"Philomena!" William shouted. "It's still alive!"
They were at Canterlot's castle, and Celestia woke up William for a special weekend she and Luna were planning for him. They didn't spend time with William since 20000 years ago, and she wanted to recover some of the lost time. Before the visit, Luna gave Celestia the idea to show William an old friend from his past, Philomena. She conduced her friend to the room that Philomena occupied. As soon as she saw William, she flew right if front of him, and did some circles around him before landing on his arm. William stared at the mystical bird on his arm, it was the red phoenix that Celestia had as a pet. William could barely believe that Philomena, the injured bird that Celestia saved from death with her magic, was still alive to this days. Although he could expect that, since he knew Philomena was a phoenix.
"I knew that seeing another familiar face could cheer you up." Celestia spoke to her friend. "Also, it's alive beacouse she is a..."
"Phoenix, I know exactly what they are." William complemented. "I remember that when I first met her, she tried to burn me beacouse she thought I was dangerous to you and Luna."
"Skuark." the phoenix spoke gently, while lowering her face before William, like trying to say 'I'm sorry for that'.
"Don't worry Philomena, I already forgive you for that." he spoke.
"So, are you ready for the special day that I planned?" Celestia asked to the human.
"Yes," William responded, "but, where are we going?"
"Well, we have 1 day before you return to ponyville for your studies. So I thought that you might wanna met the Crystal Empire."
"What! An empire?" William asked a bit surprised. "And does it have good relationships with Equestria?"
"Don't worry William, is not the kind of empire that were on earth 20000 years ago. In fact, they don't even have an emperor; they are also ruled by an alicorn princess. Princess Cadence, a very old friend of mine."
"Wait, there are other alicorns? I thought that Twilight was the only new alicorn around here."
"Yes, she's an alicorn. She discovered the magic of love, so I decided to turn her into an alicorn as a reward."
"That's how it works?" William asked with a joking tone on his voice. "You create new magic and you are turned into an alicorn?"
"That's pretty much it." Celestia responded.
"Well, it makes sense to me." William spoke. "Ah! I was also wandering why is it called the 'Crystal' Empire."
"You'll see when we arrive there."
They were flying on the carriage that Celestia used for her personal transportation, Luna was also in the short
1 day visit to the empire.
William stared at the views that the flying carriage provided. They were beautiful views of a very snowy place, views that William loved for sure, but when they were arriving at the empire, William's jaw dropped.
The Crystal Empire was like an oasis of grassland in the middle of a pole, it also make honor to his name, since the houses, castle, and even the ponies were made of crystal.
"Wow, this is... amazing." he said.
"We knew that you would like it." Luna said.
The carriage descended in front of the main building of the empire, that William assumed that was the castle. They went down and pick up their baggage, not that they have to much of it anyways, and were immediately received with a kind and unknown voice for William.
"Celestia! Luna!" the voice said. "Is good to see you both again at the empire!"
William turned himself, and stared at the pink alicorn alongside a white unicorn stallion that was with her.
"Is good to see you too." said Celestia.
"No, the pleasure is mine." the pink mare said, then she noticed William. "Oh, and I guess that you are William."
"Indeed, and I guess that you are princess Cadence." he responded.
"Just Cadence is fine." she spoke. "I heard tons of things about you. And, I'm also sorry for what happened to you. You should feel guilty for what happened to the human race."
"In fact, yes." he responded. "Beacouse I'm kind of guilty for what happened there. If I arrived a little bit earlier I could..."
"Don't punish yourself that hard young man." the white stallion spoke. "You did everything you could, and I have to say that what you did all those years ago was amazing. You have no reason to be ashamed of yourself."
"Thanks mr. ..." William spoke.
"Shining Armour." he responded. "I'm captain of the royal guard, as well as the husband of Cadence."
"It's a pleasure mr. Shining armour."
"Well, if you don't mind, I could show you a little bit of the castle while they help you with your baggage." Cadence spoke, while pointing a hoof to some of the guards.
"No, don't bother yourself Cadence." William spoke. "It's just 1 backpack after all, I don't wanna bother you."
"It doesn't bother me." she responded. "At all."
"I understand, but I insist. I think I can manage 1 backpack."
"Ok then, but at least, let me show you the castle." the pink mare said with a smile.
"Ok." William said while picking up his new backpack from the carriage, courtesy of Rarity.
