//------------------------------// // Chapter Four: Loyalty and Magic // Story: The Elements of the Crystal Empire // by star-girl //------------------------------// Sunset had cast a spell to muffle all sounds of hoofsteps, so the hallway was eerily quiet as she searched for something - anything - to break the silence. The problem was, no one else seemed up for conversation. Thorax was lost in thought, a tragic expression on his face. Sugarcoat's glasses kept slipping down, and she kept pushing them up in annoyance. Her nerves must have been thin, because she cast nervous looks around and jumped at sighs. Sunny was looking at Indigo's wings and Lemon's horn with an expression of longing - no doubt she was one of those ponies who wanted to be another. Sour Sweet was muttering something to herself, which sounded like one of those gardening rhymes that earth ponies passed down through the generations. Lemon Zest was probably focusing on keeping the spell matrix for her light spell in mind. That was the thing with spells. The matrix must be fed a constant supply of energy, and you must constantly think about it. That was why many unicorns failed with more advanced and powerful spells - either they failed to remember the matrix, or the amounts of energy taken to maintain it was too much. It was pretty much instinctive for most, but Lemon looked nervous. "You know," Indigo said suddenly, "these goggles are a family heirloom. Dad was a Shadowbolt, his mom was, her dad was, and so on and so forth since, I dunno, the Great War. When I became one, our captain - Lightning Dust - was being a bitch, so I painted my goggles orange, just to spite her." She smiled fondly. "They've become my signature piece." "And why are you telling us this?" Sunset asked. Even though she had warmed up considerably to the girls, she refused to give up the awesome power of the snark. "I needed something good to hold on to," said Indigo simply. "It reminds me that I would never abandon the people I care for: Emperor Sombra, Mom, Dad, the Empire." Sunset started and looked around. Sure enough, most of the mares - and poor Thorax - seemed on the verge of losing it. It had just now occurred to her that her faith in the Elements might not be fully reciprocated, and these mares - and Thorax - were just with her to take a final stand, that they thought they would come out of this ordeal dead. Right then and there, she made it her personal goal to prove them wrong. Of course, this thought and pretty much all others got obliterated when a huge glass cage fell on top of them, trapping everypony but Indigo Zap. "Well, Indigo," a duet of voices purred, "let's see just how much you're willing to lose, dear Ms. Zap." The goggles flew out of Indigo's hooves, and a vial of green mist dropped in the middle of the cage: the breath of a corrupted dragon, which obliterates everthing it touches. Though only Sunset and Thorax recognized it, everypony got the hint and edged away from it. "Your heritage, or your kingdom?" asked a voice that seemed like Nightmare Moon's. "Your heritage, we get to kill your friends." The death of a corrupted dragon's breath was excrutiatingly slow. Sunset didn't particulary want to get ripped apart molecule by molecule, but she still felt a sense of selfishness - one that she had never experienced berfore - when she chanted in her head, Pick us! Pick us! "Your friends, and your goggles get destroyed. Obliterated. No trace of them left." The pain on Indigo's face was heartbreaking, but she lifted her head up and said, "Any movement I make will not be my final decision unless I say so." "Deal," the voices chorused, sounding bored. Indigo walked towards the goggles, and bent her head. Tears streamed down her face as she said, "Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad." Oooooh. Suddenly, Sunset felt very, very selfish. Indigo looked up to the roof, though technically she could have looked anywhere, because the magical siganture was EVERYWHERE. Sunset suspected it was a mask to hide their true location, but that wasn't the thing to focus on right now. "I choose my friends." Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker sounded disappointed as the cage dissipated and everyone hugged Indigo. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to be a general of Our army after all this is over? We have never experienced loyalty like that before. Besides, you've seen that We keep Our promises." Sunset recognized the royal We, even though King Sombra technically didn't have anyone to share it with. Indigo's eyes hardened, and she fixed a soul-chilling glare at the wall. "Never." Sunset had been trying to keep the conversation going as they walked, and for the most part she seemed to be successful. She had just been laughing about Indigo slacking off on duty in the Shadowbolt Academy with Sugarcoat (who had been a fellow trainee), when Thorax turned around and said, "We're almost there." Everyone went silent, and Sunset couldn't help but be mildly pissed as all her work to get the others to warm up went down the drain - but that was a tiny, tiny part of her mind. They walked on. "Here we are," Thorax announced as they stared at a huge safe door, made completely out of metal. She had heard that even a minotaur couldn't break through it. "Well, let's go in, then," Sunset said, trying to keep her voice nonchalant. She intertwined