//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: A Tragic Miracle 
// Story: The Northern Crown 
// by CoronaBorealis 
//------------------------------//

"This reminds me of our journey to Canterlot before Corona was born," Harmony says as she closes the curtain of their carriage, masking her nervousness about the journey to the Crystal Empire, "One day we will make this road safer."

"Yes, that would be a wonderful project to show unification once this conflict is over," Virgo replies in a calm tone, knowing that Luna is asleep next to her and can feel her friend's nervous tone, despite her efforts to hide it. "Though this will be a rather large set back when it comes to that goal... I just can't believe that he decided to show himself again after so long..."

"I was hoping we would never see him again after we defeated him, but he just doesn't give up... I guess that's one thing he retained before turning to dark magic, I just wish I knew what he wants out of all this," Harmony replies.

"Whatever it is it must be big for him to want to cause all of this chaos in the world... At least I would like to think he has some grandiose goal and not just doing it.... to do it."

Harmony looks over her shoulder at the window of the carriage, drifting off into thought as she thinks about him in the past. "We failed him Virgo..."

Virgo moves her hoof to her neck and pulls her into a hug, "I know you feel that way Harmony but... he made his own choices, you must not blame yourself for his self damnation," she coos in a soft tone to try and comfort her friend, "He brought this upon himself, and it is our duty to prevent him from taking over our home and using it for his twisted purposes."

"The amount of damage he did the last time he returned... there's no doubt he's become far stronger than he was then, I'm not sure if we have the strength to fend him off this time, especially now..." she says with uncertainty. Having an uneasy chill run up her spine she pulls open the curtain to relieve herself by looking out at the peaceful mountain tops and valleys that lie below them, resting her head on the edge of the window.

Silence fills the carriage for a few long moments, but looking to change the subject Virgo's ears perk up when she realizes that the carriage has a distinct lack of two foals in it, "Hey where did the little ones go?"



*****



"Hahaha! I am an enemy soldier and you Equines are no match for me!" Topaz shouts as he holds his small shield in front of him, grinning confidently as Celestia and Corona stand ready to attack in front of him.

Celestia grins with equal confidence and her horn glows, "Oh yeah! we haven't even broken a sweat yet! it's two against one and we are stronger than you!" she shouts back as she shoots a harmless beam of light at Topaz, which he promptly blocks with his shield. With his vision blocked by his shield Corona runs forward into him and pushes him back with a toy sword, striking his shield repeatedly but in a playful manner, "Yeah she's right! you're no match for us interloper! Chaaaarge!" he shouts as a bunch of other foals they are playing with charge at him.

Topaz laughs and foals on his side jump out of hiding and he runs forward, "Chaaarge!" he orders as he runs with his friends as the foals jump on each other and playfully fight with one another, some having wooden toy swords and some playing with sticks, jumping over the varying elevated rocks as the traveling ponies reach the more treacherous part of the pass, to one side being canterlot mountain and opposite of that a steep drop to the river below. With this Iron Shield shuffles out to the side of the herd, "Alright little ones, time to go back to your parent, we're coming to the dangerous part of the trip and we want you to be safe," he calls out to the foals, prompting a few "Awwws" but all oblige the adult ponies reluctantly. The foals soon make their way towards the herd with their parents, but before they can rest from the exertion of their mock army play, the peaceful scenery is soon rudely interrupted by the loud falling of rock, Virgo's ears perk up at the sound of screaming from a few ponies in the herd and swiftly turns her attention towards the mountain face above them. Gasping in surprise  she channels magic to her horn to cast a protection spell over the herd, but Iron Shield's magic soon creates a shield above them before she even casts her spell. The rubble collides with the shield and flows over them and down into the mountain pass below, seeing that they were kept safe ponies cheer for the knight's captain.

"Quick thinking Iron Shield," Virgo says with a satisfied smile. Iron smiles bashfully and bows his head, "Thank you your highness," he lifts his head and notices that his queen has a look of suspicion on her face as she looks down at the rocks falling to the river below, noticing that they are not the same rocks that can be found on this mountain.

