//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Crystal Empire Part Two // Story: Light and Dark // by MXCDarkHorse2020 //------------------------------// Chapter 2: The Crystal Empire Part Two: “The empire is under attack” Shining Armor announced towards them as he walked towards Princess Cadance and helped her up who had just regained consciousness and managed to smile as she focused her horn and quickly reactivated the spell again. “I have to find the Crystal Heart!” “No.” Midnight firmly stopped him from doing so by raising a hoof up. “You stay here with Cadance. She needs you, Shining Armor.” Hearing this Shining Armor comes to acknowledge this knowing that Cadance could not be left alone in this condition. “I will retrieve the heart.” She assured him. “Let’s do this!” Rainbow Dash voiced her determination as she flew ahead with Midnight following her. “So here’s the new plan.” Midnight spoke during the rush. “Retrieving the Crystal Heart is the key to succeeding this task. But there is something else you can do.” Midnight started to explain as she looked towards Rainbow ready to give her orders. “Name it!” “You and the rest of your friends have to keep the Faire going.” She instructed her. “What? With that thing moving into the empire?!” Rainbow questioned as they traveled down a flight of stairs. “The whole purpose of the Crystal Faire is to lift their spirits are gonna be anything but lifted. It won’t matter if we find the Crystal Heart.” She stressed the necessity of doing so as they reached outside of the castle and noticed Applejack attempting to prevent any crystal pony finding the fake heart as they ran by. “We won’t be able to make it work.” Midnight continued to explain as they stopped for a moment. “But with the magic I infused into the fake heart and being able to make it look like an exact replica that should buy us enough time for me to retrieve the real heart without them finding out the truth too soon.” Hearing this, Rainbow Dash gives a surprised look before smiling seeing how clever Midnight was having anticipated for that scenario. “You have to keep them happy here at the Faire.” She firmly told Rainbow Dash. “Keep the Faire going and the crystal ponies’ spirits high. Done and done.” Rainbow Dash responded having accepted the order, now seeing the great significance in it now. “Be careful, Midnight.” Shining Armor shouted from the balcony. “I will.” Midnight responded. With that Midnight ran off towards the center of the Faire where Midnight herself would stop to think for a moment while passing by different Faire carts. “Who wants a flugelhorn? Rainbow Dash cried out nearby, waving around the horn almost in a desperate way. “I wanna flugelhorn!” Pinkie Pie answered, waving her hoof and showing frantic actions wanting to obtain the horn causing Rainbow to look back in an irritated manner as Pinkie did not seem to understand the situation we were in to keep the ponies happy as she looked back out towards the crowd and ignored her. “Who else wants a flugelhorn?” She again asked. “I wanna a flugelhorn!” Pinkie again demanded as she yelled and stomped her hooves on the ground. Midnight then pressed forward ignoring her too while along with Rainbow clearly annoyed by her antics especially in a time of crisis. She figured if the Crystal Heart is in the empire then it must be in the heart of the city so it must be in the castle itself as she approached it. To her it would make sense figuring since King Sombra was in power, he would have kept the Crystal Heart there, because no pony would dare try to reach it. But just as she was about to enter the castle she heard panting behind her. “Midnight, wait!” A voice called out to her as the mare turned around to see it was Spike who was running towards her, as he stopped in front of her to catch his breath. “I know you want to handle this on your own, but please let me come with you. I really want to help you” the young dragon pleaded. Midnight thought for a moment and without hesitation uses her magic to pick Spike up and place him on her back as she continued forward dodging any pony in the way as they looked back to see why we were in such a rush causing Spike to grin seeing that she is allowing the extra company. “So… where are we going, exactly?” Spike asked. “To the castle, where King Sombra hid the Crystal Heart.” Midnight answered. “Because the king would’ve been counting on the fact that no pony would dare come looking for it here. They’ve been too afraid to even try. So now it is our job to find it and deal with King Sombra once and for all.” Midnight concluded with a determined look on her face as she reached the doors to the castle. “I hope your right…” Spike commented hoping that this new unicorn knows what she is doing while feeling a little unsure that the plan will work. “Don’t worry Spike, I have this situation all under control.” Midnight assured Spike as they