//------------------------------// // The Crystal Empire // Story: Kung-Fu Equestria 2 // by Lady Umbra //------------------------------// Twilight could feel Applejack's eyes on them, even as they left the Celestial Palace behind and began to race through Ponyville. The villagers cheered their heroes on as they ran. Urtica raced out from the crowd - still in her pony form - and easily took pace alongside Tai Lung. "So, what's happening?" she asked. "Who're we fighting?" "Lord Sombra, Urtica," Tai Lung replied with a grin. "We're going to send him back to the depths of Tartarus where he belongs." With inner peace, Twilight thought to herself, trying to clear her mind. I gotta figure out inner peace. It's the only way to defeat Lord Sombra. So come on, Twilight... get peaceful... But before her buzzing mind could even hope to clear... "Hey, Twilight!" Spike called. Twilight skidded to a stop as Spike ran into their path, holding several large saddlebags. "I got your travel packs set," he said, opening one to make sure. "There's enough food to hold you guys over for a couple weeks, and some reading material in case you get bored." "Oh!" Dash whispered, reaching into her own pack. "Did you get the...?" She paused as the others grinned at her, quickly shouldering her pack. "I mean, uh... thanks." Spike just grinned and gave her a thumbs up to let her know he packed what she wanted. He handed Twilight's pack to her personally. "I also packed a few paintings of our best times together," he noted, opening her pack and displaying a painting depicting a young Twilight cheering as Spike raced around with her on her shoulders. "Spike..." Twilight whispered, pressing a hand to her mouth. "No, it's okay," he said, setting the painting back in. "You've got a job to do... far from home..." his face began to fall. "In a strange city, with strange ponies and strange books, facing horrible danger from which you might never..." "Spike," Smolder said, quickly snapping Spike out of his fear. "She didn't do all that training for nothing." "Besides," Twilight replied. "If I don't save kung-fu... what am I?" Spike's answer was instant. "You're my little sister." He hesitated when Twilight's face fell. "Right?" Twilight winced, wishing she could say yes. And yet... she could still remember her mothers eyes. How scared they had been... "Twi," Dash said somberly, snapping her friend out of her trance. "It's time." Shutting her eyes, Twilight shouldered her pack, and gave Spike a final hug. "Bye," she whispered, before walking away. Rainbow Dash watched her go with the others before grinning softly at Spike. "Don't worry," she assured him. "She'll be back before you even miss her." And yet, as the group left Ponyville behind, Spike sunk to his knees, barely noticing Smolder put a hand on his shoulder. "But... I already miss her..." he mumbled. As Sombra continued work on his weapon, Twilight and her friends traveled across rocky terain, snowy plains and barren deserts. Both sides knew that a fight was coming. Lord Sombra wasn't going to stand by and wait for them, and neither was Equestria. And yet... inner peace eluded the Celestial Warrior. Unfortuantely, sleep failed to elude her. Twilight was surrounded by books. Stacks of books, walls of books higher than ten dragons. Books as far as she could see in every direction. Joy flooded her - so much to read. Surely, everything she could ever want had to be in here. All the answers to her problems. "Whoops!" a voice yelped. A pile of books went tumbling, scattering over Twilight's hands. Rainbow Dash poked her head out of the wreckage and grinned at Twilight. "What's up, egghead?" "Rainbow Dash, be careful!" Twilight scolded, desperately picking the books back up and trying to organize them. "We need all this!" "Do we?" Rainbow Dash grimaced. "I don't remember the Celestial Warrior and the Furious Five being a bunch of books." Twilight gave her a look and picked up the next book. "How to Defeat Lord Sombra." "See?" she said triumphantly. "This has all the answers we need!" She opened it eagerly, only to find a completely blank paper inside. Smooth, empty parchment stared back at her, not even giving her the luxury of a mirror like the Celestial Scroll did. "Twilight, come on!" Applejack suddenly said. When Twilight turned, she saw Applejack in Rainbow's place. "My brother's