"Your highness I think it is just a rock fall, if we stay remain stagnant for a minute or two we should be fine" he says in an effort to comfort her, knowing she is worried sick about the well being of the herd and her daughters. Hearing his words she moves her head back up and diverts her attention back to the road ahead, "I'm sure you're right, give the order for everypony to stop," she orders as she regally trots to the carriage to check on her friend and daughters. Using magic she opens the door and is met with the sight of Harmony resting on her side, holding Luna in her hooves as she curiously plays with her fur, seeing this she can't help but have a big grin on her face. "How are you in here Harmony?"

"I should be asking what's going on outside, what was all that noise Virgo?" she says with concern as she floats Luna towards Virgo for her to take, knowing she will want to be with her mother. 

"It was a rock slide, Iron Shield has put up a protection barrier, we should be moving again once the rocks stop-" her words are cut off by another set of screams which causes her to look back at the herd, behind which she sees a wall of black metal armor marching towards them, and then on top of that she hears the sound of a massive boulder cascading down towards them and the herd, without thinking Virgo clings Luna close to her chest and quickly runs to Iron Shield to add her magic to his shield, and does so just in time as the boulder collides with the barrier, causing both of them to grit their teeth from the stress it puts on their magic stream. Just when she feels they have been granted a reprieve another boulder comes falling down the pass, causing her to be split on what to do. She quickly turns her head to Iron shield and gives him some of her magic to strengthen him.

"Stand strong Iron Shield!" Virgo yells to him as she runs towards her knights at the front line. Iron watches her with worry as he feels he can't keep the barrier up by himself, but when he feels his queen's magic coursing through his body he looks back up at the boulder and lets out a mighty roar, his body shining with magic as he multiplies the strength of the shield, shattering it with ease which catches even him off guard, not expecting even her magic to make such a task that effortless. 

"EVERYPONY MAKE HASTE TO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE! WE WILL HOLD OFF HADEON'S TROOPS WHERE WE STAND!" Virgo booms to the herd gaining their attention. The knights create a shield wall and Starswirl's mages gather behind the knights with Virgo and begin to charge their magic for a retaliation barrage. 

With his mages given their orders and in position Starswirl swiftly approaches Virgo, "I will go with Queen Harmony and the little ones, we don't know what magic they may try to unleash upon them," he voices with concern. Virgo looks down at him and nods slowly, "Please keep them safe, and yourself, she puts a hoof on his shoulder. Starswirl nods and looks at Luna, "Will you be keeping the young princess with you?" Virgo nods slowly and holds her close to her chest, "We can't have them all together." As if to prove the wisdom of her words a magic barrage begins to hit around them and dangerously close to the royal carriage, seeing this Starswirl quickly gallops to the back of the carriage and creates a dispel ring in front of him and the carriage to counter any blasts heading for the carriage. Hearing the blasts the carriage soon takes to the sky to cover more ground to get the royals as far away from danger as possible. The herd of civilians soon follows as the mages and knights hold the line for them to escape, ponies gather their foals and making a run for it. Feeling the sudden torque of the carriage Celestia and Corona are quickly knocked out of their seats, Celestia's wings open instinctively as she climbs up to the window and peeks out the window at her mother with a worried look, Virgo meets her gaze and gives her a brave and confident smile which makes Celestia's heart skip a beat as she was expecting her mother to be scared like she is.

"Come back in the carriage Celestia, your mother is one of the strongest ponies I know," Harmony says with equal confidence, bringing a sense of reassurance to Celestia as she sits down as the pegasi take the carriage to the sky to pick up their speed.

Virgo then looks at Topaz and casts a spell on him that invigorates his body, "Topaz, I need you to fly as fast as you can back to Canterlot to get help, can you do this?" 

Iron Shield looks at his Queen with uncertainty, "Your highness Topaz is but a foal! why not send one of our soldiers to send your message?"

"Yes I am well aware of this Captain, but we need all the troops we can in case this force is a large one, I believe he is up to the task," she proclaims with a look of confidence as she turns her gaze back to Topaz, "My magic will get you there, are you up to the task young Topaz?" 

Topaz looks up at her nervously but soon regains his composure and nods, "Yes your highness!" he yells with his wings opened at his sides and takes to the sky as fast as he can, being more than normal thanks to Virgo's magic. Iron Shield watches him fly off and sighs, "Good luck son... make it there safe."

