//------------------------------//
// S6 E2: The Crystalling, Part 2 (What If?) 
// Story: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?: Volume 13 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer had both found themselves facing unexpected problems in the Crystal Empire, and both were now currently wondering just how things had gotten to this point.

Starlight had already been uncomfortable and ill at ease just living in the same castle as Twilight and Spike, which was made worse by her difficulty in finding places like the castle's library or the throne room. "I am never gonna find my way around this place!" She'd complained aloud at one point.

Spike was around to hear such an outburst and speculated that his new "big sister" was worried about other things. And he soon learned what they were when Starlight told him in no uncertain terms. "Me being a student to the very pony who could've had me arrested for my crimes. It doesn't feel right."

Spike had tried his best to cheer up Starlight up by reassuring her. "Twilight saw potential in you, and that's not something she sees in just anypony," Then he suggested to her. "Why not speak up? I'm sure Twilight would understand."

But Starlight had ruled it out by saying. "I don't wanna seem ungrateful."

So it was that the unicorn kept her unhappiness to herself when she learned what Twilight was going to have her do for her first friendship lesson. "Shining Armor's a father! I'm an aunt!" She announced one day after getting an invitation, and that meant she and all her friends would be going to the Crystal Empire. "Since there's no way I'm missing a chance to see my new nephew or niece and everypony else is gonna be coming along, you're going too. Your first friendship lesson will be reuniting with Sunburst, your old friend."

Except upon arriving in the Crystal Empire, Twilight learned from Shining Armor of some very unexpected and troubling developments. "The baby's caused some... problems. Problems we weren't expecting." He'd explained in a frazzled state.

But Spike volunteered to keep the lesson on track in Twilight's absence. "All Starlight and I have to do is follow your lesson plan," He told Twilight while picking up the scroll that contained said plan. "It can't hurt to at least try."

So Spike and Starlight went off to find Sunburst's house, while Twilight and the others went to see the baby. And a major shock greeted them when they finally saw the filly for the first time. "My new niece is an alicorn?!" Twilight had exclaimed upon seeing wings and a horn!

"She could be a super-strong flyer and have crazy baby magic?!" Pinkie Pie had nervously proclaimed.

And it was then all learned about it was that had given the crystal couple so much trouble, and why they had been summoned to the empire. "This new alicorn's magic has proven to be highly unstable and unpredictable. And it is because of that great power that the Crystal Heart has been broken." Princess Celestia had explained to everyone.

Shining Armor had then explained. "Even with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna using their own alicorn magic, they've only just barely been able to hold off the Frozen North. Eventually, even their magic will no longer be effective."

Twilight tried to take charge of the situation by declaring. "I'll bet that somewhere in the library is a spell that can put the Crystal Heart back together!" Yet before she could put her plan into action, her niece had teleported away due to a surge in magic!

While all that was going on, Starlight and Spike had made their way to Sunburst's house only for Sunburst to quickly greet them and then shoo them away. "I'm really busy with lots of, uh, wi-wizarding... stuff." He'd told them upon answering the door.

But Spike was determined not to let Starlight give up on the friendship lesson so easily. "You have to at least explain yourself to him and let him know what Twilight wants!" Which is what led him to knock on the door again, more or less forcing Starlight to greet Sunburst.

Yet through all of these developments, neither Twilight or Starlight had any confidence that they could handle the situations they'd found themselves in. Twilight didn't know where her niece could've teleported off to, and Starlight wasn't sure how she was supposed to talk to Sunburst without bringing up her troubled past.

And while these problems were going on, the blizzards were growing worse and the Crystal Empire continued to be in danger! Time was running out!



"Oh this is bad! This is bad! This is so very, very bad!" Twilight declared while taking several deep breaths! "The baby just had to get a magical flare up now of all times!"

"We need to find her, now!" Princess Cadence spoke up with the most serious look anyone had ever seen on her face! "I'm not gonna be able to rest until I know my daughter is safe and sound."

Shining Armor nodded in support of his wife. "Everypony spread out and start searching! Leave no stone unturned!"

The ponies did so, breaking off into small groups to look for the infant alicorn. All hoped she was still somewhere within the castle and hadn't teleported to somewhere far away.

The search hadn't been going on for very long though when Pinkie Pie happened to pick up the sound of something. "Hey, you hear that?" She asked Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Hear what, Pinkie?" Fluttershy questioned.

"I guess my babysitting experiences with the Cake Twins haven't left me after all," Pinkie explained as the pink party pony put a hoof to her ear. "I can hear the faint sound of laughter, and it's coming from just down the hallway."

Rarity quickly realized what was covered by that location! "The throne room! Of course! There's a good chance the little one would be familiar with that place since it would be where her parents are if they aren't tending to her. At least, I would assume that's the case."

Fluttershy then encouraged. "We'd better hurry and catch her before she gets another magic surge. This is costing us valuable time Twilight could be spending trying to find a spell to fix the Crystal Heart."

So the trio of ponies raced down the hallway, turning sharply into the throne room where sure enough the baby alicorn was. She happily flew around the room between the throne her mom occupied and the doorway without a care in the world.

"Look at her," Rarity couldn't help but snort. "Does she think this is a game or something?"

"She's a baby, she doesn't fully understand things. All she knows is that nopony's paying attention to her," Fluttershy pointed out. "Besides, she can't help it if she gets surges. Her being an alicorn probably makes the surges ten times worse. We may have to find a way to get them under control when this is over."

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, had crept close to the little filly and gentle reached out a hoof to grab her. "Now now," She tried to reassure the little one. "You don't need to worry yourself. You're in good hooves with your Auntie Pinkie Pie," Gently rocking the foal back and forth she cooed. "Let's get you back to your nursery before you make your mommy and daddy worry even more."





While these chaotic developments were unfolding, miles away at Sunburst's house things were not much better. Sunburst had invited Spike and Starlight Glimmer in, but only once he'd been told what the reason for their visit is. He was now currently sitting at a table with Starlight as the only thing separating the two unicorns was a tea kettle (containing freshly brewed tea) and two small tea cups.

