“It's settled, then,” Luna said, shuffling the papers in her magic. “We shall adopt the most fitting ponies into our family, and allow them to rule parts of this land.”
“If they swear fealty to us.” Celestia added. “That we may best care for them.”
“Of course. And these new kings and-”
“No.” Celestia said firmly, making Luna look up at her sister. This whole enterprise had been her idea, her area of rulership, so it only seemed fair for her to voice any complaints. “Princes and Princesses. Never again shall any ponies bow to a king or queen, not after those crimes we’ve worked so hard to stop.”
“Of course, my sister.” Luna scribbled with the quill, made of one of her own feathers. “You are as wise as ever.”
“And with this done, I will need to spend less time on administrating this bountiful land. Perhaps then I will be able to help you truly protect this land.”
REPORTS CONFIRMED - UNUSUAL STORMCLOUDS IN CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. SOME ODD OCCURRENCES ON NORTH-BOUND TRAINS. YAK PATROLS WITHDRAWN FROM MOUNT EVERHOOF. COLD EVEN GREATER THAN USUAL. ACTION SUGGESTED.
Luna put down the telegram - she must have read it a hundred times since it was delivered - and looked over the desk at her friend. “Any word from the yaks?”
Shining Armour snorted. “Princess, they haven’t tried to smash anypony, which is as friendly as Yakyakistan relations get. Even if they did know something important, they wouldn’t tell us.”
“No, I suppose that they wouldn’t.” As soon as she received the telegram, Luna had dispatched a half-dozen volunteers from her Night Guard to scout the far north of Equestria, but even with the train lines, it’d be several days before they could get there. Still, at least he’d have some ponies she trusted greatly on hand if what she feared was happening.
“If I may, your majesty, what do you believe is happening? Cadance has mentioned the Crystal Empire in the far north, but she hasn’t told me much at all.”
“Yes, you deserve to know. It will help you to plan our operations.” Luna cleared her throat and stood, walking into the very early morning light that streamed from the window. “Long ago, when my sister and I were young, the Crystal Empire of the far north coexisted alongside Equestria. It was made up of the crystal ponies, a special race with skin and fur made of gemstones, who lived in the light of the Crystal Heart, that kept them warm in even the harshest winter. It was ruled by Princess Amore, a distant ancestor of your beloved.”
“She must have been wonderful.”
“She was.” Luna smiled kindly. “But when she retired, her position was taken by Prince Sombra, a unicorn of impressive magical talent who had been one of her statesmen. I thought him a kind, charming fellow, and he was… for a time. Eventually, though, he declared himself King of the Crystal Empire, and revealed it all to be a ruse.
“In truth, he was one of the umbra, ponies with fur of shadows and hearts of darkness, and snuffed out the Crystal Heart with his darkness to overrun the kingdom. He enslaved the crystal ponies and forced them to begin digging deep beneath the Empire, to free the rest of his kin. Naturally, my sister and I couldn’t simply allow this to happen, so we went to try and stop him with the Elements. He was stubborn, though, and, when he realised that he would be defeated, his body already destroyed, he locked away the entire Empire in an impenetrable snowstorm, the crystal ponies frozen. We knew that he would return one day, and now… it appears that he has.”
There was a very long moment of silence, the gravity of this situation hitting Luna now that she had said it out loud. “We could be mistaken, of course. I’m sure that there are many other possible explanations for these events, but caution is the most important thing.”
“I’ll begin to gather the Guard to journey north, and wait for your Night Guard to report on what is happening in the north.”
“Thank you, Shining Armour, you are a fine commander. If the Crystal Empire is returning, it is your wife’s sovereign territory, so I would like you to ask her to come and see me.”
“Of course, your majesty. I will do that right away. Anything else?”
“I will be inviting your sister and the other Bearers to the city, too. So be ready to see her again, I suppose.”
“I certainly will.” Shining Armour grinned as he left the room.
“We’ve found this, your majesty.”
Luna observed the photographs she’d been presented. They were blurry, poorly focused - photography was still a young science, after all - but she could easily make out the distinct shapes of the Crystal Mountains. And dotted on them were stark shadows, not the shadows of clouds, or outcroppings of dark rock, but blobs of sheer, black shadow. In between the different photographs, these shadows clearly moved, several dozen of them crossing the mountainside in clusters.
“Excellent work, Star.” Luna smiled, even though she could feel her stomach drop. She and Shining Armour nodded at the new Night Guard as she left, before turning back to each other.
“What do you think, ma’am?”
“There are no guarantees. They could be tribesponies, yaks, gryphon scouts, or just particularly brave hikers. But I have a terrible feeling that it won’t be that simple.” She wasn't telling the whole truth - she knew that they were crystal pony scouts, from the way the light blurred around their bodies. The Empire was awake once again.
“It rarely is, is it?”
“Not since the Elements found their Bearers, anyway.” Luna grumbled. Yes, life had got a lot more interesting since then, and perhaps not in the good way. “Right then, we must assume that the dangers of the far north have reawoken.”
“I’ll dispatch a large Royal Guard detachment to monitor the area.”
“Good. I and the Bearers will be accompanying them.”
Shining Armour hesitated for a moment. “With all due respect, your majesty-”
“You would consider it a massive breach of security to send me off to face a potential threat on this scale?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And I would consider the presence of the most powerful pony in Equestria a good way to protect those assigned to the investigation. Especially your beloved wife and sister.”