With Virgo staying behind with the soldiers that acted as the convoy defense create a defensive line in front of their mages by holding their shields firm, Virgo stands with their mages, "ERADICATE THESE OPPRESSORS," her voice booms, causing all the shielded warriors to bang their shields together with motivation and let out roars of confidence as they slowly step forward, creating more space for their mages to gather magic. With the wave of black armor gallivanting their way, Virgo slowly lifts her hoof as she along with the mage ponies to lift their horns and when she lowers her hoof they fire a heavy barrage of magic blasts into the front heavy armor, she then raises her hoof again to ready their soldiers for a charge. Once she sees the barrage inflict heavy damage to their front line she screams "FORWARD CHARGE!" Her front line of knights roar and charge headlong into battle and her ears are met with the harsh clash of metal. As she observes the front line her eyes catch something fast in the corner of her eye and barely has enough time to raise a weak magical shield as she gets slammed into the wall of the mountain from a dark magic blast. She lets out a painful grunt but was fortunate enough that her shield absorbed the brunt of the impact. She climbs out of the dent she made in the wall a little shocked as she looks around, her eyes soon meet a barrage of dark magic and arrows raining from the side of their formation, causing many on the left flank to fall before the front guard adjusts to create a two way shield wall. 

With an attack from two directions Virgo orders a retreat to a thinner and easier to defend position on the mountain pass. But just when she thought everything was under her control her eyes soon meet a shadow like pony with wings of black flame swiftly fly past her and he gives her a bone chilling grin before speeding off towards the civilians and royal carriage, followed by his own shadow pegasi. Iron looks back as his shield gets hit with projectiles and sees the dark pony flying off, "GO YOUR HIGHNESS!" he shouts as loud as he can as he turns back towards the enemy and bangs on his shield, his fellow soldiers doing the same, "We will hold the line!"

Virgo looks back at him and nods slowly, knowing if anyone can take command it would be Iron Shield. Her magic swirls around her as her body lights up like the night sky and she flies off at a blinding speed to give chase to the shadow pony. Her eyes fixated on him. With him in her sights she hurls a volley of magical barrages at the shadow pony to try and stop him. He grins back at her while laughing maniacally and sends out a massive arc of dark magic that slams into the mountain, creating a rock slide that tumbles down towards the fleeing herd of ponies. With eyes as wide as dinner plates she looks back at him as he speeds directly towards the carriage. The situation only grows more dire when a barrage of dark magic flying into her soldiers, a few making contact before their mages produce a spell to counter them, bringing a number of casualties

"Harmony!..." she grits her teeth as she flies down and uses her strength to create a barrier as large as she can to block the rubble from hitting her subjects. Ponies scream as they hide their foals under them. "You bastard!" she shouts, a part of herself hoping that her voice will reach him, but to little avail as the vibrations of her voice are drowned out by the thunderous crashing of mountain rock. Unable to move as it would disrupt her barrier spell she can do nothing but watch as he chases the carriage out of view. 

When she feels the rubble has fallen she opens her eyes and releases the barrier, "Keep moving everypony! Everything is under control!" she calls out in a reassuring tone, causing the herd to continue moving as she opens her wings to fly to help her friend, only for her to be interrupted by the sound of more boulders rolling down the mountain. She growls in frustration and recreates the shield to protect them again, the size of the barrier straining even her. Some ponies in the herd can not help but look up at the beautiful display of magic above them, almost as if they were streaks of a night sky. She half opens one of her eyes and looks in the direction the carriage is running, cringing as she focuses on protecting the herd, "Please... keep them safe Starswirl!" she yells with a discomforting grunt from the weight of the mountain falling onto her magic from Andras's minions.



*****



"Hold on tight everypony!" Starswirl says as he conjures up a magic cancelling rune circle in front of him and the carriage that defuses Andras's magical attacks,  having a stern look on his face as he creates a magical mirror that reflects Andras's magic back at him. Starswirl smiles confidently when he sees he landed a direct hit, but soon morphs back to a stern look when he sees that scratches on his body were all that was inflicted. In retaliation he gathers magic into his horn again and uses the cold around him to change into a powerful frost spell that casts a blizzard like fog in between them and Andras. Angered by this Andras tries to blow away his blizzard spell by force but soon realizes that he can't due to the size of it as well as the cold environment. 