Sunburst carefully adjusted his cape and his glasses while he tried to maintain eye contact with Starlight. "So, let me get this straight," He questioned her. "You're here because the princess of friendship wanted you to reconnect with me?"

Starlight nodded as she tried her best to hide how nervous she was. "More or less. I mean, it's pretty weird, right?"

Sunburst scratched his head in confusion. "I don't understand though, why would she want that? I didn't even know you'd become the princess' student until just now," Then he innocently inquired. "Unless, something happened to you after I left for magic school. Is that it? Did something happen to you, Starlight?"

"What?! No!" Starlight Glimmer protested, perhaps a bit too loudly as she unknowingly overfilled her tea cup with tea. "I mean, not anything that you'd wanna hear about, Mr. Big, Important Wizard."

The stallion slowly nodded. "Yup, that's me alright. So busy I didn't have time to respond to your letters. I'm pretty sure you tried to send me some at some point."

"I did, but when I never got a reply I figured you were too busy with your studies," Starlight waved a hoof and then sought to change the subject. "But enough about me, what about you?"

Sunburst gulped a bit. "Me?"

Starlight nodded. "Yes, you. Obviously, a lot must've happened to you since I saw you last. Did anything important happen to you after you left for magic school? Or anything at all for that matter? You know, besides you moving out here."

Sunburst appeared to suddenly stutter as he nervously answered. "What? Um, no. If there was, do you think I'd still be here?" And with a bit of a chuckle he declared. "Like you said, I'm a big, important wizard. And why would a wizard want to work in a place like this unless he needed the solitude to perfect his spells? Spells he most certainly has been working on."

"Oh, of course," Starlight nervously chuckled in reply. "How silly of me not to think about your needs with your new status. It's not easy being a wizard of any sort, let alone a big, important one."

And while the two unicorns were talking, Spike was desperately looking over the large and long scroll as he said to himself. "I'm sure there's something on Twilight's list that can help here. She's got to have anticipated every possible snag, she's just got to!"





Pinkie Pie brought the baby alicorn back to the royal nursery, much to the relief of everypony else when they eventually reconvened. "Babies just really like me for some reason, I guess." The pink party pony declared while setting the little one back down in her crib.

"See?" Twilight sought to reassure the worried crystal couple. "We can handle things just fine. So you two just focus on getting some rest now, and leave the rest to my friends and I."

"Fine, but only for a little bit," Princess Cadence reluctantly agreed. "Then Shining Armor and I are going to work ourselves to the bone if we have to to keep our daughter under control."

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna then prepared to leave as the elder of the two royal sisters instructed. "It might not be a bad idea to start preparing for the worst, an evacuation of the empire. Time is running out."

"We'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it," Shining Armor said with a yawn. "I've already got some details in place, and I'll think of more after I finally get some good sleep for a change."

Twilight then turned to her friends, instructing them. "Once Cadence and Shining Armor take over, one of you should go check in on Starlight and make sure she's okay. And be sure to let her know about the possibility of needing to evacuate so she can be ready."

Rainbow Dash gave a firm salute. "You leave that to me, Twilight! Wherever Starlight may be, I'll track her down no sweat. And in the meantime, I'll be ready in case the little one tries to fly away."

Rarity added. "And I'll do my best to prepare for any more possible magic surges. Let's just hope that teleportation spell has left her drained for a while."

Applejack then declared. "Sounds like we've all got a plan. So why doesn't everypony get goin' while there's still an empire to save?!"

"Applejack is right," Princess Luna stated in agreement as she unfolded her wings alongside Princess Celestia. "Come, my sister. Let's buy Twilight and the others as much as time as possible!"

"Best of luck to you all, and be careful!" Princess Celestia cautioned before she and Princess Luna left the castle, and took to the sky to try and combat the blizzards.

Twilight waited until she knew for sure Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were resting. Then after quickly checking the nursery to insure her friends had everything under control, she lit up her horn and teleported away to the library. She then set to work on what was a frantic search! "There has to be something that can help! The Crystal Heart is too important to the empire to stay shattered!" She thought to herself.





Things were not going any better back at Sunburst's house as the conversations between the two unicorns was going nowhere fast.

Spike was desperately pouring over the scroll in his possession, looking for anything that might help break the ice! "Come on! Come on!" He declared as the scroll had now been unfolded so much that it stretched all the way down to the ground and had even wrapped itself around him. "There's gotta be somethin'. Think, Spike, think! You know Twilight better than anyone, what would she do in this situation?"

In the meantime, Sunburst and Starlight had long since left the table (and the tea set). Sunburst was now seated upon a desk and had turned the chair around to face Starlight, all the while he hadn't taken off his robe (making it difficult but not impossible to see his cutie mark, which was exactly what Starlight remembered it being). "I know Princess Twilight was really keen on the two of us rekindling our friendship, but... it's been so long," He declared. "I doubt she could've anticipated this. And even if she did I don't see how anything on that list could help."

Starlight couldn't help but laugh. "I know, right? How silly would that be. After all, it's not like there's some spell or something that could just magically compel us to be friends again."

"Actually, it's funny you should mention that," Sunburst grinned as he lit up his horn, casting that warm yellow glow as he brought over several scrolls of his own. "Because there are spells that could do that. Lots of them, actually," He proceeded to list some of them off one by one. "There's: Mistmane's Material Amity, Rockhoof's Rapport, Flash Magnus' Fellow... ship... " Then he cleared his throat. "But I get the feeling a spell isn't what the princess was looking for."

"Yeah, definitely not. Magic can't solve everything." Starlight nervously laughed, hoping it didn't sound too nervous.

At that moment, Spike happened to spot something down at the very bottom of the scroll and declared aloud! "Aha! I knew there was something that could help!" He proceeded to read aloud. "'If all else fails, ask them both to share an embarrassing moment from their past, maybe even something they regret!' Sounds like a good idea to me."

But after a moment of silence Sunburst nervously commented while adjusting his glasses. "I don't see how that's supposed to help."

Starlight Glimmer nervously agreed. "Yeah, I was about to say the same thing!" And she then apologized. "Terribly sorry for wasting your time like this, Sunburst. Spike and I should just get out of your mane. It's pretty obvious this isn't going how Twilight hoped it would, and I'm sure that you still have plenty of important work to do around here."

