Hurry ahead.
“Yona want to get back to School of Friendship. No more wasting time where we get attacked.”
No one argued with Yona’s firm declaration. Starlight made a few markings on the map then her horn started to glow as she gathered up the magic for a spell.
“We’ll teleport past the parts that would take the longest to walk through,” she said. “Gather close to me.”
Once they were in a small circle, the sudden darkness and stomach pulling of the teleport spell hit Yona. She hated teleporting, but she was too tough to say anything about it. The pop made her ears ring as they reappeared on top of a distant cliff. Starlight rubbed her horn and was breathing hard.
“That fight must have taken more out of me than I thought. Let’s walk for a bit.”
Yona kept looking around the desert, but no dangerous creatures came anywhere near them. Sandbar kept close to Yona and smiled when she looked at him. They made small talk about what they’d do when they got back to Ponyville to pass the time.
After a few hours of walking and teleporting, they went up a steep hill. Yona was glad to see that there was no more desert ahead. Meadows full of flowers and ponds filled the space between glades of pine trees. The pine trees glimmered strangely in the light. Yona walked closer, and she could see that it looked like it was partially made of crystal.
“Wow! Look at that!” Silverstream pointed ahead.
A paved road lined with massive crystals growing to its sides stretched on for miles. In the far distance, the crystals grew larger and looked like buildings. Yona ran ahead to the path. The crystals around hummed in a tone that Yona could barely hear, like a distant yovidaphone being played. Yona pressed an ear to a large red crystal and everything blurred.
“Hey! Be careful with the crystals!”
Yona couldn’t recognize the voice, but someone pulled her away from the crystal. She shook her head and turned around. A strange shimmering pony stood there, like one of the crystal ponies, but with bat wings and small fangs. The deep blues and purples of his mane and coat matched many of the crystals, and the red of his eyes matched the crystal that Yona had touched. His mane almost covered his eyes, and he looked thin.
“Thank you, Crystal Cantata,” Starlight said. “I tried everything to undo the stasis spell on Yona, but nothing worked.”
He winked at Starlight. “It’s magic beyond normal ponies. These crystals are part of Hedron’s network, and he has powers that not even the greatest alicorns could copy.”
“Wait. How long was Yona stuck there for?”
“About half an hour,” Sandbar said. “You just froze, like time stopped. It was crazy.” Sandbar gave Yona a quick hug.
The bat squeaked at the crystals around started to glow. A flat crystal rose from the ground and floated above the road.
“Hedron also has something like a train, but faster. Hop on and we’ll be at the Nexus in no time.”
“Are you sure this is safe?” Yona pressed hard on the floating crystal, but it didn’t sink or wobble.
Silverstream was the first to jump on. Sandbar jumped up a moment later then held out a hoof to help Yona up. Starlight looked carefully at the platform.
“Advanced levitation and protection magic? This place is already putting even Canterlot’s best trains to shame.” Starlight chuckled and jumped up. “But how are you controlling it?”
“Harmonic magic,” Crystal Cantata replied. “The right sounds and songs control it, but you need a connection to Hedron. You can’t get that without a few permanent changes. That’s why we have this crystal sheen, among other things. And it’s easier for bats.”
“But aren’t bat ponies just part of Nightmare Night or old stories?” Yona asked.
“After what happened between Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, the bats left Equestria. We tried to bring back the Crystal Empire to see if King Sombra could help free Luna, but instead we found other crystals in the far north. With their magic, we ended up here. But that was at least a few generations ago.”
Yona thought over the story. “If bats leave because Princess Luna gone, then bats can come back now. Moon Princess is no longer on moon.”
Crystal Cantata hummed a few notes and a forcefield formed around the platform before it flew down the road. The trees and crystals near the road passed by in a blur, but Yona couldn’t hear the air rushing past.
The bat sighed. “It’s not that easy to go back. Hedron’s magic changed us, so we need to remain near his crystals. But maybe there’s a way to bring that magic back to Equestria. Hedron said the Crystal Empire returned from being displaced in time, so if those structures are back, we could find a way to reconnect them to Hedron’s power. But that’s not what we need to worry about now. Your group and the Tree of Harmony are causing some temporal distortions. Let’s get those fixed first.”
Yona looked ahead as something massive caught her eye. The crystals formed huge buildings in a neat grid. As the platform rushed ahead, Yona could see other crystal bat ponies flying between them.
“Whoa, are those crystal mango trees?” Sandbar asked as he pointed to an orchard.
“Welcome to the Nexus!” Crystal Cantata waved a hoof and smiled. “You’re right about the mangos, but you can’t eat them without becoming more like us. It would probably be best if you stick to food grown outside the city. And there’s the station!”
The platform slowed then stopped. It floated into a depression on a platform much like a train platform. Yona gladly stepped off. The ground felt like solid stone, but it glittered like gems. Everything here had a magical sparkle to it.
“Terramar is never going to believe me when I tell him about this!” Silverstream shouted.