Andras looks down at him, "I see, so he is not as *twitch* powerful as the four, but has mastered a wider *twitch* range of magic... I'll have to dispatch of him first." A dark shadow surrounds his horn and forms into a growing ball of dark magic that he soon fires in front of where he remembers the carriage to be and it slams into the mountain wall, collapsing down onto the path in front of the carriage like what they did to keep Virgo from helping them escape. Starswirl not expecting him to make the same move twice is caught off guard by his move but is unable to move his rune circle in front of the blast due to the blizzard leaving his visibility limited as well. He does his best to move the circle in front of the blast but to little avail as he just misses it and is soon met with the force of the blast hitting in front of them, leaving the pegasi guards no choice but to take to the sky before they crash.  The knights were too late however as the gold plated wood wheels hit the fallen rocks hard, along with the carriage floor, the impact losing the back wheels and throwing Starswirl off the carriage and hits the ground hard. Harmony holds Luna protectively in her chest as the little foal started to cry, and as the impact occurred she was sent flying into the wall of the carriage, Celestia hitting the flat part of the forward seat. Corona flies off balance and hits his head on the corner of the forward seat.

With a dazed expression Corona half opens his eyes as his ears sound a deafening ring, his vision being blurred from the impact. He feels a gentle hoof and soon opens his eyes, seeing a blurred out white head who he makes out to be Celestia, along with words he cant understand. His eyes slowly focus themselves and the blurs slowly turn into more clear silhouettes of Celestia and his mother, looks of distress he can make out in their faces. Something felt warm under his head which grabbed his attention, something warm and thick that was soaking his mane, "Could they have poured warm water on me?.... no... water doesn't feel like this," his question is soon granted an answer when he sees the red stain on his friend's hoof. Harmony soon moves her hooves down to pick up the young princess and her son and holds them close to her, the carriage rumbles profusely after the sound of an agonizing cry from one of the pegasi guards being hit by Andras, the blast knocking the other three off rhythm and plummets into the steep river valley. The lead knight tries in vain to glide the carriage into the water, but his efforts alone do not prove fruitful as the carriage slams into the cliff side 
plunge into the depths of the mountain pass.



*****



The sound of loud and obnoxious ringing assaults Corona's senses as his consciousness comes back to him, his vision blurred and disoriented while making the effort to stand, the rough shattered wood poking uncomfortably at his back encouraging him further to stand and relieve himself. With his senses in a daze his rise is all but graceful, stumbling over the crashed remains of the carriage. Rubbing his head he notices he can't make out anything that looks like a pony, "M-Mom?..." he calls out nervously, hoping to hear the warmth of her voice that has always comforted him, but to his dismay he is met with silence. Corona making his way off of the ruined carriage soon comes to the horrific discovery of  the limp bodies of the guards that pulled the carriage. His eyes widen in fear as he runs up to the head of one of them, "M-Mister are you ok!? what happened to us?..." He lifts his hoof up to gently touch his head, hoping that they just had a bad crash and he passed out. When he receives no response he backs up a few steps, his face morphing into that of a scared expression. Looking around frantically he runs up ahead of the crash site, "MOM!" he shouts out for her, his voice echoing in the valley. With a frantic expression his gaze meets a trail of hoof prints on the ground, along with signs of struggle, having made this discovery he quickly runs over the rocks as fast as his legs can carry him, bumping into rubble along the way, still disoriented from the crash.

The trail leads him to a cave and is immediately met with the horrific sight of a bloodstained rock, Corona hastily sprints toward the rock and sees that the blood is fresh. With nervous sweat going down his brow he turns his attention towards the cave, "M-Mother!? C-Celestia?!" he says with a shaken tone, his hooves clicking on the cave floor with a slight echo bouncing off the walls. With the cave quickly becoming too dark to see Corona takes a deep breath and sighs in an attempt to relax himself as he channels magic to his horn to create a light source at the tip of it, a spell he is now grateful for learning. With his light source he presses onward deeper into the cave, jumping in fear at the slightest of sounds echoing in the cave. 

