“I’m sorry,” the crystal mare apologizes in that half-unsure, half uncaring tone all the crystal ponies seem to share. She continues rummaging through her house, gathering ingredients for a stew. “I don’t remember anything except that there used to be a Crystal Heart, but King Sombra wouldn’t let us see it. I’m sorry I can’t help more.”
“It’s okay,” Applejack replies for the umpteenth time, her weary body slumping even more. “Ah’m sure we’ll figure something out.” She sighs, nearly back to the castle. Hopefully somepony else had a little more luck than she did. At least that shield Shining Armor made is working, and she can lose at least one of her scarves.
Doug opens up yet another room in the Crystal Castle. Empty except for boxes containing… teaching supplies. And, from his quick estimate, about half a foot of crystal between this room and the last, so not exactly a lot of space for a secret passage. Not that magic couldn’t hide pretty much anything anywhere, but he’ll have to leave those scans to the unicorns. Oh, and Twilight; still weird thinking of her as an alicorn.
Doug walks out of the room, Spike completing his own half of the circuit. “Nothing?”
“Nah,” Spike says with a bored yawn. He groans at the staircase leading up. “Next one?”
Twilight Sparkle frowns as yet another magical inspection yields nothing. Aside from the throne room there’s been practically nothing! And even that was more of a latent magic than anything else. She couldn’t find it to pinpoint the exact effect, and maybe that’s a lead she’ll follow up later. At least the castle isn’t completely black like it must have been in Sombra’s time; the pleasant blues and purples of the crystal let in a lot of light. If only they could find a way to get that same light to everypony else!
A crash from the adjoining room startles Twilight, but only briefly. “Rainbow Dash!” she exclaims, poking her head in to see a sheepish Rainbow standing by a broken crystal vase. “What did you do?”
Rainbow Dash points to the stand the vase was on. “So, uh, I thought there might be a secret switch or something. You know, like the Daring Do books? And, turns out, those vases are a bit heavier than I thought.”
“It’s amazing they were able to craft something like that so long ago.” Twilight sighs at the fragments scattered about, but she can’t let herself get too worked up. If this was the first thing Rainbow Dash had broken this floor, Twilight would probably be more upset. As it is, she really just wants to finish their search as fast as possible. After their cursory scan everywhere they can go back over everything in more detail, as needed.
“Besides, once we find that crystal heart thingy, they can just make a bunch more, right?” Rainbow Dash sweeps the broken shards into a corner, then spots Doug and Spike coming up the stairs.
Twilight Sparkle stares at the fragments for a few long seconds. “Rainbow Dash, you’re brilliant!”
“I am?” Rainbow Dash says, looking more confused than ever.
“Yes! If we can’t find the Crystal Heart, we can just make a new one!” Twilight Sparkle looks around wildly, as if she is measuring the crystal walls and deciding if anypony will notice if she just carves one one out.
“Will that work?” Rainbow Dash says, raising an eyebrow.
“Do I want to know?” Doug asks, holding a hand against his head as Twilight measures a section of wall with her hooves.
“Probably not,” Rainbow Dash replies, snuggling up next to Doug. She could probably lose her outermost layer, but it’s so much more fun to get Doug to undress her. His hand finds its way underneath her scarf, winding further inside while trapping her against his side.
“Okay,” Twilight says after her horn blasts a section of wall into a rough heart shape about the size of her head, “now we just need to figure out how many layers I need to enchant this with. Anypony know any spells to manipulate love and light energy?”
Twilight beams a smile at Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Doug, then realizes who she is talking to. “Oh. Right. Hmm.” She pauses, holding a hoof to her chin.
“Didn’t you say something about Cadance doing something like that?” Doug nods once. “I think it was around the time you joined the herd.”
“You’re right! I mean, Cadance’s Love magic is really more about reigniting and reminding ponies of the love they have for each other. But it could work!” Twilight grins, racing down the stairs, the others barely able to keep up. “And then it would need to distribute that love and light to everypony. So we’d have to deal with collecting, containing, and transmitting. Hmm, this might be getting out of the magical item category and into the artifact stage.”
“The what now?” Rainbow Dash asks, but it really could have been any of them.
“Oh, just a classification system, detailing the types of spells needed to contain and maintain an enchantment.” Twilight Sparkle explains the rest, going completely over their head, but at least it lets her work out a little bit of what kind of spells she would need, or need to find, in order to complete their Crystal Heart Replacement System.
The four arrive at Cadance and Shining Armor’s balcony at the same time as Applejack and the other three. Up in the sky, the clouds that were pushed out seem to be collecting on the shield, but none yet pierce through. Cadance is next to Shining Armor, their eyes locked, smiles on both of their muzzles. Shining Armor’s horn is lit, but it occasionally seems to waver.
“No, I love you more,” Shining Armor states, sounding a little off.
“No, I love you more,” replies Cadance, practically inhaling his words.
“No, I love you more,” Shining Armor slurs his words a little.
“No, I love you more,” Cadance sweetly drolls. Then she notices the eight approaching her. She stammers a little, “This, um...”
Twilight winks, both at Cadance and her brother. “Oh, I think I know exactly what you’re up to.”
Cadance blinks. “You do?”
Twilight nods. “How much do you know about absorbing love?”
Cadance eyes go so wide Twilight is surprised they didn’t pop out of her skull. “Um, noth-” She cuts herself off as she glances at Applejack, then clears her throat. “Not enough? I’m always looking to learn more.”
Twilight Sparkle smiles brightly. “That’s great! Because I think this will be a great chance to do just that.” She turns to look at the other four mares. “Were you all able to find out anything?”
“Not really,” each of them replies, looking a little put out and dejected.
“Well, one of them mentioned something about a library?” Applejack pauses, shaking her head. “But she didn’t seem to know where it was or nothing.”
