Chapter 19: The North.
“Allan! Allan!” Twilight’s excited voice reached Allan as he sat in the garden. Zephyr’s move into the guest room had taken the best part of two days, as the pegasus had far too many belongings for anypony who previously didn’t have a place to live. The resulting cluster-buck was a time consuming mess that had infuriated Allan to no end, which was the reason why he was out in the garden avoiding Zephyr. Of course, Twilight being excited about something and calling his name was far more interesting than just sitting in the garden. It also raised alarm bells as to why she was excited. With scientists, excitement was something that meant disaster just as often as it meant progress.
Twilight being excited was nothing new. In the time Allan had spent in in Equestria, Twilight had gotten excited to the extent of frantic shouting and confusing science babble exactly thirteen times. The first had been over Allan and his knowledge of earth, as had freakout numbers three, five ten, and thirteen. Allan presumed that number fourteen, being the current one, was probably Twilight getting excited at creating a new and improved formula for her favourite hair product. Either that, or she’d accidentally summoned the pony version of Cthulu into her living room, and now everypony was going to die.
Just another average day in Ponyville.
“Hi Twilight. What’s going on?”
“Allan!” Twilight finally came galloping down the road, her breath coming out in quick, short, gasps. “Okay… just a moment….huff….huff...huff…...okay.” Twilight held up her hoof for a moment, asking for a little time to catch her breath. “Allan, we finally found something in the notes! Another portal! It’s in the Crystal Empire! I already contacted my brother and Princess Cadance! The train leaves in thirty minutes! Don’t be late!”
With that, she turned and galloped off, before disappearing in a flash of light.
Allan just sat there,own devices bewildered. Then his brain digested the onslaught of excited words that had come tumbling out of her mouth.
“Wait, WHAT?!”
******************
The train to the crystal empire was packed with ponies, except for the car that Twilight, Allan, Starlight and Fluttershy were using. Twilight had paid specifically for the privacy, and as such, the four of them were left to their own devices.
Twilight and Allan were going over the notes, trying to pin down the exact location of the portal. As the team had made mention of it during the time period that the Empire had been lost to the curse of King Sombra, it was likely that the portal was hidden somewhere outside of the Empire’s weather shield, on the wide tundra. If that was the case, then the four of them would need a guide.
Starlight was busy refreshing herself on several spells that may well come in useful, studying one of her spellbooks with an expression deep concentration. Despite the look, Allan could feel a disturbance beneath the focused exterior. She was having some kind of inner conflict that he believed he should stay clear of until she had dealt with it.
Fluttershy was nibbling on some salad she had brought with her, what looked to be a home-made woolen sweater wrapped around her neck. The pale green looked cute on her.
“It could be here.” Allan said, pointing to a particular mountain range on the map, one that was relatively unexplored. “Seems like the kind of place you’d want to do secluded research with ancient magic.”
“Or it could be here.” Twilight pointed to a symbol for ruins, located partway out on the immense tundra. “It’s secluded, and they could have built the complex on top of it.”
Starlight stood up, tucking her spellbook back into her saddlebags. “Trying to figure out where it is is a little pointless. We can use a scanning spell to search for it, right?”
Twilight did not look up from the map. “The notes weren’t all that great when it came to recording thaumic values, and we never got the chance to measure it ourselves. Besides, they were using an outdated measurement system that is notoriously difficult to properly translate into modern systems, and I’m not entirely certain my math was right.”
“You? Getting calculations wrong?” Allan asked, cheekily. “I’m shocked, Sparkles. Shocked.”
Twilight rolled her her eyes. “I get enough snark from Dash and Spike. I don’t need more from you.”
“Tough.” Allan retorted, sticking out his forked tongue and grinning widely. “You’re stuck with me.”
“For now.” Twilight said, and Allan paused. What if he could go home? What if this was it?
“Well, we’ll find out if your math was right pretty quickly. We’re here!” Fluttershy announced.
Allan moved over to the car window, looking out over the Empire in all its shimmering beauty. Crystal towers poked over the hills , the tallest of which sparkled a pale, iridescent blue that matched the sky.