Corona soon falls to the cave floor, the mountain around him shaking violently, loud booms echoing in the cave in a way that hurts his ears and makes them ring. Getting back on his hooves he feels something warm and wet on his hooves, looking down with his lit horn his eyes widen with horror, his hoof now stained red. Frantically looking up he smells a trail of blood and quickly follows the trail, hoping that the source of the blood isn't who he thinks. Seeing a glimmer of light ahead of him he feels a sense of hope, with the light brightening up enough for him to see around him he stops casting the light spell in his horn and sprints towards the light, the cave slowly starting to expand the brighter it gets.

The cave soon ends and Corona is met with the sight of an underground cavern of Luminous crystals that he has never seen before, matching the beauty of crystals found in his homeland. The wonder he feels is soon brought back to a horrific reality when the sight of a blood stained crystal comes into view, confirming that his biggest fear has come to pass when his eyes meet the snow white fur of his mother, only instead of the perfect white coat he is used to seeing. His mouth slowly opens  as he approaches his mother, seeing more of her crimson stained coat. Getting close enough however his eyes quickly widen with hope when he sees that her chest, though labored, is expanding and contrasting. With his newfound hope he sprints to his mother's side.

"Mommy! Mommy are you okay?!" he calls frantically, praying to hear the warm gentle melody that is her voice.

Receiving no response Corona's heart sinks, quickly trotting up to her head to rub her cheek with his hoof, "Mommy... please wake up!..." he begs with tears welling up in his eyes. 

His plea goes with no response for what feels like a painful eternity, but just as he felt all hope was lost he feels a slight movement in the big alicorn next to him. His eyes open wide and sparkle with tears as he stares at her with a hopeful look. "M-Mommy?!"

She moves her head slowly to look at her son, barely able to lift her head off of the ground, "Corona...." she calls weakly. Corona quickly moves to hug her neck and sobs uncontrollably, happy to hear his mother's voice. 

"I'm... relieved to see you survived the crash Corona.... I was so worried..." she says with a weak, barely audible voice.

"N-No mommy I'm fine see!... I can get you help!... me and Celestia!..." Corona stops as he says this and looks around, "Where is Celestia?..." he says with a nervous look as he doesn't see his friend anywhere, "Y-You saved her right?..."

"Listen to me Corona.... you are in mortal danger..." she heaves and coughs up a little blood and holds her belly, tears running down her cheeks and down to the floor, "I'm so sorry my little one... " she says under her breath, quiet enough that Corona can not hear. After composing herself as much as she can she slowly moves her wing and Corona sees an injured unconscious Celestia. Overwhelmed with relief he quickly runs to her and hugs her, thankful that she made it as well, but as he holds his friend in his hooves he sees a deep bleeding wound just above her belly. Seeing this makes Corona's eyes widen with horror once again and lets out a very shaken gasp.

"You need to run before he finds us..." she pleas to him, "Mommy... isn't going with you this time my darling..." she says as she heaves heavily for breath, struggling to do so thanks to her blood loss. Corona shakes his head in denial as tears run down his cheeks.

"No mommy! I can save you!" he calls in defiance as he starts to channel his magic, closing his eyes and cringes as he tries in frustration to find the healing magic that Starswirl told him he was blessed with. Hearing his mothers huffs of pain causes him to start crying as he growls with frustration, "Come on magic PLEASE! MY MOMMY NEEDS MY HELP! For once in my life can I help somepony else!" he angrily screams, not able to bear the sound of his loving mother in pain, thinking back on the story that Topaz told him about how he saved his friends by unlocking his magic, hoping that he can be his mother's hero this time.

Corona in his desperation feels magic channeling into his horn and feels hopeful when he feels the warmth of it starting to flow through his body, but before he can cast any spell Harmony squeals weakly as a hard gust of wind blows Corona and his mother off the ground and slam into the cave wall, Harmony's body cushioning the impact for Celestia, but still feels the full brunt of the cold stone floor as she falls from the wall. Corona feels the harsh surface collide with his body, not able to hear the crack of his bones thanks to his ears ringing like a bell after his head hits the crystal. Corona falls to the ground and grits his teeth when he tries to stand up and yelps in agony and stumbles forward onto his face. Tears run down his cheeks and when he looks up he sees a horrifying shadow pony with a devilish grin that looks the very essence of insanity. The pony of black slowly approaches  his mother who is looking up at him in anger.

