//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: A Call For Help // Story: To Equestria And Beyond (Rewrite In Progress) // by NightFurySpeedey8156 //------------------------------// Yawn. "Oh wow, I never had such a good sleep." Night Fury said to himself as he woke up in a comfortable bed. He almost felt a little spoiled that he had this nice room that was larger than his old home. It was only a couple weeks after his "Welcome to Ponyville" party and Ponyville's newest resident was enjoying his new environment. It was here he made some new friends including a cross eyed pegasus and a conspiracy nutjob unicorn who believed in mysterious tan bipeds. He settled into his new villa, looked at dragons flying near Ponyville, and heard the Mane Six as others called them tell stories of their quests like defeating some snake of chaos. It was a great time. And yet while he enjoyed this time he felt as if there was something missing in his life. He questioned what he could do next for himself and wanted to see what career he could pursue for his foreseeable future, but before he could come to a verdict, a frantic knocking came to his ears. "Huh, I wonder who that could be?" He questioned as he sped downstairs and opened the door to see a rather frazzled Twilight standing at his doorstep. "Night Fury!" She called, practically fidgeting in place, taking heavy breaths. She looked like she had a real problem on her hooves. "Whoa, Twilight, calm down! You look like you've seen the end of the world. Just tell me what happened." Night Fury replied "It might as well be the end of the world! Princess Celestia wants to see both of us in Canterlot right away and I'm not even ready! It's about some national incident I heard." Twilight said, holding a hoof to her head in worry, Night Fury could see that she was distressed and was willing to help her, but he was also worried to find out what the princess wanted from them. National incident? I hope this isn't about some problems with me. So he took a deep breath, and took the news as calmly as he could. "Look, Twilight, I'm sure everything will be fine. Celestia's pretty chill after all. We can both handle this. I'll meet you in Canterlot and we'll sort this out together," he said reassuring her. "Thanks," Twilight smiled. "No problem," Night Fury said. Night Fury then raced off to get to Canterlot, until Twilight called to him. "But how are you gonna get there? You can't fly or teleport, what are you going to do?" She asked, with a worried tone. Night Fury simply smirked. "Hello, I have super speed, remember? This will be a piece of cake!" Fury recalled, Twilight remembered back to the wedding when he used his special powers to rush to Cadence and Shining Armor's wedding. "Oh right! In that case, I'll see you there!" Twilight said as the both set off for Canterlot. Luckily Ponyville is quite close to Canterlot. He decided to hurry up by jumping in front of the parked train and then sped up as fast as he could to get to Canterlot. The train conductor wasn't quite sure what he saw with that burst of energy. A few minutes later… After sprinting, Night Fury finally made it to the big double doors leading to the throne room. "That was exhausting." Fury said. Part of him wishes he would have taken the train instead. Using that power can be quite exhausting which was why he was slept in so late. He then saw Twilight running to the grand building. He decided to play it cool not wanting her to worry. "Twilight, you made it- Wait, why do you look like you're packed for a written test?" he said with a chuckle. "That's because I did, Princess Celestia said that we would be put up to some kind of test! So I packed as much knowledge and writing utensils as I could." Twilight responded with complete seriousness in an exhausted huff. I was joking about it being a test, sheesh. Night Fury said in his mind. But deep down despite his outward levity, inside Night Fury was now feeling almost nervous as Twilight. He didn't know he would be testing for something, or else he would have packed something as well! And it also felt strange that only weeks after they first met, Princess Celestia would be testing him on what he knew. He wasn't much good with tests after all, especially when he was a cub. This thought didn't last long as Twilight had opened the double doors and walked in, Night Fury sped up his pace to catch up with her and slowed down once he was shoulder to shoulder with her. He could see that Luna was standing next to her sister as they were walking in, so he flashed a quick smile and gave her a wink. Although she rolled her eyes, she also smiled at the gesture and gave him a small wave. Once they had stopped walking, Twilight began to speak frantically. "We're here! I packed all the books I could carry and some extra paper to show my work!" she said accidentally letting a room size scroll roll to Celestia's hooves. "Sorry sorry!" She squeaked. "Maybe I needed an even longer scroll." Fury facepalmed at this. Even as an outsider