entered the room and closing the doors behind her as Spike dismounts from the unicorn's back as they rushed through the castle to cover more ground faster. Spike was trying his hardest to keep up as Midnight immediately started searching everywhere for the Crystal Heart. While Midnight was running fast while looking and still keeping her cool, Spike on the other hood, was panting and sweating as Midnight looked around on the ground. “Ok King Sombra, where did you hide it.” Midnight said to herself as she turned to Spike who noticed an uneven spot on the carpet. “Find anything?” She asked. “Nothing here.” Spike replied as they entered the throne room having already search the entire castle up to this point. “So even though he knew ponies wouldn’t try to look for it here, my guess is he would hide it in some secret passageway room of some sort…” Midnight said as she took her attention to the crystal at the highest point of the throne chair. Stepping forward Midnight lights her horn which lights up her normal aura but then darkens to a black color to perform the dark magic Celestia had performed earlier causing her horn to then shift to the purple and green misty spots which formed around her eyes. It was then shot towards the crystal, commencing that same shadow to cover the floor between us which uncovered a huge stairway down. “Whoa…When did you learn to do that?” He amazingly asked as he looked downwards the new pathway. “A little trick I picked up from Princess Celestia.” Midnight replied as she crouched down to allow Spike to hop on her back. “You ready Spike?” She asked as he hopped onto her back. “Let’s do this.” Spike responded with certain determination as Midnight proceeded to head down the stairs. Seeing how many stairs there are Spike asked “How far down does these stairs go?” “I’m not sure because I can’t tell how far down this goes.” Midnight answered as she saw a nearby rock/crystal by the side of the wall. Using her magic she pulled it out and dropped it in the middle of the circular staircase as they continued forward down the steps not wanting to lose any more time. It took several seconds before a clanging sound was heard on the floor. At that moment they heard flashing light from the top of the stairs which got both Midnight and Spike’s attention. “Uh oh, sounds like Cadance’s magic is fading faster than before!” Spike said with concern as he took notice. “Then we better keep moving.” Midnight responded still unfazed by the alarmed dragon's tone continues forward down the steps “We have no time to lose.” After going through a lot of steps they finally reached the end of them where they saw a door in front of them. Midnight prepared to use her magic to open it but the door magically disappears then reappears on the right side of her. Then the door then disappears then reappears behind them. At this point the door was moving around and popping up at random places leaving Midnight clearly annoyed evidently having no time for silliness and antics as she produces dark magic from her horn the moment it appeared in front of them causing the door to stay in place as it opened revealing a bright light. “This has got to be it” She deduced as Spike ran ahead towards the door while Midnight stayed put not feeling this is right to go on ahead inside through the door. True to her concerns, magic on the top of the door formed and affected Spike’s eyes. They shifted into a background green, but red pupil like with Celestia and Midnight's eyes when they used dark magic. “Ponyville…?!” He began speaking while staring blankly to the wall. “But how did I get… no! Twilight!” His eyes began forming up with tears. “Please, Twilight, wake up! Wake up!” He cried out with tears falling from his eyes as Midnight immediately slammed the door shut with her back left leg. “King Sombra’s dark magic. A doorway that leads to your worst fear.” She analyzed the door as Spike wiped away the tears from his eyes. “I was home with my friends… I saw my friend Twilight dead after a train explosion. I tried to wake up her up I couldn’t do it.” Spike cried as he rubbed his left eye as he retold his fear. “She’s gone and the worst part about it has already happened.” “I’m sorry to hear what happened to Twilight.” Midnight sympathetically said as she placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder before placing him on her back again as she proceeds to head back up the steps by running back up them again. “I know how it feels to lose someone you loved.” She told Spike as she ran up the stairs. “Really?” Spike asked with surprise as he learns more about her. “How did that happen?” “Long story short, I had friends I used to count on back when I grew up but they let me down in a time of need which resulted in us having a huge fight. As a result, I cut them ties with them altogether then ran away from home. I never saw them again ever since.” “Really? That’s