not gonna avenge himself. We could really use your help." "I can't!" Twilight insisted. "I have to read these!" She knocked over another stack of books, and turned in an agitated circle. Had the walls of books gotten taller? She picked up another scroll: "How to Achieve Inner Peace." "Here's what I need," she muttered, opening it up. But it was blank too. "Twilight," Spike said. But instead of the dragon, her mother was standing in Applejack's place. Staring at her with those sad, fearful eyes. "I can't help you!" Twilight insisted. "Not until I know everything!" On cue, she found a shimmering purple book. Surely something so beautiful had to have something useful in it. It was titled: "Why Your Mother Left You." Twilight sighed. She knew even before she opened it: blank, blank, blank! With a scream of frustration, she threw the book away. "Momma!" a baby cried. A baby that sounded so much like her. "I can't!" Twilight screamed. She found another one. "Who You Are." But there was nothing but parchment. "I... I can find the answers! I know there in here! Where are they?" She turned to her mother in desperation. But instead, that black unicorn symbol flew at her, with a roar like an angry dragon. Twilight jumped up, breathing heavily. For the first time in her life, she found herself glad that she wasn't surrounded by books. Instead, she was among her friends, on a sampan boat sailing down a wide river. Rainbow slept towards the back with Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity, while Tai Lung was snuggled up with the undisguised Urtica. Careful not to disturb them, Twilight got up and quietly stepped out onto the deck of the boat. But she was unaware of a pair of rose-colored eyes opening. Outside Twilight leaned against the mast. She gazed up at the stars, almost seeing her mother's face in their constellations. "Why did you leave me?" Twilight asked softly. Plop! A drop of water answered her, landing on her horn. Looking up, Twilight saw water dripping from the sail. Curious, Twilight exhaled slowly, and tried to mimic the movements Master Luna had used. "Inner... peace..." she tried to chant. Plop. A water droplet fell on her head. She tried to ignore it. "Inner... pea..." Plop! "Peace..." Plop! Twilight tried to breathe. Plop! "Inner... Peace!" she ground out. Plop! Twilight began to seethe. Plop! Shrieking, she punched the mast. Splash! A cascade of water soaked her to her bones. She tried to breathe, but... Plop! "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Twilight screehed, letting loose with a blast of magic that shred the sail in half. Twilight yelped and held back curses, trying to repair the damage. She just barely managed to get the sail clumsily sewn back together when... "You showed that mast who's boss, didn't ya?" Twilight nearly fell into the water. Standing perched on top of the repaired sail, her eyes glinting in amusement, was Rainbow Dash. "Agh, Master Rainbow Dash..." Twilight stammered. "I..." Rainbow scoffed. "C'mon, Twi. How long have we been training together?" She jumped down and assumed a combat stance. "If you wanted to train, you should've just asked." "Um... okay," Twilight admitted. Rearing her fist back, she struck, only for Rainbow to counter with her own palm. Twilight's fist struck Rainbow's palm... and Twilight fell back with a shriek of pain. "What in Celestia's name...?" Twilight stammered as Rainbow held back a giggle. "I think I almost preferred the mast." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Sorry about that," she admitted, rubbing her challused palm. "I used to punch the ironwood trees by the palace to train." She flexed her fingers. "Now, I feel nothing," she added with a cocky grin. Twilight gasped in glee. "Dulled nerve points to increase strength and and durability." She giggled herself. "That's severely cool." Dash's eyes glinted, and her smile became warmer. She reassumed her combat stance. "Wanna go again?" Leaping back to her feet, Twilight proceeded to spar with Dash, this time careful not to put her full force into every punch. "So, how long did it take to dull your nerves?" Twilight asked as they sparred. "I remember nerve damage usually repairs itself within six to twelve weeks, so the damage..." "Twenty years," Dash replied, catching Twilight's fist. Twilight tilted her head. "It took me