After a fairly uneventful train ride, save for Pinkie pointing out every single oddity along the way, the four of them eventually wind up in the Crystal Empire. A long way from home.
"All right, we're here." Spoon said gasping for breath.
"Why are you gasping?" Applejack asked.
"Because of the lack of air?" He gasps.
"Dude, that's when we're up high. We're up north, there's a difference." Applejack replied.
"Oh." With that, Spoon went back to breathing normally. Applejack hit her face with her hoof. How did she get stuck with someone like that?
"We're nearing the Crystal Palace. Everyone stay close." Twilight said, trying to keep the team together. The group approached and saw the spectacle that was the Crystal Palace. It felt like mere months since she and her friends had taken on King Sombra and saved the crystal ponies... or did she? This multiversal stuff was really getting to her.
Pinkie gasped. "Twilight, you remember that time that we all defeated King Sombra under these crystal arches?" Pinkie asked as if she was somehow reading Twilight's mind.
Twilight giggled. "Yes, Pinkie. I remember."
"Sombra was like whoosh and we were like bam! And then he went flying out of the park and it was a home run! We all ran around and scored points and we won the game!" Pinkie screeched.
The librarian seemed to hear them asked them to shush. The Crystal Palace guards seemed amused with a smirk. The group approached.
"We're here because of a magical disturbance--" Twilight began.
"Twily!" Came a voice. Suddenly she was pounced on by her brother Shining Armor.
Cadance flew down to join the two of them. "Twilight! It's been ages since we saw each other. Sunshine sunshine ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake!" The two of them did their little dance and giggled. "What brings you here?" She asked.
"Well, this here is Grandmaster Spoon and--" she began.
"Oh my, a grandmaster. This is dire indeed." Cadance interrupted. "Why don't we go inside and we can talk?" She nodded and the group heads inside.
They all head for a meeting room. "Wait, we can't stay here." Spoon announces.
"Why not?" Cadance asks dumbfounded.
"This room. It has six walls in the shape of a hexagon. Hexagons are very confrontational omens that foretell of dark occurrences."
"Oh brother." Applejack sighs.
Spoon glares at Applejack. "You still don't believe any of this do you? You think I'm crazy and just making all this up?"
"Ah don't know what to think, except that a few days ago, you were just this crazy pony on the street, mumbling to inanimate objects!" Applejack exclaims.
"You saw them! You saw the other world and all the visions and Twilight's mind! They weren't fake! How can you be doubting all this?" Spoon exclaims.
"Twilight's mind?" Cadance asked while giving Shining Armor a look. He just shrugged his shoulders in response. "Take it easy everyone." She says trying to diffuse the conversation.
"Ah don't know what ah saw and from the sounds of it, you don't neither!" Applejack said ignoring Cadance's point.
"Ah, splendid! I just love it when a plan comes together!" Came an altogether new voice.
At the top of the stairwell lay a new pony. He had crimson fur, a blonde mane and was wearing a horribly tacky red cloak with all sorts of mathematical symbols across it. And a cowl.
"Fork!" Spoon exclaimed.
"Yes, it is I, Archmagician Fork, at your service. I noticed your bickering and was just drawn to this cacophony of discomfort. A torrential whirlwind of chaos. It is simply delightful. Please, by all means, destroy each other. It will make your misery all the sweeter."
"Fork, what is the meaning of this?" Cadance asked.
"Ah, my good princess, it is so delicious for you to ask that question. All this time that I spent in the castle as your lackey. But alas, I have a confession to make. I've been in this castle for a very long time. Far longer than even you anticipated. I met with the former occupant of this castle and he imparted unto me some most rewarding secrets." Fork exclaimed.
"You don't mean..." Cadance says.
"Yes, it is true. King Sombra was correct in offering his services. All in exchange for a soul. Whose soul you ask? Well, that's up to you. If you cooperate, then I promise undying loyalty to the master. If you do not, then eternal agony awaits you."
Applejack rolls her eyes and mutters, "Like Ah haven't heard that one before."
"What was that?" Fork asks. "Do you have something to share with the rest of the class?"