Shining Armour nodded slowly. “You make a very good point.”
“Never argue with me, nephew, I have plenty of experience.” She winked. “Now, I’ll be packing up for our trip. Take some warm clothes.”
“Auntie?”
Despite her encouragement, it was rare for her Captain to speak casually to Luna. “Yes, Shining?”
“Thank you for coming. If this Sombra is as dangerous as the archives say, we’ll need you there.”
“He is. He really is. And even if he doesn’t come for Equestria, the crystal ponies should not be abandoned to his rule.”
Despite how important to her country they had become, and despite how close they were with her student, Luna hadn’t really had much chance to speak with the Bearers yet. She knew them, of course, but not well enough to have really broken down the barriers of etiquette that existed between a pony and her Princess. So, while she felt quite guilty thinking of it that way, this multi-day train ride into the far north was something of a stroke of luck. The final car of the long train, the only one not done up as a barrack for the many Guardsponies, had been converted into something akin to a living area for the Bearers on their long trip, one that they would be sharing with their Princess. The first night, naturally, had been somewhat uncomfortable, but the barriers had quickly broken down after that.
“What was it like to have a baby dragon around the castle?” Fluttershy asked. Despite having known him for quite some time now, and having had an unpleasant encounter with one of his elder cousins in that time, the pegasus remained fascinated by Spike, who currently leaned back comfortably against Luna’s flank, a comic book in claw. Tiberius, brought along on this trip, had taken to Fluttershy like he had nopony besides the Princess, and was spending most of the journey in one of their laps.
“He was a right little terror.”
“Hey!” The dragon protested. “I wasn’t that bad!”
“Oh my.”
Smiling, Luna smothered his protests with a wing, and sighed in reminiscence. “You have to bear in mind that Twilight’s parents raised him for most of his life. When I had Spike, he was a hatchling. Always crying and screaming and begging for attention and food.” There was a vague murmur of protest from the trapped dragon. “Somewhat like having a foal, from what I’ve heard, but most foals don’t have sharp little claws or fire breath.”
“It sounds as though he was quite the hooffull.”
“Oh, he was.” The dragon had stopped trying to protest through a down blanket, so Luna released him. “Anything to add, young Spike?”
“I wasn’t that bad.”
“Oh my goodness, you were.” She bent low to nuzzle the side of his head. “But I love you all the same.” Spike blushed greatly, but he knew better than to try fighting her affection. “But honestly, I could tell you many tales, both of this one and Twilight. Have you ever been awoken at noon by a filly wanting to tell you her idea for a new spell? That was quite a regular occurrence for much of her time with me.” Fluttershy giggled, covering her mouth politely, and Luna glanced around the rest of their car.
The atmosphere was merry, but not what Luna would call rambunctious; the conversation between the friends was almost-constant, but not at a level that was distracting to the Princess. Oh yes, they had their moments of loudness - Applejack and Rainbow Dash apparently showed affection by shouting and starting competitions, and Pinkie Pie was not exactly a quiet pony - but that was an infrequent distraction. They all knew their somewhat grim purpose, but seemed determined not to let it get them down, and were treating this long train journey like a little holiday. Luna had to admit, this unusual atmosphere for one of her tasks was a pleasant change compared to what she was used to.
“My dear lady Rarity,” Luna addressed the ivory unicorn sitting close to her, nose in a magazine. “I keep forgetting to congratulate you on the beautiful gown you made for Cadance. It was truly divine.”
“Oh you flatter me, your majesty. Really, it took me a very long time to make, but I was guided thoroughly by her majesty. I am pleased that it came out as beautifully as it did.”
“Well, a lady of your significant skill I’m sure can produce such wonders on an almost daily basis. Indeed, if you are willing, I’d be delighted to commission you for an outfit or two of mine. Just don’t tell the Royal Seamstress, eh?” She winked good-naturedly, but the unicorn reacted with incredible eagerness.
“Your majesty, I would be honoured and thrilled! Oh my goodness, I shall have to take you through some of my designs! Why, I could make the… What sort of outfit would you be interested in, um, your majesty?”
“If you want a safe option, I know that your winter wear is delightful.” She had brought an incredible number of cases along on this trip, and Luna had seen the elaborate cold-weather outfits contained in many of them. “If you want a challenge, I have very few summer outfits that I’m fond of, so an addition to that prestigious collection would be helpful.”
Rarity hummed thoughtful, levitating a pen from her bag and twirling it idly in mid-air. “Perhaps something in pale blue or white. I don’t think that greens, reds, or oranges would work with your fur. I wonder how you look in pink?” Rarity’s colourful musings were interrupted by shoutings from the far end of the car, and she glanced up at some of her friends with a disgruntled look.
“Come on then!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Let's settle this like mares!” She and Applejack found themselves seated by a small table, locked in a hoof wrestling match as intense as the Princess had ever seen, Pinkie Pie cheering them on.
“Ruffians.” Rarity grumbled, searching in her bag for a design pad.
“I’ll give you ten Bits on Rainbow Dash.” Luna whispered conspiratorially to her.
“Deal.” Rarity agreed after barely a moment’s hesitation.
A day after Luna had become ten Bits richer (despite Rarity’s insistence that Rainbow Dash using her wings was cheating), Luna addressed the Bearers, Spike, Cadance, and Shining Armour in their long carriage, a look of seriousness having returned to her face after the relatively merry journey.