“Of course!” Twilight exclaims, startling Cadance. “Ask a librarian! That should have been my first instinct.” Twilight pulls out a piece of parchment, scribbling and saying to herself, “Note to self. Ask. A. Librarian. First.”
“I think I know where the library is,” Fluttershy says, motioning with a hoof. Above the building drifts a large white cloud, gradually getting closer.
“Excellent!” Twilight Sparkle beams as she locates the building in question, a modest repository by the looks of it. “Alright, everypony. We’ve got a research paper to research!” She claps her hooves against the floor, squealing in delight. “Oh, this is so much fun!”
“E-everypony?” Cadance says, a worried look at Shining Armor.
Twilight turns, her face puckering up. Shining Armor looks exhausted, struggling to keep his horn lit. “Eww, yeah. Okay, Cadance. You and Shiny stay here. Assuming we can’t find the real one, my plan is to create a duplicate Crystal Heart, and then enchant it so that it can take the place of the real thing.” She pauses, a hoof on her chin. “Unless that makes it the real thing?” She shakes her head. “Anyway. So, I’ll need your expertise on absorbing love. If I find any books that detail how that process goes or ways to streamline it, I’ll be sure to bring them to you.”
“S-sure,” Cadance says, a very worried look on her face.
“Then, we’ll need to find a way to project that light and love, duplicating the shield spell that Shining Armor is currently channeling.” Twilight looks between the two. “That something you think you can hoof, BBBFF?”
“What?” Cadance asks as Shining Armor nods.
“Big brother best friend forever,” Twilight replies offhoof, rolling her eyes. “You’d think you’d remember, for how much you saw the two of us.” Her eyes narrow suspiciously. “Actually-”
“LOOK OUT!!” bellows Rainbow Dash, zipping forward. She body checks Cadance, snatching Shining Armor and dragging the barely responsive unicorn several feet away.
“What? You little foal!” Cadance shouts in a most un-Cadance manner, baring her teeth at Rainbow Dash. The rainbow maned pegasus, though, isn’t looking at her at all, but instead tracking a large chunk of black sailing through the sky, a dark cloud following shortly behind.
“Crrryssssssstalllsssss!!” bellows the cloud of billowing black smoke, formed in an eerie likeness of King Sombra, complete with vicious green eyes spewing purple out the sides. Everypony braces; the black crystal shatters as it impacts right where Shining Armor was sitting, scattering dozens of shards in every direction. Dark smoke pours out from each, seeking wisps that draw towards whatever pony is closest.
“Aahhh!” scream half a dozen ponies as they break away, the balcony not offering a lot of space to maneuver. Only Pinkie Pie is brave (or foalhardy) enough to experimentally stick a hoof towards the smoke, yelping as she draws back a blackened foreleg. She tries to shake it off, but the acrid taste of singed hair soon fills the air.
Shining Armor’s horn flickers as Doug drags him further away, though his shield remains intact. Next to them Rainbow Dash takes off, zipping around the cloud. Her wings beat faster and faster, and soon she has a vortex swirling in front of her. Fluttershy grabs Spike as dark crystals start to surround him, lifting off and rescuing the cowering dragon. Twilight awkwardly follows shortly after, her horn blasting a bolt of magic towards the cloud.
The nebulous black merely splits in twain, the bolt continuing until it impacts Shining Armor’s shield. The unicorn winces in pain, gritting his teeth as he maintains his shield, focusing on the crystals and for an opportunity to go on the offensive as the cloud turns towards Twilight.
“You were trying to hit me!” shouts Cadance, a bolt of green coursing through the air. It passes right through, the cloud bellowing in pain, Shining Armor echoing the cry shortly afterwards. The green eyes sink into the cloud, only to reappear facing Cadance as he charges forwards.
“Oh no you don’t!” shouts Rainbow Dash. “Hiyah!” She spins around, bucking her miniature tornado right at the cloud. The green eyes shift, widening in surprise as the whole cloud dodges to the side.
“More slaaaves!” grins Sombra, only for the strong winds to whip him around anyway. “Nooo!” he yells as he slams into the wall of the crystal castle. The cloud spreads out, Sombra momentarily stunned, as Twilight swoops closer.
“Shiny!” she yells, gaping at the inky tendrils creeping closer. “Can you find a way to calibrate your shield to keep Sombra out? We’re hurting him, but who knows for how long?” She blasts another beam of white at the cloud, drawing a rage-filled scream and a scorch mark on the castle wall.
“What do you think I’ve been doing?” Shining Armor grunts out as he turns to the black cloud next to him. His shield around the city winks out as he charges his horn for a new version.
King Sombra doesn’t give him the chance, lunging forwards and enveloping Shining Armor. A wicked laugh echoes against the castle walls, competing with Shining Armor’s tortured cry.
“Noo!” shouts everypony until a pink light emanates from within the cloud.
“Rraaagh!” bellows Shining Armor as a pink shield forces King Sombra away. The crystal shards are also expelled, the shield expanding larger and larger until it fills nearly half the city.
Twilight Sparkle gasps as she sees the black crystals on the end of Shining Armor’s horn, sapping his strength away.
She teleports next to Cadance, roughly shaking the alicorn. “Cadance!” she shouts in her face. “How good are you at copying?”
“W-whua?” blankly replies Cadance, watching the shield carry King Sombra away.
Until the shield flickers, stopping its outward momentum.
“Copying spells!” Twilight points to Shining Armor as the unicorns puts every last inch of strength he has into his shield. “Can you copy his shield?”
“I, um,” Cadance says as her eyes shift from side to side.
Then Shining Armor’s horn winks out, and doesn’t come back, the shield disappearing. The black cloud grins ominously before King Sombra charges forwards, a second black crystal forming in midair.