//------------------------------// // 94. Tripartite - Part Twelve // Story: Letters From a Little Princess Monster // by Georg //------------------------------// Letters From a Little Princess Monster Tripartite - Part Twelve Trixie was not cut out for leadership.  She was a square peg in a world of round holes, but the world was filled with hammers, and the Crystal Empire in particular believed in concussive encouragement to fit pegs to the job at hoof. From the moment she and her friends had broken into the spell concealing the city, she had somehow become the square go-to mare for all round questions and problems.  Princess Cadence was too both tired and absorbed with her new foal, so she could barely pay much attention to the outside world, and Prince Shining Armor… was exhausted.   It was unfair.  All the big galoot had really done was break the entire Crystal Empire out of King Sombra’s spell and then turn around and use his special spell to reinforce the ancient weather dome when something made of darkness and shadows had attacked the city. Sombra. Obviously. That left Trixie as the mare-in-charge, responsible for everything from setting up the Crystal Faire to bolster the local’s resolve in the face of Sombra’s continuous attacks, to having Sunburst investigate the ancient city library for any clue that might help.  She even had sent Spike out with Twilight’s little friends to search for the missing Crystal Heart, because if there was trouble and destruction involved, the world’s smallest disaster brigade would undoubtedly head straight for the ancient artifact. “Studly, how’re you holding out?”  It was a question that had to be asked despite Trixie’s reluctance to find out.  The immense dark bags under Shining Armor’s eyes were packed for a few weeks stay in Miserytown, but far worse, his horn had begun to sprout weird black crystals the longer he fought to keep the weather dome up, and the faint hints of cackling laughter she could hear from shifting shadows out in the city had begun to get louder. “Just.  Fine.”  The sweating stallion gave one last push to his magic and looked up in the sky where the weather dome fought against a raging snowstorm.  “Whew.  Hope Twilight gets here soon.” “She will, dear.”  Princess Cadence shuffled closer to her husband with their weird big-winged baby nestled to her side.  “She’s close.  I can feel it.” The pretty pink princess looked just as bad as he did, and had been providing Shining Armor as much magic as she could spare while Trixie could do little more than watch.  Alicorns had immense reserves, but apparently foalbirth tapped those reserves down to a trickle, and all they were doing now was waiting on Twilight Sparkle.   “Close doesn’t count,” grumbled Trixie, looking out at the shadow-wrapped city, which grew darker further away from the castle.  Flickers barely visible in the corners of the eye and occasional chill breezes only made the waiting more dreadful, although one impassive resident of their room seemed to have no problem with it at all. “He’s fine,” said Cadence as Trixie looked back at the pony-high dark crystal standing in the middle of their room.  It turned out to be lighter than it looked when Trixie had carried it up the stairs and into the castle, although she still felt as if the creature inside was watching her rear end. “Can’t believe you found a changeling here, of all places,” she grumbled, turning her attention back to the shadowed city.  “Middle of nowhere and one of your adoring bug buddies just happens to be waiting for us, all neatly packaged for shipment.” “He’s not just a changeling,” said Cadence quietly as if she were afraid of waking up their foal.  “He’s something new that hasn’t been seen for thousands of years.  If I’m right, when he eventually hatches, he will be the leader of a completely new kind of changeling.” “If we live through this,” added Trixie without a backwards glance.  “I can’t believe I’m depending on a mentally scarred child to save all our lives.” “Again,” rasped Shining Armor, who leaned into his wife’s support with the faint hint of a proud smile struggling to the surface despite his obvious strain. “Oh, right,” grumbled Trixie.  “Encore!  Bravo!  You save the entire world from one force of eternal darkness and everypony expects a free repeat performance every time the world is in danger.” “Yes, we do,” said Cadence with a gentle brush of one wing along Trixie’s bare back.  “Have faith in your friends, Trixie.  With them, you can do great and powerful things.” * * * A loud squawk from the lookout cut through the airship, startling Monster and Sunny from their ongoing discussion with the ship’s captain.  Celaeno the parrot had been a pirate some time ago, and there had been a song involved in the revelation, with everybody in the crew dancing and flying around.  It distracted Monster from the reason she was here, the terrible destruction of the griffon aerie and the deadly threat facing her friends, so she had to put it behind her. There would be time later.  If they were still alive. Monster and Sunny hurried outside of the captain’s cabin to face a blast of arctic cold, which knocked them back into the parrot pirate captain.  “There’s a storm blowing down there, a sight larger than what we’re seeing at this altitude,” Captain Celaeno shouted, holding one of them under each wing to keep them from blowing away.  “We can’t go down until it stops.  It’ll tear us apart in minutes.” Sunny sank her griffon claws into the deck and moved one step at a time closer to the rail so she could see better.  “There’s a big dome down there, bigger than a city.  I bet that’s where the Crystal Empire is!  Griffon history says we ruled over it centuries ago, but they say that about a lot of places in history.  How are we going to get in there?” Monster spread her wings and landed on the deck with a solid thud.  If she had a single scrap of pegasus magic left, she could have used it to weigh more instead of less, something she never would have been able to do a few weeks earlier.  Instead, she could not even make a spark or float.   It was her own fault. The Fire of Friendship that devoured the griffon aerie and the windigo had eaten her magic first, and she had released Celestia and Luna’s magic so it would not be consumed also.  It had been a foolish gesture, or at least she had thought so before thinking more and realizing that Fizzy and her army would require every bit of magic they had to face the Storm King, so it was a sacrifice to friendship’s fire to save her new friends.   Fizzy was a friend, after all.  A strange, violent friend, far different than any other friends she knew.  Except maybe Pumpernickel. It still left her without any magic of any kind, which was comforting in an odd fashion.  