//------------------------------//
// Heart of an Empire 
// Story: The Mask of Despair and the Face of Hope 
// by Wings of Black Glass 
//------------------------------//

The three of us, with me carrying Flurry Heart, raced back towards the Palace through the densely clouded fog.  I wasn’t sure if the mist was a cause or effect of what was happening there.  Briefly, I considered it could be natural, but disregarded that, fog and snow don’t occur together usually.
“Sunburst.”  I spoke between heavy breaths.  “Where did Starlight Glimmer go?”  our hooves beat hard along the stone road.
“I don’t know.  She left my house sometime yesterday.  I think she said she was going to talk to Princess Cadence.”
“You think?”  Sable beat me to the question, sounding irritated.
“I wasn’t exactly in my right mind!”  We passed beyond the palace gates, the structure arced over the very center of the city, where the Crystal Heart rested.  The courtyard was full of snow, in places almost knee deep.  We came to a stop as we rounded the corner, and found the Crystal Heart still perched atop its plinth.  It looked intact, and I let out a sigh as I struggled to catch my breath.  Looking back revealed Sunburst was having a harder time of it, his breaths coming out in gasps of fog.  Sable brought up the rear, wincing with each step, he must have strained his rib again.  “At least the Crystal Heart hasn’t been stolen.”
“That’s the Crystal Heart?”  Sable stepped closer to it, decidedly unimpressed.  “It's just sitting out in the open, completely undefended?”  He strolled up to the Heart and reached out to touch it.  “Any random putz can just reach out and take…”  At his touch the heart flashed, a shockwave exploded off the plinth and hurled Sable into a snowdrift against the palace wall.  The boom woke Flurry Heart, and she cowered again close to my legs.  I had to bite back a sarcastic quip, knowing it was due to the manipulation.  A purple hoof rose into the air from beneath the snow.  “I wish to retract my previous statement.”  I had to laugh, briefly.  Sable stood, shaking the powder out of his mane and returned to his place beside them, keeping well clear of the Heart.
“Now what?”  I didn’t answer Sunburst; I instead closed to inspect the Crystal Heart, checking it from every angle.  I didn’t find any flaw in it.  It should have been working as intended.  Flurry groaned quietly, she might have been hungry and was clearly worried about something.  “I don’t understand.  The Heart is just not working?”  Sunburst came closer, pretty much no pony alive knew more about it than him.  “Is it just low on power?”  He squinted, inspecting it with his limited magic.  “No, it's well charged.  It should be pushing away all this fog, and disrupting the emotional manipulation.”
“And the snow?”
“That’s probably natural.”  Sable narrowed his eyes, my explanation unconvincing.  For an instant, he resembled his original self.
“Twilight, we need more information.”  He shook his head and turned towards me.  “Princess Cadence is clearly under the full effect of this manipulation, as well as Shining Armor.  You should see if you can find Starlight.”
“What about you?”
“Sunburst and I will remain here.”  The orange Unicorn nodded and adjusted his glasses.  “We will try and figure out what is blocking the Heart from doing its job.  Unless, of course, you have a better idea?”  I did not, my ears drooping.  My niece squirmed and squeaked, and I cradled her closer.
“And Flurry?”  Sable looked down at the little Alicorn.  His hard gaze seemed to bother Flurry Heart.
“I don’t think she will leave you, not peaceably.  Her presence here will only make things more difficult anyway.”
“You’re sure you can figure this out?”
“I have no idea.”
“Don’t worry, Princess Twilight.  We’ll get this working.”  Sunburst sounded quite a bit more confident than Sable.  I nodded, and turned towards the Palace entrance, Flurry sticking close to me.  As I left, I overheard Sable begin to question Sunburst.
“Now, Sunburst.  Tell me everything you know about how the Heart works…”
I left them both behind, searching madly in the palace for any sign of Starlight Glimmer.  I double-checked the throne room, and halls we passed through earlier, some of the guest rooms, the library, even the toilets.  She was nowhere to be found.  The castle staff was entirely absent, the halls echoing with her hoofsteps and the muffled sounds of Flurry’s mumbles.  The other ponies must surely be hiding in their rooms out of fear.  I had to pause several times when my anger began to overwhelm me.  This manipulation was getting stronger, or my control was weakening.  It was hard to tell which.  Eventually, Flurry Heart demanded my attention.