“Tonight, once we leave the Galloping Gorge, we will reach the northernmost point of the train line.” It was a tiny town named Longwayhome, that exported lumber from the Gorge south into the rest of Equestria, and held nothing of note beyond that trivia. “There, we will be met by a Guard airship, the White Sky, which will take us over the Crystal Mountains to scout the Empire. The rest of the Guards will march to meet us there a few days later.”
Luna quite enjoyed airship travel, but it was too slow for her to justify most of the time. In this part of the world, however, it was the only method that avoided both the lack of wings of four of the Bearers and the very rough, hilly terrain. Besides, the atmosphere of a Guard airship was quite different to that of a commercial one.
“The airship is a military operation, and we will be potentially flying into hostile airspace. I will, of course, keep you all from any harm, but this is one thing that we must all take seriously. No shouts, parties, or competitions.” She looked pointedly at Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash in term, all of whom withered under her gaze. “And you’ll do what the Guards say, when they say. Clear?” Nods and mumbles. “It’ll just be for one night - we are only the scouting party in this mission. Thank you all for your patience.” She smiled reassuringly at them. “Make sure you’re all packed up, Elements ready to go, and then we’ll have a few hours more before it all gets serious.” The others scattered throughout the carriage, the mood definitely deflated somewhat, but Shining Armour remained standing expectantly near the Princess. “Yes, Captain?”
“You’re taking my wife and my baby sister on an airship over a country that may potentially be ruled by a magical monster?” His voice started low, but slowly raised over the course of the sentence, until he sounded almost hysterical by the end of it. “I thought they’d be staying at the village!”
“Shining Armour,” she reached forward to touch his foreleg reassuringly, her voice low. “They are in no danger, and we need them here. If we clearly see Sombra’s presence, and a moment of vulnerability, it’ll be vital to have the Bearers on hand and ready to end this in an instant.”
Reluctantly, he nodded. “But what about Cadance?”
“I didn’t want Cadance on this trip either - I wanted her safe in Canterlot so that you could accompany the rest of the Royal Guard on hoof. But given that this is her kingdom we’re here to investigate, she insisted on coming along, and I thought that you’d prefer to be alongside her.”
“I would.” He admitted reluctantly.
“I understand your concerns, and I truly do appreciate that you felt able to approach me about them, but they are here for good reasons and they will be looked after. Any other concerns?”
“No, your majesty.”
“Come along then, make sure that all your things are ready, I was going to ask Pinkie for a short party for the last bit of the journey.”
“PARTY!” Was the pink pony’s reply, apparently having heard Luna across the carriage and over the commotion.
“And you know she’ll be upset if you’re not ready for it now.” Luna winked as Shining Armour walked to pull his case down from a cargo rack, likely needing no repacking thanks to Guard organisation.
Then sighing, she pulled the pile of letters delivered to the train by a courier earlier, checking up on things back in Canterlot. Most of the sizeable pile were unworthy of her attention, the usual masses of nobles thinking that Canterlot would fall apart without the Princess there. One caught her eye, though, in the pale pink envelope that signified a foreign diplomatic message. She broke the wax seal on it and pulled out the scroll, unfurling the unfamiliar chicken-scratch hoofwriting.
Your majesty,
You told me to come to you through diplomatic channels, so here I am. I apologise for the events of the wedding in Canterlot. I want to work together, peacefully, for the sake of both of us, and for the sake of the changelings.
Thanks,
Chrysalis. Queen of the Changelings
Luna raised her eyebrows in surprise, but let a smile tease her mouth. She really hadn’t expected to get through to the changeling, but this certainly seemed like a good sign. She would compose a letter in response, another olive branch, as soon as she returned to Canterlot. The changeling diplomats would require close monitoring, of course, but she was willing to give them a chance. Everybody deserved a chance, no matter what they had done.
The airship was smaller than commercial cruise airships, designed to hold a little over a dozen ponies. Both the balloon and gondola were painted white, dotted with faded, black stars. The regimental symbol of the Guardsponies manning it, a compass rosette over a snowflake, was much more carefully maintained, close to the prow of the ship. There was little beyond their symbols (which were not displayed on field armour) to distinguish most Royal Guard regiments, but this lot, the Crystal Mountain Sentinels, took some pride in their posting, being those who had first reported this change to the Princess.
They were almost all pegasi - pegasus bodies being best equipped to handle extreme cold and rough terrain - with pale coats, and the nigh-endless blizzards bleached their armour to be more platinum than gold. Four of the Night Guard flew alongside the airship, watching through the thick snowfall for any danger, while a couple of Sentinels were charged with manning the airship itself. The group of Guards marching up the Crystal Empire was mostly in the gold of the Royal Guard, but the dusky purple of Night Guard were dotted here and there, insisting on accompanying their Princess to this potential great danger.
All of the other ponies on the airship were wrapped in heavy winter clothes - even Shining Armour, after a while of insisting on keeping up Royal Guard uniform standards, had accepted a heavy, woollen cloak and scarf to keep the worst of the chill off. How the others were faring varied: despite the pain of her old leg wound, Luna had dealt with worse cold in her life. Rarity, shortly after castoff, had realised that fashionable winter clothes weren’t necessarily the most protective, while Rainbow Dash had decided to stay wrapped after a brief attempt to emulate the ‘hardcore’ness of the Sentinels. Spike, for his part, had been wrapped up so thoroughly by his siblings that Luna wasn’t even sure if he could move his arms and legs.
