//------------------------------//
// The Crystal Empire part 2 of 3 
// Story: The Mystic Fox 
// by Mysticfox 
//------------------------------//

PART: 2: Unexpected side trip.

“Ok so let me get this straight.” I said as I looked at my magic display. We’ve all been on the train for some time and we were getting closer. You can already see snow falling outside the window. 

“A thousand years ago Celestia and Luna fought against this King Sombra, an evil dark magic dictator unicorn. Before he was defeated and sealed in the ice he cursed the Crystal Empire to disappear until his return. Now it's back and aunt Tia wants us to help Cadence and Shining Armor to protect the Empire. That sound about right?” I asked while I did a bit of research in the library archives.

“Pretty much. King Sambra used his dark magic to control the ponies of the Empire. If we don’t stop him all the Crystal ponies will suffer.” Twilight said as she looked at my display. With the sound of the train whistle we made it to the train station for the Empire. As we pulled in I could see what looked like shining armor with a scarf and thin slit goggles.

“ Ha! And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves.” Rarity said as she tightened her scarf while Spike was holding all her bags.

“[grunts] I didn't say a word. Whoa! Hey! C'mere... “ Spike said before he chased after a scarf caught in the wind.

“Twilight!” Shining said as he ran up to hug Twilight

“Shining Armor?” Twilight said when she released the hug.

“ Twily! You made it! We'd better get moving. There are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark.” Shining said as we all made our way off the train platform. The weather seemed to be getting worse and it made things hard to see.

“ [gulp] What kind of things?” Fluttershy shakingly asked.

“ Let's just say the Empire... isn't the only thing that's returned.” Shining said as he led the way. We’ve been walking for a little while and I could just barely see a dim blue  light ahead.

“Something keeps trying to get in! We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place.” Shining said as we pushed through the storm. Rosy poked my cheek and as I turned to look behind us I saw a massive black cloud quickly closing in.

“Um girls.” I said as I poked Twilight to get her to look.

“But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the Empire! If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected.” Twilight said, completely ignoring me.

“Girls somethings coming.” I said before a loud howl came from the cloud making everypony turn around.

“[gasp] Th-That's one of the things, isn't it?” Fluttershy said, pointing a shaky hoof.

“RUN!” I yelled before we all took off running with the cloud right behind us.

“Guh. We have to get to the Crystal Empire! Now!” Shining said as a pair of green and red eye with what looked like a purple haze formed in the cloud. 

“ Almost there.” Shining yield before he turned to face the cloud and charged his horn as the girls reached a light blue barrier. Before shining had a chance to charge his spell the black cloud hit his horn causing black crystals to grow and blocked his magic. 

“Shining hold on.” I yelled as I rushed to Shining before the smoke could get him and picked him up and after a quick (sorry) I threw him into the barrier as the cloud came down on me. I was able to quickly put up my own barrier and the cloud smashed into it before quickly surrounded me.

“[Growl] Nova.”  Said a distorted voice in the cloud before slamming into the ground caused it to crack. I watched as the cracks quickly spread before I fell as the ground gave way. The last thing I heard was an evil cackle and a scream from Rosy before I quickly grabbed her and held her as we fell and with a loud thud we hit bottom and everything went black.
.
.
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“Dad, dad wake up.” Rosy said while shaking me.

“Ugh that hurt.” I said as I slowly sat up and found a teary eyed filly looking at me.

“Dad are you alright?” She asked as she gave me a hug.

“I’ll be alright just a little bit sore. I’m sorry Rosy I kinda jumped in to help with you still with me now you're stuck down here with me.” I said as I tightened the hug.

“ It's ok dad I’m alright.” She said as she looked up at me with a big smile.
“Still I shouldn’t put you in danger like that.” I said as I stood up and put her on my shoulders.

“Now where are we.” I said as I looked around. What I saw was nothing but a tall tree.

“Wow those trees are huge.” Rosy said while she looked around.

“It looks like some kind of Subterranean forest.” I said as I placed my hand on one of the trees.

“What does that mean.” She asked before I pulled my ear piece from my bag and put it on.
“It means that this forest is underground and by the way it looks, it looks like its been here for ages. It almost looks like the everfree. Hey Twink you there.” I asked as I looked up at the ice above us.

“Yes, how can I help Fox?” Twink asked as I put up my display.

