle. There they instantly found what they were looking for, the Crystal Heart. It was placed in the middle of the area, floating above the ground over some kind of symbol. “Finally! Now you just have to bring this thing to Cadance,” Star Twinkle said, trying to make a little more haste since time was getting short. Twilight slowly walked up towards the Crystal Heart, with her eyes focused on it in excitement. But when she was stepping on the symbol on the ground, some kind of defense mechanism seemed to have been activated. Moments later, some black crystals came shooting out from the ground and surrounded Twilight. “Twilight!” Star Twinkle said in shock as he tried to walk up to Twilight. But as soon as he got closer to the crystal prison that trapped Twilight, more black crystals emerged from the ground, preventing him from getting closer. “I'm alright!” Twilight then said from inside the crystal prison. “Where is the Crystal Heart?” She asked out of worry. “Over here!” Spike then said pointing towards the Crystal Heart which laid close by him. Twilight must have pushed it out before it got trapped as well. “It's alright!” Star Twinkle assured. “What about you? Can you get out of there?” He asked. Star Twinkle then saw how Twilight teleported herself out of the trap only to vanish again. She explained that the magic of King Sombra was preventing her from leaving. With Twilight being unable to leave her prison there was now no way for her to get the Crystal Heart to the Faire. Star Twinkle was fully aware of that fact and had to convince Twilight that he or Spike had to carry the Heart now. But before he could say anything, Twilight spoke up. “King Sombra is already attacking the Empire. He could reach the Crystal Ponies at any moment... reach Princess Cadance, my brother, my friends. There may not be enough time for me to find a way to escape,” she fully accepted before she decided to ignore her test. “One of you has to bring the Crystal Heart to the Faire,” she said, making Star Twinkle kind of proud that she was willing to fail her test in order to save everypony. But there was no time for Star Twinkle to be proud of her now. Time was getting short and the shield around the empire was looking more and more unstable by the second. But despite that, Star Twinkle managed to come up with a plan. “Twilight, can you teleport one of us below the castle along with the Crystal Heart?” He suggested, in order get the Heart to its original place as fast as possible. “No, I can't! I tried to focus my magic on the heart but I think King Sombra's magic in here protects the Crystal Heart from any magic,” Twilight explained frustrated. “You got to be kidding me,” Star Twinkle responded in annoyance. As if things weren't against their favor already. Star Twinkle looked over the Crystal Empire again and got startled after he saw how the shield was now completely gone. In the distance he could hear a howl, causing him to look over to the direction where it was coming from. Far away in the distance, he could see the black shadow from before, King Sombra. He saw how the Evil Unicorn King was entering the Crystal Empire and how he began to turn it into darkness already. After seeing how King Sombra entered the empire, Star Twinkle got scared again. “Are we already too late? Even if we start bringing down the heart right now, by the time we get down there, King Sombra would already overrun the entire empire. There is not enough time...” Star Twinkle thought in a panic, letting himself getting overrun by fear again. “But if that happens...then everypony will be swallowed by darkness...” He remembered what he saw after looking at that one door at the bottom of the stairs. What he saw there was supposed to be his greatest fear, according to Twilight. But if things continued like this, then his greatest fear was about to become reality. And that scared Star Twinkle even more. “I don't want things to end like this... But can I even change anything? Or... Am I too afraid to try? But what if I fail? It wouldn't make any difference!” Star Twinkle was arguing with himself in hope that this would somehow help him to get the right answer. He moved his head towards Spike, who was scarred as well. Then he moved his head to Twilight, who could be seen trying to get out of her crystal prison. “But... What if I succeed? What if I CAN make a difference? All this time I was annoyed by Twilight for focusing on her test more than saving the empire... Ironically, right now, I want to run away more than anything. If I was trapped instead of Twilight, then she would not hesitate to try... But it's me who is free... And all I can do is...” “Spike!” Star Twinkle said out of nowhere, startling the little dragon. “You take the Crystal Heart and carry it to the Faire!” He ordered, to which Spike reacted a little surprised because of how serious Star Twinkle seemed. “Twilight!” Star Twinkle said, getting Twilight's attention. “Can you teleport me under the castle?” He asked in a serious manner. “I should be but what are you trying to do?” Twilight