They had crossed over the border that was the Crystal Mountains a small while ago, and into the unceasing blizzard that had consumed the Crystal Empire for over a millennium. Except, to Luna’s eye, it had changed; it was thinner, thin enough that in places, she could see the large outcropping of crystals that the Empire was famed for, or the twisted remains of trees after a thousand years of bitter cold. The Empire was unsealed, she was quite certain now. They wouldn’t have even made it this far, if it were still at its full strength.
“If my memory serves, we should be coming to the Crystal City soon.” Her memory did serve, of course; she’d spent weeks studying the ancient maps. “Are we all ready?”
Generally affirmative murmurs. Twilight, her Element of Magic already on her head, levitated the others to her friends, who hissed in discomfort as icy metal touched fur and skin. Twilight had spent the entire voyage gazing down through a pair of binoculars, scribbling notes in a pad that she sheltered from the wind and snow with her body. What she was writing, Luna had no idea - there was barely anything to see through the snow - but she was a true scholar, always finding something to study in a new place, with diligence that made her jealous.
“The City is just ahead, your majesty!” Barked one of the flying Night Guards, and all of the passengers moved to look ahead.
It appeared through the blizzard like a lighthouse in the fog, a city sat in the centre of the endless, white plain, as large as Canterlot. The small buildings were split into several clear districts, all roads radiating out from a tall, elegant tower, the hub of the wheel city. Even from so far away, the scale of the city was clearly immense, and they could see a number of tiny figures moving through the spoked roads in great processions.
But clearly, something was wrong: all of the distant ponies moved in far too orderly a way, like pieces on a gameboard. Several areas, where there should’ve been several buildings, were occupied by blackened craters. The crystalline structure of the huge tower was cracked and stained in a few places, and a great pillar of black smoke rose ominously from behind it, flickers of red and purple light just faintly visible reflecting on its base.
“It is as I recall.” Luna said quietly, turning a few heads. “He has returned.” Clearing her throat and speaking loudly, she addressed the helmspony. “Take us in a loop around the city, with at least a mile between us and the edge! Do not cross above it!”
“Yes, your majesty!” The stallion barked smartly.
“Be ready, girls - Sombra was no alicorn, but his magical skill rivalled my own. Be prepared for some wickedly treacherous spellwork.” The Bearers all stood straighter, and Luna subtly sidled closer to poor Spike.
The city grew larger and larger in their vision as the airship approached it, a bubble in the midst of the impenetrable storm. Indeed, it kept growing larger, large enough to make out the individual specks among the clockwork masses on the streets. Large enough to worry Luna.
“Sentinel, we draw too close to the City, alter our bearing.” She instructed imperiously. The ship’s course didn’t change. “Guardspony, I am giving you an order!” She barked, and the helmspony flinched, turning to her.
“What?” His armour and fur had lost some lustre, and his eyes were overwhelmingly green for an instant as he looked at her.
“Sombra.” Luna whispered. “Turn this vessel around, Guardspony, immediately! We are leaving!”
Snapping out of his arcane trance, the pegasus heaved against the ship’s wheel, scouts flying down to assist him.
“I thought you said he was dead!” Shining Armour shouted.
“No, I said that his physical form had been destroyed. I fear that has only made him stronger.” Luna saw a portent that told her it was too late to flee, a wisp of smoke, black and red and purple, moving like a living thing, that broke off from the great pillar and swam through the air towards them. Uttering an antiquated curse, she focused hard to raise a near-opaque shield between them and it, which the curiously solid smoke bounced off with an audible sound. But then it sprouted tendrils, probing at the sphere of magic, testing too many points for Luna to hold. The Night Guard escort tried to attack the attacker, but their blows simply went through it, like trying to strike smoke.
“Crystals…” Hissed a voice that was felt, more than heard.
“Bearers, ready your Elements to strike this evil! Captain Armour, protect them with your life!” The girls moved immediately, gathering together and closing their eyes, Elements already aglow in response to the great evil so close by. Shining Armour for his part, hesitated, glancing between his wife and sister. “That is an ORDER!” Luna barked with more intensity than she had for a very long time, and the unicorn crossed the deck, raising a magical shield around the six.
With perfect timing, too - Luna’s was simply tested with too much strength from too many directions and, like a dropped bauble, shattered with a ringing like glass, sending a sharp pain of magical feedback through her body, turning her legs to jelly and her horn to fire. There were gasps from around the deck, and she felt Cadance’s hooves on her as the others shouted.
Unhesitating and whip-like, the smoke struck, swiping the Night Guards out of the sky and swinging down across the centre of the airship, violently rupturing the balloon and tearing through wood and metal to split the ship in two. Comprehending little, beyond that Shining Armour’s shield was still up, and that she was falling away from it, Luna extended her limbs and grabbed those closest to her, hugging them protectively to her body and wrapping them in her wings, ears ringing with explosions and shattering and screams as she held them through the long fall, eyes tightly shut.
Though the snow softened the fall somewhat, an immense pain shot through her and all the world went white when Luna hit the ground.
“Oh goodness. Cadence, what do we do?” Luna blinked when she awoke, the entire world white, and painfully bright. She wasn't in any pain, but had the feeling that wasn’t going to last for very long. “Princess!” Twilight exclaimed, leaning into the white backdrop of Luna’s field of view. “You’re awake!”