Sunburst seemed to momentarily forget what Starlight was saying before quickly agreeing. "Oh! Right, yes, of course," He replied with a grin. "You know me, very busy. No rest for the wizardly, I'm afraid. Us big, important wizards have lots of things that need our attention," Then he added. "But it was nice to see you again, Starlight. For however brief it was."

"Same here," Starlight replied before turning to Spike. "Come on, Spike. Let's get out of here."

Spike groaned. "But Starlight-"

The unicorn mare refused to be persuaded otherwise, and she used her magic to drag the little dragon away and slam the door to Sunburst's house shut behind her. It was clear that he housed no interest in resuming their long abandoned friendship, so why should she force herself to keep trying?





Once outside and far away from Sunburst, Starlight loosened her magical grip on Spike and apologized to him. "Sorry about that, Spike. But there's no way I was about to tell Sunburst about my past. If he knew everything, he most certainly wouldn't wanna be friends with me. And I wouldn't blame him for doing so," She then unhappily sighed. "Besides, he pretty much forgot all about me. He got to be that big, important wizard he always dreamed of being. And meanwhile, I'm a pony who should be rotting away in a dungeon somewhere."

"Come on, that's crazy talk!" Spike protested! "So things didn't work out the way you wanted them to? You can't just give up!" He then looked down at the scroll. "Honestly, we were better off without this lesson plan. Twilight may not be wrong when it comes to friendship, but even she can get lost in the details sometimes." He promptly burned up the scroll, reducing it to ash.

Starlight wasn't so convinced. "It's not the list, Spike. Or you. Or Twilight. Or anyone else for that matter. I'm the one that Sunburst doesn't want to be friends with."

Spike scratched his head with a claw. "Really? I don't remember him ever saying that."

"He didn't have to say it, Spike. It was obvious just from the way he was acting." Starlight glumly replied.

The little dragon quickly proclaimed! "Hey, I told you before that if Twilight thinks you're worth being friends with then so do I! I can't let you give up on yourself so easily!"

"That's easy for you to say, you didn't see how horrible I was to the ponies in my old village. Or how horrible I was to Twilight and her friends when they came to said village and exposed me," Starlight frowned with a shake of her head. "Just thinking back to the pony I used to be gives me nightmares. How can Twilight and the others trust me so easily after all I've done? For all they know, I could've been faking my change of heart all this time."

Spike immediately sought to protest! "But if that was the case you wouldn't care about any of this right now," And then he shivered. "And you wouldn't care about how it seems to have gotten even colder out here than it was when we arrived at Sunburst's place."

Starlight nervously commented. "Yeah, I've noticed that too. It's got to be connected to the problems Twilight and her friends are facing with the new baby," Then she got an idea! "I know! I'll help them solve... whatever is that they need help with that! Then I'll feel a whole lot better, I'll finally know for sure I've changed! And Sunburst will surely take notice and start to open up, and I won't have to disclose my past to him to do so. Oh, it's such a brilliant plant!"

Spike wasn't so sure. "I don't know if that's what Twilight had in mind for all of this, Starlight. I think what she would want most is for you to continue to try your luck with Sunburst. Just be honest with him. Wizard or not, there's no way he'll just shut you out if he learns what happened to you."

But the unicorn mare had already made up her mind! "Come on, Spike! We need to find Twilight and find out what's going on with this cold! Then we'll figure out how to solve it!" And she raced away with a renewed vigor in her eyes, in part because she was no longer worried about Sunburst or what he would think of her because of her past.

The little dragon could only sigh. "She really is just like Twilight, so headstrong and sure of herself. Just my luck."





Back at the Crystal Castle and inside the royal nursery, five mares kept a careful watch over the young alicorn foal while they could only occasionally glance out the nursery window to see the battle going on. A losing battle for the royal sisters even as they tried valiantly to hold back the Frozen North's harsh blizzards of blinding snow and bitter cold winds.

The two alicorns concentrated their magical energies, firing off blasts from their horns as much as possible and as fast as they possibly could! Yet it seemed like no matter how many clouds they successfully dispersed, more clouds took their place and filled up the sky.

And to make matters worse, the royal sisters were themselves being coated with snow and ice that clung to their coats! It was possible to see them shivering as the winds grew worse and the snowfall picked up in intensity!

"Keep going, Luna!" Princess Celestia desperately encouraged! "We've got to push them back, sister!"

Princess Luna struggled just to nod as she made her horn light up yet again and fired off yet another magic blast. "There's just no end to them, sister!" She protested. "We can't hold out like this for much longer!"

Princess Celestia desperately insisted! "We need to buy Twilight and the others as much time as possible! We have to keep going until we haven't a drop of magic left to spare!"

"Or until we freeze solid. Let's hope that doesn't happen first!" Princess Luna protested again before she went back to firing off blasts from her horn in conjunction with her elder sister.

Rainbow Dash looked back to her own wings after seeing the scene, and grumbled in impatience once again. "This isn't working! They should let me help! Blizzards or not, I'm sure I can make a difference!"

Fluttershy shook her head. "And let you freeze?! I think not! If even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can't fight off the blizzards, what chance do you have as a pegasus?"

Pinkie Pie then bounced by and declared. "Besides, we're doing an important job keeping Shining Armor and Cadence's  baby under control so everypony else can do their part to get the Crystal Heart fixed. It'd be impossible for Twilight to do any kind of research if she had to take care of a little one on top of that."

Rainbow could only impatiently sigh. "I know, I know. What we're doing is probably important. But I just hate feeling so helpless. At least last time the empire was in danger, we got to do stuff in the Crystal Fair to keep the crystal ponies distracted. Now," She looked to the little alicorn. "We're stuck playing babysitter while Twilight and the princesses do everything."

"It's only until Shining Armor and Cadence are rested enough to actually pay attention to their daughter," Rarity pointed out as she kept a watchful eye on the little princess (who was currently asleep). "Then we can all do our part to help Twilight. And with a little luck, everything will work out just fine."