Magic had harmed her so much.  Perhaps this was Harmony’s way of thanking her, but it still was quite a problem right at the point where she needed her strength the most. Never meet strength with strength… Even without magic of her own, she could feel Shiny’s protective spell over the city, reinforced in concert with an ancient protective enchantment that kept the terrifying storms away from the Crystal Empire.  On her worst day in the Everfree forest, she might have been able to break it, but not any more.  Besides, she only needed a small hole in the spell, not the enormous devastation that her old magic would make.  That would be no good, particularly since she could feel some sort of ancient creature whipping the storm up to an icy frenzy, eroding away at the fringes of the protective spell until it could burst through to destroy them all.. Sombra.  Obviously.  There was no monologuing in this attack.  Only death. Celestia and Luna had spoken in the iced cream store about fighting him, but Monster quickly pushed that option to the back of her mind.  She had to reach her friends first without totally breaking their protection against the weather, but she could not even light up her horn with a flicker of light.  Besides, even if she had been at her full strength, none of her spells had that kind of precision, and nopony else on the airship… As the wailing groan of a pregnant mare came up from belowdecks, Monster came to a sudden realization about what Trixie would call an opportunity to get help from a friend. It would require a very Trixie-like approach. * * * “I’ve never been happier to be a shaggy mess. It’s cold out here,” shouted Green Grass into the stiff wind as Monster brought him up on deck.  The skinny stallion flapped where loose skin rippled and his coat caught snowflakes, but his remaining weight still kept him from blowing away.  The airship’s colorful sails were extended, lifting the vessel higher above the raging storm as the sun neared the horizon and lit them all with golden light, but soon the night would fall and… “Need you,” said Monster in slow, specific words that required a great deal of force to make herself heard over the wailing of the wind.  “Save friends.  Need to make a hole through magic shield over Crystal Empire.  Shiny’s shield.  Never have before.  Can’t now.  You can.” “Whoa, now.”  Green Grass held out one hoof in a stopping motion, only to put it back down so he would not be blown off the airship deck.  “I’m an earth pony, Twilight.  Your brother has unicorn magic.  Can’t we like land and knock on the outside or something?” “Storm would break ship.  Need to get through now and fast.  Stargazer having foal.  Needs doctor.  Friends in trouble.  King Sombra will hurt them soon.  Kill them.” Green Grass nodded.  “That’s all true, right up to the point where… What are you doing?” Monster walked up to the front of the airship, followed by her tutor.  It gave a spectacular view of the unforgiving arctic terrain far below, even moreso when the airship gave a lurch and began to level out.  This was no roller coaster from Funland, but the sensation was similar, with threads of probability thrashing around so hard that Monster could not see anything at all. Trust in Harmony. Trixie said there was no such thing as fate, that a poor decision now beat a perfect decision made too late.  Actions determined results no matter the intent, so it was best to focus on the facts the way they were instead of the way you meant.  Her power was exhausted by the use of Friendship’s fire, therefore everypony’s survival depended on her being a liar.   “You should be dead,” said Monster bluntly as the airship finished leveling off at such a high altitude that she could barely see the glimmering dot of the Crystal Empire’s shield in the storm below.  “Killed Windigo.  Kicked it to death.  You’re not dead.  Alive.”  Her eyes traced back to Greenie’s snow-white hindquarters with the long brown stripe of dried blood over the opened scar that still weeped a few drops of red across his cutie mark.  “Just changed colors like Trixie.  Dyed.  Not died.” “I was lucky, Twilight.”  Since they were above most of the weather, Green Grass was able to get down on his knees so he could look Monster in the eyes.  “I was terrified, and had no choice.” “Always choices.  Some bad.  Trixie said you never got hurt teaching unicorn magic.  Never.” “I was briefly turned into a geranium once—” started Green Grass, only to have Monster narrow her eyebrows and fix him with a fierce glare. “Never hurt!  Bad things happened, but only where they could be fixed easy.  Not afraid of me!” The anger she felt was real, but restrained by the importance of her task.  This was only one step in saving her friends and everypony else in the Crystal Empire.  Shiny could not keep his shield up forever, and the growing shadows below would eventually wear him down, tear down the shield, and flood into the unseen city on the winds of the huge blizzard. If… No, because Green Grass’ magical talent appeared to unconsciously protect him during magical accidents, it had to know how important this was to his survival.  The idea of a cutie mark that thought was unusual to Monster’s distorted mind, but the theory fit into the hypothesis, and all that remained was the experiment to prove it.  Or maybe she had those reversed.  Anyway, it was time as Trixie would say to go all in and call the universe’s bluff. Above them in the airship’s rigging there was the sudden clanging of a bell and the captain’s voice calling out. “All cargo and passengers report secured!  Trim the sails and rig for rapid descent.” “Descent?” said Green Grass, looking wide-eyed and panicked. “It’s the only way to save our friends,” said Monster.  “I trust you.” Sunny’s young voice shouted, “We’re ready in cargo, Captain Celaeno.” Almost immediately, the airship began to nose over and the bell from before started clanging in an unbroken sequence of harsh notes.  “All hands to crash positions,” called out the captain.  “Ramming speed!  Dive!  Dive!  DIVE!” “Uh, Twilight?” started her tutor as the airship continued to nose over until it was pointed nearly straight down at the glittering magical dome glowing with fire in the light of the setting sun and began to pick up speed.  “Is this the way—” “Sunny said you got hurt by her uncle earlier, but not killed.  Other ponies got eaten.  You lived.  Made me think.” Green Grass gave a terrified squeak and grabbed onto the rail, although Monster did not move in the slightest.  She continued to talk as the wind picked up, driven by the ever-increasing velocity of the plunging airship. “I trust you.  Moosashi said go into battle as if you were already dead.  