The group didn’t līnger in the car for very long, emerging, blinking at the blinding sun refracting off of multiple buildings at once.
“Damn, that’s bright.” Allan muttered to himself.
“Come on.” Twilight instructed. “My brother and Princess Cadance wanted to talk with us before we left.”
Allan nodded, and the four of them passed through town at a brisk trot, arriving at the palace, an immense tower that shape-wise, seemed content to mimic the Eiffel Tower, in only a few short minutes.
A quick security check with the guards later, and they were admitted into the castle, and escorted to the throne room. Allan had to keep reminding himself that he wasn’t dreaming the whole way there, as the entire place was constructed purely of gemstones that would be considered “priceless” back on Earth. A tiny fraction of it would absolutely destroy the global market if it were taken to Earth. A bizarre, evil thought flitted into Alan's head for a moment, took on the shape of Discord, and started singing about how he should “test the theory”. He hoped that i wasn’t actually Discord. The last thing he needed was that great big novelty pool noodle messing around up there.
The doors to the throne room, flanked by the ever present crystal guards, swung open to admit them with ease, and the group moved on through.
Sitting on the throne at the far end of the room, was a familiar sight. An Alicorn, with a bright, pink coat, and three toned mane sat there, regally. She looked a little tired, but otherwise, she seemed just as much of a commanding presence as Celestia or Luna.
Beside her, in ceremonial looking purple armour, was a white unicorn stallion with a two toned blue mane. He stood, rapt to attention, and staring intently at Allan.
It was then that Allan remembered them. He’d seen them in Ponyville just the other day, and they had been on two of Luna’s dream chessboard pieces. Huh.
The two of them approached Twilight with warm smiles and hugs.
“We didn’t expect to see you so soon. We’ve barely been home for two days and we get another one of your overexcited letters asking for favours? Are you sure you don’t just miss us already?” Were all Equestrian Royals so informal and snarky? Cadance had obviously learned a lot from Celestia. Even her poise and stance were reminiscent of the larger monarch, with her head held high, and a warm, motherly smile on her face.
“Sorry Cadance, but I’m afraid this is business. While I always love seeing all three of you, this is too important to put off.” Twilight explained. “We need to, find a way to get Allan here home, and stop Queen Chrysalis before she does permanent damage in Alan's home.”
Cadance and her husband both turned their attention to Allan, who made a pointed effort to not cringe under their scrutiny.
“My… you are pretty tall for a changeling, aren’t you….” Allan heard Princess Cadance murmur, just loud enough for him to hear. She smiled, finished with her visual examination. “So you’re the Allan that Twilight’s been going on about lately. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“It’s my pleasure.” Allan returned the courtesy. “It’s not everyday you meet the Princess of love, after all.”
Cadance chuckled “Such a gentlecolt.” She grinned back at Shining Armour. “Take notes dear. This one knows what he’s doing.”
Shining, for his part, managed to only look slightly irritated, only the corner of his mouth curling down slightly to indicate his ire. “I’m sure he does.” Shining returned. “Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Mr. Ryder. How do you like it so far?”
Allan smiled pleasantly, making sure his fangs weren’t exposed. “It’s wonderful! I feel so warm and… well, forgive me for saying, full.”
Shining smirked. “You are close to the Crystal Heart. Being a major producer of love and magic would make it an endless feast for you.”
“Well, I had to keep myself from running around like a lunatic when we passed it, I felt so lively. Can I request we not get too close later?”
“It’s true.” Fluttershy added. “Normally, Alan's more reserved, but he’s gotten more open the closer we got to the Heart.”
Cadance took a moment to peer at Fluttershy, then Allan, and a smug little grin appeared on her face, though she never mentioned anything about what she’d noticed.
“Hey, Princess Cadance? If love is food for Changelings, does that make you the Princess of Food?” Allan asked, impishly.
Cadance gasped, in mock horror at the description, before she turned her nose up at him. “How dare you insult me, knave!? Princess of Food indeed!” She laughed, a warm, pleasant sound. “The thought has crossed my mind before, yes.”