he knew this was probably something different than what Twilight thought it was going to be. "Oh, do not worry, this is a different kind of test." Celestia said, placing the long scroll back into Twilight's saddlebag with her magic before taking a breath. "The Crystal Empire has returned." She said standing tall. Twilight was confused seeing she never saw it in the literature she had read. Meanwhile, Night Fury stood there confused, he thought he had heard that name before. Where have I heard that name before? I think the elders told me of a long lost jewel city that just disappeared. I forgot the details though. His curiosity was now burning. "I'm sorry, was I supposed to know what this was? I never read it." Twilight said worried. "I thought I heard it but I kind of forgot this story." Fury said. "Well don't feel bad," Celestia reassured them. "No one in your generation would have known. It was a very long time ago. It would have been destroyed before even your grandparents' time." Celestia took out a purple crystal from a pedestal and placed it on the floor. She shot a beam of magic at it, displaying a hologram of this weird land called the Crystal Empire. Night Fury was amazed at how alicorn magic could achieve such outstanding feats. "Wow, now that is amazing. I've heard songs about this place from when I was a cub, but I've never seen it before. Our ancestors used to trade with them." He said in awe, the princesses gave a smile at how Night Fury was taking in the new culture of Equestria. Celestia began speaking. "But what I do know is that it contained a powerful magic. 1,000 years ago, King Sombra, a unicorn who's heart was black as night, took over the Crystal Empire. He was ultimately overthrown, turned to shadow, and banished to the ice of the arctic north, but not before he was able to put a curse on the empire, a curse that caused it to vanish into thin air. If the empire is filled with hope and love, those things are reflected across all of Equestria," She spoke, hitting the crystal with a beam of light magic. It projected a rainbow of light across the room. Night Fury and Twilight were amazed by the lights, but the princesses were not done. "But, if hatred and fear were to take hold..." Luna added, charging her own spell. Lighting her horn a harsh black, she shot it at the crystal, causing it to emit a dark shadow from it, forming giant black crystals around Night Fury and Twilight. Celestia then reverted the spell with her own magic, blasting a blinding golden light into the crystals, making them disintegrate before floating to the ground and speaking again. "Which is why we need your help finding a way to protect it." She said with a desperate tone, Night Fury and Twilight looked at each other in surprise and worry, now that they knew what they had to do. "You want our help to protect an entire empire?" Twilight said, her mentor giving a nod. "Um actually, Princess, with all due respect, I don't think I'm cut out for this," he explained unusually with no optimism. "You see I might be able to go high speed but it definitely costs my body a lot. There's a reason I only used my running as a last resort to escape with your niece's cake. And it probably explains why I slept in so much. I don't think I would be useful in real combat if this dark force you are talking about is really that powerful." Luna and Twilight were both a bit surprised. Fury always seemed to have a certain calm to him. But for the first time they saw fear in his eyes. It was almost as if he had fought before. And from how nervous he looked, he probably lost. Princess Celestia walked over to the pedestal and returned the crystal, speaking to the pair in the process. And gave words of wisdom. "It is, as I said, a different kind of test. One for Twilight, to see how far she has come as my pupil. And one for you too, Night Fury, to see if you can prove that you can hold yourself to your oath and protect Equestria from danger. And I am certain this is a test I know you both will pass." "What but I just said that I would probably lose!" Fury was about to say. Celestia specified, "I know you are not experienced in the ways of battle. Yet. But you have wit, and are able to pull through even when others would have given up. Use your mind, young feline. And remember that you now have friends to help you." Celestia said with pride, Twilight gave a glance to Night Fury's expression and while he looked a little less panicky, she could also see that he was bearing a look that said... "This may be the most jarring thing that I've ever faced. I'll try but I'm still not sure if I can do this." Before Celestia could say anything, Luna came near Night Fury. Luna saw his worried look and draped one of her wings over him. Looking up, Night Fury saw that she was trying to reassure him of his chances of victory. "Come now? Is that the face of someone who defied two princesses just for a midnight snack?" Luna's dark blue eyes looked into his own. "You are Night Fury! A great Speed Shifter! You