My friends are in trouble.  If you can’t open Shiny’s shield, you die. I die. We all die.” “This won’t work!” screamed Green Grass as the ground below grew larger at a rapid rate.  “This is misplaced trust!  I can’t—” “You can,” said Monster as loud as she could to be heard over the raging slipstream of their power dive.  “Trust in Harmo—” * * * It was silent on the balcony of the Royal Sisters, with no more noise than the faint whisper of wind as Luna and Celestia watched the sun approach the horizon.  Once again, their manes flowed with alicorn magic, and a single book on foalbirth lay untouched between them since they were both reassured and troubled by the return of their borrowed power. Finally, Celestia gave off a deep sigh and admitted, “There are times when trusting in Harmony sucks.” Luna considered the statement for a time, then nodded. “I mean it took both of us to defeat Sombra the first time,” continued Celestia. “And this time, we sent Trixie,” said Luna.  “He’s doomed.  And she’s never going to let us live this down.  She’ll probably find a way to become an alicorn so she can rub it in for centuries.” This time, it was Celestia’s turn to look pensive for a while, then nod. Luna checked the position of the setting sun, then surreptitiously looked at her pocketwatch.  “Worst of all, if everything else proceeds perfectly, your niece insists on that horrible name for the child.” “Just the last half,” said Celestia.  “Heart is not a bad suffix.  There are thousands of ponies with Heart in the last part of their name… Well, I see your point.  They’re still not going to name her Adora Heart like you want.  Or Adorabelle, or Alcippe or any other Old Ponish name that starts with ‘A.’  Eadlin, maybe.  You know, you’re going to have two of your own to name.” “And you, one.”  Luna stole a glance at her bigger sister’s larger barrel, but before she could add a pithy comment, Celestia put one hoof down firmly on the concept. “I shall not say what I’m planning to name him until the delivery.  If nothing else, it makes the various diplomats and royalty all excited and happy.” “Happy.”  Luna made a discouraging noise somewhere between a snort and a raspberry.  “Your student was anything but, if the rumors about the palace are truthful.  And your previous student—” “Is not a topic for conversation,” said Celestia solidly.  “She fled when I blocked her from the power she craved.” “Fled through Starswirl’s mirror, or so I was told.”  Luna folded her forehooves over the balcony rail and considered the setting sun.  “I wonder why Discord did not utilize her in his machinations?” A low familiar chuckle made both alicorns whirl around to look for its owner, but a mismatched shadow on the wall behind them was the only sign of Discord.  “Girls, girls,” chided the shadow.  “There are few limits on my power, but even I hesitate to go into that caldron of hormones where most of your Sunset Shimmers went.  High School,” said the shadow with a shudder, “is for ponies and people, not avatars of chaos.  Besides, she is your problem,” he said, pointing one shadowy finger at Celestia.  “It would be unsporting to interfere.” “Unsporting?”  Celestia faced the shadow with a growing flare of her magic that made the sunset cast shades of red and yellow all around the balcony.  “Since when?” “He has a point, dear sister.”  Luna held a hoof out across Celestia’s chest, and eventually the golden glow of her magic cooled back down to nearly nothing.  “Although the rumors we have heard made us curious about your previous student’s nature, this is your problem.” “Entirely correct.”  Celestia faced the distorted shadow on the wall of the tower.  “High school, you say?  I suppose it doesn’t matter,” she added quickly.  “It has been many years since Sunset fled.  Once Twilight has dealt with your three tests and my foal is born and weaned and maybe… High school?  Are you quite certain?  By this time I would think she had progressed to some form of higher—” “Focus, dear sister,” murmured Luna. “Focus.  Right.  I suppose I should lower the sun while… No, it is not quite time yet.  Besides, I don’t know how pregnancy affects my power.  I wonder if Twilight would… No, that’s a particularly bad idea.  Or Trixie—” “Even worse,” said Luna.  “Take deep breaths.  Discord, has my sister’s student’s student accomplished her tasks yet?” “One,” said the shadow, raising a clawed finger.  “The second is just gone, and I can’t find it anywhere.  It is quite frustrating.” Luna gave a sideways glance at her sister, who was staring off into the sunset and taking a series of deep breaths.  “I understand totally.  Well, about that at least.  What we do not understand is how so many unlikely events are happening all at once, and how you claim not to have anything to do with any of them.” There was no response, only random shadows dancing on the stone wall. After a time, Luna scooted closer to her sister and put a wing around her.  They sat in silence for a while until the sun was tucked under the horizon and the moon rose to replace it in the star-filled sky.  Only then did Luna lean a little closer and say, “I’m sure they’re fine.  All of them.” “I know.”  Celestia swallowed.  “Trust in Harmony.” Both alicorns raised their heads and stared off to the north, waiting patiently for any kind of indication that their concern was unwarranted. * * *   “All is well!”  Trixie tried her best to keep from screaming the words as she struggled through a crowd of panicked crystal ponies outside the glittering castle, passing to either side of her in a glittering flow of pale oranges and violets.  She was not sure if the repeated phrase was for their benefit or hers, but it was at least something to do while the rest of the city went mad.  The shield far above them flickered with the power slamming against it, and shadows seemed to dart between every doorway in a flurry of darkness as the sunset grew near, but she refused to lose what little hope she had. “Trust in freaking Harmony,” she snapped through gritted teeth, deciding to take her frustration out on a small peach-colored colt running by in a panic.  “You there.  Stop panicking and be happy.  That will keep the darkness away, or at least that’s what the worthless book said!” The little colt turned to look up at Trixie with the wide-eyed expression of a child looking for an adult to offer them assistance.  Instead, he became even more panicked as his golden eyes tracked upwards to her horn. “A unicorn,” he gasped in an unusually loud voice that had several of the more panicked crystal ponies in the vicinity look in their direction.  “Don’t hurt me!” There was abject panic in his words, the kind of chilling terror that leaked out of little Twilight Sparkle around the edges whenever she faced something beyond Trixie’s comprehension. It struck a chord deep inside her, and for just a second, she could see the tower in Canterlot collapsing all over again, with immense stone blocks falling all around and the roar of molten stone splattering— “Urk!”  The cold little colt could not even squirm.  By the time Trixie opened her eyes, he was looking a little pale in her embrace, and she relaxed just the slightest in order to allow him to breathe.  Besides, he was feeling a little chilly, like his circulation was cut off too. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into his pale ear, which was about all she could see of the squashed child.  “You just triggered a memory of mine.  When I was as afraid as you are.” The colt stopped trembling, and wriggled around a little so he could look up at her.  Perhaps there was some truth to Pinkie Pie’s claim that hugs were magic.  He still looked afraid and felt cold, but the shimmering tears had stopped and she could actually see some hope in his eyes.   “Really?” “I mean not that I was really afraid,” continued Trixie.  “There’s been worse.  I mean Twilight Sparkle—she’s a friend of mine—had a very hard time growing up.  She’s smaller than you, and lived her entire life around creatures far larger and more terrifying than you can imagine.  My whole life changed when I met her.  The world changed, and for the better.” “But King Sombra—” “King,” scoffed Trixie more for her own benefit than his.  “I’ve seen the ghost game he’s been putting on the whole day.  All shadows and moaning about crystals for power.  Real monsters live inside all of us.  The most powerful force…” She took a breath and put the chilly young pony back down on the ground.  “The most power you can find anywhere is friendship.  You can do powerful things by yourself, but with great friends, you can change anything.” “Anything?”  The little colt blinked away his tears, looking up at her with even wider golden eyes, which after a second Trixie realized he really was looking at something behind her.  She turned just in time to see a huge colorful airship burst through the city’s weather dome in a blinding explosion of rainbow light.   Streaming glittering streaks and sparks of magic, the airship spread chromatic sails to each side as it splintered off fluttering bits of cloth and flaming wood in one long smokey trail.  Its downward plunge stuttered in bursts of airship magic, each of which sent more burning chunks of wood and debris fluttering down into the crystal city.  Somehow, the pilot of the crippled craft managed to steer their plummeting path along one of the broad crystal boulevards instead of straight into a building, so the erratic descent only ended in a crashing roar as the huge airship plowed along the snow-covered street instead of bringing down a dozen houses. It did not stop, though.  There was too much speed built up in the airship’s descent to bring it to a halt yet.  It slid forward along the crystal pavement in a trail of sparks and scattering snow, straight at Trixie and the screaming crowd around her. “Get behind Trixie!,” she bellowed with every bit of energy she could put into an amplification spell.  If she still had her cloak, this would be the perfect time to chug down the little bottle of bourbon tucked into it, but she settled for lighting up her horn and getting ready to push. …and waited as the airship grew bigger every moment. …until it stopped, towering over her close enough to touch and still dropping little flecks of burning wood and canvas onto the damp snow. “Awesome,” breathed the little crystal colt, who had not moved from Trixie’s side, much as if he were too dumb to realize what danger he had been in. “I am never going to top that entrance,” whispered Trixie to herself.  Somehow, Trixie knew exactly what was coming next.  A small purple alicorn came clattering down from the deck above, taking several jumps to descend by way of broken airship protrusions and chunks of shattered buildings, until she landed in a splash of melting snow right in front of her and looked up with big violet eyes. “Twilight Sparkle,” said Trixie as calmly as she could despite her heart hammering away.  After all, the little alicorn was nervous enough when things were going right, and to dump her panic onto Menace would only turn a terrible hopeless situation into another giant airship wreck of the metaphorical variety.  With that in mind, she forced control through every word, one performer on a giant stage for one night only, with an audience of one.  Well, two if you counted the stupid little colt behind Trixie. “Your brother and Princess Cadence are waiting for you in the crystal castle over there.”  Trixie pointed, despite the obviousness of her statement since there was only one crystal castle within eyesight.  “Our friends are trying to raise the spirits of the townsponies, because their love is what powers the Crystal Heart and protects the Empire from King Sombra.  Your little friends are trying to find the Heart, since the previous owner seems to have misplaced it.  Did you… um… beat the Windigo?” Little Twilight nodded rapidly. “And my… um… husband?” she added. “Present!”  A strange white-coated stallion staggered over the rail of the airship above her and dropped quickly enough that Trixie barely was able to catch him in her magic before he hit the pavement. Well, maybe a little during, since he was quite obviously wet.  “Hi home, I’m honey,” he slurred into her face without the slightest hint of booze. “All right, all right!” snapped a small fledgeling griffon, who fluttered down beside little Twilight despite being soaking wet with melting snow and missing a few flight feathers.  “Monster, you need to go help your friends!  I’m Princess Sun Shines, and by my authority as a princess of the Misty Mountains aerie, I’m taking command.  You there,” she added, pointing into the crowd.  “Get a doctor right away!  We have a pony giving birth and she’s having problems.  The rest of you spread out and help the aerie refugees.  Come on, we need to get them indoors before that storm breaks through!  Move it!” Crystal ponies all around Trixie burst into action around the crashed airship far faster than before, collecting stunned evacuees from the griffon aerie, both pregnant pony servants and protected griffon eggs.  It made Trixie feel a little extraneous, since all she could really do was pat Green Grass on the back and wonder what kind of bleaching he had gotten into since he was just barely green any more except near the nose.   She helped move him out of the way of the scurrying Crystal Empire citizens, who seemed ecstatic to have some sort of distraction from the howling and moaning of King Sombra’s projections and phantasms.  