"Oh come now my Queen, don't look at me like that, it is simply natural selection my dear, and you were unfortunately you were an inferior design. It's time for the next generation of life to take the mantle," he says with a growing grin as he slowly approaches her, forming a blade from his hoof. Seeing this Harmony summons as much strength as she can into her horn and she glares at him and fires an admirably powerful beam of magic at him considering her condition, only for it to be swiftly cut in half by his blade that is overflowing with dark magic. The ease in which he cut through her magic shocks Harmony to her core.    

Andras laughs uncontrollably and catches eye of the young princess and he lifts her up with magic and floats her to him, "Ah so this is what you were hiding, so I have the great bringer of peace, her son AND the precious star of Equestria! "I COULDN'T IMAGINE A BETTER OUTCOME!" he roars as he draws his sword and holds the tip of it at Celestia's chest.

"NO ANDRAS! DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH ME BUT DO NOT HURT THE CHILDREN! YOU CAN TAKE ME TO HADEON AND I WILL DO NOTHING TO RESIST!" she yells back at him with tears streaming down her cheeks, her brow furrowed into that of an angered expression. Her plea causes him to stop from piercing Celestia with his blade which makes Harmony hopeful that he can actually see reason, but is soon met with his gaze as he glares down at her, lacking any compassion in his eyes.

Corona heaves for air and finds the strength to finally get on his hooves and limp away from where he landed, pain seeping into every muscle in his body from his broken ribs, his foal body being too fragile to take a hit that hard. His pain further escalating when he is met with the horrifying sight of the giant shadow pony standing over his weakened mother. His eyes lock onto her face with tears running down his cheeks, "M-Mommy?..." he says softly in disbelief. His soft voice reaches his mother's ears and her gaze shifts from the stallion above her and lays her head on the floor to look at her son, her face morphing from that of anger to that of a loving mother trying to soothe her foal. Seeing the tears running down his mother's cheeks, the sad expression on her face shatters his heart, never seeing her like this before in his life. But before he can make an attempt at comforting his weakened mother, his ears are met with the horrific sound of a blade piercing flesh and the crackling of bone. Corona's pupils shrink in fear and his attention quickly shifts lower on her body and is met with the sight of Andras's dark blade pierced through her snow white fur, the sparkle of her coat slowly dissipating until it is but a mere dull white, as if devoid of life. 

Corona weakly lifts his hoof towards his dying mother, the area around him blurring in his vision as his magic begins to boil inside him. Feeling it's intensity he grits his teeth and brings his hoof to his chest, panting heavily as his body feels like it is burning up, the scene he bared witness to assaulting his mind. Andras looks over at the shaking colt, nearly dropping Celestia after his body twitches again, not phased in the slightest by his action, but rather more interested in what is happening to the young prince.

Kneeling down and letting out a cry of agony Corona feels the heat inside him becoming unbearable as it spreads across his body, glowing a distinct golden hue around his body as the veins in his body illuminate enough to be seen by Andras which catches him off guard, his twitching eyes opening up a little more out of curiosity, but before he can say anything Corona opens his eyes as he lets out another agonizing scream as the golden light soon shines out of his eyes and mouth, the glow of his veins pulsing violently as his body appears to begin cracking from the stress of his out of control magic. Corona then looks at Andras and sees Celestia and his blood boils with anger as well, amplifying his pain when he feels his growing rage, "PUT HER DOWN!" his voice echoes in the cavern. A blinding light forms around his body and it lifts him up into the air, overflowing the caverns with light, reflecting through the many large crystals, forcing Andras to drop Celestia and cover his eyes from the light piercing his eyes, growling with anger when his vision is impaired. 