very similar to when we last saw Twilight.” Spike responded sounding surprised hearing this is seeing this sounds similar to what happened at the wedding. “How so if you don’t mind me asking and I apologize for reopening raw wounds here?” Midnight politely inquired. “It’s all right” Spike reassured Midnight that she isn’t digging too deep. “Just recently there was a wedding to take place. Twilight’s brother Shining Armor was to marry her former foal sitter Princess Cadance. Twilight was the only one to see that something was wrong with her, and she had every right to be suspicious since the Cadance we saw turned out to be Queen Chrysalis, an evil changeling in disguise. And instead of listening to her when she tried to bring up her case we ignored her and dismissed her as jealous and overprotective even abandoning when her brother disowned and kicked her out of the wedding." He explained as he started to get choked up with guilt ready to cry again before continuing. "Even though she came through and saved the day the damage was done as Twilight bitterly renounced us as friends to leave home in retaliation for the way she was treated. But unfortunately the train explosion happened and took her life. Because of that, it would end up being the last time we ever saw her." He concluded as he started to cry again. "Why did I leave her instead of comforting her when she needed? I only left her because I was worried I get kicked out the wedding to” Spike cried out again. “It’s all right, calm down” Midnight again comforted him as she used her magic to wipe away the tears from Spike’s eyes. “You are young and you acted under pressure, plus while I don’t approve with what your friends did, and if it helps compared to them Twilight seemed to have more issues with them rather than you.” “You really think if Twilight was still around would she forgive me?” Spike hopefully asked. “If she didn’t yell at you, I’m sure she would even if she was disappointed in you.” Midnight reassured the young baby dragon. “Thanks, Midnight. You know when I look at and learn more about you I say you and Twilight are a lot alike” Spike thanked her having some of his guilt relived off his shoulder as they reached the tops of the steps. “I think so to. Something that we can both agree on.” Midnight responded agreeing with the assessment as they approached another set of stairs. Midnight having enough with the endless stairs on a limited time frame lights up her horn. “Hold on!” Midnight warned Spike who immediately held on to her tight as she performed a spell to lift them upside down on the stairs allowing them to slide down the top of the stairs. “In case if you are wondering, I learned how to do gravity spells, I always knew someday it would could in handy.” Midnight confidently said as they flipped around again after reaching the end of the stairs causing them to land in the room they entered. Midnight was able to land on firmly with Spike letting go of her and landing on his two feet no problem. They looked to the left of the room to find what they are looking for the real Crystal Heart floating in mid-air. Midnight stepped forward and using her magic levitated herself to the heart and grabbed it with her hooves. However, as soon as she landed right in front of Spike, King Sombra took notice as an alarm in the castle went off as darkness immediately covered the area. Acting quick Midnight was able to carry the heart and Spike out of the room out through the window just barely managing to escape the forming rocky spikes that grew in the room as King Sombra laughed from a distance. Seeing King Sombra is preparing to make a move against the Crystal Empire Midnight knew she had to do something about and quick. “Spike!” Midnight said as handed him the Crystal Heart “Get this to Princess Cadance!” “But shouldn’t it be you who should be doing this? This is your mission?” Spike asked surprised by this decision. “King Sombra is already attacking the Empire.” Midnight urgently replied. “By the time we get there he will have already reached Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, and every pony down there. Someone needs to stop him before he does.” “But what about you?” Spike hesitated worrying about her well-being. “I’ll take care of King Sombra while you deliver the heart. Now go! Get the heart to the Princess.” Midnight ordered him as she lighted up her horn to cast a spell to give herself temporary wings as flew straight towards Sombra. Spike obeying her command would run down the stairs as fast as he can. When flying Midnight heard Applejack down below “Don’t y’all worry your pretty little crystal heads! The real Crystal Heart will be here any second!” After several seconds, she noticed that the shield protecting the city began to shatter and disappear. Cadance’s magic has completely worn off. “He’s back! I can’t take it!” A female pony cried out and shrieked in fright