"Let's hope so," Applejack replied as she shivered. "It's gettin' colder by the minute. I don't know how much of an empire there's gonna be left at this rate. Twilight better find somethin' to fix the Crystal Heart soon!"

Just then, the door to the nursery swung open and in trotted Shining Armor and Cadence. The two looked much more presentable now. "We're ready to take over, now," Shining Armor declared. "You can all go help Twily, I have a feeling she hasn't even come close to exhausting all the material in the library."

"First, I have to go check in on Starlight and Spike and get them up to speed on what's going on," Rainbow Dash spoke up as she remembered Twilight's earlier instructions. "The rest of you head over to the library and I'll meet you there!" She prepared to flap her wings and take off, though she then lowered them as she reluctantly looked to the royal couple and asked. "Uh, where would Sunburst's house be, exactly?"

Princess Cadence blinked. "Sunburst? That's the first I've heard of such a name."

Shining Armor put a hoof to his chin. "I seem to remember hearing something about a pony moving in a secluded house a while ago. Try looking for a house all by itself." He suggested.

Rainbow eagerly replied! "On it!" And she then took off, zooming out of the nursery as fast as she possibly could!

The four other mares prepared to leave the nursery as well. But unfortunately, Rainbow Dash's fast take off had woken up the baby. And to make matters worse, it was at that very moment that she got another surge as her horn sparked to life again while she fluttered out of her crib.

Shining groaned. "Young filly, get back here!" But it was too late to prevent the foal from teleporting away again.

"This way, hurry!" Cadence gestured a hoof down the hall! "She can't have gotten far!" She then turned back to the four mares. "Don't worry about us, just get to Twilight and assist her with her search!"

"You got it, Princess Cadence!" Applejack firmly declared! "Come on, let's move it! The library ain't too far from here." And she led the rest of her friends out of the nursery and then out of the castle, the four of them bound for the empire's library with its vast collection of books.

Cadence watched them go before she turned back to her husband in time to see him chasing after their daughter with a butterfly net! "Shining, what do you think you're doing?! It's a foal, not a wild animal!"

"I know that, I'm not gonna hurt her," Shining replied to his wife. "But I can't get too close to her without her flying away. It's like she thinks this is all a game or something."

The princess of love just sighed. "Better leave catching her to me, then. I can fly, you can't." And she began to flap her wings to try and catch up to her daughter and husband.





Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie arrived at the library a short time later. And when they did they found everything in confusion!

Twilight had obviously been hard at work if the many books that lay scattered every which way on the library floors was any indication. And the book loving alicorn herself could be see flying past, using her horn to pull multiple books off the shelves on either side and scan over them with her moderate violet eyes. "No, no, no," She groaned, tossing several more aside without fanfare! "Come on! There has to be something here! There just has to be!"

"Not to worry, Twilight," Rarity declared as she and the others came trotting up. "We're here to help you now."

Twilight smiled and breathed a small sigh of relief. "I could certainly use it. This library's massive, and I don't have a clue as to how it's organized. There's no catalog of any sort."

Applejack then questioned. "So, what? We just go around, lookin' everywhere and anywhere possible until we find a spell that'll work?"

The alicorn nodded. "More or less. This isn't an exact science and time isn't on our side," Then she instructed. "All of you spread out and search a different section. If you find anything that looks even remotely promising, bring it to my attention right away. I'd like as many options as possible."

Pinkie Pie gave a salute before bouncing away. "Can do, Twilight! We won't let you down!"

"Rainbow Dash went to check on Starlight and Spike, right?" Twilight asked even while she continued her search.

Fluttershy confirmed her alicorn friend's concerns. "She left before we did. Hopefully, she'll find them."

"That's the first good news I've had in a long time," Twilight declared. "At this rate, I may have to call off her first official friendship lesson. I didn't expect things to be this difficult," Then she added. "I hope she and Spike are having better luck than we are."

Even as she set off for her own section to search, Fluttershy turned back to Twilight and commented. "You're worried about what a postponement of the lesson would mean for Starlight and for yourself."

The young alicorn reluctantly confirmed. "I know I was taking a big risk taking her under my wing, but I really felt I could make a difference for the better in her life. She has far more baggage when it comes to friendship than I ever did. If I can't convince her to give it a shot, then my biggest act as the princess of friendship will have failed. And a postponement would only make Starlight more worried about the inevitable, or make her more uncertain if I had to make her lesson something else."

The animal loving pegasus reassured her alicorn friend. "The lesson itself isn't what's important, what's important is that Starlight grasps the concepts behind it. Besides, the lesson hasn't been called off yet. There's still time for everything to work out."

"You're right, Fluttershy," Twilight agreed, before suddenly her eyes lit up as she saw something catch their attention: The title of a book. "Hang on!" She excitedly declared! "I think I'm onto something here," She read the title aloud while calling her friends over. "Trotter's Tome of Reliquary. There might be something in here that'll work on the Crystal Heart!"

"Oh, thank goodness you found it!" Rarity remarked as she, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came back to the center of the library to join Twilight. "Without that book, who knows what we'd do?"

The book loving alicorn cautioned. "I haven't read through it yet. There might not be something after all," But after flipping through a few pages really quick she discovered a spell that commanded attention. "'Spell of Relic Reconstitution'. Yes, this should work perfectly! The Crystal Empire is saved!"





But just then there came a sudden popping sound, and then who should appear before the five mares but the same baby alicorn they'd last seen in the royal nursery not too long ago?

"What?! How did you get here?! Where are your parents?!" Twilight exclaimed with shock, momentarily losing her grip on Trotter's Tome of Reliquary in the process!

The baby alicorn quickly scooped up the book, giggling as she held it in her tiny hooves and then took off again.

"Quick, we have to stop her!" Twilight shouted to her friends as she flapped her wings! "I didn't get a chance to study the spell completely, I only glanced at it! I'll need the book if I'm gonna cast that spell on the Crystal Heart!"

"Oh man, it's Pound and Pumpkin Cake all over again!" Pinkie Pie nervously declared even as she joined in the chase to catch the baby alicorn.