Corona writhes around suspended in the air, as if he himself is trying to escape the painful grasp of his own magic, but before he can do so his whole body is consumed by his light and a pulse of magic spread across the room slowly, but instead of a beam or shockwave of magic that Andras was expecting, Corona instead lets out a wave of magic that appears like golden dust, gently wrapping around the crystals in the cavern and flowing like pollen in the wind. When Corona's magic reaches Celestia and Harmony, instead of destroying their body like it appears to do Corona, it gently envelops their bodies and gently glows around them. The golden dust bring black flames out of his body as it begins destroying his dark body, in an attempt to escape this pain Andras hustles toward the cave exiting the crystal cavern, being hit by another pulse of Corona's magic and destroying his body further, tearing his shadow like form further away from his physical vessel, seeing no way of fleeing with his physical form he growls in annoyance and a shadow the shape of the pony swiftly leaves behind a greyed lifeless stallion corpse as it flees away into the darkness of the cave.

Letting out a soft groan Celestia feels a soothing warmth envelop her body that finally brings her back to consciousness, feeling the pain in her body gone she touches her head in confusion, and as she opens her eyes she sees the beautiful golden dust flowing gracefully in the air, reaching out to touch it she feels a sense of warmth and restoration that soothes her soul. Before she can admire the mysterious magic however she hears the horrific cry of pain that sounds like her friend, she quickly stands up and looks up in the direction of the scream and sees the silhouette of her screaming friend in the blinding light. Gasping in shock she quickly flies up into the air to help him and she brings her hooves up to her muzzle, "CORONAAAA!" she screams as loud as her lungs will allow her. As if in response to her voice she sees two glowing eyes open, their appearance shocking Celestia and instinctually she moves back a little. After seeing the worry in her widened eyes the light brightens around him one more time as a final pulse of magic flows out of him and into the cavern, making contact with Celestia as well as his mother's body, though as it touches Harmony's body the surrounding magic converges onto her body, flowing into her and surrounding her in a shell of his magic. With this last exertion of magic Corona falls from the air and onto the ground and the light around him gently dies down.

With the light finally dissipated Celestia glides back down to the ground and quickly trots to Corona and gasps in shock when she sees Corona dawning a pair of wings matching his body, feathers of royal blue that fade into silver like his hooves and muzzle. Celestia hears a groan of pain in discomfort when Corona tries to stand up, seeing this she quickly moves under him to help him up, immediately noticing that his body feels hot, most likely from his transformation.

Celestia sees him open his eyes and look at his mother,  "C-Corona.... s-she's..." before she can finish he pulls away from her hold and limps towards his mother as fast as he is able to, grunting in pain he doesn't stop until he is standing in front of her face. Having a few long moments to look at his mother's unmoving body he puts his hoof on her cheek and gently moves her head, "M-Momma?... please... please wake up!" he pleas with a voice broken by fear and uncontrollable sobbing. Moving his hoof away from her cheek and seeing her head falling limp, Corona backs a step away with tears falling down his cheeks and hitting the floor, he grits his teeth and raises his head to the ceiling and lets out a scream of rage and pain that catches Celestia off guard, not expecting her normally gentle and quiet friend to have such a rage inside him. With all of the strength he has left Corona hits the ground as hard as he can with his front hooves, feeling the pain shoot up his leg he cringes but ignores it and continues to hit the ground, "WHY CANT I SAVE HER!.... WHY CANT I SAVE ANYPONY!" 

"C-Corona... you earned your wings..." Celestia says with a hoof on his shoulder, trying to cheer her friend up even if she knows it will most likely be fruitless. 

Hearing this Corona turns his head to face her and she sees uncontrollable anger and sadness in his eyes which emotionally hurts her to see, she parts her lips to give words of comfort to him but finds no words leaving her mouth.

"T-The magic you unleashed was beautiful Corona..." she says after a few silent moments, moving her hoof up to his cheek to turn his head to face her, him being met with a look of sadness in Celestia's eyes but also one attempting to comfort him, the magenta glow of her eyes soothing his soul better than he thought. Not knowing what else to do Corona sobs and follows it up with uncontrollable tears as he buries his face into her soft chest, wrapping his hooves around her and clinging to her as tight as he can. Caught off guard by this she gasps in surprise but soon hugs him back and pets down his head, tears starting to fall down her cheeks as well, "I'm so sorry Corona..."