twenty years to get hands of steel." Twilight shuddered. "I don't suppose there's a faster way to get the perks of that kind of training, is there?" "Nope," Rainbow Dash replied, moving in for her own attack. "Besides that..." She caught Twilight with a trip, flinging her to her back. "Hard style ain't exactly 'your' style." Twilight shrugged. "Eh," she admitted, shifting her back to the mast, while Rainbow Dash knelt. "Twilight," she said. "Why're you really out here?" The concern in her friend's voice dropped Twilight's defenses, and she sighed. "When we fought the changelings that other day," she confessed. "I had a vision of my mom leaving me as a baby. I asked Spike about it... and I found out... he wasn't my real brother." Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow. "The dragon wasn't really your brother?" she clarified. Twilight rolled her eyes at Rainbow Dash's sarcasm. "I mean... I knew I was adopted," she said, before her head lowered. "I just didn't think my mom would abandon me in some scroll crate." She sighed, curling into a fetal position. "I just... wish I was like you. A warrior! Nerves of steel. Souls of Platinum." She looked down at her fist. "So hardcore I didn't have to feel anything." Rainbow's eyes softened. "Twilight..." she tried to say, before the boat's interior opened, and Tai Lung came out. For a moment, the snow leopard and the purple mare stared at each other, Twilight's eyes briefly flashing in fear. But Tai Lung's gaze was softer. And she relaxed as the snow leopard leaned against the mast. "I was abandoned too," Tai Lung noted, looking down at his claws. "Torn from my life and left without reason." He glanced back at Twilight. "You know what I say, Celestial Warrior?" Twilight gazed up at him as the others walked out with him. "I say that it doesn't matter who brought you into this world." His eyes looked up at Luna's beloved moon. "It matters who was there for you. Who raised you and loved you as their own." He looked back down. "Master Luna is my mother. And the dragon is your brother. They cared about us and loved us, and they deserve to be recognized for what they did for us. Never doubt that." Twilight nodded, the weight on her heart lifting by a fraction. But then... "I dunno," Pinkie noted. "Shouldn't we be worried about Twilight's actual father showing up. Like..." She gasped. "What if Sombra's her dad!" Rarity gasped. "Pinkie!" she scolded. "Don't be so scandalous!" "But seriously," Pinkie noted as Twilight and Tai Lung shook their heads. "What if we're fighting, and Sombra is like, 'Luna never told you about your father!' And Twilight's like, 'She told me you killed him - or at least..." She paused. "Guys," Rainbow Dash said. "And then he's like, 'No, I am your father!'" Pinkie continued. "And..." "Pinkie!" Twilight called, snapping the pink mare out of her rambling. "We're here." The group turned, as their destination came into view, framed by the rising sun. "The Crystal Empire," Tai Lung breathed. As Sombra climbed the flights of stairs leading up to the palace, he watched as the changelings tore down any semblence to the Kung Fu Masters or his traitorous parents before hand. Behind him, two large yaks struggled to pull his cannon up the stairs. The cannon that had ended Big Macintosh's life. Eventually, he reached his father's throne room, thankfully cleared of banners and tapestries depiciting the previous kings. Zecora sat nearby, kneeling and tending to a stone bowl. But Sombra had no time for the soothsayer. His focus was on... "My father's throne..." Sombra whispered, stepping up to the royal seat. "He used to let me play here beside him. Promising someday this throne... would be mine." His grip on the throne tightened. Rage flashed through his mind. His horn lit up with a strength spell, and he hurled the throne backward. Out the window and out of sight. A CRASH sounded a few moments later, followed by a BOOM as the yaks planted the cannon where the throne had been. Sombra grimaced at the cannon's placement. "A little to the left," he ordered. "But Master," one of the yaks moaned. "Weapon is heavy!" "Thirty years, I've waited for this moment," Sombra growled, a dark aura around him putting fear into the yak's hearts. "Everything must be exactly as I envisioned it! Do you wish your fate to be the same as your prince and father?" The