Shortly after the chase began, the library doors swung open and in trotted an unaware and unexpecting Starlight Glimmer and Spike. Only now did they get a chance to see the new member of the royal crystal family, quickly taking notice of how the foal had both wings and a horn.

Starlight forgot all about her earlier plans and concerns as she just asked. "What in the world of Equestria is going on?!"

While rushing past, Pinkie Pie quickly explained! "Long story short:  The new baby's an alicorn and she accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart, so Twilight was looking for a spell to fix it so the Crystal Empire won't turn into a giant wasteland of ice and snow."

"No wonder it's so cold," Spike realized. "But how did the baby get here?"

As if in answer to that question, Cadence and Shining Armor happened to come rushing past in desperation! "Her magic surges are getting worse!" Shining commented to his wife! "At this rate, we'll never catch her!"

"Her surges can't last forever!" A desperate Cadence replied! "Come on, we can't lose her again! It looks like she got something very important to Twilight."

Rainbow Dash happened to show up at the library just after the royal couple, panting heavily as she looked at Starlight and Spike. "Oh, you guys were here. Got lost looking for you, not my fault every house in the empire looks the same," She apologized and then began to say. "So, about the cold..."

Spike interrupted. "-We already know about the baby and the Crystal Heart. You should know that the baby's here, causing trouble for Twilight and the others."

"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked before she saw the baby alicorn flying past with an old and worn looking book in her hooves, and Twilight and the rest of her friends (along with Shining Armor and Princess Cadence) all chasing after the foal. "Oh." And she was quick to join the chase herself.

Eventually, with some quick thinking, the baby was cornered and Pinkie Pie was able to catch her. But in the process, the foal lost her grip on Trotter's Tome of Reliquary!

Thinking fast, Starlight lit up her horn and caught the book with her magic. "I've got it, Twilight!" She announced to her mentor. She felt quite proud of herself for having made the difference.

But Starlight's celebration proved to be premature as a blast from the foal's horn shot off without warning, hitting the book in Starlight's possession and blasting a hole straight through it!

Twilight gasped as she rushed over to the book only to see that it was beyond repair! "That spell was the only thing I found in the whole library that was even close to what we needed! And now it's gone."

Starlight Glimmer's joy quickly turned to sorrow and guilt. Now she'd made Twilight's problem that much worse. "I'm so sorry, Twilight! I was only trying to help." She sincerely apologized.

The alicorn princess let out a sigh as she looked at her student and reassured her. "It's not your fault, Starlight. None of us were expecting any of this. We certainly didn't anticipate having so little time on our hooves. And there's no way you could've known the baby was going to get a magic surge at that very moment."

"Still, if I hadn't been there the book wouldn't have been destroyed," Starlight frowned and hung her head. "Why do I always seem to mess things up no matter what I do?"

Spike desperately protested! "Starlight, you can't think like that! You've had a few set backs, but no one ever said learning about friendship would be without them. Besides, this isn't a time for blame."

Holding her infant daughter in her hooves, Princess Cadence was quick to declare. "Spike is right, we don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves or talk about who did what. The Crystal Empire will be completely frozen over soon unless we can figure out a way to stop it!" She then turned to Twilight and asked her. "I know it's not usually your thing, but is there any chance you remember the spell you found in Trotter's Tome of Reliquary?"

"I only read over it once, briefly!" Twilight reluctantly and nervously confessed. "I'll try my best to recreate it from memory, but I don't know how long that'll take or if it'll even work."

Cadence immediately offered. "I'll do what I can to help after I get the baby back to the castle. With our powers combined, maybe we can make the spell more powerful and at least buy us more time, or even give Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna the edge they need to drive the blizzards back."

Shining Armor then adopted a serious look. "But it might be time to consider Plan B: Evacuate the Crystal Empire. We should do it now while there's still time. The train tracks will be completely frozen over soon, and then it'll be too late!"

"Guess we'll help spread the word to everypony who's still here," Applejack suggested. "We'll all do our best to get 'em to the train station for ya."

"That would be most helpful. The faster everypony can get to the train station, the better the chances of a successful evacuation," Shining agreed with a nod. "Never thought it would come to this," He then looked to his wife. "I'm sure you and Twilight will do everything you can to try and fix the Crystal Heart. I'm rooting for you both!" And with that he left with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity to begin the evacuation process.

Starlight, meanwhile, was looking to Twilight as the alicorn was in the process of writing down what she could about the spell she was going to cast. "I don't suppose there's anything I could do to help you?" She offered, desperately wanting to make up for her earlier mistake.

But Twilight only said in response. "Even with your unusually strong magic, I don't think it would make that much of a difference. I'm just sorry about your lesson, looks like it'll have to wait."

"That doesn't matter now, it's a bust anyways because Sunburst has forgotten all about me," Starlight protested and reluctantly confessed. "Believe me, I tried. But there some things he doesn't need to know about, especially since he's a big, important wizard. And meanwhile, I'm here re-learning everything I ever thought I knew. What would he ever want to do with me now?"

"I don't remember hearing anything about a wizard named Sunburst." Cadence commented as she arched eyebrow upward.

Twilight explained. "I did some private research after taking Starlight Glimmer on, I at least wanted to know where Sunburst was. The only information I could find was that he moved here some time ago, although it didn't say why. I do know that he was a student of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns though, for a little while anyway."

The princess of love then declared. "That means he may know a thing or two about magic. And if that's the case his expertise could make a difference," To Starlight she advised. "You should go to him and tell him to meet Twilight and I at the castle. He may be able to help us if the spell doesn't work."

"That I can do!" Starlight declared as a renewed sense of purpose and determination filled her, and she eagerly rushed away to carry out her new task!

"Go with her, Spike," Twilight advised. "Cadence and I will do the best we can on our own."

Spike gave a firm salute. "You didn't even have to ask, Twilight!" And in his mind he was thinking. "This is just the sort of opportunity I needed! Before this is over, I'll figure out some way to get Starlight to open up to Sunburst about her past! No way is she avoiding it this time!"