upon seeing the evil unicorn. “Ahhhhhh…” Sombra said as his voice echoed through the city. “My crystal slaves…” “Whoa! Huh!" Spike said as he spit out fire towards the spikes that continued to form behind him. “Yah” He looked downwards, where the other ponies must have been “Hey! Up here! I got the Crystal Heart!” He called out to the ponies down below held up the heart with both of his claws as King Sombra released a mighty growl. “That is mine!” He declared as he instantly dove into the ground and began forming much fiercer and larger crystal rocks that shot upwards from the ground which Midnight was quick to blast them away with her magic before blasting magic from her horn at King Sombra causing him to growl in pain while glaring at her as Midnight glared back as well. At that moment King Sombra’s true body was formed as a platform was created on top of him. “Well, know that we are meeting face-to-face you ready to settle this pony to pony?” Midnight said as she glared down at the unicorn with her hooves in battle position and horn lighting up. Without hesitation King Sombra released a fierce yell and shot out a mist of darkness towards Midnight which struck her in the chest sending her back a distance. Midnight unaffected by the impact of the blast simply replies “So you like to fight fire with fire, huh? All right then, game on!” Midnight retaliated by flying towards him and blasting him with magic of her own before tackling him where she took the opportunity to land several punches to him. He released painful grunts, but also managed to send out an aggressive growl as well. Using his horn King Sombra uses his magic to blast Midnight, sending her a few feet away from him. Midnight and Sombra were both quick to recover and get back on their hooves still glaring off at each other. Looking down, Midnight could see Spike still running to get the Crystal Heart to Cadance while the girls look on in shock and concern. King Sombra seeing Spike moving with the Crystal Heart prepares to charge to at him to stop him. Midnight seeing this freezes him with her magic. “I don’t think so” She said as Sombra struggled under Midnight's grasp before managing to pull herself out of Midnight’s control as he continues to charge at Spike. Midnight quick to react grabs a few crystal rocks and uses her magic to toss them at him causing him to stagger for a few seconds and turn his attention back at her preparing to charge at him where Midnight was also quick to charge at him as well. She flew towards him then flew up and used her magic to land a powerful strike at him and taking this opportunity dives down and punches him in the face causing him fall down on his knees in complete pain. At that moment an explosion of crystal light radiated through us courtesy of Shining Armor launching Cadance into the air to save Spike and the Crystal Heart with the Crystal Ponies using their magic to power the Crystal Heart. Seeing this opportunity, Midnight readies her horn to use the magic to deliver the final blow with the Crystal Heart magic. “Long live the King” Midnight said as he blasts him with the magic causing him to release one last defiant roar as the Crystal light from the heart's magic destroyed him. Midnight released a breath of relief seeing that she successfully defeating King Sombra and saved the Crystal Empire with Spike managing to successfully get the heart to Cadance. She looked around as everything go back to the way it was, destroying the darkened crystal rocks that had formed, including the one she was standing on. She quickly spread her wings and began flying in mid-air as soon the rock she was standing on gave way and crumbled. She observed herself, noticing her mane was neatly combed to my side and that she now contained a crystal appearance. Then, she heard something shoot up from the loudly from the castle. Strong, bright, nylon colors emerged from the top of the castle, exploding and sending each of its colors throughout the entire sky. She then looked downwards where the crowd stood having witnessed the whole thing. Every pony had their manes styled differently, including their coats crystallized as well. This affected the girls down there, including Cadance. Shining Armor hugged her greatly and proudly. After Cadance, turned around and closed her eyes as she smiled and waved out to the Crystal Ponies. The crowd returned a motivated and loud cheer towards her then and towards me as I flew down towards the girls, Spike, Cadance, and Shining Armor to meet up with them. As she landed her temporary wings disappeared. When she landed she waved to every pony running up to her to thank her for defeating King Sombra. With everything taken care of Midnight decided to head back to Canterlot so she can report her success to Princess Celestia with the other girls deciding to come with her as well. Passing by all the Crystal Ponies who waved farewell to us