asked confused. “You are not trying to run away, are you?” Spike asked in a panic, clearly influenced by his fear. Twilight quickly gave the little dragon a disapproval look but Star Twinkle didn't care about anything of that. “Then quick, teleport me out of here!” Star Twinkle demanded very hastily. “Not until you tell me what you are up to!” Twilight replied while narrowing her eyes as she looked at Star Twinkle. Star Twinkle formed a regretting face before he answered. “Something really stupid...” he replied while he avoided eye contact with Twilight. “I'm not a student of Princess Celestia. I'm not bound to any kind of test and I don't feel the need to fulfill any ponies expectations. No matter how much I think about it, my mind tells me to do only one thing...” Star Twinkle explained. “And you think that's the right thing to do?” Twilight asked worriedly. “It is...” Star Twinkle replied with a serious tone in his voice. Twilight was having a hard time to not worry about Star Twinkle's words and rather would have liked to have a longer conversation but she was aware that time was getting short so all she could do is trust Star Twinkle now. “All right, but whatever you are up to, please be careful...” she said before she started to concentrate some magic in her horn. Star Twinkle prepared himself for the teleportation spell and closed his eyes. Only seconds later, he found himself under the castle, right next to the fake Crystal Heart. He looked over into the distance and saw King Sombra approaching the castle. The shadow started to vanish and instead revealed the Unicorn king in his true form. He had a dark gray coat, a black mane, red eyes, a curved sharp red horn and sharp teeth. He also wore a silver armor which had a red cape attached to it. King Sombra was riding a crystal that grew out of the ground and got quickly closer to the castle. “Here he comes,” Star Twinkle said in fear because he turned to the fake Crystal Heart and grabbing it before he walked towards King Sombra with the heart in his hoof. “I could run now...but if I would do that, how could I ever face anypony? They all work so hard to save this empire without a guaranty for succeeding and all I can do is think is to run away... But if I would do that, then what I saw inside of that door could become reality... I don't want that! I have to try buying some time for everyone! Even if it's not much! Even if it is just one second!” Star Twinkle thought, full of determination as he walked towards the evil Unicorn King. Meanwhile, the rest of his friends tried to calm down the Crystal Ponies from inside the balcony of the castle since everypony by now was aware that King Sombra was inside the empire. However, they had a hard time to get most ponies to even listen to them and felt like that they only had to depend on Twilight finding the Crystal Heart. But while they tried t speak with the ponies, they noticed how Star Twinkle was running towards King Sombra. “Is that Star Twinkle?” Rarity exclaimed as she pointed towards him, making the other aware of him too. “What is he trying to do?” Rainbow Dash wondered. “And what is he planning to do with that fake Crystal Heart?” Applejack wondered as she spotted the heart in Star Twinkle's hoof. Star Twinkle stopped in his track before he got too close to King Sombra and took some deep breaths before he shouted at the Unicorn. “Sombra! Look what I got!” He said as he presented the fake Crystal Heart above his head. King Sombra noticed the Earth Pony and looked towards him. As soon as he saw what Star Twinkle had in his hooves, his eyes widened and he clenched his teeth. Seconds later, he charged towards Star Twinkle while riding his crystal on the ground. “It worked!” Star Twinkle grinned for a moment before he turned around again and walking away from the castle with the fake Crystal Heart in his hoof. “He actually believes this is the real one! Now I just have to keep him busy for as long as possible!” Star Twinkle never ran as fast in his life before. He didn't care what would happen if King Sombra would catch up to him. Right now, he was almost happy that his plan worked and that he was able to buy some time. To make sure that King Sombra was still following him, Star Twinkle took a look behind him. But to his surprise, nopony was behind him. “What!? Where is he?” He wondered. Suddenly, the ground began to shake in front of him, causing him to lose his balance and stumble, dropping the fake Crystal Heart in the process. When he got up again, he quickly looked for the heart and tried to pick it up again but to his shock, there was somepony standing right in front of it. It was King Sombra who looked at the heart with an angry look on his face after he noticed that this wasn't the real Crystal Heart. Realizing that he was tricked by Star Twinkle, the Evil Unicorn King glared over to the Earth-Pony, sending down shivers on Star Twinkle's back. King Sombra then focused some magic in his horn and his eyes began to turn green while releasing this strange purple mist again. Star Twinkle was breathing