yaks shook their heads in unison. "Then put it a little to the left!" Sombra hissed. Immediately the yaks moved the weapon. Sombra grinned as his aura vanished and he spun from them. "Perfect," he declared. "With the weapon by my..." But when he looked back, he grimaced again. "Oh, a little bit more." The yaks groaned and huffed, but nudged the weapon until Sombra was satisfied. "Much better," Sombra praised before looking back to the front. "With the weapon by my side," he declared proudly. "All of Equestria will bow before me! We move out in three days when the moon is full, and the tide is high." He chuckled darkly before turning to the Soothsayer. She hadn't even regarded him with any glares or even seemed to notice he was there. She just sat on her knees on a stripped rug, sipping tea and burning incense. "Now, you old horse," Sombra mocked. "Why don't you tell me my..." "Fortune?" Zecora asked with a grin. "Just when I thought you were done." Sombra snorted. "Future," he snapped. "I was going to say future." He stepped down the stairs towards her. "Look into your bowl. And tell me what glory awaits." Zecora set her tea down and gazed into her bowl, swishing it around as she discerned the events of the future. "If you continue your lack of cares," Zecora mumbled mystically, drawing Sombra closer. "You will find yourself..." She grinned. "At the bottom of the stairs." Sombra stopped. But, looking down, he found he had already reached the bottom of the stairs. He rolled his eyes. "Clever," he admitted. "But be serious." He drew even closer. "What do you see?" "Hm..." Zecora hummed, peering into her bowl. "I see, in your timely reign... I see... pain!" Quick as a flash, she tore a clump of hair from his mane. "OW!" Sombra bellowed, turning away as she seized his cape. "Then rage," Zecora quipped, before biting into his cloak and tearing off a clump. "How dare you!" Sombra snarled, ripping his cloak from her mouth. "That is the finest silk in the valley!" "Denial takes the stage," Zecora quipped, putting both the silk and hair in her bowl. "And this is not fortune telling," Sombra grumbled before he could stop himself. "You're just saying whats happening right..." "Now?" The zebra grinned up at Sombra, who quivered in suppressed rage before turning away with a grumble. Smiling, Zecora pulled out a small handful of blue powder from one of her pouches. "The most important time is now," she said, even as Sombra refused to turn to her. She rolled her eyes. "But if your really wish to see the future..." Zecora threw in the powder into the bowl causing it to explode and causing smoke to form in heavy amounts. Sombra turned around, gazing at the smoke in awe. "What do you see?" he whispered, curiously. The smoke formed into the shape of a unicorn. "A Crystal Pony of strongest might..." Zecora mumbled. "Is defeated by a warrior of Day and Night." The crystal pony's smoke swirled into a yin-yang symbol, with the sun and moon dotting the shape. "Your soul for power, you may have exchanged," Zecora added. "Yet nothing has changed." The yaks backed up at the fury growing in Sombra's eyes. His horn flared with magic, and he blasted the Soothsayer's bowl, shattering it and scattering the smoke to the outside. Sombra chuckled, though his chuckle was cracked and strained. "That's impossible," he seethed, struggling to sound prideful. "And you know it!" "Once again, you sink into denial's pit," Zecora replied coyly. "It is not impossible, and she knows it." Sombra paused. "She?" he asked. Zecora pointed to the staircase, just as Queen Chrysalis raced into the throne room. "Lord Sombra!" Chrysalis yelled. "A warrior named Twilight..." Before she could finish, a beam of magic smashed her agains the wall. Sombra stomped towards her as his spell lifted her off the ground, crushing into her neck as she gagged and squirmed. "If this is your idea of a joke," Sombra growled, his anger making his dark aura glow again. "I do not find it humerous at all!" "But my king... It's true," Chrysalis choked out. "She's a unicorn... a master of magic and Kung-Fu. She's the Celestial Warrior..." She gagged and coughed. "She fought my children like a demon!" Sombra snarled and threw her to the ground, turning away to hide the fear in his eyes. "It can't be..." he muttered. "I killed the Twilight warrior. I saw her die!" Zecora