“I’m sorry Flurry Heart, but I really need to find Starlight.”  The little pink Alicorn glared at me grumpily.  The effect was more cute than threatening on her little round face.  “If you were only a bit older you could tell me if you’ve seen her.”  Flurry wormed her way out of my magic and fluttered off in the direction of the kitchen.  With a sigh, I followed, to make sure the infant got fed.  I was having no success finding any pony willing to talk anyway, let alone Starlight Glimmer.  My luck immediately turned when we entered the kitchen, Flurry squeaked and dove for my side as we passed through the door.
“Are you kidding me!”  I shouted, my control lost for an instant.  Sitting square in the middle of the kitchen was Starlight Glimmer, held prisoner by a crystalline shell.  The expression of the trapped Unicorn was one of pure surprise and fear.  Whatever did this caught her completely off guard.  I tried to focus on the proper counter-spell, but Flurry kept pulling on my leg and disrupting my concentration.  “Flurry, What?”  I sneered down at the infant, who groaned and backed away, hiding behind her own wings.  “Oh no, Flurry Heart.  I’m sorry.”  I calmed myself, speaking softly and silently cursing the obnoxious emotional twisting.  “It’s alright. I’m better now.”
My niece only backed further away; she must have felt utterly alone.  Starlight would have to wait a moment longer, she wasn’t going anywhere, and the prison spell posed no immediate danger to her.  I looked around; there were a few jars of mashed peas on the counter as well as a platter of rainbow sprinkled cupcakes.  I considered the jars of peas, Flurry’s favorite.  A healthy choice, but this called for something a bit sweeter.  I took one of the cupcakes and presented it to Flurry Heart.
“Here you go.  It's alright. I’m not going to hurt you.”  Flurry peered out from behind her wings.  “I would never hurt you.”  The infant’s stomach growled, and the lure of the cupcake overrode the fear she must have felt.  She took the cupcake from my outstretched hoof, devouring it in a few quick bites.  “There we go, is that better?”  Flurry burbled something up at me, sprinkles and icing covering her face.  Again my anger melted away, and I embraced my niece.  “Don’t worry, Sunburst and I will get this all fixed up.  But now I need you to stay quiet for a minute while I save Starlight.  OK?”  Flurry wiped at her face with a tiny hoof, content for the moment.
I turned again to the crystalline prison spell and the Unicorn within.  It was the same spell Sable used on her the day of the accident.  That alone was worrisome.  When I stepped closer red glowing runes appeared on the floor, hissing and sputtering steam.  Somepony had set a trap, that was even more worrisome.  I looked back at Flurry, sitting on the counter.  I couldn’t let Flurry get too close to the trap, so I held my position between the infant and the runes.  I would have to disable the trap first.
I concentrated on the runes; dark magic was apparently involved in their creation.  Fortunately, whoever did this was not particularly skilled, had the trap been appropriately set it would have triggered only when I tried to free Starlight.  In the worst case, it might have seriously injured me.  As is, I found I just needed a few moments of silence to remove them.  One counter-spell later and Starlight slumped to the ground, free of the disintegrating prison.
“Starlight, are you alright?”  The Unicorn looked up; she couldn’t seem to focus on me.  I frowned, it was just like the day of Sable’s accident.  “Here, let me help you.”  I lifted my friend from the floor, steadying her first with magic, and then draping a wing over her side to keep her upright.  Starlight mumbled something incoherent.  Whatever happened here was much worse than last time.  “Something is very wrong with the Crystal Empire.”  Starlight nodded, or her head bobbed loosely; I couldn’t tell which.  “Sable thinks something is manipulating everpony’s emotions.”  Starlight slurred something, almost falling away.  “I’ve got you, come on.  Sunburst is out at the Crystal Heart”  Although Starlight still couldn’t speak, I felt a little more strength in my Unicorn friend’s body.
I guided her towards the door, looking back to make sure Flurry was following.  The infant Alicorn stuck pretty close, fluttering into the air and keeping pace with us, stealing another cupcake along the way.  I grimaced, Cadence was going to complain to me later.  Starlight could only barely walk.  It took several long minutes to make our way back out to Sunburst and Sable.





“So that’s twice I’ve been captured by crystal prisons.  Great.”
“Sorry, you kept getting caught in them.”
“Ugh, that was my spell in the first place too.  Pinkie, quit laughing at me!”