Five ponies lay in a circle on the damp terrain of the Galloping Gorge under the light of the never-moving moon. Nobody knew what their next move was, but listening to Marshmallow Creme’s strange dream as she let her wound heal was certainly a start.
“Wait, so Princess Luna is definitely alive somewhere? Did she mention anything about the other princesses?” Sapphire Swirl squinted in thought.
“I think so. She said something about not being… salvageable? Before she dies? Like, she’s out there, but it’s too late for her. I don’t know where, though. Nothing really about the other princesses. Oh! She said that there are artifacts around Equestria that we can find to help us gather everypony we’ll need… everypony who has a good heart. Not super helpful, in my opin-”
“Eight. There needs to be eight of us,” Sonar Moonshadow suddenly cut in.
“Misty told us. In the top layer of the Rift,” Fire Bolt agreed. “I can’t think of any artifacts she mentioned, though.”
“I can.” Jelly Splash stood. She hadn’t spoken in hours, and a grimace painted her sour expression. “The Crystal Heart.” Nobody wanted to say anything. The silence was thick with tension, and Sapphire suddenly remembered the final shard that Jelly kept with her.
“Are you sure that’s something you want to try?” Sapphire asked gently after several moments of silence. “We can think of something else-”
“Like what?” Jelly snapped as her horn ignited with purple magic, but nobody took it personally. She magically attached her saddlebags and turned away from everyone. “This is the only shot we have right now. Let’s get moving.” She started towards the train tracks.
The remaining four looked to each other with concern written all over their faces, but it was true – none of them were given any other leads. “You heard the mare. Let’s go.” Sonar stood confidently, and the others followed.
Marshmallow Creme took to flying instead, never taking the lead but instead falling behind with frequent looks behind her as the five of them pushed along the train tracks once more. Jelly Splash guided the group, and silence interrupted by hooves on degraded metal fell over everyone for several minutes.
“What do you think will happen? Everypony will be fine?” Sapphire broke the silence, and Fire Bolt shoved them gently with a glare. “What? It’s a real question!”
“I don’t think so. Everypony died. I think they’ll be able to rest peacefully now.” Jelly never looked back, marching with her head high.
“...Right.” Sapphire threw a look to Bolt with the expression of ‘is she serious?’ who rolled her own eyes in response.
“It’s worth a try. The Heart has never been reassembled before, I’m… curious to see what happens,” Sonar said, seemingly getting lost in thought. As they traveled further, his ears suddenly began to twitch with interest and Fire Bolt watched curiously. “Off the tracks!” He suddenly shouted.
The moment everybody lept to the side, a single train car barreled around the corner and raced past them, whipping their manes with the force of the wind. They all looked back in surprise as it continued down the tracks with impressive speed for something without a motor. “What was that?” Marshmallow exclaimed.
“I have no idea! How is that thing moving?” Jelly Splash replied shakily.
“Dark magic. I can feel it. Something doesn’t want us up there,” Sonar replied flatly before taking the lead of the group, careful not to step back onto the tracks. “Stay a good few hoofs away from that metal, it’s almost… electric.”
A silent agreement fell over the group as they carried on with their journey, albeit much more carefully. Marshmallow Creme couldn’t seem to handle the quiet for more than a few minutes. “I’ve never been to the Crystal Empire before! Jelly Splash, is that where you’re from? Your mane looks very shiny, I like it! Maybe you just take really good care of your mane, though!”
“I am a crystal pony, yes. The last one,” She replied shortly. “You won’t like the Empire.”
“Oh, don’t be silly! I live in Cloudsdale, remember? Anywhere that doesn’t have ponies willing to stab you to death over a few bits is exciting to me! I do wonder, though, how are you going to repair the Crystal Heart?” Marshmallow pondered.
“All of the pieces have been located as of a few days ago. I think we’re really onto something,” Sonar replied after a few moments of stern silence from Jelly Splash. “So, Marshmallow Creme, what have you been up to for the past three years?” He changed the topic with an appreciative glance from the crystal pony.
“Three years? How do you guys even know that? I stopped trying to track time after maybe... a month? Shoot, it could’ve been a week and I wouldn’t be able to tell!” She gasped.
“Fire Bolt’s a smart one. We’ve been able to keep on top of it in Ponyville thanks to her.” Sapphire Swirl replied. “Three years is pretty crazy, I know.”
“I haven’t really done much, then. Oh, I learned to knit! ‘S kinda hard when you’re not a unicorn, but I made a really nice sweater! Super scratchy though, my only yarn is a good few years old and there aren’t exactly craft stores in Cloudsdale. Well, not anymore. I had a friend up there with a really pretty storefront, but…” Marshmallow’s tone didn’t quite match with her words, as her cheery attitude never faltered. “Not a lot of us survive for very long up there.”
“I hear you. Gets lonely fast,” Jelly Splash suddenly spoke up. “We have each other now, and that’s all that matters.” Marshmallow Creme beamed, and Jelly offered her a small smirk in return. Fire Bolt realized that this was the first time she’d ever seen the unicorn smile.