In the confusion, both Twilight Sparkle and the dumb little colt vanished, so hopefully they were off doing something productive, leaving Trixie to deal with her erratic husband and his bad bleach job. “We translated your notes,” managed Trixie.  “Finally.” “Just in time, I’d say.”  Greenie took several deep breaths and patted the frozen crystal pavement with one hoof as if to make sure it was solid before he sat down with a wheeze.  “I killed a Windigo,” he announced very quietly, still blinking as rapidly as he could.  “And I found something out about my cutie mark I never dreamed of.  You?” “We unlocked the Crystal Empire,” said Trixie.  “Duh.  And Cadence had her freaky baby.  Oh, and King Sombra is lurking around outside of the dome somewhere, kicking snow in through the cracks.”  She stopped for a moment as the impossibility of his statement soaked in.  “What do you mean, you killed a Windigo?” “I didn’t mean to.”  Green Grass trembled as he took a deep breath.  “I had to.  He was going to kill both of us.  And eat us.  History is a lot more fun when it isn’t happening to yourself.” “One side!  Gangway!  Somepony said you needed me?”  Sunburst came scurrying up through the snow, looking much less frazzled and more dressed now that somepony had tied a glittering curtain around his neck in lieu of his normal cloak.  He was trailed by several crystal ponies and griffons who had been unable to keep up, mostly because they kept looking up at the distant weather dome that was mostly keeping King Sombra out, although with the sunset, Trixie was starting to get worried. “Great!” exclaimed the little griffon who seemed far too small to be a princess.  “Aunt Blousie, Cousin Grumble.  Bring him up to the airship.  And hurry!  Stargazer’s foaling troubles are getting worse.” “Foaling?”  Sunburst’s forward progress rapidly reversed with a clatter of hooves on snow-covered crystal, although two elderly griffon hens scooped him up from either side and boosted him in the direction of the airship deck above where Trixie was standing.  In moments, he was over the rail and out of sight, although his weak protestations continued to filter down. “I guess things are under control here,” ventured Trixie with the way she had so rapidly become unneeded in the face of intense tiny griffon princess leadership.  “Greenie, what do you know about the Crystal Empire?” “How many points is it worth on the test?” he managed, although afterward he looked around the glittering city with a slightly improved expression indicating he was coming back to his version of reality ever so slowly. “All the points,” said Trixie.  “And any extra credit we can dig up.” “Great.”  As if the thought of school exams had finally restored some sort of stability to his life, Green Grass blinked several times and looked around the crystal buildings stretching up around them with an actual shudder to his thick coat and several more blinks to deal with blowing snowflakes.  “Where’s Twilight?” “Off to look for her friends,” said Trixie.  “What, don’t you think I can handle this without the greatest and most powerful child?” Green Grass nodded at first, then slowly began to shake his head, knocking off some of the falling snow.  “She’s completely burned out.  Whatever she did to destroy the Windigo took a lot out of her, then when we came through the shield…” “Permanent?” asked Trixie as a cold trickle of worry crept up her bare spine. “Nobody can know.”  Green Grass shuddered again.  “I wouldn’t put anything past her, though.  She can do anything with her friends.  I just hope they can keep her from going back to what she was to regain her strength.  That kind of darkness can be far too tempting.”   ~ ~ Ω ~ ~ Monster ran. It was far better than her past, because she was running to her friends rather than away from… everything.  Strange and unknown surrounded her, with lurking darkness out of the corners of her eyes and the splash of snow with every step.  It was a mixture of the familiar and the new, and it brought a sense of excitement to her rapid pace. There was a Sombra out there in the city somewhere.  She had been unable to solve the Windigo problem with friendship, and had passed the painful changeling problem to her adoptive father.  This was her last chance to show she was really worthy of being called a princess of friendship, and nothing was going to stop her from making another friend. Not even the growing dread that filled her mind with every shadow and rumble of thunder. * * * “I see her!”  Twist leaned over the balcony rail and waved.  “I told you thee wath on the airthip when it crathed!” “Monster can really make an entrance.”  Featherweight squinted down his viewfinder and clicked the shutter again.  “This is going to make an awesome poster when I blow it up.  If it isn’t overexposed.  Wait!” The small pegasus lunged at the vanishing tail of Twist and clamped his jaws down, only to be dragged over the edge of the icy balcony in turn.  Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were next, with Scootaloo taking up the tail—so to say—position in the daisy chain of falling ponies.  Tiny orange wings flared into a furious blur as the string of jaw-to-tail friends neared the ground, but Scootaloo kept her eyes closed, imagining the most awesome pony in the world flying through the clouds in a burst of rainbow colors next to her. She had no idea how long she strained, only that she could not, dared not stop as long as her friends were in trouble, just like Twilight gave herself totally for any of her friends. “Is she stuck?” asked a very young and quite male voice nearby. Scootaloo opened one eye to see all of her friends gathered in a circle around her, with Sweetie balanced on her forelegs below in the blowing snow. “You’re getting thronger!” exclaimed Twist.  “Jutht don’t—” Scootaloo did, and collapsed on top of Sweetie with a frantic panting of overstressed lungs. “No tree sap!” declared Apple Bloom.  “And you were hovering there for about a whole minute." “She’s working on her flying,” explained Featherweight as he took another photo of Scoots and turned to the new colt in their group.  “Smile.” “I haven’t seen— Ahaha!” The colt sat down abruptly and rubbed his eyes much like everypony who experienced Featherweight’s photography at close range. “Too much flash,” he muttered, adjusting the camera.  “Even with the storm outside, the whole city is like a mirror ball.  Glad to see you, Twilight.  Grats on your win?” The tiny alicorn shook her head.  “No. Failed.” Regardless of her protestations, Twilight’s friends crowded around her and pressed together until there was not even a fleck of purple visible to any onlooker. “What’s going on?” came a voice from the inside of the pony-pile.  “Who are you?  Am I being attacked?” It took a short while to get Monster’s new friend out of the pile and everypony organized, or at least as organized as they ever were.  The chilly little colt was a crystal pony named Conchoidal, or Conch for short, who did not seem to know anything about the city or its inhabitants other than a few fractured bits of memory.  They tried to fill him in on the ongoing search for the Crystal Heart and Discord’s three tasks, as well as how they had all rescued Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon, but it was a very complicated story and Monster did not have her chalkboard. “I don’t remember anything about the Crystal Heart,” said Conch.  “I don’t remember much of anything about the city.  I remember Princess Luna, though.  The Sisters fought King Sombra, blasting him with rainbow light before he brought darkness down on us all.” “So cool,” breathed Featherweight.  “Wish I could have gotten a picture.” “The Heart is supposed to protect the Crystal Empire from evil,” said Sweetie Belle.  “Trixie said so.  I bet Sombra hid it in a really really deep hole.” “If it was his weakness, like some supervillain in a comic, he would want it somewhere he could keep an eye on it,” said Featherweight.  “Otherwise a hero could come along and steal it to wreak havoc on his plans for world domination.” “Like we want to,” said Apple Bloom.  “But it ain’t nowhere in the castle we looked yet, and Conch don’t know about it.  Ah wish we had a real comic villain to show us.”  She stopped and looked at Featherweight.  “Or maybe we do.” * * * “Buhahahah,” cackled Dark Feather from his dark throne.  “I shall rule this entire kingdom from my Thorn of Darkness and no pony will oppose me.” The rest of the young ponies looked on with skepticism, except for Conch, who was totally lost. “What’s he doing?” whispered the young colt, who sounded more confused than terrified.  “Did King Sombra take him over?  His eyes look normal, but he sounds like him.” “He’s acting,” whispered Apple Bloom.  “Well, over-acting.  Don’t you know what acting is?” Conch shook his head, then let his gaze slide sideways to where Monster was groveling at the bottom of the throne. “Yessss, Massster,” she hissed. “Um…” started the colt again, only to have Twist move closer and whisper in his ear, which seemed to calm him down.  Or maybe it was the hot cinnamon stick she left behind. “Behold, my domain!” cackled ‘Dark Feather’ to his subjects.  “I have secured the one item which imperils my penultimate victory, and now nothing shall stop me.  I shall become invincible!” His frantic laughter echoed through the dark throne room, childish and funny at first, but building to a booming that shook the walls, making all of the little ponies cluster together, even Featherweight who abandoned his throne in a rapid-winged blur.  The only little pony not in the huddle was Monster, who had turned around and was looking out of a throne room window with unusual focus. “Feather looked,” she whispered.  “Laugh started. He looked out the window.”  Monster climbed up onto the throne in a scrambled mismatch of young limbs and awkward wings, turning around and staring out the noted window like a dog spotting a bird. Featherweight scrambled up next to Monster and followed her line of sight by climbing up on the back of the throne with a boost from his friends.  “You can see the top of the tower better from up here.  It’s got stuff around it, but the bad guy can gloat over his minions and watch over his secret weakness at the same time.  Good job, Minion!” “To the tower!” declared Apple Bloom, striking a heroic pointy pose. “For Justice!” chorused the rest of the Crusaders and stampeded for the door, with one rather confused colt galloping along with them and wondering what he had wandered into. * * * “Stairs!” gasped Trixie.  “Over.  Top.  Why?” Green Grass looked back over his shoulder, breathing heavily but not dragging himself up the stairs like her.  Then he looked forward at the Royal Couple and their child, who had settled into one of the upper rooms of the castle with a snow-covered balcony that overlooked the crystal city.  “Your Highnesses,” he managed through heavy breathing.  “Congratulations?” “Thank you, Green Grass, was it?”  Shining Armor’s eyes flickered sideways to catch Trixie just staggering to her hooves.  “I understand congratulations are in order for you, also.” “They are?”  The skinny white stallion looked around the room with his gaze briefly resting on the newest Equestrian princess and her mother curled up around her for warmth, then back at a very tired-looking prince. “Doofus means me,” grumbled Trixie, who managed to stagger closer and get a better grip on the thankfully flat floor under her.  “Still didn’t get that wedding night, but it will have to wait.” “Oh. Right. Wedding.”  Green Grass gave a guilty glance out into the sparkling city where the airship sat smoking in the street.  It was alliterative, but not much help in describing his ‘wife’ to his wife. “Nopony found the Crystal Heart yet,” said Trixie.  “I bumped into Spike on the way up here and I sent him to find the children.  Nothing’s blown up yet, so they must be having the same luck we are.” “Um… Crystal Heart?” asked Green Grass. “It’s the only thing we can find that will stop King Sombra,” said Trixie.  “I hope.” “Uh…” “Big gloomy unicorn,” said Trixie at his obvious bafflement.  “Dragged the entire Crystal Empire into shadow for the last thousand years when the Royal Sisters kicked his tail.  He’s still around somewhere, but all we’ve seen is shadows and this spooky voice at the worst times.” “Chrrrryyyysstaaaaalllsssss…” moaned the wind. “Yeah, like that,” muttered Trixie as Green Grass backed up against the wall and trembled.  “Poser.  No sense of drama.  A real king would make their entry with a splash.” “CITIZENS OF STORMSPIRE!” bellowed the immense dragon swooping down on the city.  “NO MORE WILL YOU SUFFER UNDER THE YOKE OF THE STORM KING.  BEHOLD, YOUR NEW LEADER, TEMPEST SHADOW!” Lightning stabbed down from the clouded sky, smashing into the golden dome of the Storm King’s palace and blasting chunks of granite in all directions, over and over with each stroke becoming stronger until the last titanic blast scattered the pulverized wreckage all over the city.  Riding on the neck of the battered dragon, Tempest Shadow fired one final bolt of lightning into the Storm King’s private airship, burning the banner bearing his mark into ashes and sending the huge craft plummeting into the fortress. Behind her, ranks of airships and flying creatures of all types descended at her command, some that Tempest had brought with her, and others who had turned against the Storm King the moment they came into view.  