“Twilight, my dear, I…” Hesitantly, Luna clambered to stand upright again, her legs pained and trembling. She flexed her wings and shouted in pain, a shock from her left wing that almost dropped her again. Looking up at it, she saw that her left wing was mangled, an extra joint having appeared. Standing in front of her was Twilight, Cadance, and Spike, all scuffed and bruised, but in better condition than Luna. “Well, that’s not supposed to look that way.” She said in a vague attempt at levity.
They had fallen out of the sky when the airship had fallen apart, the other protected by Luna’s body. The rear of the airship, where they had been standing, had completely fallen apart, so they stood on an endless plain of snow, barely visible through the blizzard, and surrounded by fragments of wood. They had nothing but the clothes they wore, and were completely separate from all the airship’s other passengers. Still, Luna had one more pertinent concern.
“Twilight, my dear, I’ll be needing a favour from you.” She’d lost one of her rear shoes in the fall, so she stepped out of the other, raising it in her magical aura and focusing to heat it, turning it pliable and reshaping it.
“Anything, Princess.”
“I need you to set my wing.” She had shaped it into a long half-tube of silvery metal, and tore a couple of strips of cloth from her cloak to accompany it. “Then I will splint it with this.”
“But… won’t that hurt you?”
“Oh, most certainly. But I would quite like to be able to fly again.” It wasn’t as simple as blasting it with healing magic; healing was one of those rare magical fields that couldn’t be taught, only working for those few who’s special talent was specifically related to it. “When you’re ready.”
Hesitating, Twilight took the wing in her magic, Luna wincing as she sat on the cold snow. Even the slightest pressure close to the break was painful. “OK,” Twilight breathed, Cadance and Spike both standing reassuringly close to the pair. “I can do this. I’ve read about this. I can do this.”
“I believe in you, Twili-” Luna was cut off by the snap of her wing being cracked back into place, and screamed with the sudden pain.
“There! It’s straight! It’s straight!”
Luna didn’t respond, panting as she splinted the wing delicately. It would need to be held out, extended, at least for now, and the pressure of the splint hurt her, but it would heal, well enough to fly again. Twilight had set it well. “Thank you, my dear Twilight.”
“You’re welcome, Princess. I think.”
“But what are we going to do now?” Spike asked.
Quickly, Luna cast a simple compass spell, and oriented herself north. “We were directly south of the Crystal City when we went down, so we should head north.”
“Shouldn’t we try to get back to Equestria?” Cadance asked, but Luna shook her head firmly.
“We are deep into the Crystal Empire, and even if we could get back, we couldn’t make our way over the Mountains. Well, perhaps Cadance could,” she conceded. “But it would take days, if not weeks, and we don’t have enough in the way of supply to even attempt that. No, we need to move north to the Crystal City, and find the rest of the airship. And, hopefully, the others. Then, with the power of the Elements, we can finish this. Are you all warm enough?”
Nods, but Luna wasn’t content with a nod from Spike. Despite his protests, she raised him in her magic, laying him on her back and wrapping him in her good wing. There were two reasons - he was slower than the ponies, so this would let them make a good pace, and dragons are cold-blooded. Spike’s internal fire would keep him warm for some time, but without some additional heat, he’d begin to grow lethargic within an hour in this cold.
“Come, friends. We may have a long walk, and the exercise will keep us warm.” Luna set off at a gentle trot, despite the pain in her legs. Cadance followed readily, and Twilight slightly less so - she’d never been one for much non-magical exercise. Luna dearly hoped that she wouldn’t need carrying, too.
Time quickly became an abstract matter, and none of the ponies knew how long they had been cantering through the deep snow, great clumps of it clinging to their fetlocks like an icy scale mail. Luna, not the warrior Princess of legend anymore, was growing tired, all of her legs burning with the fire of exertion, and the incredible cold of the blizzard making her ancient leg wound scream with every step. Spike, nestled in her back, had fallen asleep, but her regular checks confirmed that he was still plenty warm enough, like a little fireplace between her wings. Cadance was faring fine, better equipped to deal with the cold as a pegasus and able to spread the fatigue between her legs and wings. Luna had told her niece that she could fly ahead if she wished, but she seemed more concerned with keeping close to the others.
Twilight, for her part, was not doing well at all - her violet fur was drenched in sweat and she was shivering beneath her winter clothes. Her legs were trembling like saplings in a storm, and every now and then the others would have to stop to let her catch up. For all her wonderful skill, the unicorn would never be a marathon runner.
“Cadance, will you take Spike for me?” At a nod, Luna levitated the sleeping dragon to her niece, who wrapped him rightly in her wings. They walked on as Luna waited for a moment, walking close alongside Twilight. “How are you, my dear?”
It took a few seconds to reply, the unicorn likely preoccupied with one of the many mental exercises Luna had taught her to deal with stress in the past. “Hurting.” Was her eventual reply.
“You’re doing a wonderful job, Twilight.” Luna assured. “I’m sure that we’re most of the way there now.” Well, she wasn't sure, but it only seemed logical: they hadn’t been too far from the city when the ship went down, and though they were slow, they must have been walking for a while now. Surely, salvation would be close by.
“I can’t teleport.”
“That’s the cursed blizzard.” Luna explained. Even her magic was quite thoroughly limited, the caches of supplies she kept to teleport to herself in times of emergency outside of her reach. Though she had enough magic to take the Element of Magic from Twilight’s head, delicately brushing her fringe out of her eyes before replacing it.