It was more than a little difficult for pony and dragon to make it to Sunburst's house with how much snow there was and how strong the winds were blowing. Already, it seemed like parts of the empire were being slowly taken over by the Frozen North with the rest soon to follow. Upon reaching their destination, they didn't bother with niceties. They immediately banged on the door as frantically as possible to get Sunburst to let them in!

Sunburst seemed surprised to see Starlight and Spike all snow covered. "What's going on?!" He asked them. "Why have you come back?! And where did this snow come from?! That shouldn't be here!"

"Haven't you been paying attention or looking out the window?!" Starlight pointed out! "It's been like this since we came to the empire. The Crystal Heart has been accidentally destroyed due to the new baby. Apparently, it's a filly and an alicorn one to boot."

Sunburst blinked in surprise. "Really? An alicorn? I didn't think one could just be born."

Starlight nodded. "I could hardly believe it myself, but that's not what's important. What is important is that Twilight and Princess Cadence are going to fix the Crystal Heart, or at least try to. And Princess Cadence also thinks you might be able to help," Before she recalled. "Although she didn't have knowledge of you being here and didn't seem to know you were a wizard. Is there something you're not telling me? You are a big, important wizard here, right?"

The stallion slowly nodded as he backed away. "Of course I was, why would I not be? If I weren't a wizard, why would I come to a place like this instead of moving out to the middle of nowhere?"

"Funny, I kind of got the impression that the empire is the middle of nowhere," Spike pointed out. "You're the only non-crystal pony besides Shining Armor and Cadence who lives here."

Sunburst proceeded to adjust his glasses as he backed up a bit, bumping into his book shelf. And he hastily set to work on rearranging it as he turned his back to both Starlight and Spike. "Look, I'd like to help. Really, I would. It's just..." He seemed to pause and bite his lip. "I have so much... important wizard stuff to do around here. Lots of spells to work on, lots of spells to write down. That sort of thing. I don't even know what Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence are gonna do, and I can't help anypony without knowing what I'm working with. You understand."

Starlight and Spike could hardly believe their ears, and Starlight was quick to plead! "Sunburst, come on! Whatever kind of work you have, it can't be more important than the fate of an entire empire!"

Spike added. "Even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are doing their part, and it's not enough. You could be the difference maker."

Sunburst snorted as he turned back around. "You two just don't know how to take 'no' for an answer, do you?! Why can't you just leave me alone?! I was perfectly happy with my life before you two showed up!"

At that, Starlight angrily remarked. "Oh, so that's it! You're such an important wizard now you no longer care about ponies like me. You don't care about anypony but yourself," And she swished her tail. "I can't believe this is what you've become. The Sunburst I knew was never this stuck up and selfish."

In response, Sunburst lost his patience! "It's not like that at all! I really do want to help! But..." He seemed to shudder. "You wouldn't understand, nopony else does."

"Understand what?!" Starlight Glimmer demanded!

The unicorn stallion growled and grit his teeth. "I'm not who you think I am, Starlight. In more ways than one. The truth is, I'm not a big, important wizard like I wanted to be. In fact, I'm not even a wizard at all! There, are you happy now?!"

Starlight's mouth dropped open in shock! "You're not a wizard! But that's impossible! You knew so much about magic! All you ever talked about was how you'd become a big, important wizard someday. And the day you got your cutie mark and went away to magic school, that's all you could think about. You forgot all about me."

"Yeah, I did," Sunburst willingly confessed. "But not all of us end up achieving greatness in life. Sometimes our dreams get crushed before our very eyes. That's what happened to me."

Starlight shook her head. "Sunburst, I don't care if you're a wizard or not. Never did and never will. The only reason I cared is because I thought that meant you were ignoring me. But all this time you were just lying to me to seem important."

Sunburst retorted. "Well, you're the one who brought it up. Why I should have to come clean to the princess of friendship's prized protege? That's way more important than me being a washed up ex-magic school student."

Spike sought to point out. "Technically, Starlight's more of a student than a protege. She hasn't been at it for very long."

The purplish-gray coated unicorn then inquired. "I don't understand how you could not be a wizard, Sunburst. With you knowledge of magic, you should've put anypony at magic school to shame."

The unicorn stallion replied with a deep sigh. "Reading about magic is one thing, but you don't know what it was like for me at magic school! To know so much and not be able to do any of it! It turned out I was just a little fish in a big pond, and by the time I realized it it was too late! I'd flunked out!"

At that, something inside of Starlight snapped! Holding back tears she got up right in Sunburst's face and bitterly confessed to her old friend! "Oh yeah?! Well you don't know what it was like for me after you left! You were my only friend, Sunburst! And when you never replied to any of my letters, I thought you'd abandoned me! I was the only blank flank left in the town we called home, nopony wanted to be friends with me! So what do you think happened next?! I started blaming cutie marks!"

"No!" Was all Sunburst could bring himself to say.

"I'm not finished! Not even close!" Starlight continued to rant! "I hated cutie marks so much I tried to avoid getting my own. Then I tried covering mine up when I did get one. And when that didn't work I ran away from home. I took over an entire village, stripping everypony of their cutie marks just so I could feel better about myself and push my agenda," She began to recall events of not long ago, when her ways and her lies had caught up with her. "Then Twilight and her friends showed up and defeated me, exposing me for the fraud I was. That made me so bitter I became consumed by revenge, which led me to try to go back in time to stop them from ever becoming friends. Yet even in that I wasn't successful."

Sunburst nervously asked. "You weren't?"

By now, the tears that had long been held back by Starlight spilled out freely. And she willingly confessed. "No. Twilight refused to give up on me. First she forced me to see what my actions were causing, and then we had to work together to fix the broken timeline we'd ended up in because of me. That's when it hit me. I was willing to condemn all of Equestria to a horrible future. Yet it wasn't cutie marks that I was really upset with, it was myself. I didn't want to face the facts that my own hatred was keeping me stuck in the past. And it's because of that past that I'm now supposed to be learning about friendship. But that's not easy when your past keeps haunting you, taunting you, making you feel like you haven't truly changed." Then and only then did the unicorn allow herself a chance to breath.

