As Taylor finally lost consciousness she and everypony else crashed hard into the snow.
Everyone groaned as they all pushed themselves up. “Taylor!” Twilight shouted rushing over to her. Twilight checked her over and saw she had a few injuries. Nothing life threatening, but she was out cold.
Twilight saw Radiant Hope not far from where Taylor had landed and saw the unicorn was in much worse condition. She winced at the sight of Hope’s injuries. She needed immediate medical attention. Unfortunately Twilight wasn’t a doctor and didn’t have proper medical equipment. So all she could do on her own was buy Hope some time. Closing her eyes to concentrate she started to cast a spell that would put Hope in a sort of stasis, slowing any bleeding and metabolic processes. The time it could buy could be the difference between life and death.
Rainbow Dash, who had spotted them on her way back from the Empire, landed near the group. “Sweet Celestia… What the buck happened in there?!” She demanded.
“We were attacked inside the prison. It was full of creatures called Umbrum. Apparently Sombra’s one of them. Taylor cast a spell using love and light and saved us.” Twilight quickly explained as she started tearing scraps off of Hope’s already tattered cloak with her telekinesis and tying the strips around Hope’s injuries like bandages. It wasn’t much but hopefully it would help buy a little more time for her.
“Are you all okay?” Rainbow asked, looking around at everyone.
“Not really… Gah… Dang that hurts… Never been roughed up quite that bad before…” Applejack commented, groaning as she clutched at the worst of her injuries. “Whatever Weaver did back there, I’m glad she did it… Those were some bucking nasty critters…”
“Ah… My hair… My fur! Owww…” Rarity complained, looking at her messed up mane and the crimson blood from her injuries staining her otherwise pristine white fur in dismay.
“That was no fun… I don’t like those Umbrum meanies… Twilight, is Taylor okay?” Pinkie asked, walking forward to look at her unconscious friend.
Everypony was covered in bruises and heavily bleeding injuries. Not nearly as bad as Radiant Hope’s injuries, but they still weren’t good. Other than Hope, Pinkie and Rarity seemed to be the worst off. Twilight was hurt too but she was the one who’d come out the best out of everypony. Mainly because she was the best magic user in the group and was able to hold off the Umbrum better than anypony else. Technically Taylor was even less injured than Twilight, but considering she had been unresponsive while flying everypony away and suddenly passed out mid flight, Twilight couldn’t exactly say she was in good condition.
Twilight looked at Taylor then back to Pinkie. “I don’t know, Pinkie. She doesn’t look hurt but she didn’t even seem to hear us calling her and passed out. I think whatever that spell she cast was, it took too much out of her. I saw her after she cast it. Her eyes were glazed over and she could barely stand… I’m not sure but I think she might have used up all of the love Fluttershy and Rainbow fed her before we went in and then some.”
“Seriously? Was it really that bad in there?” Rainbow asked, looking at Taylor.
“It really was… It came pretty close… If Taylor hadn’t acted when she did, we might all be dead or dying right now… Rarity, I’m going to need your help to bandage everypony’s injuries.” Twilight said as she finished bandaging the worst of Radiant Hope’s injuries.
“Of course, darling…” Rarity nodded, joining Twilight.
Rainbow looked at Hope and grimaced. “Yeesh… Is… Is she… you know… alive?”
“Yes, barely. But not for long without treatment…I put a spell on her that’s going to buy her time and the bandages are going to help, but she needs immediate emergency treatment as soon as we’re back in the Empire.” Twilight said as she worked on bandaging Rarity’s injuries while Rarity bandaged Pinkie Pie’s. They were using both Hope’s cloak and their own snow gear. Fortunately, they weren’t going to need the snow gear for much longer.
“So… who is she? And did you get the piece?” Rainbow asked.
“Her name’s Radiant Hope. Apparently she was living with the Umbrum for the past thousand years. She has some connection with Sombra, but we don’t know what. And, fortunately, yes. Hope had the last piece. She tried to keep it from us, but Taylor took it from her. That’s what triggered the Umbrum to stop acting innocent and start trying to kill us. Hope’s not evil like them, just… She’s been lied to and manipulated for a thousand years… She couldn’t accept that the Umbrum weren’t her friends and tried to reason with them while we were trying to fight our way out… This is what they did to her.” Twilight informed Rainbow.
Rainbow started to get visibly angry. “She thought they were her friends and they did this to her?!”
“Yeah… Those Umbrum were real jerks! Poor Hope… She really thought they were her friends…” Pinkie said sadly, looking at Hope sympathetically.
“Why I oughta… What did Skitter do in there?! Tell me she at least kicked their butts!” Rainbow snarled, looking back in the direction of the Umbrum’s Prison.