heavily by this sight and tripped over, landing on his back. He tried to crawl away but seeing this intimidating pony in front of him paralyzed him and made him unable to move. “I'm scared!” Star Twinkle was the first thing Star Twinkle was thinking after looking at King Sombra, who was clearly not amused by this trick that Star Twinkle tried to pull off. “I need to run!” Star Twinkle thought with his knees beginning to shake now. King Sombra was about to fire at Star Twinkle and clenched his teeth in anger before he finally shot straight at Star Twinkle. “Someone help me!” Were the last thoughts that Star Twinkle was thinking before he closed his eyes in fear and covering his eyes with his hooves, trying to protect himself from the incoming impact. It was quiet. It felt as time was not moving at this moment. But there were some familiar words that Star Twinkle heard. “You are me... And I am you...” There was no pain. There was no impact. Nothing seemed to have happened. But something should have happened. Star Twinkle wondered if King Sombra missed and if he got lucky to escape him for a few more seconds. He slowly opened his eyes, despite being afraid of what he would see next. White colors... He was seeing white colors in front of him after he lowered his hoof which was still in front of his face. Behind this white colors stood King Sombra who widened his eyes in surprise but also in anger. After he focused his thoughts again, Star Twinkle finally realized what was going on. “A shield?” He said quietly as he noticed that he was just protected by some kind of spell that somepony was casting to protect him. The question was who it was. Star Twinkle looked around but couldn't see anypony in sight and wondered who was responsible for that. He looked in every direction, his left, his right, behind him, up, and even down. When he looked down he instantly saw how something was off. He saw his shadow on the ground but it looked slightly off. There was something on his head that stuck out. Naturally, Star Twinkle moved his hoof towards his head to find out what it was. “What!?” He said shocked after he realized what it was. He never touched one before but the shape and the position of it made it obvious what exactly it was. A horn. There was a horn coming out of Star Twinkle's head, surrounded by a white aura which had the same color as the shield around him, meaning that right now, he was the one casting this shield spell. Of course, there were a million questions in Star Twinkle's head right now but those went away after the shield disappeared again, leaving Star Twinkle vulnerable again. King Sombra wasted no time and prepared another spell to shot at Star Twinkle. Right now, Star Twinkle was actually too confused to be scared and managed to avoid the beam of magic that King Sombra fired at him by jumping to the side and falling to the ground. “Alright! I have a horn! This just happened! So please do something!” Star Twinkle said in a panic while he poked his horn in order to make it work. King Sombra, again, fired another spell in his anger. Star Twinkle noticed the incoming danger and closed his eyes in fear but luckily his horn began to glow and he teleported out of the way in time and appeared behind King Sombra, who was starting to lose his patience. Star Twinkle only just now realized what happened and released a sigh in relief. King Sombra was about to shot at Star Twinkle again but his attention was grabbed by something else. Star Twinkle wondered what it might have been and turned around. He saw Spike walking down the castle on some black crystals with the Crystal Heart in his claws. Spike must have been on his way to bring the Crystal Heart down to the Faire. But the problem was, King Sombra noticed him so he instantly created another crystal under his hoof and charged in direction of the castle. Star Twinkle couldn't let him go after getting so far so he followed the Unicorn King. Unfortunately, Star Twinkle was only able to keep up with him but didn't manage to get ahead of him. He concentrated a little in order to fire a magic beam, which was a lot harder than he imagined. “Come on, work! I don't know where you came from but you have to work now!” He said in frustration as he practically begged for his horn to work. Moments later, it actually did fire a beam towards King Sombra, making him stagger a little and giving Star Twinkle the chance to get ahead of him. The Unicorn King was starting to get annoyed by Star Twinkle and fired another beam of magic towards him. Luckily, they were missing him and made him keep his little lead. However, King Sombra was getting sick of this interference and focused a little more magic than usual and prepared to take Star Twinkle out this time. Star Twinkle didn't notice anything of that and only concentrated on Spike, who slowly made his way down the castle. But for him, it was hard to move down since the crystals he was walking on were keep growing and made it hard for him to move. Eventually, they made Spike stumble and he fell down with the Crystal