His old friend's rant was slowly processed in Sunburst's mind. For a moment he sat there in a daze, only just thinking to push his glasses up when they slid down his muzzle. "Did you really travel through time? That's something only Starswirl the Bearded was capable of."

Spike adopted a knowing grin as he ribbed Starlight. "I told you he'd be impressed."

"I was hoping to never have to tell you," Starlight unhappily sighed while looking at Sunburst. "I know what you must think of me now. Only a monster could be capable of the kind of cruelty I inflicted onto others, the kind of suffering I was willing to put others through to get what I thought I wanted."

Sunburst inquired. "All this because I left for magic school without saying goodbye?"

Starlight could only shake her head again. "No. It'd be easy to blame you for everything like I used to blame cutie marks. But it was my own fault. I didn't have to choose revenge, I didn't have to do any of what I did. But I did it anyway and now you know the ugly truth about my past," She promptly turned around and prepared to depart. "Well, at least we both came clean like Twilight wanted. You should get going while you still have a chance to evacuate the empire."

However, before Starlight Glimmer could take even a step, Sunburst reached out an orange colored hoof to comfort her. "I'm sorry. I didn't know things were that bad for you after I left. I didn't know our friendship meant so much to you."

Starlight hesitantly questioned the gesture. "You're not freaked out at all? I thought for sure you'd want nothing to do with me after what I did."

"You're not that pony anymore, are you?" Sunburst asked and got a quick shake of the head for an answer. "Then you need to stop blaming yourself for who you were, focus on who you are," Then he added an apology. "I just wish I'd have known sooner. Maybe I could've reached out to you all those years ago and told you the truth, then we'd both be better off."

"Maybe, but I'm done trying to change the past," Starlight firmly declared. "And I'm done trying to live in it! Living in the past and trying to change it turned out to be dead ends that took me nowhere. All this time, I've been looking within to find something worth saving, and it didn't occur to me that maybe I should start looking outward."

Sunburst smiled. "I get the feeling Princess Twilight would be happy to hear that if she were here right now," Then he looked back out the window. "But obviously she's got bigger priorities right now."

"Yes," Starlight agreed. "So unless you know of a spell that will drive back the Frozen North and fix the Crystal Heart, you should evacuate the empire along with everypony else. No point holding a crystalling when there's no Crystal Heart to power up or empire to protect."

Suddenly, a light bulb went off inside the stallion's mind! "Crystalling...! Of course, that's it!" He began to pull down several scrolls with his magic! "I think I know how to fix everything!" And to Starlight he pleaded! "You've got to take me to the castle immediately, and tell everypony else to gather at the castle. There may be a crystalling yet, and it's going to be the most important one of all time."





Outside the Crystal Castle, Twilight and Cadence were preparing to test the spell to hopefully restore the Crystal Heart. Neither alicorn could be certain they had the spell down to the exact details though, or that it would even work if cast.

"Well, I think that's everything," Twilight told her sister-in-law as she floated over a hastily written on parchment. "That's what I can remember, anyways."

Princess Cadence nervously replied. "That seems about right to me. But there's only one way to find out for sure. Here goes nothing!" She began to light up her horn!

"I hope this works!" Twilight said aloud as she made her own horn spark to life!

The two alicorns promptly channeled all the magical energy they could possibly summon up, concentrating it on the Crystal Heart's shattered remains. Slowly but surely it seemed like they were putting it back together. There were still visible cracks but the heart looked like it was more or less whole again.

Unfortunately, the heart didn't hold together for very long. And with an audible crack it broke apart again, shards of crystal falling all around the area where the Crystal Heart had once stood.

Twilight hung her head as she apologized to her fellow princess. "I'm sorry. That was the best I could do. I don't know what else to try."

Just then a familiar voice declared. "Luckily, a former student of mine has a solution." And then who should show up but Princess Celestia herself? And an orange coated unicorn stallion was accompanying her.

"So you're Sunburst?" Cadence questioned. "Starlight says you're a powerful wizard."

Sunburst blushed. "Actually, no. I'm not a wizard. But I do know a thing or two about magic, at least when it comes to theory," He cleared his throat. "I'm not the best at casting spells but I can identify what spells can work best under what circumstances," He proceeded to ask. "Did the baby do all of this?"

Twilight and Cadence nodded as Twilight explained. "She did. I tried putting it back together with—"

"-The spell of Relic Reconstitution" Sunburst realized. "That alone won't do it. The Crystal Heart's been around for  millennia. You can't restore a relic like that with just one spell. You have to combine it with something else. Something unique to the relic itself."

A realization of her own quickly came to Twilight! "Like the crystalling!" She exclaimed! "Of course, why didn't I think of that before?!" But then she remembered something. "But there's not gonna be a crystalling at this rate. The order to evacuate was already given."

Rainbow Dash then declared as she came swooping in! "Good thing Sunburst planned ahead and told us all of his plan! The evacuation's on hold so everypony in the empire can attend the baby's crystalling!" And she gestured a hoof to behind a large, pink curtain. A huge crowd of crystal ponies could be seen despite the harsh blizzards and their snowfall.

The unicorn stallion smiled. "So if we hold the crystalling and combine it with the spell of Relic Reconstruction, the Crystal Heart should be fixed. Though we're gonna need to add a few more spells in light of the... er... circumstances," He floated over a few scrolls with his magic. "I'll also add in Somnambula's Weather Abjuration to clear away the snow. And a little bit of Fledgling's Forbearance for the parents, so as to curb the little one's power fluctuations. She'll still get surges occasionally but they won't be anywhere near as potent, they'll be on the level of an average foal."

Shining Armor came trotting up at that very moment, having heard everything. "Sounds risky, Sunburst. Are you sure you can pull it off?"

"With a little bit of assistance from everypony here," Sunburst gestured a hoof to the alicorns (including Celestia and Luna) as well as Starlight, Shining Armor and himself. "I'm ninety nine percent sure it'll work. And the alternative is letting the empire freeze over. I'd say it's a risk worth taking."

After quickly glancing to his wife and seeing her nod with approval, Shining agreed as he quickly teleported to the nursery and came back with his daughter in tow. "I was planning to have Twilight be the crystaller, but since she's going to be busy..."