“Going to get fit. Train with my brother. This is so much worse than the Running of the Leaves.”
“Good idea.” Luna smiled gently. Then the smile faltered for a moment, and she sighed. “Twilight, I am not angry at all, but you made a mistake today.”
“Princess?” The unicorn looked up at her, eyes wide.
“You should have stayed with the other Bearers. I appreciate that your first instinct was to run to my side, I truly do, but in a time like this, the Elements are more important than I am. And they are useless, without all of them together.”
“I-I’m sorry.” Twilight whispered, barely audible over the blizzard winds.
“Oh Twilight.” Luna said soothingly, stopping moving to hug the unicorn with her good wing. “We all make mistakes, and that’s all this is, a mistake. We can’t change it now, so it’s not worth upsetting yourself over. But next time, do you promise me that you’ll stay with the other Bearers, and keep the Elements together?”
“I promise.”
“Thank you.” Luna nuzzled her gently, and resumed their walk, no matter how much she wanted to collapse in the snow. “Come on, just a little further, and we’ll find the others, I’m sure.”
“Auntie!” Cadance shouted back. “The blizzard’s getting thinner!”
The Crystal City itself sat in a pocket of calm air. Luna grinned at that knowledge. “See? We’re almost there.”
“Can you carry me the rest of the way?”
Rolling her eyes with a smile, Luna raised the unicorn in her magic, carrying her a foot above the snow. “You’re too old for this, but I’ll treat you.” And they walked through the last of the blizzard curtain, to the edge of the Crystal City.
The City, in a bubble of calm weather, was beautiful, yes. But this close, at the ground level, it was clear that something was terribly wrong - many of the crystalline buildings were covered with spiderweb cracks, and the ponies that walked among them were grey. Not the grey of age, but grey like the colour had been sucked out of them. There was a dull sheen to them, not the gemlike sparkle that Luna had described, but a dull, brushed metal sheen.
There was also, just beyond the edge of the city, the front two thirds of an airship, lying in a pile of debris. The three mares began to trot into the twilit city, Twilight having reached her second wind, clear concern written over their faces. The crystal ponies barely even spared these unusual visitors a glance as they approached the wrecked airship, a picture of devastation.
“They’re not here.” Twilight was the first to say what they were all thinking - the ship, especially in its current state, was far too small to hide anypony.
Luna approached the ship, broken wood creaking beneath her hooves as she poked her head into the devastated area below decks. Food and papers were scattered everywhere, and the whole place was covered in a fine layer of feathers from a ruptured mattress. There was no sign of injury. Hopefully, Shining Armour’s shield had held, and the Guards could’ve looked after themselves.
“No, they aren’t. Sombra will have wasted no time in taking them.” Well, Luna assumed that was what he would’ve done. It was hard to rationalise what the wicked unicorn may have done because, quite frankly, he was utterly mad; the destruction of his physical form had utterly changed him to begin with, and being sealed away for a thousand years didn’t typically help these things. She wasn’t even sure if his plan, to free the rest of his kind, was the same after so long. “His base will be at the central tower - it was his palace, and the site of the Crystal Heart. We should journey to it, posthaste. Hopefully, he will assume that we were killed in the crash and-”
“Crystals…” Whispered that strange voice, and Luna uttered an obscenity older than many civilisations.
The shadows in the edges of the downed airship moved like living things, purple flickers at their edges as they congealed into a single, solid mass, shapes forming in its centre. A face, with a sharp, curved horn and merciless eyes. The mares all took a few steps back from it, the just-roused Spike clutching at Cadance’s neck fearfully, before Luna cleared her throat.
“Right, slight change of plans: you two proceed to the tower and find the other Bearers. I shall keep the dear King occupied.” After a moment’s hesitation, Cadance and Twilight set off at a gallop down the main street, and Sombra was distracted from them by a brief blast of magical energy that parted the edge of his shadowy form.
“Crystals…”
“Yes, yes, crystals, I get the idea. You used to be much more fun to talk to, Sombra. Where has that dashing gentleman gone?” Luna attempted to flare her wings, but yelped in pain when her broken one objected. Shaking her head, she began to charge a much more ferocious blast when Sombra charged into her like a nightmare stormcloud.
No, not into her - through her. Her vision turned to black as the shadowy form of the umbra swam through every inch of her body, numbing her. And it didn’t just numb her body, making her legs tremble and her head swim, but it numbed her mind. For a moment, she forgot why she was there, why she was fighting this terrible being, and wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep. It took all her will, and the distant sound of Twilight’s raised voice, to snap her back to reality.
“Good trick.” She snarled as she sent another weak blast to Sombra, not harming him, but turning his attention from the galloping mares back to her. “But it’ll take more than that to break me like you have these other ponies.” He tried to charge again but, with split-second reactions, she raised a pearlescent shield, parting his form around her like rapids around a rock. He was already reforming behind, so she jumped back, peppering him with weak magical blasts and discarding her cloak onto the cobbled street.
As he reformed, his cursed eyes narrowed, and the strange voice hissed again. “You…”
“Me.” Luna panted. “You will not get to hide away this time, Sombra. Your wicked reign is over.” Luna spoke with confidence that she didn’t feel, as the umbra prepared to charge her again.