Applejack seethes. "Yes, Ah do. Your whole speech sounds like cockamamie bull. Ah've heard worse villain lines from when Rainbow Dash drones on about Daring Do. There's nothing y'all can do to us that we haven't already seen!"
"Oh can't I?" Fork asks. He then lights up his horn and a treacherous storm of crimson gets unleashed from it. The storm strikes down to the ground in the middle of the hexagon, and it becomes highlighted in triangles. Lines begin to appear throughout the Crystal Palace and the triangles pick up and fly away. The group begins to fall until they land in a vast onyx wasteland.
"Why did you have to do that? Just let the villain carry on with their stereotypical speeches. It helps us better prepare." Spoon says.
"Sorry, I wasn't thinking about how he'd react." Applejack says.
Up above, the scenery around the Crystal Palace returns to normal, albeit with the large hole in the ground. Archmagician Fork glances downward to look at them. "Oh and before I forget, here's a parting gift. King Sombra says hello." He drops a piece of King Sombra's horn into the pit and watches King Sombra materialize into his gaseous form.
"Cadanceeee..." Sombra growls. He recognizes her and the rest of the friends that helped imprison him before. With a growl, he launches himself into the ground and dark crystals begin to grow.
"King Sombra? Here? Oh good grief..." Twilight remarks.
"Yeah thanks a lot, Applejack!" Pinkie Pie exclaims.
"Oh come on, who could have predicted this would happen?" Applejack complains.
"I kind of did." Spoon says.
"What? You did?" Applejack asks.
"Of course. We were heading to the Crystal Empire to fight a foe from another universe. Fork must have teamed up with King Sombra in order to acquire his interdimensional powers. That's the only thing that would make sense."
"Hmm, Ah guess so..." Applejack seems to ponder this.
"Umm, guys I think we should do something about the crystals." Twilight adds. The crystals continued to grow until they were much bigger.
"I'll go get help." Cadance says before taking off and flying towards the hole.
Fork's horn glowed and a magical barrier appeared around the hole. Cadance hit it and it zapped her. "Tsk tsk, Princess. You won't be escaping that easily." Fork quipped.
Sombra took his gaseous form once again and looked at the group with a growl and a smile. They were approaching their imminent doom and it couldn't be helped but make him just the tiniest bit more happy.
"Twilight what do we do?" Cadance asks.
Twilight seemed to be freaking out a bit before she composed herself. She took a deep breath and released it. "Okay, so remember what happened last time. The powers of light and hope were enough to repel King Sombra. Before, he was operating at full power, but now he's at a shell of his former self. He had thousands of years to build up the defenses on the Crystal Palace, whereas now, he's only had a few months. So he's definitely not operating at full power. It will be much easier for us to dispatch him."
"But what about the Elements of Harmony? We kinda need Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity, don't we?" Applejack asks.
"Well, as long as they're in our hearts, they should be enough to light the way with us." Twilight responded. She opens her suitcase and she levitates the Element of Magic onto her head. She also levitates the Element of Laughter onto Pinkie's neck and the Element of Honesty onto Applejack's.
Spoon chimed in. "With my icons of power, you should be able to connect with the Elements even from vast distances." He said an incantation and his musical note materialized and multiplied into a symphony. Music began to grow. As Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack rose into the air, a line of magic wrapped across them. The line continued into the vortex of the symphony across to her friends. Their eyes glowed and magic shot out of Twilight's crown. The magic hit King Sombra and wrapped around him, confining him.
"Nooooo!" Sombra exclaims. The rainbow light hits him and he disappears into nothingness. The magic then goes up into the air and hits the shield, destroying it. It also seemed to change the surroundings to make them a nicer coral color.
Cadance lifts the group up with her magic and flies through the hole. Shining Armor, Twilight, and Cadance all work together to seal up the hole until the Palace is back to the way things were.
"Now, where did he go?" Shining Armor asks.
"That snake! He couldn't defeat the true power of Friendship, so he probably slinked back into the shadows to await another time to attack." Spoon responds. "Knowing him, he probably went up to the Crystal Library."
"Then that's where we need to go." Shining replies. The group got up and began to head up the stairwell.