Twilight looked ready to either faint, or grab Allan by the ear and drag him all the way back home. Starlight and Fluttershy had hooves over their mouths, trying hard not to laugh too loudly, while Shining had a very bemused expression on his face.
“Princess of Food? I am so using that the next time I see her.” King Thorax’s voice spoke to Allan through the hivemind. “I bet her reaction will be hilarious!”
Allan rolled his eyes. Getting used to the hive mind was slow going, especially with random changelings occasionally adding their two bits to anything in Alan's life that caught their fancy. A few choice remarks about Fluttershy had already forced Allan to have particular changelings forbidden from commenting, until they could learn to behave at least.
Still, it was occasionally useful, like when he had struggled to understand a particular phrase in Equish, and had been supplied the meaning by one of the hive members. Allan made a mental note to thank Coxix for that soon.
“Well, let’s get on with this, shall we?” Shining abruptly ended the silence with his announcement. “The sooner we find that portal, the better. We have frequent, intense storms out in those areas, so we’d rather get this done while the weather is holding.”
Cadance and Twilight nodded their agreements. Allan did too.
“Were you able to locate possible sites for the portal?” Cadance inquired, her gaze filled with concern. “Any way we can shorten the time you’re out on the ice is a good thing.”
Twilight and Allan exchanged glances, before they both explained the possibility of the mountain range and the ruined complex, one after the other. Cadance and Shining listened carefully, assessing the reasoning for both. When the two had finished, the monarch’s added their own knowledge of the region to the equation.
“While the complex is a good guess, we’ve already checked it out several dozen times. It’s a good place to hide a sizable force in the tundra, so we regularly check it for evidence of use, and as a result, we’ve pretty thoroughly searched it, and nothing resembling the portal you described has been found.” Shining explained, conjuring up an image of the complex. “We’ve even cleared out the snow and ice, just to be sure.”
Allan turned his attention to the second holographic image, brought up by Twilight’s magic. “What about the mountains?”
“It’s far more likely. Nopony has properly explored that range since before the Empire vanished, so….anything could be hidden there.”
Starlight butted in, announcing her addition to the conversation by coughing. “Isn’t this a moot point? We can at least try the detection spell.”
Allan nodded. “It is worth a shot.”
And so Twilight sat down to concentrate, before her horn started to glow. “I’m getting a match!”
“Which direction?” Shining quickly orientated the map to properly align with the region.
Twilight pivoted around a few times, before settling on a northerly direction. Allan traced the line on the map, and grinned as it lead right to the mountain cave. “Would you look at that?”
Shining and Cadance exchanged uncertain looks, before sighing. “Mount Everhoof it is.”
Twilight’s excited expression also turned into one of concern. “The tallest mountain in the known world? That’s going to be very dangerous.”
“You’ll need more than one guide up there.” Shining said, grimly. “I’ll find some volunteers and get your gear prepped. You’ll have to wrap up warm. It’s freezing cold, even during summer.”
********************
The cold wind was a biting, piercing kind that threatened to tear their huge, insulated coats off at any moment, leaving them to the ravages of the frigid climes. They had used magically powered sleds to quickly traverse the rolling tundra ice, but had been forced to abandon them under a rocky lean-to that wäs sheltered from the wind some time ago.
Allan had deliberately shifted form, making his “natural” fur coat as thick and warm as he could without ruining the fitting of his huge winter coat, while the others had to make do with heat packs and warmth spells.
The going was tough, each step a huge endeavor to wade through the barrel high snows that had piled up, undisturbed for so long. The compacted snow crunched under hoof, and the fresh snow plummeting down from the heavens above obscured their already limited vision further.
Their guides, four in number, including Shining Armour, a unicorn mare called Safe Trails, an Earth pony stallion called Sure Hoof, and a Pegasus mare who went by the name, “Climber”, were spread out amid the troupe, with Shining leading the way, and Sure Hoof at the back. Allan was in the middle, with Twilight and Safe Trails.