"INTERESTING CASTLE. TO BAD IT WON'T BE STANDING FOR MUCH LONG!" a voice said.
"What!" William shouted.
"What?" Cadence said with a worried expression on her face.
"Nothing, I think I heard something." William responded. "It must be just my imagination."
"Well, let's start. As you can see, this is the..."
Cadence took William to see all the interesting points of the castle. She showed him the crystal heart and its purpose, the throne room of the castle, the royal archives, and other stuff. William really enjoyed all of this, learning new things always kept his mind busy and away from the problems. That's what he did when his father got arrested, focus on his studies and try his best while doing them. Maybe he was repeating that tactic again with his magical studies with Twilight.
Meanwhile, Celestia and Luna were debating about 1 thing: Owlen.
"As you heard, I think that the voice that William heard was Owlen's voice from inside of his mind."
"But that's impossible!" her sister responded. "That would mean that he is getting stronger, not weaker."
"Listen, I know how it feels to have an evil entity inside of your mind, and that thing was clearly Owlen." Luna said with a worried expression on her face.
"So what we should do?"
"Well, we still have time to think what to do before it's too late and Owlen escapes into the real world." she responded. "When we get back to Canterlot we could start to search out for a way to kill Owlen once and for all. The important thing is to maintain his mind at peace."
"Ok, I'll advise Twilight that he would not go to her magic clases for a while."
"No!" Luna shouted. "You know William, learning new things keeps his mind busy and at peace. Disrupting his magical lessons, as well as his time with the elements is the worst thing that we could do."
"You are right at that. But if Owlen is even more powerful than the Tantabus, then how are we supposed to kill him without harming William?"
"We have to investigate." Luna said. "We have to investigate."
"AAAAAAHHH! DIE FOR ONCE STUPID WEAK COUNTERPART!" Owlen shouted wile using his claws in an attempt to kill William.
William was asleep again. After a long day of visiting the empire, he just crashed on the bed that Cadence provided. He just wished to have some rest, although Owlen had other plans for him.
"No!" William responded, while avoiding the claws that tried to kill him. "Maybe is time to test that little spell that I was practicing."
He concentrated a long fine stick of his blue magic, that materialized in front of him. He grabbed it with his right hand, and extended it in front of Owlen like a sword.
"If you are me, then you know how much I wanted to have my own lightsaber." he said.
After saying this, Owlen couldn't contain himself any longer. He unfolded his claws and tried very hard to murder William. In response, William used his new sword to block every single one of the claws that desperately wanted him dead. The intensity and speed of Owlen's attacks increased for every second that passed. William could barely avoid his death with his new blue blade, if this continued, he would die.
He tried to make an thrust to Owlen with his blade, although it was impossible, since, well... he was facing himself.
The only difference that William knew, was the fact that Owlen was too easy to anger. Then, the idea hit William: making Owlen angry.
"You know what!" he said while blocking a claw from peering in his eye. "Maybe it was for the best! Maybe humans were just some stupid bipedal monkeys!"
This statement really affected Owlen. His red and green eyes raged with fury.
"YOU! YOU! YOU INSOLENT PEST!"
This outrage from Owlen's part created a window of opportunity for William. Without thinking twice, he maneuvered his blade that severed through Owlen's head in a second.
Before banishing Owlen shouted: "YOU KNOW THIS IS NOT OVER! THIS ISN'T ENOUGH TO KILL ME! IN FACT, NOW I'M STRONGER THAN BEFORE! SEE YOU AT YOUR NIGHTMARES!"
After Owlen fainted, also did William. He was exhausted, even though it was all on his mind.
"That was... amazing!" Luna's voice said.
"Luna! Where were you?"
"I entered your dream 2 minutes ago. I was about to do an intervention, but you did better than I would ever could." the mare said. "But, you really don't mean those thing about humanity, right?"
"No, it was just a tactic for making him angry; I really don't mean those things. But what concerns me now is the fact that he would return, and when he does, maybe I wouldn't be this lucky. What would I do?"
"You would have our help." Luna said, and then, she gave William a hug.
William started to cry. He just wished to everything to return to normal; his school, his friends, his mother. All of that hunted William every second of every day, an it hurt; the pain was nothing like he faced before.
"Thank you Luna." he manage to say. "Thank you."