and seeing them completely rejoiced in their crystallized appearances, Shining Armor and Cadance walked them all back towards the train station. However, all of their coats and manes returned to normal the second after leaving the Crystal Empire. “Thanks again for your help.” Shining Armor told Midnight as he and Cadance walked side by side on their way to the train station. “I do hope I don’t have to rely on you saving my rump like this all the time, it will get pretty embarrassing for me.” Shining Armor jokingly said. “You’re welcome and as along as the Crystal Empire is not attacked by another dangerous unicorn you should be fine.” Midnight replied and joked back. “I hope now Princess Celestia will appreciate what I have done to save the day.” Midnight said sounding a little unsure of what she has to say. “I’m sure, she will.” Shining Armor reassured Midnight. “Thank you, Midnight for saving every pony today.” Princess Cadance said very grateful for what she has done. “If it weren’t you the Crystal Empire would be enslaved right now." “You’re welcome.” Midnight politely responded with a little smile on her face “It was a good thing I had everything under control.” “Considering how calm and collected you were through the whole ordeal that is really impressive." Cadance complimented. "You know if you stick around, I think you might have potential to be something more someday with that kind of leadership.” She added with encouragement. “We’ll see” Midnight said while giving her a goodbye hug which Cadance returns “It was nice meeting you even if was on dire circumstances and I really hope I will see you again.” “Take care, Midnight.” Cadance said with a smile which Midnight smiled back as every pony boards the train. After the train ride back to Canterlot Midnight herself would travel to Princess Celestia’s quarters while the girls and Spike stopped at the doors to wait outside. Midnight went inside to find Princess Celestia looking out the window, noticing the colors radiate through the sky. She stopped a few feet in front of her. “Princess Celestia…I’m back…” Midnight announced as she bowed with respect. She formed a warm smile as she turned to face her. “And it seems you have successfully completed the task as well. It’s beautiful.” “Thank you, Princess. All thanks to my complete control of the situation.” Midnight said with a little smile before looking down sadly. “Although, I wish it was also me who brought the Crystal Heart to Cadance, but it wasn’t.” “Midnight, as I understand it.” She told her as she began walking towards her, glancing over to a glass window that actually depicted Spike bringing the Heart to Cadance. “Spike brought Princess Cadance the Crystal Heart because you weren’t sure how quickly you could get it to her before King Sombra could take over the Empire so you took matters into your own hooves to fight off Sombra in order to ensure Spike has enough time to get to Cadance in time." She said as she bent down to her eye level look at her. "You weren’t willing to risk the future of the citizens of the Crystal Empire in an effort to guarantee your own. Far better that I now know a pony who understands the meaning of self-sacrifice than one who only looks out for her own best interests.” Midnight thought about her words and sent a warm smile hearing that praise she was hoping to hear from her. “Thank you, Princess Celestia…” “The way you handled this situation was really impressive along with your great leadership considering that we had just met and me honestly not trusting you at first." Princess Celestia further complimented. "Really?" Midnight asked sounding touched by her praise. "Yes." She positively responded with a nod. "In fact very impressive to the point I really think you might make a great princess one day.” Princess Celestia added. “You really think I have what it takes to be a princess?” Midnight asked with surprised interest having a good idea what this is building up to. “Yes, and if you are willing to stay Midnight, I would like to make you my own personal protégé here in Canterlot.” Celestia offered. “Really?” Midnight again asked in surprise as Celestia nodded yes. “What do you say? Celestia asked the unicorn. Midnight thought for a moment and then bowed down with respect with her answer. “I’d be honored” “Wonderful.” Princess Celestia said pleased with her response. “You’ll be hearing from me soon about beginning your new studies and Spike will send you my messages to you with your new home at the Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville.” “I can’t wait get started.” Midnight said a little eagerly. “And I’m sure you will make some new friends while you’re at it.” Princess Celestia said with another warm smile. “Why don’t you go tell your new friends the good news.” “Thank you again, Princess” Midnight thankfully said as she headed towards the exit where she open the doors to face the