//------------------------------// // Ripped apart - Part I // Story: Crystal Note - Where life leads us // by TalkingToMyself //------------------------------// Crystal Note smiled as she walked down the hallway of the Crystal Palace and watched the three ponies in front of her. Shining Armor carried half a dozen of suitcases in his magic and from the expression on his face, one could guess he was trying to remember the one thing he'd still forgotten to pack. Princess Cadance next to him was too busy to think about their luggage, she had her work cut out for her with trying to calm Flurry Heart down. The young alicorn was so excited she couldn't stand still and even as they walked through the palace, Flurry Heart kept bouncing up and down with high pitched squeals of joy, her wings flapping at her sides. "Calm down, Flurry. You'll be all worked up before we even reach the train." "I know Mom, but I can't help it! This is going to be so great! We're going to see Auntie Twilight and Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna and Grandma and Grandpa and best of all we get to spend the whole week together!" At this, another squeal broke out of the filly and Shining Armor winced as the high tone reached his ears "You know this is not a holiday trip, right? A Princess Summit is serious business and it's important you show your best behaviour." Cadance and Crystal Note behind her giggled as Flurry Heart's ears flopped down "I know that! But we can't be all serious the whole time, right? I mean, nopony can take a whole week of politics and stuff." She shivered and her wings folded back to her flanks "Well, you know your Auntie Twily. I'm sure she already has every minute of this week scheduled out for everypony." Another series of giggles filled the hallway as Flurry Heart froze up from shock for a moment, before she joined in as well. While it was true that Twilight Sparkle insisted on having a checklist for everything, her aunt also made sure to have some fun planed in as well. She turned around and walked backwards between her parents as she addressed Crystal Note "Last chance to change your mind and come with us!" Crystal Note smiled and shook her head "I'll have to pass, Flurry Heart. It's your very first Princess Summit after all, that's very special and you should spent it with your family foremost. But thank you for asking." "But you're almost family!" Flurry Heart gave a pout and Cadance turned her head to look at Crystal Note as well "You might not be born into our family, but I hope you know you'd be welcome anyways." Crystal Note smiled and bowed her head in gratitude "Thank you, Princess. But, I really don't think I would belong to a Princess Summit. That and Princess Celestia would surely find a task or another for me so she'd have more time with Flurry Heart all for herself." At this, all four ponies shared another series of laughter and finally reached the entrance of the palace. The royal family stepped down the stairs, a few guards following and helping with their luggage, but Crystal Note remained at the top of the stairs and waved them all goodbye. She smiled and watched until they were out of sight, then headed back inside. As soon as she closed the doors, she found herself surrounded by a few maids who stared at her curiously. She grinned and they quickly joined in "They're off, the coast is clear for a week." The crystal ponies giggled and cheered and Crystal Note laughed when one of the maids even fell into some sort of victory dance. Of course it was all in good fun, everypony in the Crystal Empire loved Princess Cadance and her family. Even so, a lively alicorn filly like Flurry Heart always gave them all enough work to keep them busy, so this week would be far quieter for the palace staff in general. The ponies kept up their good mood as they made their way to the throne room, but halfway there they were met by a stern looking mare with a pink mane that was bound up in a bun "I hope you're aware that even when the Princess is gone, this is no time for slacking. There's still lots to do for all of us." The maids nodded their heads in a quick bow, but Crystal Note just giggled "You shouldn't be that serious all the time, Sis. You need to lighten up or you'll end up with a grey mane soon." The crystal unicorn teased gently and stood beside her sister-in-heart who now tried to keep her stern expression despite the growing smile on her face. She addressed the maids once more "The Crystal Council will meet in an hour. Please make sure the conference room is set up, then you can take the rest of the day off." The maid ponies giggled and nodded "Yes Councillor Rose Quartz!" With a wink to Crystal Note, they turned around and went to work, quickly falling into happy chatter again, and left Rose Quartz and Crystal Note standing in front of the throne room. Rose Quartz smiled and poked her sister with her hoof "You need to stop embarrassing me in front of everypony. I'll lose all respect I worked so hard on." Crystal Note just grinned more and gently nudged back "They wouldn't have voted you as head of the Crystal Council if they didn't respect you, Rose. How long will your meeting go on?" Rose Quartz sighed and shook her head "I don't know. Not more than two hours I hope, if nothing serious comes up. Will I see you after?" Crystal Note nodded with a smile "I'll stick around and wait for you. Maybe I'll check the library and see if I can find something nice to read. At least it'll be quiet there for once." "Without Flurry Heart suddenly popping out of thin air when you least expect her, I think the whole palace will be quiet. Hopefully the guards won't fall asleep out of sudden boredom." They laughed and shared a hug, then went their ways. Crystal Note soon reached the library of the palace and walked inside. The royal library was by far smaller than the famous Crystal Library in town was, but Crystal Note preferred this one because of its large and wide windows. The library was located in one of the upper levels of the palace, so they large room was flooded with sunlight nearly every time of the day and provided a wonderful view over