The city reminded Yona of the old yak stories of yak princes who lived in crystal palaces and were given powerful totems by the spirit who lived in the crystals. But even the best drawings in the story books fell far short of this place. It was like someone had taken a huge city and mixed it with the beauty of the Crystal Empire.
“I’d give you the tour, but Hedron wanted you to come to him immediately.”
“I’m betting he’s that way,” Starlight said. “I’ve never felt so much magic in one place before.”
Cantata draped a wing over her back. “You’re right. Once we get down the road a little, you’ll be able to see the Central Spire. Maybe once you’re done in there, I could show you around.”
Starlight used magic to pull his wing off her. “Thank you, but we’re quite busy trying to get back home.”
As they stepped onto the wide street, Yona could see a massive pyramid of white crystal. Flashes of light or magic lit up the sides of it. A few more bat ponies flew down.
“Hedron wanted us to go with you when you arrived,” a dark gray bat explained.
The pyramid was only a few blocks away. Yona kept staring at the dizzying crystal spires and buildings that surrounded them. A magical barrier filled the large archway that led into the pyramid, but it faded away as they approached. The same crystal yak from before appeared on the wall as they stepped inside.
“I see my friends helped you arrive quickly. Let us quickly rectify the temporal issues, and then we can discuss how I can help you get home. Follow the lights into the temporal array.”
The entry room lit up. There were several doors blocked by crystal doors, but one opened and the walls and floors around it lit up. Crystal Cantata stayed in the first room, but the other bats disappeared down some of the halls that led deeper into the pyramid. The lights led Yona and her friends to a room with a huge magic circle in the middle. Floating crystals surrounded it. Yona could hear the crystals thrum in deep tones as they started to glow.
“Okay, Hedron explained this to me,” Starlight said. “We all need to stay in the circle, and he’ll do the rest.”
Yona’s hair stood on end as she sat and waited. The floating crystals pulsed in different colors. The circle on the ground started to glow. The bats that had disappeared into the dark hallways reappeared next to the floating crystals. Yona watched as the dark gray bat pulled out something and smashed it into the side of one of the crystals. The other bats did the same to the other crystals.
The pulsing in the crystals changed to a wild rhythm. The resonant deep thrums changed to a harsh high note. The room flashed and all the bats yelled in pain. With flashes of green magic, they transformed into black changelings with holes in their legs. Bubbles of magic held them in the air and they stopped moving. The magic had frozen them in place like it had frozen Yona.
“Intruders neutralized,” Hedron said. “I don’t know how they slipped past my detection, but they have compromised the spell. I can’t stop what was already started, so I’ll need you to get through whatever side effects happen now. You may experience some temporal displacement.”
“What does that mean?” Starlight said. Her horn glowed as she placed a shield around their group, but the entire room vanished the next second.
Starlight dropped the shield. Wherever they were, it was night. Huge stone cliffs and trees filled with colorful buildings surrounded them. Silverstream’s eyes went wide and she ran ahead. Yona chased after her.
“This is Mount Aris!” Silverstream said. “But… it’s like how it was before the Storm King attacked. See? That’s my old house!”
Silverstream stopped at a gate. A huge house was built into a tree, and up ahead was a large palace. A few hippogriff guards waited near the house, and many more were standing around the palace. Sandbar and Starlight caught up. Yona looked around, and a sudden shadow blocked a section of the starry sky. Yona squinted and saw the moon glint off metal and wood. Shadowy figures began to drop into the large garden near Silverstream’s house.
“Anyone else see strange airship over there?” Yona asked. “And over there.”
Yona pointed a hoof at a couple of the closest ones. Silverstream gasped.
“Those are… they’re… the Storm King’s ships!”
Silverstream folded her wings around herself and shivered. Yona pulled her close.
“Yona not care. Yona protect Silverstream.”
“We might be in the past,” Starlight said.
Silverstream nodded. “I think we are. It was awful! I remember waking up, and there was fire and fighting, but someone fought the storm creatures. We escaped to the palace.”
The guards around the palace started shouting. A few muffled explosions sounded inside the palace. One of the storm creatures raised a small staff and a bolt of lightning lit the top of the nearby tree on fire.
Silverstream clasped and unclasped her talons. “If we go over there, that’s where I saw our saviors fight off the storm creatures. We’ll be safe there.”
She led the way to a corner of the garden. More and more of the storm creatures were dropping from the airships, and if they stayed here, they’d be noticed soon. The guards were holding their ground near the front door and shouting to wake up Silverstream’s family. Silverstream’s dad briefly poked his beak out the front door before shutting and locking it behind him.
A squadron of storm creatures was running toward the back door. Yona didn’t see any other guards. If they were going to stop the storm creatures from getting in Silverstream’s home, they’d have to fight them here. Yona stamped the ground and snorted.
“We already fought awful shadow creatures!” Yona shouted. “We can fight storm creatures, too! We are stronger than them.” Yona looked at her friends to see what they would decide to do.