girls. “Mission accomplished!” Midnight said with a look of satisfaction on her face. This immediately caused the other girls to grin, release breaths of relief, and cheer. “So, what now?” Rarity asked regarding Midnight’s future. “Well, since Princess Celestia was so impressed with my handling of the situation that she has decided to make me her own personal protégé, so I’ll currently living with all of you in Ponyville in the Golden Oaks Library so I can begin my studies with the princess.” Midnight happily replied. “Wow!” Applejack said. “Very impressive, considering when we all just met and to be honest we thought Celestia was making a mistake we she put you in charge of this mission, but you managed to prove yourself with what you did today.” “Yeah, you even managed to fight and take down that evil unicorn while you were at and it was awesome!” Rainbow Dash added sounding very impressed with what she has done to save the Crystal Empire. “You were so brave.” Fluttershy added with a warm smile on her face. “Woohoo, this calls for two celebrations!” Pinkie Pie shouted in excitement. “Two?” Midnight asked. “One to celebrate your success and another for your “Welcome to Ponyville” party.” Pinkie explained Midnight grinned as she rolled her eyes in amusement. “I had to ask.” As every pony laughed Rarity stepped forward catching the other girl’s attention as she began to sing. “You were prepared to do your best. Even when we didn’t trust you at first.” Rarity sang causing Midnight to raise her hoof and look away as if what she did was nothing. “All those doubts you can dismiss.” Rarity sang as she began leading eveyr pony out back to the trian station for their train ride home. “Turns out you were.” “Prepared for this!” The other girls joined in the song. “You clearly have what it takes!” Applejack sang as she popped up next to Midnight putting her hoof over her shoulder. “To complete a mission with such high stakes! Pinkie Pie added as she sang, somehow wearing literally high stakes on her hooves on Midnight’s side. She lost her balance and fell, breaking the stakes. “After knowing we could trust you we then knew you would prevail!” Fluttershy added as she sang and flew gracefully. “Since now we all know you are a pony who wouldn’t fail no matter what!” Rainbow Dash sang as well, lying on a cloud that hovered above us. “All those doubts you can dismiss.” Every pony except Midnight sang as every pony crossed the bridge of the castle. “Trust yourself and you cannot miss.” The girls assured as Midnight gracefully and smiled brightly with her eyes closed. “Turns out you were!” Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity sang together. “Turns out I was!” Midnight finally sang. “Turns out you were!” Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike joined. “Turns out I was!” Midnight sang again. “Turns out you were!” Rarity sang as she placed a hoof on Midnight’s shoulder as we were on the train ride home. “Prepared… for this!” They sang together on the last verse. “Heheh.” Spike laughed both nervously and exhausted. “It sure took some time, but you proved us everything was going to be fine in the end.” Afterwards he sighed and planted himself on Midnight’s back, causing her to look back at him with a soft smile feeling very grateful that every pony now trusts her for seemingly the first time in her life. “BEST DAY EVER!” Pinkie screamed, causing Midnight to chuckle a little. As the train leaves the Princesses watch from the balcony. “Looks like your gamble with this new unicorn ended up paying off.” Luna said to Celestia in a tone that tells her sounding pleased that things did turn well in the end while not letting her off the hook for letting some stranger they just met handle the situation instead of herself. “Thanks to her the Crystal Empire is now safe and so will all of Equestria.” Celestia reassured and replied back. “Just remember to have that book you have ready when the time comes I feel she is ready for her destiny.” Luna hearing used her magic to materialize a spiral bound book that has a dark cover which shows two stars and a swirly pattern nodding in agreement though still feeling something is suspicious of this new unicorn. As every pony went their separate ways to go back home, Midnight headed towards her new home with Spike sleeping on her back. Once she was definitely sure no pony was around Midnight secretly smirked to herself as everything that had happened went exactly as she planned as her heart produces a bright neon purple glow as a result from the blast of dark magic from King Sombra’s attack and as the scene changes to a shot of the Crystal Heart where it also produces the same glow indicating that Midnight had secretly laced dark magic into it when she had a hold of it. Indicating that Midnight is up to something big that involves the Crystal Heart and gaining every pony’s trust is the first step to her plan.