will have obstacles, but I know you will overcome them." Night Fury immediately understood her demeanor and gave her a more confident smile in response, making her smile a little. "Yeah, what was I thinking? You're right Luna. This sneaky predator is not going to be bested by that ball of gas! I swear it in my honor as a Speed Shifter!" Fury said with confidence. "I've been through worse anyway," Fury chuckled. "But if you think I can do it, then it's at least worth trying. And besides," he went back to his cheeky smile. "Who wouldn't wanna see a gemstone encrusted kingdom?!" "That would be quite amazing to see." Twilight said with a bit more optimism. Celestia smiled at their resolve although they still looked a little nervous but that's natural. "So where do we begin?" They both said with pride. "By joining Princess Cadence and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire." Celestia replied, Twilight's face lit up with joy upon hearing that her brother was at the Crystal Empire as she, Night Fury, and Luna joined her mentor in walking out of the throne "My brother is there?" "Cadence is at that place? I just can't escape her, can I?" he joked. "They are, and your Ponyville friends will meet you there as well. I have every confidence you two will succeed, and when you do, I'll know that you are ready to move on to the next level of your studies and training." Twilight then started to question what if everything didn't go as planned, thinking about what would happen if she failed to pass this "test" that Celestia had given her. "But what if I fail?" She asked, looking distressed as she continued to think about her chances of failing. "You won't" "But what if-" Twilight stammered, stopping as her mentor placed a hoof on her side, giving a reassuring look to her. "You won't, and neither will Night Fury." Celestia said with a more prideful voice, Twilight gave a look to Night Fury, him flashing a wink at her to somewhat help her regain her confidence. "But Twilight, in the end, it must be you, and you alone, who ultimately assists Princess Cadence and Shining Armor in doing what needs to be done to protect the empire, do you understand?" Celestia asked, Twilight's face was blank for a second, before gaining a confident smile along with Night Fury as they both understood what they had to do. "Then go, there is no time to lose." Celestia said, Twilight then gave a look to Night Fury and spoke to him. "Head straight for the Crystal Empire, me and the others will meet with you there!" Twilight said, Night Fury giving her a nod. Twilight ran off to the train station with Night Fury turning to do the same, but he stopped for a moment and gave the two sisters a wink. "Don't worry, I won't let you two down." He said as he powered up and sped off for the Crystal Empire. Half an hour later… Night Fury was racing through the snowstorm as fast as he could to get to the Crystal Empire, but he had never expected the weather to be this bad. "Wow, the weather is worse than I thought, better turn up the speed if I want to make it!" He thought to himself as he sped up and pushed through more snow. After a while, He could see silhouettes of ponies in the distance that he knew all too well. "Those must be the girls! Twilight, I'm over here!" He shouted, attempting to get his friends' attention, he was fortunately successful as Twilight saw two red eyes coming towards her, eventually seeing the entirety of Night Fury as he appeared out of the pounding snow storm. "Night Fury, I'm so glad you're ok!" "Of course I'm ok, I wouldn't be who I am if I couldn't handle a little snow!" Fury replied, Suddenly there was a sound that he didn't recognize, it sounded like a mix between a wolf howling and a screeching bat. Then, a black cloud formed behind them, it grew red reptile eyes as it peered down towards them, maniacally laughing as it grew bigger and closer. Shining Armor lit his horn, ready to fight. "Everypony run, head towards the giant dome!" Shining armor yelled commandingly, everypony started running to get to safety, their legs pounding under them as they willed themselves to go faster. Night Fury started to run faster than everypony, as his powers started to kick in to save him from kicking the bucket. He then saw a glowing dome ahead of him, getting brighter and brighter as he got closer, he could also notice that he couldn't see his friends anymore, their images being lost in the blizzard. "Ok, I'll go inside and wait for them, wouldn't want to leave them confused on where I am or if I even made it." Fury said to himself, running through the dome's barrier and digging his paws into the now grassy terrain that surrounded the empire. He took the time he had to take in his surroundings before looking at the crown jewel of the Crystal Empire, The Crystal Castle, he was amazed at how beautiful the castle glistened before him. "Wow, this Empire is amazing, I can't imagine how devastating it must have been for such a majestic place to disappear into thin air." He