Sunburst bowed his head. "-I'd be honored to take her place ."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Starlight eagerly declared! "Let's get the ceremony underway while there's still an empire to save!"

And so the crystalling for the new baby officially commenced! All four alicorns along with Shining Armor and Starlight Glimmer concentrated their combined magical energies on the Crystal Heart. They knew they couldn't put it back together themselves, but there was no need to do so. They just needed to hold the heart together long enough for Sunburst to do his part.

Sunburst began to read over the scrolls again, casting the spell on each one by one before he could see the purity crystal chosen by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence sparkle with shimmering light. That was his cue to take the baby alicorn gently into his possession, carrying her out to the crowd as he excitedly proclaimed! "Citizens! May I present the newest member of the Crystal Empire!"

The crowd cheered and gave off several oohs and aahs when they saw the baby. And it wasn't long before all of that love was channeled into the purity crystal that now glowed brighter than ever! Sunburst promptly took it and ran back to the Crystal Heart, inserting the shard into the relic and watching as it joined with the others!

That did the trick, the Crystal Heart was restored to its full, glowing glory. And with its magic newly refreshed it bathed the entire empire in a dazzling, almost blinding light! Its magic promptly washed over everypony, giving them all crystalized coats.

"Best crystalling ever!" A crystal pony in the crowd proclaimed!

Princess Celestia then spoke to Sunburst. "For a pony who once told me he didn't know how to cast magic, you've certainly demonstrated quite a gift for it. You may just be more of a wizard than you thought."

Sunburst just smiled. He'd never felt this confident in himself before, and it was a nice feeling to experience. Having his childhood friend by his side only made it that much more special. It was everything he'd ever dreamed of. "Now, how do I tell my parents about this?" He thought to himself.





When the blizzards had subsided and the snow melted, things returned to normal within the Crystal Empire. And as a result the trains could now run properly. Not only was there a train waiting to take Twilight, Spike, Starlight and their friends back to Ponyville, but there was also a train that was bringing two passengers that had wanted to come to the Crystal Empire ever since learning of the news that they were now grandparents all over again.

Said passengers were a pair of unicorns instantly recognizable to Twilight, Spike, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. The stallion had a sort of grayish-blue coat, a dark blue mane and tail that curled on the right side, moderate amber eyes and a cutie mark depicting two crescent moons: A big yellow one and a smaller white one. And the mare had a coat so light gray it could be mistaken for white, a mane and tail the same light gray color with palish-purple locks running side by side along it (with the mane curling and the tail cut short), light arctic blue eyes and a cutie mark depicting three purple stars.

They were Night Light and Twilight Velvet: Twilight and Shining's parents.

"Sorry for the delay," Night Light apologized. "We booked the first train we could to get out here. And you would not believe the crazy weather that delayed our train. It came out of nowhere. One minute everything was fine, and the next there was wind and snow everywhere you looked!"

Twilight Velvet then smiled as she saw her granddaughter for the first time. "But it was all worth it to see this adorable little angel," She then cooed. "Come to your Grandmare Velvet, little one."

The baby just cooed back. Then, suddenly she twitched and shut her eyes! Twilight and her friends all ducked for cover, anticipating another powerful magic blast! But all that happened was the baby alicorn let out a tiny sneeze. That made Twilight and the others wipe the sweat from their brows.

Shining Armor smiled, sensing what was responsible for ensuring that his daughter's sneeze had been just a sneeze. "Looks like that spell did the trick. We have Sunburst to thank for that. And something tells me we'll have need of his services more often in the future."

Princess Cadence nodded. "Well, I hope he takes his new responsibilities seriously, if only for his sake. And we'll probably have to start paying him a good deal, even if he's gonna be changing diapers now." Then she and her husband shared a laugh.

Velvet then inquired as she took her granddaughter into her hooves. "By the way, Cadence. Does the little one have a name yet? It seems rather silly to spend the whole trip calling her 'The Baby' don't you think?"

"Actually, we just settled on a name," Cadence explained. "We already knew we wanted to call her Flurry because her coat looks a lot like snow. But just calling her Flurry didn't seem fitting enough."

Shining then joined his wife in explaining. "So, in light of her special crystalling, we decided to name her 'Flurry Heart'. It's a way of keeping with the Sparkle family tradition."

Twilight cooed. "I think Flurry Heart is a lovely name," She promptly kissed her newly named niece on the forehead. "Don't go growing up too fast now, you hear?" And Flurry just babbled and cooed in response.

A short time later, it was time for Starlight to join Twilight and the others and head back to Ponyville. Yet before she did, she was surprised to receive a tap on the hoof and find Sunburst waiting for her. "You still want to be friends with me after what I did? Even knowing what I was?"

Sunburst nodded. "Of course. After all, you don't seem to mind much that I was trying to live a lie when you first met me here. I couldn't consider myself much of a pony if I wasn't willing to give you the same benefit," He then offered. "You sure you don't want to stay here with me? I could easily make room for you, and together I'm sure we could help each other find the right paths in life."

Starlight smiled. "As much as I'd like that, I can't. I really owe Twilight everything for being willing to give me a second chance where I'm sure nopony else would've. So like it or not, I'm gonna stick with my friendship studies with her, at least for now," She then looked to Sunburst with uncertainty as she pleaded with him. "Just, promise me you'll stay in touch and actually respond to my letters this time?"

"That's a promise I'll be sure to keep!" Sunburst agreed. "It might not be easy being Flurry Heart's crystaller and caretaker, but I'll see to it that every letter you send me gets a reply before the week is through," Then he and Starlight shared a big hug, before he watched her board the train that was to take her back to Ponyville. "Best of luck on your friendship studies!" He called as the train departed from the station.

"Same to you with your crystaller responsibilities!" Starlight Glimmer called back. And soon afterward, the train disappeared over the horizon.

Unknown to everypony, however, something (or rather someone) else was approaching the Crystal Empire from afar. The figure had been drawn to the empire after sensing an unusually high concentration of love. "Just what I needed!" It thought to itself! "I just hope it'll be enough to keep me from going crazy."