the entire city at day and the stars at night time. Crystal Note passed some bookshelves and saw one of the desks in the back already occupied. A tall tower of books on each side, a stallion with orange mane and a blue cape with stars sat in front of an open tome. He pushed his glasses back up his nose with a hoof and apparently didn't even notice Crystal Note as she walked up towards him. He had a horn on his forehead just like Crystal Note had herself, but unlike her, the stallion was not a crystal pony but a unicorn from Equestria. Crystal Note walked closer and made herself noticeable by greeting the stallion "Hello Sunburst. Doing some reading?" The stallion jumped up in surprise and nearly threw over his books. His horn glowed with a yellow aura and his magic quickly steadied the tower in the last moment though "Oh, Crystal Note, hello. I didn't hear you come in. Um, yes, I'm trying to make most use of the week and catch up on a few things." Crystal Note smiled as she eyed the hovering books "You think that's enough to keep you busy for a week?" "Well, no. But I'll visit the Crystal Library on my way home and stock up on reading material once I'm finished." Crystal Note stared in disbelieve until she noticed the smirk on Sunburst's face and they both started to giggle "Mind some company?" "Not at all! There's enough space for both of us." Crystal Note sat down on another desk next, one that would let her enjoy the view through the large windows. Unlike the stallion, she didn't reach for a book but some sheets of paper instead. A soft turquoise glow of her magic surrounded a quill and she started writing down some words while humming a little tune. Sunburst quickly lost himself in his lecture again and the two unicorns spent the next hour in pleasant silence. Sunburst just started with his third book when suddenly the door flew open and a pony of the crystal guard stormed in with a loud call "Princess Cadance! Has anypony seen Princess Cadance?" Sunburst looked up confused but Crystal Note recognized the guard and walked around the desk towards him "You missed her, Ivory Lance. Princess Cadance and the others left the palace over an hour ago." The guard frowned at the news but the sighed relieved when he saw who was sitting at the desks "Crystal Note, thank goodness. There's just been an accident in the coal mine." "What? What happened? Did somepony get hurt?" Ivory Lance shook his head and his frown deepened "We don't know yet. There's a large boulder that blocks one of the tunnels and we can't get past. Can you help?" Crystal Note nodded and rushed to the door while Ivory Lance turned to Sunburst "Will you come with us, Sir? We need all the help we can get." Without any hesitation, Sunburst got up and followed the guard out of the library where they found Crystal Note talking to a maid "You need to inform the council right away, then send somepony to the hospital. If anypony got hurt, the doctor needs to be there right away." "Yes, Crystal Note. I'm on it." She nodded and rushed towards the main entrance with Ivory Lance and Sunburst quickly catching up. Once outside, Ivory Lance took the lead and headed towards the mines in a furious canter, the two unicorns right behind him as they headed north. As soon as they reached mine just outside of the city, they found themselves confronted with a big group of ponies, mostly miners but also a few guard ponies, including one of the captains "Can't we just use some heavy tools to break through?" "We could, but then the whole tunnel might come down on whoever is still inside. And it might take us weeks to clear up the entrance if that happens." The few miners nodded at the words of their comrade and the captain frowned. While most of the wealth of the Crystal Empire came from the trade with gemstones and precious metals from other mines, this was the coalmine. So far up north with little to no trees for wood, coal was essential for every home in the entire city as the only available fuel. None of the ponies was willing to risk the lives of anypony still inside the mine and in the city as long as there was still another chance of clearing the situation. Mining was hard and dirty work, but a well respected profession in the Empire and played a big part in crystal pony tradition. Ivory Lance pushed his way towards the entrance with Crystal Note and Sunburst right behind him. As soon as the captain saw them, he had the path cleared for them and lead them into the main tunnel. A few lanterns were set up and spread a dimly light on the stony walls, just enough for them to see large rocks scattered around everywhere. They soon reached a crossroad in the tunnel system, one of the bigger tunnels blocked by an enormous boulder as wide and high as the tunnel itself. In front of that boulder, a few ponies had gathered, including Flint, the father of Ocean and Amber Waves and a mutual friend of Ivory Lance and Crystal Note. The usually calm stallion glared at one of the younger miners and shouted angrily "What do you mean you let a mare inside just before the cave-in? What were you thinking?" The young pony shivered and his coat turned a notch darker from fear "I don't know. She said she wanted to surprise her husband with lunch, so I just showed her the way." "Are you nuts? This is not a restaurant or a park for picnics, this is a mine! It's a dangerous place for ponies who're not aware of it! How could you be so irresponsible?" The pony's head hung low but he had no answer. Lucky for him, this was the point when Ivory Lance and the others reached them and drew Flint's attention away from the stallion "Glad you're here. We've searched almost the entire mine, there are still ponies missing and this is the last tunnel we couldn't check. I can't get past this boulder so I tried shouting out loud, but no response so far." Flint turned his head to stare at the boulder and who might be trapped behind it with worry and concern. The crystal ponies flinched when suddenly a bright light appeared next to them. Sunburst had summoned an orb of light on the tip of his horn and walked around to get a better view on the situation