Heart in his claws. “Spikey-Whikey!” Rarity said in shock after watching Spike fall down the castle. “Spike!” Star Twinkle exclaimed in shock as well when he saw him falling down. Moments later, Star Twinkle heard some noises behind him and turned his head around to find out that a magic beam was fired towards him. However, it came so sudden that Star Twinkle had no chance of avoiding it in time. Luckily, the beam didn't hit him directly but instead the ground right in front of him, causing the area to be filled with smoke because of the impact of the spell, making Star Twinkle vanish inside of it. Confident that King Sombra finally managed to get rid of Star Twinkle, he released a grin before he then focused on Spike again. Meanwhile, something was moving inside of the smoke cloud. In fact, something came shooting right out of it. It was Star Twinkle who had his eyes closed out of fear. He opened them again after he realized that he was unharmed. But the strange thing was that he wasn't feeling like as if he was moving his legs. And he also was a little more above the ground. He looked behind himself and noticed what was going on now. He had wings... “I'm flying? I'm flying!” He said in his surprise after this realization until he put some more thoughts into it. “Wait a minute... I'm flying? I'm flying!” He repeated in shock because of his fear of flying as he put his hooves on his head out of frustration. “Huh?” He said after another realization. His horn was gone now, confusing him even more. But right he couldn't worry about that because Spike was still falling down the castle and Star Twinkle had now the right “things” to save him in time. Star Twinkle managed to catch Spike in midair who was mighty surprised to see him up in the air. “Whoa! Star Twinkle, since when can you fly?” Was obviously the first question the little dragon asked in his confusion. “I have no idea!” Star Twinkle replied while avoiding to look down to the ground. King Sombra, again, did not approve of Star Twinkle's interference and fired multiple shots at him. Despite flying for the first time, Star Twinkle managed to dodged every beam while Spike clung into him to not fall off. “We need to get under the castle!” Spike said in a panic. “I'm trying!” Star Twinkle replied in a panic as well. He was flying towards the center under the castle where the fake heart was before but then suddenly, his wings disappeared in midair and caused him to fall towards the ground which caused him and Spike to abruptly land on the ground. King Sombra was not far away and stood next to the two as they laid on the ground, still trying to get up. The Unicorn King focused his eyes on the crystal Heart and was about to walk up to it but he got confused once it was levitated above the ground. Star Twinkle looked over to the heart as well and realized that it was Princess Cadance who was levitating the heart and looked over to King Sombra. “The Crystal Heart has returned. Use the light and love within you to ensure that King Sombra does not,” she said before she placed the Crystal Heart to its rightful place under the castle. The Crystal ponies then gathered around the castle and bowed down which caused the streets of the empire to be filled with a bright light. The light soon returned to the heart which caused a powerful light to be released throughout the whole empire. As soon as the light passed Star Twinkle, his coat and his mane changed to a Crystal Pony similar appearance. He quickly figured that the same was happening with everypony else. The light also removed the dark crystals that were created by King Sombra. And of course, King Sombra was affected by it too. First some cracks appeared all over his body but eventually, he screamed in anger and the light caused him to burst into pieces, meaning that he was finally defeated and that the empire was safe. Another light emerged from the Crystal Heart and shot out towards the sky, removing every little bit of darkness that surrounded the empire. After all that happened, Star Twinkle dropped to the ground out of exhaustion and was just relieved that everything was over. Spike, who was standing right next to him, got worried and walked over to him. “Are you alright?” He asked in concern. “I'm fine...just a little tired...” he replied in his exhaustion. He wasn't clearly aware of his surroundings yet but he soon heard cheers from all over the empire. “Everypony is cheering? Figures, they must be happy that they are safe now...” he thought before he looked around the area. But what he saw was quite surprising. Everypony was looking towards him and Spike while cheering loudly. No matter where he looked at, everypony was smiling at him and continue to scream cheers towards him. “Are they cheering for us? For me?” He thought in surprise. “Star Twinkle!” A voice shrieked at him before he was approached by his friends, who were crystallized as well. “That was amazing!” Pinkie Pie shrieked once more jumping into the air in her excitement. Rarity quickly rushed to Spike and hugged him out of worry while the