said, calling back to when Princess Celestia told him and Twilight about when King Sombra made it disappear 1000 years ago. Before he could say anything else, his friends and Shining Armor ran through the dome, panting trying to catch their breath after running for so long. Fury noticed that Shining Armor's horn was covered in black crystal, he tried to cast a spell, but it failed as the crystals blocked his magic from being casted. "Is everypony ok?" "Yeah, fine." Shining Armor said. Twilight said, her friends nodding in agreement. "Was that King Sombra?" "Yes, he's here to take back the crystal heart and rule over Equestria with an iron hoof." Shining Armor said sternly, the others looked at each other worried, knowing that they had to do whatever it took to protect the empire. "Well, we better get moving, wouldn't want to waste the only chance we have." Night Fury said, starting to walk with his friends towards the Crystal Castle. A few minutes later… They entered the throne room to which they saw Cadence sitting atop her crystal throne, her horn glowing a bright teal. Twilight grew a wide smile as she trotted towards the alicorn, feeling as happy as can be. "Cadence!" She called, proceeding to get closer to the throne, Cadence looked up and smiled as she saw her sister-in-law and trotted down from her throne to see her, Night Fury was smiling all the while as the two grinned from ear to ear seeing how happy they were to see each other, his smile quickly turned to concern as they began dancing in the most odd way. "Sunshine Sunshine, Ladybugs awake, Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" They sang as they giggled like they had never had before, Night Fury was perplexed by the strange sight and leaned over to Rarity to hopefully find an answer. "Uh Rarity, what in Equestria just happened?" he whispered. "It's their secret greeting, darling. Ever since Cadence was young Twilight's foalsitter and they still do it," Rarity replied with a giggle. Fury was a little surprised at seeing Twilight, normally so professional and businesslike, was willing to act like a filly again. He realized there was more to this young mare than he once thought. It was cheesy but kind of cute. He stepped out to greet his friend. "Cadence, good to see you again!" He said, hugging the mare. "It's good to see you too, Night Fury. I trust you had a pleasant time with your new friends?" Cadence asked, returning the gesture. "I would not trade it for all the fish in the world." Then concluding the embrace after a few seconds, that's when Night Fury could see that Cadence looked awful. "Are you okay Cadence, you look a bit worse for wear." Fury said with concern, before Cadence could reply, her husband decided to speak up. "Cadence has been able to use her magic to spread love and light, that seems to be what is protecting the empire. But she hasn't slept, and barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra." Everypony in the room fell silent, the thought that Cadence was doing all this to protect the empire scared them beyond belief, even more so for Twilight. "It's ok Shining Armor, I'm fine." "She's not fine, she can't go on like this forever. And if her magic were to fade, well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen." Shining Armor said sternly, Twilight could understand the dire situation of it all, giving the couple a caring smile. "That's why we're here." Twilight said. "Why we're all here." Night Fury added, stepping forward with his friends by his side. "Well, with Cadence putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, and me trying to look out for signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the crystal ponies. But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the empire, without using Cadence's magic." Shining Armor said, Twilight took a moment to think before coming up with an Idea. "A research paper!" She said with pride, everypony looked at Twilight, confused on what she meant. "This must be part of our test, to gather information from the crystal ponies and deliver it to you! This is going to be great, I love research papers!" She said. "Yeah... Who doesn't." Rainbow Dash said jokingly, giving Night Fury a nudge, Night Fury chuckled at the joke as the thought of how many ponies would hate research papers, including him. "Don't worry big brother, I am REALLY good at this sort of thing." She said with a grin. "C'mon everypony, Let's go save the empire!" She added, running out the main door, Night Fury held back for a second to give Cadence some encouraging words. "Don't worry Cadence, just hold in there a little bit, we'll make sure that the Crystal Empire lives to see another day." He said, giving her a wink as he raced off after his friends, Cadence smiled at how confident Night Fury was in helping them save the empire and turned to her husband. "Do you think he's gonna accomplish big things, honey?" she said. "I wouldn't doubt it for a second," Shining Armor replied, hugging his wife to show his support.