“Can you look for any information on an underground Forest at the edge of the Crystal Empire? I looked at the information about Sombra and the Empire.” I said as I started to walk around.

“Hmm there's appears to be no information on this. Its that’s the case then this place was undiscovered or undocumented.” Twink said before I looked up one of the trees.

“Well that’s not good. We need to get out and back to the girls. Hold on Rosy I’m about to climb up to the tree tops to get a good look around.” I said as I jumped from branch to branch until I reached top.

“Alright let's see what we got to work with.” I said while I looked around. This place is big enough to fit all of ponyville into it with sweet apple acres. Light was shining through the icy ceiling onto the tree tops.

“Hey dad there's a super big tree over there.” Rosy said, pointing out the massive tree in the center of the forest.

“ Hmm I think that’s the forest’s center but I’m still wondering how this place is here.” I said as I continued to look around and I noticed what looked like white smoke coming from places though the forest.

“let go check out that smoke. This forest may have people living here.” I said before I jumped to the ground.

“Are we going to where that smoke was?” Rosy asked as she laid her head on top of mine.

“Yeah but somethings bugging me.” I said as I made my way through the forest brush.

“What do you mean.” Rosy asked as I began to sweat a bit.

“It's this foret. It shouldn’t exist in a place like this, it should be too cold for plants to grow and the humidity in here is really high too.” I said as I typed up some notes while I looked around. The trees and plants around here all looked ancient.

“Look dad I can see light up ahead.” Rosy said before I walked into the clearing.

“Well that might explain the humidity.” I said as I walked to the edge of a bubbling pool of water.

“Whoa what's that dad.” Rosy said while looking at the boiling pool.

“It looks like a hot spring. Hold on a second, Twink do you remember how I mapped out the cave system under Canterlot? I’m goin to use that trick to see if my theory is right or not by mapping the density of the ground under us. Can you help analyze the data?” I asked before I used my magic to send vibrations deep into the ground.

“I’m sending the data to your 3d display now.” Twink said as I held my hand out before the display showed what was under us. It was much more simple than the caves of Canterlot. 

“That’s so cool. But what is it.” Rosy asked before poking the display.

“This my dear daughter is a density map of the ground beneath us. The dark places are solid ground or rock and the lighter spots are less dense. Look see all these lighter paths running down to that big spot.” I said while pointing out the places on the map.

“Yeah.” She said looking over the display.

“That's all water. It looks like they run all over the forest from an underground lake and look at the darker spot under the lake. If that is what I think it is we may have just feel into a thermal hot spot.” I said while I typed out notes.

“Ok I don’t know what that is.” Rosy said bluntly.

“A Thermal hot spot is any place that is heated up by an underground heat source. In this case this place is being heated by a small magma chamber deep under that lake and pushes the hot water up to the surface as a hot springs or geyser. The heat and humidity is what's keeping out the cold.” I said before closing the display.

“Let's head to that big tree in the forest center. We’ll look around on how I want to collect some data on the plants and wildlife of this place and add it to the archives. Then we really need to get back to the surface. But first we need the right gear for the job.” I said as I used my magic to make us some tan exploration outfits complete with pith helmets.

“Awesome lets go.” Rosy said with excitement as we set off for the center of the forest. Along the way I collected many different plants and flowers and saw various different animal. We even saved a very tiny and hairy orange monkey from a hungry snake and now I have a filly on hugging my head and a monkey hugging my arm. We eventually made it to the center tree.

“That’s a big tree.” Rosy said as we looked up at its branches.

“Yeah it is. This forest must have been around for centuries, given how lush and big it is. I’m surprise no pony has found it yet.” I said as I placed my hand on the tree and it felt magic running through it and spread through the forest.

“This tree is magic. I don’t know how to explain it but I can feel it pulsing throughout the forest like a heartbeat.” I said as I closed my eyes and used my magic to scan the tree and I was right.

“This is the core of the forest. This tree's roots connect to all the other trees like one big organism.” I said before adding it to my notes.

“You're quite right. This tree is the life of this forest.” Said a voice as part of the tree started to ripple like water and something came out. It looked almost human and a woman by the shape of it. She had long vine-like hair with different colored flowers. Her skin was a light brown and had thin vines and leaves covered most of her body and deep green eyes.

“Oh she’s pretty.” Rosy said in wonder.