The dull and listless crystal ponies barely even glanced at Twilight, Cadance, and Spike as they galloped through the centre of their mighty city, all moving like sleepwalkers. They passed two great clusters, shuffling zombielike to and from the City’s centre. Those returning were covered in dirt, their crystalline fur scuffed and scratched. Though Cadance paused to try asking them for directions, or how they could be helped, but they simply looked at her, mostly. “I can’t remember… not since the King came.” was the only verbal response that they got. Undeterred, and hearing the distant sounds of battle behind them, they kept on towards the tower at the City’s centre.
It was warmer in the City than it had been out on the plain, doubtless made warmer by the fact that they were running, so they shed cloaks and hats and scarves as they galloped, lightening their load considerably. Twilight was exhausted, but it had reached a stage where she could barely even feel it any more, her limbs numb and moving without her prompting. The tower began in earnest a couple of storeys off the ground, supported by four slim, crystalline columns, created a sort of courtyard beneath it.
“Girls!” Twilight exclaimed when she saw the shapes in the shadow of the tower, teleporting the last little distance to them.
The other bearers stood, Elements still worn, staring straight ahead with glowing, green eyes and dull, grey bodies. They had been taken, controlled by Sombra like the Guardsponies on the airship, and stood at a sort of attention here, presumably awaiting further commands. Cadance galloped to the figure at the edge of their little row, the relatively bulky shape of Shining Armour, similarly taken. The Guards from the ship stood alongside him, just as absent.
“Shiny…” Cadance whispered, gently touching his cheek.
“Girls!” Twilight shouted, wildly waving her hooves in an attempt to snap them out of this strange spell. “What’s wrong? We need you!” She cast a few quick nullification spells, but the shadowy magic was unaffected by her attempts. Desperately, she shook Applejack by the shoulders. “Come on, snap out of it! We need the Elements of Harmony to defeat him!”
“Twilight.” Cadance said softly, touching her shoulder. “Panic isn’t going to solve anything. We need to be calm.”
Calmly, Twilight tried to channel magic through her Element of Magic, but it didn’t react, despite the proximity of the others. They needed to be borne by their paragons, not simply there, and these sleepwalkers couldn’t be paragons of the Elements. Think, Twilight, think!
“Hey, what’s this thing?”
The ponies both turned to Spike, still wrapped up tightly, pointing at a pedestal, the only other object of note beneath the tower. And on it sat an incredible object, a single, blue diamond almost as large as a pony, carved skillfully into the shape of a heart. WIth a gasp, Twilight recognised it as the object of Cadance’s cutie mark, something that she’d previously assumed to be simply metaphorical.
“It’s the Crystal Heart.” Cadance said softly. “I researched it as soon as I got my cutie mark.” She touched it reverently, and found it to be cold, inert. “Supposedly, it channeled the love of the crystal ponies into a magic that would warm and protect the Crystal Empire, letting them remain safe and happy in even the coldest northern winter. Unfortunately,” she sighed. “I don’t think that there’s much love left here.”
“I don’t know what to do.” Twilight said, still carefully regarding her friends. The distant sounds of battle were beginning to imperceptibly fade. “If we can’t break this spell, we’ll never set all the crystal ponies free. And I-” she choked slightly. “I’ll never see my friends again.”
There was a faint twinkle in the centre of the Crystal Heart, like a distant, faint star, and Cadance felt a barely-present rumble in it. “Love!”
Twilight blinked at the exclamation. “What?”
“We can’t use the Elements, so we’ll beat him with the Crystal Heart! And for the Crystal Heart to work, it needs love!” She took Twilight’s face in her forehooves, squishing her cheeks and grinning widely. “Who do you love, Twilight?”
“Cadance, if you’re trying to set me up on a date, now’s not the-”
“Not just that, any kind of love!”
“W-Well,” Twilight hesitated for a moment. “I love all of my friends from Ponyville. And I love my family.” Slowly, her confidence in this idea was building. “Mum and dad. And Shiny and Spike are the best brothers I could ever ask for.” She looked sadly at her hypnotised brother, before reaching out to hug Spike. “And I love you, Cadance, you’re the best big sister. And, well, I love the Princess.” It was faint, but things felt a mite warmer. Several of the sleepwalking crystal ponies had stopped, observing this bizarre conversation beneath the tower with idle curiosity.
“I love Auntie Luna, too. And I love you both, too!” Cadance eagerly added on. “And I love my in-laws, and all my family back home, and everyone at the castle. And especially,” she looked wistfully aside and softly said. “I love Shiny.”
The tiny star had grown, a faint ember heart of the ancient artifact, and things were definitely growing warmer. The idle curiosity in the observers seemed to be intensifying, and more and more were stopping to observe this spectacle.
“Spike!” Twilight exclaimed, raising him in her magic. “Who do you love?”
“Um, well, I-I love mum and dad. And Luna. And Cadance and Shining Armour. But most of all, I’m your number one assistant, so I love you, Twi!” He reached out to hug her, and there was a thrumming, a faint shockwave of energy from the Crystal Heart. It didn’t go far, rippling only to the edges of this under-tower area, but when it washed over the zombies, the green light faded from their eyes, and they were back.
“Where are we?”
“What’s going on?”
“Did we beat him?”
“Everypony!” Cadance shouted, spreading her wings dramatically. “Who do you love?” Mumbles of confusion and doubt. “Don’t think, just tell us!”
There was a moment’s pause, before the first of them ventured.