The five of them entered the threshold of the Empire cautiously after several hours of trotting. “Race you to the castle!” Sapphire suddenly nudged Marshmallow before taking flight in the blink of an eye. She scoffed before flapping her wings to catch up, and Fire Bolt watched as the two of them flitted through the air, pushing and shoving each other playfully when one got ahead.
“It’s weird,” Bolt murmured.
“Hm?” Sonar inquired. “What is, the empty city?”
She shook her head. “Them. Those two. It’s like they’re from completely different stages of my life and seeing them together is just… strange. Like they both know a different version of me.”
He nodded in understanding. “I can imagine. They both love you, though, whichever version of you they met.” The pair and Jelly started up the stairs to the castle’s entrance, and Bolt pressed her lips into a firm line to keep from talking. “Down here, guys, come on!”
With the two pegasi landing behind them with windswept manes, Jelly Splash took a deep breath and pushed the familiar doors open once again. As soon as they stepped in, Sapphire Swirl lost their jovial attitude as their stomach dropped. “It’s gone!” Everyone whipped their heads around to the pegasus. “The mural on the door. It’s not there anymore.”
Bolt now remembered the eerie painting that covered the two doors at the end of the hall and noted its absence as well. “I can’t say I mind it. I mean, now we know who it was, so it feels… safer now.”
Sapphire nodded pensively, eyes still focused on the now-plain brown doors. “Not safe. But safer.”
“Nowhere is safe. Let’s just get this over with,” Jelly sternly cut off the conversation by shoving open the doors to the room containing the fragments of the Heart. They lay perfectly undisturbed in the same position that Sonar Moonshadow had left them, and Jelly wasted no time assembling them into the shape of a heart. Sonar stepped in to help find the pieces with his magic to keep anypony from stepping on the shards, and in mere moments, it was collected into one cohesive piece – missing one of them, that is.
Jelly Splash opened her saddlebag and stared at its contents for a long moment before levitating the final piece from its spot. Taking a deep breath, she fit it into its place snugly and turned to Sonar Moonshadow expectantly who just blinked sightlessly. “Sonar? Can you put it together again?”
He grimaced. “I don’t know if this is what you want to hear right now, but… I’m not a crystal pony. I believe that might have been part of the issue. I think you should try, Jelly.”
Her jaw dropped. “My magic isn’t that strong, are you kidding me? Yours is way more powerful, come on!”
“You’re very strong, Jelly Splash. You’re surely strong enough to do this. Listen, if it doesn’t work, I’ll do it again. But I really believe that this is meant for you. You were left behind for a reason, right?” His voice trailed off as he realized the sensitivity of the topic, but the point stood, and she couldn’t argue that.
“Fine. If it doesn’t work, you promise you’ll try?” Jelly finally caved in.
“I promise I’ll try. You can do this.” He affirmed her, and after a long stare, she turned back to the Heart. Her horn illuminated with her purple magic as she raised the mangled crystal into the air and it lingered there for a moment before she began to twitch with effort.
Bit by bit, the cracks began to fuse and disappear. “Ha!” Jelly Splash exclaimed as it worked, but the proclamation caused her magic to falter. She picked it back up though, and as it got closer and closer to completion, a flash of colors and pictures raced through her mind.
Walking Taffy Twists to elementary school. Cooking him breakfast, even when he was throwing a tantrum. Talking to the neighbor as he slept over a cup of berry juice. Everything that rushed into her mind that typically filled her with anger and regret was suddenly making her… at peace.
She smiled softly as the memories raced by, and it felt like Taffy Twists knew that he was just a memory. He suddenly looked right at her and grinned, speaking with his childish voice. “I forgive you.”
She blinked, and before her stood the Crystal Heart in its restored glory. Excited murmurs echoed behind her, and she wiped her tears away before turning to face them. “You did it!” Sapphire flew into a hug with the unicorn, and the room swelled with joy. Everybody had a smile on their face as light emanated from the heart.
"I knew you could, Jelly Splash. That was amazing!" Sonar Moonshadow grinned.
The hallway that stretched from the entrance looked much brighter than it did before, even without candles to illuminate it. Fire Bolt flew to a window, and zombified ponies were nowhere in sight. “It worked! They’re gone!” She shouted to the others with a grin. “Don’t you feel it?” She flew freely and almost wanted to laugh as the joy filled her body.
Marshmallow Creme flew in time with her friend with a big smile of her own, and everything was peaceful for the first time in almost half a decade as they landed on the floor together. That is, until a low sound echoed from above them.
All five of them froze. Sonar’s ears turned up to the source, and his eyes widened. It sounded like a loud groan or even a shriek of sorts. It was only a moment until there were decipherable words coming from above. “My baby… Where is my baby?” It was then that they realized Princess Cadance was pacing mere feet above their heads, and she wouldn’t be finding Flurry Heart anytime soon.