others walked up to Star Twinkle. “Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked in concern. “Did I imagine things or were you flying just now?” Rainbow Dash asked puzzled. It was only a matter of time until somepony would ask questions but unfortunately, Star Twinkle didn't have any answers for that. “I can honestly say, that I have no idea what just happened...” He could only reply to Rainbow Dash's question. A little later... The Crystal Empire was safe and the Crystal Ponies were crystallized again. The Crystal Heart was in its original place and protected the empire and King Sombra was gone as well. So the job of Star Twinkle and his friends was done and they could return home to let Princess Cadance and Shining Armor take care of the situation. The group was exiting the Crystal Empire with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor accompanying them. With the Empire returning to its former glory, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor returned to it as soon as possible to take care of the Crystal Ponies for a while. This gave Twilight the chance to speak with Star Twinkle about the recent events and more importantly, her test. “Good job, Star Twinkle,” Twilight congratulated. “You really did it, even after things became more stressful at the end. I mean, some of the girls even thought they saw you flying,” she said amused followed by some giggles. “Yeah...crazy, am I right?” Star Twinkle replied, not bothering to tell her that that actually happened. “I just wish, I could have been as successful as you were...” she added, lowering her head towards the ground. “You mean your test?” Star Twinkle guessed, to which Twilight nodded in response. “I'm sure she will let you redo the test if you explain things to her,” Star Twinkle assured in order to cheer Twilight up again. “I'm afraid, I won't get another chance..” Twilight responded with a frown on her face. Star Twinkle didn't know what to say to that since he wasn't sure how Princess Celestia would respond to what happened here. All he could do was to wait until they would return to Canterlot. Later in Canterlot... The group waited in front of the castle while Twilight was inside, to speak with Princess Celestia about her test. Everypony was nervous about if Twilight passed or not, especially Spike. “Keep it together, buddy... Gotta stay strong... for Twilight...” He kept saying to himself while walking up and down nervously. Naturally, Star Twinkle wondered about the result as well. Twilight was sent to the empire in order to save it. The empire was saved and that is what was important. But the question was if Princess Celestia was seeing that too. Eventually, after some waiting, Twilight stepped out of the door and formed a smile on her face. “I passed!” She said with a smile on her face, causing all her friends to cheer in happiness and relief. Everypony quickly walked up to her and the girls hugged her out of relief and happiness. “Yeah, I knew everything was going to be fine,” Spike said which was obviously a lie. Apparently, Princess Celestia was proud of Twilight that she was ignoring her test for the sake of saving the empire and said that Twilight fully deserved to pass the test. Star Twinkle would lie if he said that he wasn't relieved as well. After all, everything else was turning out good too. “Congratulation,” Star Twinkle said to which Twilight reacted with a bright smile on her face. Later in Ponyville... After everything was done, Star Twinkle just wanted to return home. He needed a break after everything that happened today. And now that he was alone, he finally had time to figure out what happened to him in the Crystal Empire. But no matter how long he thought about it, there was no explanation that he could find. “A horn...and two wings....why did I had a horn at one time and two wings at another? What happened to me?” He mumbled to himself confused. He lifted one of his hooves and kept staring at it for a while. “You are me...and I am you?” He repeated to himself, remembering the words that he heard before all that. “I am me...right?” He said quietly. “There you are!” Steel Hammer said, causing Star Twinkle to snap out of his thoughts. He came walking towards Star Twinkle with a smug smile on his face. “You are back! So what was it this time? What kind of adventure happened to you today?” He asked eager to find out what happened. Star Twinkle remembered the conversation that he had earlier this day and actually wasted no time to explain everything. “Well, I sorta saved an entire empire which was gone for a thousand years and helped to defeat some evil Unicorn king,” he casually explained, making Steel Wing form a confused look on his face. “Well, you have to tell me more about that!” Steel Hammer said before he put one hoof on Star Twinkle's shoulder. Since Steel Hammer, wouldn't give up until he would hear the whole story, Star Twinkle started to tell everything from the very beginning as they walked through Ponyville. Even if it would mean that he would return to his home a little later.