Burning defense towers cast a low haze across the city, concealing the darting dives of griffons and pegasi who struck at isolated groups of the Storm King guards.  They were led by the son of the griffon emperor himself, taking groups of Equestrian Royal Guards into close combat with the yeti Stormguards, or screeching into the dark smoke with Gilda at his side to tear and rip fierce wyverns from the sky. The dragon only hesitated a moment at the top of the wrecked building to let Tempest leap off his neck before he swooped back out into the fight, headed to one of the Storm King zeppelins which had been providing their invasion such trouble.  The griffon emperor landed right beside Tempest, scattering a few pieces of smoldering wreckage as he glared around the empty area, then straightened back up with a sideways glance at his co-rebel. “Nice entrance.” “Need to work on the dialogue, but the dragon helps the presentation,” said Tempest.  “Now that we’re through the outer defenses, let’s go find Stormy and kick his ass.” “I could think of no better way to die,” growled the huge griffon.  “Onward!” * * * “Break time,” gasped Sweetie Belle, dropping onto the tower’s ramp and panting for breath.  Beside her, the rest of their friends also collapsed together, with Featherweight winding up on the bottom of the pile like usual. “Everybody take ten,” sounded his muffled voice. “Ten what?” asked Conch. “It’s jutht Featherweight being himthelf,” said Twist.  “He loveth the drama.” “We don’t have time for drama,” said the little alicorn in that peculiar word-at-a-time way she spoke. There were far more holes than memories in Conchoidal’s mind, but he recognized the shared signs of terrible things Monster had survived and the narrow road she was taking to recovery.  And she was an alicorn.  There was something about an alicorn in his fragmented memories about terror and flight, an alicorn who stood up against Sombra’s power and was destroyed for it.  And if these ponies could have a chance against Sombra, they would need every bit of help they could get. Only he had nothing to give.  Not like the rest of her friends, who seemed so amazing. “There you are.  No heart yet?”  A sorta-purple dragon came jogging up the tower’s ramp, looking for all the world like he was out for a stroll instead of just having climbed halfway up a tall tower.  Conch had never seen a dragon before, but the other little ponies had chattered so much about their little friend that he seemed to be an entirely normal companion, much like the similar-colored alicorn. “Duh,” said Apple Bloom. “We think it’s on top of the tower,” said Sweetie Belle, which at least was more helpful, or so it seemed since the little dragon continued heading up the ramp. “I’ll bring it back to Trixie,” called the dragon over his shoulder.  “You girls did good.” “Hey!” protested Featherweight, but the dragon had already gone. There was relative silence for a few moments, broken only by tired little ponies panting for breath, until Conch managed to say, “You’re so lucky to have such powerful friends.  I’m worthless.” “You’re not!” said Apple Bloom immediately. “But I can’t remember anything useful about the city,” protested Conch.  “I don’t even have a useful cutie mark.  Just a rock with a crack in it.  Worthless.” “We all got problems with our marks,” countered Apple Bloom.  “Ah thought getting our marks woulda fixed all our problems, but Ah still can’t buck apple trees worth a whit.” “I thill have problemth with my taffy,” said Twist. “Some of those you can chew it all day and not lose the flavor,” said Featherweight from under the pile.  “And AB’s getting really good with bucking small apple trees.  Except dodging them when they fall.  Or break.” “Featherweight is getting better at holding us up when we fall,” admitted Scootaloo.  “I can almost hover now, and Monster… Well, she never has any problems with her cutie mark.  She’s awesome with magic.” “No magic,” murmured Monster just barely able to be heard over the sound of the wind. The response was immediate, and startled Conch.  Every one of the little ponies crowded around the little alicorn and gave her a warm hug in various degrees of intensity, including Twist who added a hot cinnamon stick, and another one for Conch since he had finished the first one off some time ago and his tongue was just starting to regain some sensation. “No magic at all?” whispered Sweetie Belle, who Conch suddenly realized had some sort of lizard curled up around her horn and sleeping on top of her head.  Apparently it was common for unicorns outside of the city now, because nopony else was treating it as anything unusual. Monster shook her horned (also lizardless) head and shuddered.  “Sombra too big.  Too strong.  Uses hate for power. Even above city could feel him.  Here much worse.  Power ate him out from the inside like it could have done to me.  Luna.  Nothing there but hate now.  Can’t fight him even like I was.  Only like I was.” “We could use the Elements of Harmony against him like we did to help Princess Luna,” said Sweetie Belle.  “If we had them, we could save—.” “No.”  Monster shook her head again, and her chest began to heave.  “Thought I could save him.  Know better now.  Can feel it.  Nothing there to save.  Can’t save!  Worse than failing!” Something deep in Conch twisted, practically pushing him forward until he could give a reassuring pat to the crying alicorn also.  “If you can stop Sombra, you’ll save all of us.  The whole city.  He did terrible things to us.  Stole our memories.”  The shaking must have been contagious because Conch was trembling too.  “I don’t think I want to remember most of it.” The trembling slowed and Monster quit crying, eventually turning her tear-streaked face to him.  “Really?” Conch nodded, feeling better somehow.  There was something about the way the small alicorn’s dark violet eyes looked at him, through him, and seemed to approve of him all the way from hooves to nose. “I know,” she whispered.  “Friends help.” They were just getting back to their hooves when there was a startled scream above, sounding very much like— “Spike!”  Monster sprinted up the icy ramp, followed closely by her friends.  And Conch. * * * Green Grass was beginning to miss the murderous griffons.  As Trixie detailed the events of Twilight Sparkle’s test from Discord, it only got worse.  There was no way to understand why an equal sign cutie mark and some pony named Starlight Glimmer was so important, and he had understood the problem of the Windigo far too well.  The Crystal Empire had only been a footnote in his research notes, more of a fable than a real place, and Sombra was a cold shock to his orderly mind.  