“Thank you little one. Now what brings a little filly and a mystic fox to my home.” She asked as she sat down on an exposed root.

“I’m very sorry if we disturbed you. We feel when a part of the ice above us cracks open. My name is Fox Lilly and this is Rosy and a monkey we rescued.” I said after a short bow.

“Her name is Tammy.” Rosy said proudly while hugging the tiny monkey who enjoyed it with a big smile.

“You may call me Matsimela or Mela. I am the guardian of this forest. It’s been ages since last saw a Mystic Fox and the Guardian of the library.” She said with a sly smile as she leaned forwards with her chin resting in her hand.

“How did you know that I have the library.” I said with a raised brow.

“One of your kind came here many years ago and you now hold her bag at your side. Tell me how did you come by that and please don’t lie, it would not end well for you.” She said as she glared coldly with eyes glowing a deep green sending a chill down my spine.

“It belonged to my mother, Nova Lilly. She left it to me.” I said sadly as I held my hand on top of my locket.

“Mother you say, what proof do you have of this claim.” She said with more interest. I took off my locket and showed her the picture inside.

“This picture was taken a year after I was born.” I said as I took Rosy off my shoulders and sat on the ground and Rosy in my lap while Tammy hopped on top of my head.

“That definitely is Nova. It's been 25 years since I last saw her. If you have the library now she must passed on.” She said with a tear falling off her cheek. 

“Yeah.” I said sadly before Rosy hugged my stomach.

“What happened to her.” She said as she handed me my locket.

“Do you want the long or short version?” I said as I leaned back on a root.

“Let's do the short for now, I have a feeling your needed elsewhere.” She said relaxing back a bit and I took a deep breath.

 “A little over 18 years ago mom escape to another world from a power hungry bad guy, I came to be sometime later, it was just me and mom living by ourselves for 18 year until just over a week ago I was enjoying our birthday dinner, went to bed, woke up in this world with ears and a fluffy tail, mom was gone, went out looking for her, found the library where I met Twink, and moms last message to me.” I said all in one breath.

“Yeah you're definitely going to have to do the long story next time.” She said with a warm smile.

“Yeah I want to hear it too dad.” Rosy said with an adorable smile.

“I can do that.” I said before I stood up and put Rosy on my head and stretched a bit.

“Fox before you go, and I don’t mean to be rude but what is that pungent odor I smell coming from that box on your bag? The smell seems familiar.” She said with happy intrigue.

“believe it or not but that smell is coming from a fruit I have. Mom made me plant a tree for her. I really don’t see how anyone can eat something that smells like gym socks and onions.” I said before her eyes started to sparkle.

“It would happen to be big yellow and spiky would it.” She said happily.

“Yeah it's called a Dorian.” I said with a raised brow.

“YAY (POOF)” She said before changing into a tiny cute version.

“AHH (POOF) DAMN IT.” I said as mini Fox.

“HAHAHAHAHA.” Laughed Rosy and Tammy on their backs.

“Sorry if I startled you hehe I get this way sometimes when I get over excited.” She said with a smile and blush.

“It's alright this keeps happening to me too but anyway would you like the Dorian I have.” I said before changing back.

“I would love to have it.” She said with a little bit of drool making me chuckle.

“Alright hold on let me get it.” I said as I unclipped my cart and made it normal size.

“Magic is a wondrous thing.” She said as I stepped inside and came out with the smelly fruit before I shrunk it and put it back on my bag.

“Yep magic is awesome and here you go one dorian freshly picked this morning.” I said as I passed her the fruit.

“Here take this as payment. Take good care of it and that Tango Marmoset there quite quick, agile and very loving creatures. Now off you go and don’t forget to come back for the long story and maybe some tea as well.” She said as she handed me a small long oval pink egg before walking off into the trees.

“Um dad…how do we get out of here.” Rosy said after I put the egg in my bag and looked up for the hole we fell through.

“Hmm I guess it's time to see if I can use magic to fly. Just give me a second to think about it.” I said before I closed my eyes and focused on my magic. I felt my magic wrap around my body making me lighter then pushed my magic down and began to lift off the ground.

“Holy crap it worked haha. Alright Rosy and Tammy hold on tight it might take me a bit to get used to.” I said before I took to the sky and out of the underground forest and I only hit two trees on the way out.