The rocky walls of the narrow pass they were filing through were steep, and high, and with the coat, Allan couldn’t use his wings to fly out should the need arise. They would be impossible to climb, too, being slicked with ice and eroded smooth by the weather.
This place was a death trap, that much was obvious. Any sudden, loud sounds could spell the end of them all, which was why none of them were talking… that and the fact that they could barely hear each other anyway.
They had already been hiking for almost an hour, having been dropped off partway to their destination via chariot, and Twilight, who was still using the tracing spell, had used a brief lull in the wind to explain that they were fairly close, little more than a few hundred meters away.
Peering ahead, Allan could see Shining Armor stop, his bright red thermal coat making him easier to spot among the grey rocks and white snow. The group slowly bundled up together, as Shining did a head count. With all eight ponies accounted for, Shining motioned towards a nearby cliff, before starting off again. The snow was not as deep there, thanks to the shape of the surrounding mountains, making the slog easier to handle.
Within a few minutes, they reached the cliff, and Allan watched in amazement, as Shining stepped around a protruding boulder, and promptly vanished. Starlight followed him, who was in turn followed by Climber. Twilight looked back at him, nodding, before she turned around the boulder and disappeared as well.
Sucking in a breath, Allan stepped up to the boulder, and peered around it, and into the face of a deep, jagged scar in the mountainside. He could see the others up ahead, and he moved to join them. He heard a curse behind him, and twisted his head around to look at Safe Trails, who was shaking her head. When she noticed his concern, she pointed to a tear in her coat, and then to a sharp edge on the boulder, where a scrap of cloth now danced in the wind..
Nodding his understanding, Allan continued to follow the others, until Shining stopped for another head count.
They were in a small chamber that had been carved out of the rock by water eroding the softer elements and leaving the tougher ones, making for a very uneven looking finish to the whole place. The wind still howled outside, but it was quiet enough that the group was able to lower their hoods and talk.
“Okay, we’re here. Now, we’re gonna go further in, and we’re gonna be quiet. These caves could be unstable, so we don’t want to bring them down around us. Step only where I do until I say otherwise, and just… be careful. Listen to the other guides, as well.” Shining instructed. “Sis, you’ve got the tracing spell, you come to the front with me.”
“Okay, Shining.”
Proceeding through the next tunnel in the rock, Allan found it to be a tight squeeze, and he was certain that Safe Trails wouldn’t be the only one whose coat was damaged by the time they returned to the Empire.
When he emerged into the next cavern, he found his breath stolen from him by the sight.
Unlike the other room, which had been miniscule, the cavern they were in now was massive, and dropped away beneath them for the height of at least a five story building, dropping down past the roots of the mountain. Thick, stony pillars held the huge weight above them aloft, and the only way down was a long, winding path carved into the sides of the cave. The only light came from the horns of the other Unicorns, and strained in through the icy parts of the cavern ceiling. Allan quickly gave himself a horn so that he could help, creating a small burst of light that parted his mane.
The ponies followed the path down slowly, as the surface was slicked with thin patches of ice at irregular intervals, and more than once Allan was forced to catch one of the others as they nearly slipped over the edge.
Upon reaching the bottom, the group paused to take a breather and look around them.
The bottom of the cavern was uneven, and quite a bit of it was flooded. There was, however, what appeared to be a bridge of sorts that crossed over to an island on the edge of the underground lake.
Twilight’s spell was glowing fiercely in that direction, so Shining quickly traversed the bridge with her, while Allan and the others followed behind.
The island itself, like the cavern that housed it, was relatively unremarkable (Though the entire place screamed “impressive and enormous”) but what was built into it, was far more exciting. This far down in the earth, one doesn’t just happen upon carved stairs and call it coincidence, after all.
They were steep, and this time, Twilight motioned for Allan to take the lead. “You’ve been in a place like this before. You should lead.”
Given that the two locations were quite different, Allan found the idea ridiculous, but he set his hoof on the first step anyway, and started to carefully make his way down.
The stairs went down in an enlargening spiral, the curvature gradually increasing in size until the group was circling around a decent sized space that could easily house a large room.