gave the coughing changeling queen a measured look before kneeling and tending to her. "She merely speaks the truth," Zecora noted, glancing at Sombra coyly again. "Your denial belongs with a filly's youth." Sombra growled, his dark aura bubbling up again, before he turned back to them. Zecora wisely moved away from Chrysalis as she was yanked up by the frill. "Up, Chrysalis," Sombra snarled. "I want you and your hidious spawn partolling my empire at all hours. Find this 'Celestial Warrior' and bring her to me!" "Yes, master," Chrysalis choked out before he practically threw her down the stairs. Her crashes and yelps of pain sounded long after Sombra had turned back to Zecora, smoothing his features out to appear undisturbed. "So, some filly's parents were stupid enough to give their child that cursed name," Sombra spat. "It doesn't make you right." "Your right," Zecora replied, her grin not wavering. "Being right makes me right." Sombra turned from her. "Then I will kill her," he replied, grinning at the thought. "And make you wrong." Chomp! Rather than replying, Zecora had gone back to eating Sombra's silk robe. "WILL YOU STOP THAT!?" he barked, yanking his cloak away from the snickering zebra. Meanwhile, at the Crystal Empire docks, the masters of Kung Fu abandoned their boat and climbed to the roof of the dock house. The castle stood before them, with the entire Empire between them and the castle. "The Castle," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "That's gotta be where Sombra is holed up." "Of course he'd be holed up in there," Rarity noted. "It's only the most glamourous castle in Equestria." "Then let's blow up the entrance with my party cannon," Pinkie offered. "And say, 'We are the Celestial Warrior, the redeemed Tai Lung and the Furious..." She glanced at Applejack's absence before seeing Urtica. "Five!" she concluded. "'And we are here to bring you to justice!'" Tai Lung cracked his knuckles. "I approve of this plan!" he said. "Especially when we smash Sombra's face in." He turned to lunge into the streets, only for Twilight, Rarity, and even Urtica to pull him back with their magic. "Tai, that's not going to work," Urtica insisted. "This place is crawling with changelings!" The others took another look before Urtica flared her horn and gave them a vision spell. With a gasp, they noticed several ponies covered in a green aura; changelings, hidden amongst the real ponies. Except for one. A large, familiar changelings that strode bitterly through the masses. Pinkie's ears perked. "Hey," she noted. "That's the meanie-mean-mean-pants that blasted us." Twilight's eyes narrowed at the sight of Chrysalis. "Queen Chrysalis," she grumbled. However, as the others nodded with glowering expressions, Urtica's expression became one of fear. She turned away, hyperventilating. Tai Lung noticed her despair, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to him. "Urtica?" Tai asked in concern. "What is it?" "She..." Urtica pointed to Chrysalis. "That..." She held Tai Lung close, her horn glowing as his solid emotions steadied her. "That's no ordinary changeling. That's a Royal Changeling!" The other mares gasped in shock, but Tai shot them a dark look before pressing his head to Urtica's. "Stay calm," he assured her. "Breathe, and think about when we first met." As she began to slow her breathing, Twilight gave Chrysalis another look. "I've read about Royal Changelings," Twilight whispered. "No wonder she was able to beat us like that." She turned to the others. "Royal Changelings are supposed to be twice as powerful as normal drones. It's why they're in charge." "How powerful?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Normally," Urtica said in a calmer voice. "Changelings can only shift when they read a pony's mind and turn into the one they love most." Urtica nodded at Chrysalis. "Royal Changelings can turn into anything with only a thought. And whatever they shift into? All the abilities and skills of whatever they change into are theirs to command." Rarity blinked before peering at Urtica. "And how do you know this?" she asked. "Are you one of the drones?" Urtica hung her head, but a look from Tai Lung steadied her nerves. "I'm a royal," she confessed, gazing down at Chrysalis. "I'm the daughter of Queen Chrysalis. And technically the next heir to the Hive."