Corona listens to her words and lets the gentle ring of her voice be the focus of his ears, but his ear soon perks away from her as if in defiance of it's master, picking up the sound of crying, tiny crying. Hearing this Corona raises his head and looks around for the source of the gentle crying. Seeing this from him Celestia looks confused, "A-Are you ok Corona?..." 

"Do you hear that?..." he says softly so as to not disrupt the noise, Celestia feels even more confused but soon moves her ears around to try and find the sound that caught his attention, "N-No I don't hear anything."

Corona lets go of her and gets back on to his hooves to limp towards the sound, the sound of crying becoming louder and louder in his ears, and it leads him to his mother's wing, a golden glow shining below it. Corona gently moves Harmony's big wing and when he looks at the glow he sees a small foal surrounded by the glow of his magic. Seeing the crying foal Corona gently picks it up and is able to tell it is a colt, and he looks just like his father. "T-This is my..."

"CORONA! CELESTIA!" a familiar voice echoes in the cavern, both of them dart their head towards the cave and are met with the follow up sounds of galloping hoof steps. Feeling a little nervous Corona moves back with his little brother clutched in his hoof, thinking it could be one of Andras's tricks, but they are both met with the relieving sight of Diamond and Starswirl sprinting into the cavern. Corona and Celestia see them have a look of relief but soon replaced with one of despair when they see the body of their queen behind Corona, seeing his father's broken look Corona looks down at the ground with guilt, "I'm... I'm sorry daddy... I couldn't save mommy..." he sobs with his tears welling up again, "I tried my best to!..." Diamond's hoof presses on his muzzle to stop him from speaking any further. "This is not your fault son... I should have made the trek to our homeland with you and the herd... as King it is my duty to protect my Queen... along with my subjects, and I have failed my queen..." Diamond kneels down to his fallen wife and hugs her head to his chest, Celestia moving out of his way and standing next to Corona, putting a hoof on his shoulder to comfort him as he watches his grieving father.

Diamond slowly moves his muzzle to his wife's ear and tears start to fall down his cheeks, something that surprises Corona as he's never seen them in such a vulnerable state before in his life. 

"I'm so sorry Harmony...." he hugs her to him, "I should have been here for you my Queen..." he kisses her cheek and softly lays her head down.

"But Corona saved his little brother!..." Celestia blurts out, trying anything she could think of that could possibly lift the spirits of the King and more importantly her friend.

Diamond quickly lifts his head and his attention moves to Corona, seeing the little dark blue foal in his hoof. He slowly stands up and walks to them and looks down at the foal for a closer look, his eyes glossy with hopeful tears as he lifts the foal up with magic and brings him up to his face, "H-He looks just like me...." he says softly, the newborn prince opens his eyes from all the noise and sees the new pony in front of him, he whimpers softly and reaches towards Corona. Diamond nods slowly and moves him back to Corona and he holds him back to his chest again.

"D-Does he not like you?..." Corona says nervously, knowing if that's true it would hurt his father more than he needs to be with the loss of Harmony.

"No son, this is normal behavior for a newborn, they cling to the first pony they see which is normally their mother..." Diamond turns back towards Harmony and carefully lifts her onto his back, "We need to get her back home.... she must be sent to the afterlife properly." Diamond stands back up with a more brave posture than he had before, as if a final display of bravery for his fallen wife.

Starswirl nods slowly and floats Corona and Celestia to his back, noticing Corona is now adorning a pair of wings at his sides but keeps it to himself, "Rest easy little ones... I know you experienced a horrific event no foal should have to see..." he trots next to Diamond and they make their way out of the cave. When they reach the entrance of the cave Corona and Celestia squint their eyes to adjust to the outside light, even though it is cloudy. They are also met with the may eyes of the civilian herd, at the front of which Celestia sees her mother with a look of horror on her face when she sees the body of her best friend on Diamond's back. Diamond looks toward her with a stern face that gives the look of him staying strong to his subjects, but Virgo can easily tell that he is broken inside. Not having any words to say she lets her tears run down her cheeks and orders the herd to continue moving, now on the other side of the mountain they are able to see the plain in which the crystal spire lies. But with the sight of the fallen royal, a day of hope has turned to that of despair and mourning for the beloved Queen Harmony.