He was a foal teacher and a researcher, not some sort of fabled hero, but at least he was somewhere safe.  Relatively   “And that’s it?” he asked once Trixie ran down, or as much as she ever stopped talking.  Green Grass began to circle the odd pony-sized dark crystal that the Royal Couple had dragged up to their balcony room for some reason.  “What’s this?” Trixie shrugged, waited a moment for Shining Armor to interrupt, then continued once the exhausted stallion remained silent.  “It’s some sort of changeling cocoon that Cadence says has a brand new monster—” “Changeling,” corrected Cadence from where she was still curled up around her foal for warmth. “—that will probably destroy us all,” finished Trixie.  “That’s it.  Anything new and weird on your end?  Other than killing a Windigo, which I never would have believed before.  You always believed in studying history, not making it.  Didn’t you say something about your cutie mark?  Oh, and the other princesses are pregnant.” “Oh.” Green Grass could feel the world getting fuzzy under his hooves.  “You used the plural.” “Yeah, they’re both preggers.”  Trixie looked out the balcony, squinting through the falling snow and sleet.  “I think I see the kids over there on that tower.” “Luna’s pregnant?”  Green Grass concentrated on his breathing. “Celestia’s pregnant?” asked both Shining Armor and Princess Cadence at the same time. Trixie waved a hoof.  “Don’t ask me to explain.  They’re both crazier than Discord.  Oh, and Luna’s having twins for some weird reason.” The world seemed to shift underneath Green Grass and he slipped on a puddle, staggered sideways against the warm dark crystal, and watched it rock and wobble against the granite tiles of the room…  Then a loud cracking noise froze him in place, and the room filled with rainbow light. * * * Monster galloped up the snow-covered ramp regardless of the chance of slipping, her tendons feeling like lines of hot wires against her flesh but balanced by the pleasant sensation of her friends right behind.  Topping the tower’s ramp showed a collection of large frost-covered crystals scattered randomly around, with a young dragon in the middle. “Spike!” she called out, galloping even faster until making a giant leap over the nearest cluster of crystals and skidding across the icy roof of the tower in his direction.  “You found it!” “No!  Twilight!”  Spike waved a clawed hand at her frantically, but did not let go of a large heart-shaped crystal nearly his size.  “Don’t come any closer!  I’m trapped!” It did not feel like any kind of trap to her horn, but she only thought about her depleted magic when it was too late.  She skidded to a stop in front of the little dragon with her friends cascading over the low wall of crystals immediately afterward, leaving Featherweight on the bottom of the slippery pile as usual. “Thpike’th really thtuck,” said Twist, hunching down to look at the shards of crystal that had grown over the dragon’s bare feet.  “How can we get him out without hurting him?” “They just grew up out of nowhere when I grabbed the Crystal Heart,” explained Spike.  “Like that!” The circle of crystals around them sprouted higher, leaving Monster and her friends cut off from retreat.  The snow-covered crystalline shards around the edge of the tower meshed together like icicles, woven into a rough grid so tight that none of the little ponies had a chance to wriggle through, although the trap seemed to be growing slower than expected, and in erratic spurts. There was a howl of agony from Conch outside, visible only as a slightly peach-colored smear seen through the crystal wall.  “No!  It’s one of Sombra’s traps!” “Ya think?” said Spike under his breath. “You’re doomed!” wailed Conch.  “I can’t watch… why isn’t it closing?  His traps always snap closed and crystalize whoever they catch.” The walls of the trap had grown together at the bottom, but there was still some of the glittering weather dome visible at the top.  Featherweight’s wings blurred into action as he attempted to get a better shot from above, but he did little more than stir up some of the growing snow that was falling from the sky in increasing amounts.. “The trap.  It uses our magic,” said Monster slowly.  “We’re small.  Not good at magic.” The walls of the trap moved slightly upward. “But we still have magic,” said Sweetie Belle. “We’re gonna get thmushed!” groaned Twist. “I can’t even fly the Crystal Heart out to save the day like Rainbow Dash would!”  “Scootaloo!”  Apple Bloom frowned at her chastised friend.  “Friends need to work together!  But I don’t know what to do either!” “I do.”  Monster brought one hoof firmly down on the last bits of crystal holding Spike captive, letting him limp away from the sharp shards while clutching the Crystal Heart to his chest.  More bursts of snow and sleet blasted from the sky as it rumbled ominously with the eerie sound of ‘crrrryyyysssttaaaallllsss’ and the crackle of restrained lightning from beyond the dome.  “Use our strengths.  Save the Heart.  Beat Sombra.  Need one thing.” With all her friends around her, even the deadly crystal trap seemed as inconsequential as vapor.  Monster walked deliberately over to the opaque crystal wall that obscured Conch, who only showed up as a trembling peach-colored blur. “Need your help.  Friend.” * * * “Dragons are tough.”  Monster turned Spike slightly and squinted.  “Castle that way.  I think.” “I’m not sure about this.”  Spike wrapped both arms around the Crystal Heart and eyed the interlaced wall of crystals in front of him. “Wind boost active!”  Both Featherweight and Scootaloo flopped down on the ground and began flapping for all they were worth, making a gale… well, a stiff breeze that began to stream upward in front of the crystal wall. “Not that I don’t trust you girls,” continued Spike. “Head down,” prompted Monster, giving him a pat on top of his head.  “Arms in.” “Got it,” said Spike, assuming the position.  “But—” “Knees apart.  And hold onto Heart,” finished Monster as she turned around. “Knees apart,” repeated Spike.  “Could we talk—” “Sauté!” Sweetie Belle lit up her horn and played a blast of fire across the near side of the crystal wall, which caused the rest of the wall to grow upward while cracks started to form in front of her. “Conchoidal Fracture!” shouted Conch from outside as he slammed his hooves into the crystal wall. “And LAUNCH!” Three sets of hooves slammed into one small dragon, propelling him through the weakened crystal trap and out into the glittering city in a trail of sparkles and a fading scream. All the little ponies ran to the edge of the tower and cheered, except for Twist who asked, “Tho how doeth he land?”