“Why go through all this trouble to hide this? Surely it would be easier to build this on the surface, rather than down here?” Starlight wondered aloud.
Twilight was the one who answered. “Leylines. It’s because of the leylines!”
“Leylines?” Allan asked. He remembered what his study books had said about them. “You mean those corridors of magic moving beneath the ground?”
“Yes! Can’t you feel it? There’s so many!”
Allan gingerly extended his senses, as he did when detecting emotional energy, and found the air to be thick with magical energy, all rushing about in particular directions. The thick channels of energy all intersected just below, in one spot, which seemed to be doing...something. If it was what he thought it was, then they were in luck. “I can feel it…”
“Woah, yeah!” Starlight exclaimed, whistling in amazement. “”I don’t know why I didn’t sense that on my own.”
“Because you weren’t looking for it.” Shining supplied for her, earning a glare of psuedo-irritation.
“Come on. Just a little further!” Twilight nudged Allan to continue forward, and before long, he stumbled into a very familiar chamber.
The rounded stone chamber was nearly identical to the one in the badlands, save for a few choice differences. For one, there were no tilted over tables with strewn pages on the floor. Instead, the circular pool of water in the center of the room was gently glowing. The most disconcerting, was the skeleton that was lying next to the portal.
It was old, very old. So old in fact, that the skeleton’s shape was visually different from a modern pony’s. The head was not as enlarged, and the proportions more closely resembled horses from earth. The strange in-between stage was more than enough to get Allan to start asking questions. It was obviously brittle, as just entering the chamber and stirring the air sent several flakes of bone to break free of their moorings and drift through the air.
“That’s…..a pony.” Allan breathed. “Or, you know, it was.”
“The anatomy is all wrong!” Starlight protested. “Even the earliest ponies on record had larger brain cavities than this does!”
“Then it must be from before our records began!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly. “It’s a whole new part of our evolutionary history!”
“That’s really interesting, but, what about the thaumatology team? Weren’t they supposed to have come here after the Badlands portal?” Shining Armor asked, examining the architecture. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not seeing any sign of them here.”
Allan looked critically around the chamber. Apart from the skeleton and the portal itself, it was devoid of any additional features. No tables. No scientific implements, no camping equipment….nothing.
“What if they went through?” Asked Safe Trails. “After the last portal, they could have assumed that this one was safe and gone right through.”
“Not likely.” Climber snorted. “They were thaumatologists, you know, studiers of magic? They’d know not to just go through some random hole in reality.”
Allan remained quiet, gazing at the portal in indecision. What should he do? Could this take him home? Should he risk it? Did he even want to risk it?
He looked back at the others, all pitching ideas about the portal, the chamber, and it’s odd inhabitant. Starlight, the guides, and Shining, none of whom Allan really knew very well, were out here to help solve a problem that only existed because of Chrysalis and himself. Twilight, a Princess, with a life of her own, and responsibilities of her own, was helping him to find answers, teaching him magic, and genuinely wanted to be his friend. Fluttershy, kind, sweet, brave Fluttershy, was out here because she cared about him.
As he gazed at them, he could see all the reasons to go back, and the reasons to stay here. Anna, who he had let believe that he loved her, and Fluttershy, the one who he truly did love. Mike and Josh, his best friends back home, who had always been there for him. Applejack, and Rarity, honest and loyal to a fault, giving him jobs, advice, and friendship. His Mom and Dad, who had raised him, and taught him, and had believed in him every step of the way. Twilight, Luna, and even Rainbow, who taught him about magic, how to fly, and even just talked with him, freely. Katie, who had showed him how to be strong, how to pursue a dream and make it work. Pinkie Pie, who would never hesitate to offer a joke or sweet treat to help raise his spirits. And then….there was Equestria itself. Idyllic, peaceful, full of magic, and laughter, and love.
What should he do? He wanted to ask that question to anypony, to anyone, but he knew that the only one who could answer that question was himself. His eyes instinctively sought out the one pony not being drawn into the discussion about the fate of the thaumatologists. Fluttershy’s concerned, yet reassuring gaze was like the sun to him then, illuminating the truth.