“I love my family!”
Then like that, the floodgates were open, and they came rapidly.
“I love my friends!”
“I love my Princess!”
“I love my parents!”
“I love you, Cadance!”
They came far too quickly, now, overlapping each other, but the Heart responded eagerly, its light slowly increasing as it hummed with mystical power. Even the crystal ponies standing around the tower began to respond, lustre returning to their body as they shouted unfamiliar names and heartfelt exclamations.
And when the Heart had felt enough, the tower above it began to glow, and a wave of powerful, beautiful magic flowed out from it, running like a wave over the entire City.
Since her encounter with the changeling Queen, Luna had been physically training. Unfortunately, there was one significant problem; Luna was very, very old. Not physically, her body had never physically deteriorated beyond the presence of injuries, new and old, but mentally. She had a great many bad habits, and when a bad habit has existed for hundreds of years, it takes a very long time to kick it, or to form a good habit alongside it.
Which is all a very roundabout way of saying that Luna was deeply regretting that she enjoyed sweets more than exercise.
As the formless soul of an umbra, his physical form long since destroyed, Sombra would never tire, and could only be injured in rather more abstract ways. Luna, already exhausted and injured, couldn’t compete with something like that, and she knew that she was being worn down. Each time the King tried to control her, it became harder and harder for her to throw off his potent influence and resist the urge to give into that dark, hypnotic magic. And each time, he’d progressed further towards the tower when she did snap out, and her attempts to distract him became more and more feeble.
But it was working. She was buying time and, unless it was foolish optimism, the tarry cloud that composed his physical form seemed to be shrinking. Not enough that she could consider this battle won, for sure, but enough that she could assure herself that she was making progress, and push through on her second (third? Possibly even fourth) wind, until somepony came up with a way of ending this battle for good.
And that was when the beam of pure, white light rose up from the crystal tower, and the wave of magical energy washed over them.
Luna felt recharged, reinvigorated. She was still injured, of course, but there was a tremendous calm in her mind and a warmth in her belly that made the pain in her joints melt away, and let her inhale deeply for the first time in hours, giving her enough strength to fight for much longer.
Fortunately, that wouldn’t be necessary, because her opponent reacted rather unfavourably to the magical wave. He thrashed and screamed incoherently in the air, shrinking as layers of shadow were stripped away from his form by the mystical energy, until there was merely the burning, purple flame that was his soul, straining and flickering against the onslaught.
With a flicker of Luna’s own magic, it was extinguished.
Inhaling the temperate air deeply, she looked up, and saw that the dome of stormclouds that had surrounded the city was gone, exposing the orange evening sky. The crystal ponies around her had regained their colour and lustre, and blinked in surprise like sleepwalkers suddenly awoken, talking among themselves and asking, in antiquated Equestrian, what had happened. There were several dark shapes taking to the sky, and she recognised the faint shapes of armoured thestrals, likely looking for her.
Luna took a few moments to look up with her eyes closed, letting the late sunlight wash over her body and the last few flakes of snow drop gently onto her body. Then she galloped to the tower, a smile spreading across her face.
“Princess, you’re OK!” Twilight remarked joyfully at the sight of her mentor, accompanied by a group of her loyal Guards.
“I am, my dear Twilight. No more harmed than I was when we parted. And you, it seems, have saved the day once again.”
The crystal ponies were gradually flocking to the tower, beautifully illuminated in the light of the Crystal Heart. As Luna remembered, the crystal ponies were resplendent, their coats shining like cut diamonds in the twilight of the early evening. The magic of the Crystal Heart seemed to have done the same to those ponies who had contributed to its reactivation, the Bearers, Spike, Cadance, Shining Armour, the Night Guard who had met Luna, and the airship Guards all shining just the same. In the Heart’s light, the air was chilly, but not unpleasantly so, the sort of chill that made one want to sit outside with a mug of hot chocolate. And compared to what they had been through, it was positively tropical.
“Do you think that I should make a speech?” Luna asked, and Twilight gave a faint nod.
“I think it’s the kind of thing that’s suitable in this situation.”
Luna wanted to take to wing and perch in a high place for her speech, but managed to remember her injury before trying. So instead, she raised her voice, projecting it across the crowd.
“Ponies of the Crystal Empire!” All of the chatter stopped at that, aside from a few remarks from the crystal ponies who knew her from so long ago. “On this evening, thanks to the effort of these brave ponies, the Crystal Heart has been restored, and you have all been freed. Never again will you toil under the yoke of King Sombra!” A great cheer raised from the crowd, the stomping of hooves drowning out everything for a few moments. “If you will have her, I should like to propose a new ruler to you all, a descendent of your beloved Princess Amore and the pony who restored love to the Crystal Heart. My beloved niece, Princess Cadance.” Luna extended a forehoof to point at the pegasus, standing close to her beloved. All of the crystal ponies slowly turned to face her, and she blushed before waving shyly at the crowd.
“Hail Princess Cadance!” The chant came up as the crystal ponies dropped to bow, the Heart gently pulsing with their gratitude and adoration for their liberator. Luna paused long enough for the chant to cease, and for Cadance to squeak out a ‘thank you’ instead of giving a complete speech, before she raised her voice again.
“Now, little time has passed for you all, but it has been quite some time for me, dear friends. Pray tell, dear crystal ponies, do you still know how to throw an excellent festival?” The cheer that rose told her that, yes, they certainly did.