than the lanterns would allow. It seemed like the boulder indeed locked off the tunnel as effectively as a cork in the neck of a wine bottle, leaving only a few small cracks open "There's no way past unless we move this thing." "We tried, but we couldn't do it." "Let me try." The stallions turned their heads to look at Crystal Note, then took a step aside when the crystal unicorn closed her eyes and her horn started to glow in a turquoise light. The boulder was surrounded by the same turquoise magic and Crystal Note's horn soon glowed very brightly. Her eyes clenched shut in concentration and effort. She dug her hooves into the ground and pulled her head backwards, her body instinctively moving accordingly as she tried to move the boulder with her magic, almost like she was pulling on it. Her eyes shut more tightly and sweat appeared on her brow as every muscle of her body tensed up while she desperately pulled with all her might. Soon though, the light around her horn winked out and the imaginary rope she pulled at was cut. She lost her balance and stumbled backwards before she slumped back on her haunches and panted heavily "It's no use. It's way too heavy, I can't even budge it a little." The guard captain frowned "Can't you just blast it into smaller pieces with your magic?" Still panting, Crystal Note shook her head with a frustrated expression on her face "I never learned that spell. And even if I did, I doubt I could do more than a scratch. My magic is not strong enough." Turning towards Sunburst, the crystal guard found a similar helpless expression and sighed with resignation. The captain and Flint exchanged a worried glance "I guess we have no other choice then. We need to get heavy tools and explosives and risk another cave-in." "And risk the lives of even more ponies in doing so. I don't like it." "Do you have any better ideas? I'd love to hear them." Flint glared at the boulder and shook his head, but then turned around as another voice joined in "Do you have some rope down here?" Flint turned towards Sunburst who was busy examining the cracks between the boulder and the tunnel wall. He looked around and found what the unicorn stallion was looking for. The rope was picked up by Sunburst's yellow magic and he managed to fumble it through the cracks and around the large rock. When he was satisfied, he formed a few tight knots and pulled at the rope "We can't get a good grip on the boulder itself. But with this, we might be able to move it when we all pull together." Flint nodded and sent the young miner back outside to fetch more ropes while the captain called down more ponies to help. In a matter of minutes, the narrow space of the tunnel was filled with the strongest miners and guards who pulled at the ropes with all their strength. They could feel the boulder moving a little, but not enough to clear a path. Crystal Note watched and noticed a larger creak had appeared in between the boulder and the tunnel ceiling, which gave her another idea. When the ponies stopped pulling for a moment, she turned to Flint once more "We can do it, but we need to get a better angle on it. Can you hold still for a moment?" "Huh? Why? How can we..." Flint fell silent when his body was suddenly surrounded by the turquoise magic from Crystal Note's horn. He tried not the fidget as he felt lighter and was lifted from the ground and on top of the boulder. In the faint light of magic, he now saw the creak as well and climbed into position as soon as the magic grip around him faded. Pressing his forehooves against the ceiling and his backhooves against the boulder, he pushed with all his strength and felt boulder move just a little more. The ponies noticed as well and pulled on the rope once more. Crystal Note was about to join in with her magic when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Much to her surprise, Ivory Lance stood next to her and looked up at Flint on top of the boulder "Can you get me up there as well?" Crystal Note blinked and nodded. She closed her eyes and focused on her magic again, struggling with the weight of another pony in full armour this time. When Ivory Lance hopped next to Flint, she was already panting from exertion. Nevertheless, when all the ponies pushed and pulled together, she and Sunburst joined in. Crystal Note gripped the rope with her teeth and the boulder with her magic while Sunburst relied on his magic alone "Okay, all together now. Pull!" With the combined power of muscle and magic, the giant boulder slowly moved inch by inch until it reached the point when it simply rolled over. The ponies jumped out of the way and Ivory Lance and Flint managed to jump off it just in time. The way into the side tunnel was now free and the ponies rushed inside, the guard captain ahead of all. Inside they found the floor covered in rocks and debris of all sizes, it looked like the support beams had given in and a large portion of the ceiling had fallen down. The crystal ponies noticed this with worry and started to push away some rocks to get further in "Sunburst, can you give us more light?" The unicorn nodded and performed his light spell once more to illuminate the tunnel. A shriek echoed through the mine when they saw a pair of hooves sticking out from beneath a pile of rocks and three ponies dashed forward to free the trapped pony. The guard captain stopped one of this soldiers and sent him back outside "Go get the doctor. Tell her to hurry." Both of them turned around when they heard a loud sob from Crystal Note. They saw two of the ponies carefully lift up the now free stallion from the rocks. His forehooves stood out in a weird angle and they noticed a large bruise on the side of his head. The miners set him down on the ground, but he didn't move anymore. Deeper in the pile of rocks, the head of another pony, a mare this time, came into view. Her eyes were closed and she didn't seem to breathe. Crystal Note turned away and closed her eyes tightly, her colours changing into a dark grey, as did the coats of the other crystal ponies present. The guard captain slumped down on his haunches with a defeated sigh "Get the doctor."