He didn’t want to leave.
Twilight and the others stopped, all of them turning to gaze at him. He’d said it aloud.
“Allan...?”
His brows furrowed. His lips tightened over his teeth as they drew into a grimace. Turning around, he drew in a breath, before speaking again, clearer.
“I don’t want to go back.”
Fluttershy had tears in her eyes, hooves over her mouth. “But….your family?”
“Oh, I’lll go back to fight Chrysalis. I still owe her a buck to the face. But also a thank you.”
Twilight’s ears splayed back, as did her brother’s. “A WHAT?!”
“A thank you. For getting me here.” Allan smiled. “Although unintentional, she got me to a place where I can do the things I want to, unlike back on earth, where my job limits everything I could do.” The smile became a grin. “Here, I have an opportunity to explore a whole new world, do whole new things! Equestria is a land of plenty, of adventure and fun! I can be so much more than I could on Earth, and all because she attacked me by that fountain! I have a whole new life, because of her!” His hoof smashed down into the floor for emphasis. “I’m done sitting around and moping over losing my ‘humanity’! I’m gonna have a life here, starting right now! Starting with this.”
And with that, Allan marched right up to Fluttershy, pulled her gently in close, and kissed her.
*********************
Chrysalis sat atop her new throne, carved out of hardened emotion gel into a wicked, spiked tribute to her glory. Her newest acquisition had taken some time and some doing, but now, it was ready. All she needed was time. That time spanned in months, but it would take that long just for the idiot ponies to figure out a way to get the portal working again, and mobilize their armies, at which point, it would already be too late. Her plans had exploded forward, and she frequently found herself giggling and laughing at the thought of finally besting the Equestrian menace and grinding them underhoof.
And yet...despite this, an ache kept plaguing her. An incessant, dull throb in her tiny, constantly ignored heart that just wouldn’t go away, accompanied by peculiar dreams and strange visions that she could sense the boy, Ryder, watching as well. Every time they were recalled, the ache intensified, and Chrysalis quite often found herself beating her enthralled drones or human slaves.
She hated it. Hated the ache, hated the images. Hated the drones and the humans, and, most of all, the ponies. But it just wouldn’t stop. No matter what she tried to do. She’d tried to brew an emotion gel to stop her from dreaming, to no avail. All iterations had failed, and her ire only deepened.
The boy seemed to feature heavily in her musings over the problem. Every now and again, vague images from his life in Equus flashed through her mind, drawing the same reaction as the dreams had. The strangest thing there was that she didn’t hate it, or him. The feeling she got when considering him was… strange, bizarre. That was the part she did hate.
***************
Night had fallen in the world outside the mountain caves, but the group had long since set up their camping gear, each pony close by to another, so that they were never too far from one another in the event that one of them grew too cold and needed warmth.
Allan and Fluttershy occupied a shared space next to the wall of the round chamber, talking even as the others slept.
“You’re sure about this?” Fluttershy asked. While she was inwardly very happy that Allan wanted to stay, she worried that he might be forsaking his family and friends.
Allan chuckled softly. “We’ve been over this already. I’m going to train, go back, bring Chrysalis down, and explain everything to them. I don’t know how they’ll take it, but that’s something to worry about in the future. Right now, I’m quite happy to not think about that, and just snuggle up with you.”
“Aaww…” Fluttershy couldn’t help but let that sound out. “I like it too. But please warn me next time you pull a stunt like that. That kiss was very unexpected.”
“Okay, okay.” Allan promised. “I promise I will do my best to forewarn you of any sudden romantic gestures.”
“Good.”
“So, uh….out of curiosity….?”
“Yes?”
“Does this make our relationship official?”
“Allan!?”
“It’s a valid question.” Allan huffed.
“Um….yes, I guess.”
Allan grinned at her. “Does that mean we can make out?”
“Eeep! Allan! Not in front of everypony!”
Allan grinned again, chuckling as he buried his nose in her mane. “They’re asleep.”
Fluttershy looked around, surveying the blanketed forms of their companions as they rested on the floor. “Oh, eheh…..nevermind.”
******************