her magic with the lock, and was shocked when it worked. The door swung open without a sound, like it was regularly oiled. What she saw made her gasp. Five perfectly round stones, smooth as a foal's coat and made of pure white marble, sat in a perfect circle with the engraving facing in. That wasn't what made her gasp, though. It was their presence on the magical plane. It was enormous. Even bigger than King Sombra's, it felt like if she used the magic to simply levitate, she could obliterate the entire castle above her and the better part of the capital. Even pegasi and earth ponies could feel it, and it felt like the world was paper that she could crumple. She needed to harness this? The very thought terrified her. He mind showed her all the ways that it could go wrong. Picking her head (and jaw) up, she took a deep breath and reminded herself what - and who - she was doing this for. The Crystal Empire. King Sombra. Flame. These five strange mares and Thorax, who had made her feel a kind of warmth in her heart that she had never experienced before. Maybe even her parents, who had pushed her until her breaking point, asking for more, more, more, pushing her to her breaking point. She remembered their parting words: What have you ever done in you life that makes your existence worthwhile, that is well and truly and purely good, with no ulterior motives? This. She would prove to them, to everyone, that she was worth it. She gulped and walked in. Everyone else wanted to walk in with her, but she said, "If you have to, stay near the walls. I'm going to try to replicate the spark that the sixth element brings to activate them, and that could be very dangerous. If I make a sound that even resembles something like a cry, get out." Everyone gulped and nodded, and Sour Sweet herded them to the wall. Sunset took a deep breath and channeled her magic, screwing her face up as sweat beaded on her brow. She would show them, show them, show them . . . She didn't notice when a flame and a blue mist took a hold of her. Sunset opened her eyes to find herself somewhere she was sure wasn't the vault. She was sure she had failed. "Sunset, did you really think you would succeed?" asked Daybreaker. She and Nightmare Moon were standing a ways away from her. The Elements were behind them. Last stand. Sunset took a deep breath, and channeled her inner actress. Fake tears caught on her eyelashes. "I suppose you've won," she sniffed. "Well then, come and get me." Daybreaker didn't hesitate. She rushed at her, even as Nightmare Moon called, "Day! Don't! It's a trick!" Exactly as Sunset had suspected. Being a fiery ball of light didn't exactly leave much room for creating or hinting at lies and subtlety, did it? She teleported behind Nightmare Moon and blasted her into Daybreaker, sending them both skidding to the ground with burn marks all over them. She quickly eradicated a shield around her, and set to working on the Elements. She wanted to laugh at the sisters, but time was tight and she wasn't even sure this would work, much less where she was. Her smile widened as she felt her magic finally clicking and a spark of lightning circling around each Element. That was when the sisters teleported in front her her, blasted her with so much magic it was like being struck by lightning, and destroyed the Elements. Sunset wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to die, before the sisters could condemn her to a worse fate - but all she could let out were pained grunts. That was when the girls and Thorax appeared. It all clicked like a mosaic, each individual piece she had experienced on the journey combining to make a wonderful picture, a puzzle finally solved. She paid no attention to her friends' distress and their questions, only to how she would harness the elemental magic. She was no longer terrified of it . . . . . . because she would not be weilding it alone. The sisters cackled madly, reveling in their supposed victory. The said in a duet, "We shall so enjoy destroying you!" Sunset coughed blood. "Silly . . . sisters. Do . . . you . . . really . . . think . . . that you've . . . destroyed . . . the Elements? Because they are . . . right . . . here!" She gestured weakly with a hoof. "Lemon Zest who pulled us out of the darkness with a smiled and a laugh in the face of danger." Her voice slowly gained strength. "Sugarcoat, who would not deny the thestrals the privilege of truth, even if they look different and terrifying. Sunny Flare, who gave up a priceless bracelet in order to pass. Sour Sweet, who would lend out a helping hoof to any creature, and Indigo Zap, who would give up the last memory of her parents to help others in need." She smiled. "Silly sisters. Do you really think you've destroyed the Elements?" The shattered fragments of each stone were circling around their respective bearers' necks, as if waiting for something. Everyone was looking at Sunset in shock. She grinned. "But you still don't have the sixth!" Daybreaker cried desperately. "And my Element . . ." Sunset whispered. "Magic." Light. Everywhere. When Magic itself descended onto Sunset Shimmer, it did not circle around her neck, but her head. Each fragment compacted onto the Bearers' necks, exactly where a necklace would be, and a beautiful rainbow of light beamed towards the terrified sisters, shocked into stillness. Sunset opened her eyes. They were white.