“Oh she kicked some Umbrum behind alright… She cast some kinda spell and there was this bright flash of light. A few of the Umbrum vanished entirely. Some that were further away were hurt. I don’t think they’ll be forgetting that any time soon.” Applejack assured Rainbow.
“Good! It sounds like the jerks deserved it.” Rainbow growled.
As soon as everyone was bandaged up, Twilight teleported the group back to the Crystal Empire. They appeared right outside the barrier and immediately rushed inside before Sombra could show up.
As soon as they were back at the castle they were immediately greeted at the entrance by Shining Armor. He was smiling at first then he saw the bandages and the two unconscious individuals Twilight was carrying in her telekinetic grip at which point his smile fell and his eyes widened.
“Twili, you’re hurt!” He rushed over to her and immediately started checking her over. “What happened?! If Sombra did this to you I swear to Harmony—”
Twilight cut him off with a hug.
He paused and returned the embrace. “I’m glad you made it back safe, Twili…”
“I am too… We have a lot to talk about.”
“You’re right. We do. But first, everypony to the infirmary now! We’re getting those wounds treated, ASAP.”
He led all of them to the castle infirmary.
In the infirmary they saw several beds and cabinets full of medical equipment.
Twilight put Radiant Hope and Taylor down on two separate beds before looking around. “Where is everypony? Shouldn’t there be an in-house doctor or nurses for the castle staff and Queen Amore?” Twilight asked.
Shining Armor shook his head. “While you six were gone, Spike and I did some investigating into the mind control thing Weaver mentioned. She was right. No pony can remember anything. Some have it so bad they can’t even remember their own names, what they used to do for a living, or even where they live. So nopony can help us. Plus, their best medical knowledge would be a thousand years out of date. So I wouldn’t trust them to do more than sew up and bandage your injuries even if they did have their memories. I know you aren’t a doctor, Twilight, but I also know you have studied some modern medicine. So as far as I’m concerned, you’re the single best and most qualified doctor in the entire Crystal Empire right now.”
Twilight swallowed hard. That was not encouraging. It meant it was up to her to save Hope and Taylor. Still she had to try. “Rarity, you’re good at sewing. I’m going to try to help Weaver and Hope the best I can. While I’m doing that, do you think you could take care of patching everypony up? All you need to do is clean and disinfect any wounds, then sew them up or bandage them. I know it might be gross but I need you to do it so I can focus on saving these two.”
Rarity nodded. “I’ll try my best, Twilight. So don’t worry about us. Just focus on saving our friends.”
“Thank you. Shining Armor, Fluttershy’s not a doctor but she has some medical training and experience. Mainly on animals, which isn’t great… but any real hoofs-on experience is going to help here. I need you to go get her… Oh, and this is the last piece of Queen Amore. Go give it to Spike, so he can start putting her back together while I’m working on saving Taylor and Hope… Maybe have Spike send an urgent letter to Princess Celestia requesting a couple of books on modern medicine? I’m probably going to need them.” Twilight requested, levitating the last piece over to Shining Armor.
“I’m on it.” He said before grabbing the piece with his teeth, turning, and bolting out of the room.
As soon as he left, Twilight immediately began searching through the infirmary for medical tools and equipment. A lot of it was old and archaic. A thousand years out of date. Yet due to Sombra’s banishment spell they were perfectly preserved. Sadly, being a thousand years out of date, Twilight had no idea what half of them were or what they were supposed to do. Plus most of the drugs were what was considered standard a thousand years a So most of them were useless to her. So she found the few tools she recognized and knew how to use. Taking a fresh cloth, she tied it around her mouth like a makeshift medical mask.
Not having X-rays or MRI machines, Twilight had to make do with old-fashioned scanning spells of which she only knew a couple and had never actually had to use before.
Radiant Hope was not in good condition. Twilight bit her lower lip. She was not qualified for any of this and the tools she had were subpar at best. The most she could hope for was stabilizing Hope long enough to get her transported to a real doctor in Equestria. Or to have a real doctor come to the Crystal Empire with the necessary equipment and treat her.
While Twilight was waiting impatiently for Fluttershy and Shining Armor to come back, preferably with some medical books, she got to work on diagnosing Taylor.
She winced. Taylor wasn’t in as bad of condition as Hope, but she wasn’t doing well either. She was almost completely out of love. She was effectively starving to death. On top of that her body was dangerously exhausted, and it hadn’t fully purged the magic of Sombra’s crystals. And with so little love to resist the dark magic, the curse from the crystals was steadily progressing. It was slow since there was so little left, but it was still progressing and if left unchecked it would kill her if the starvation didn’t.
The best way to fix everything that was wrong with her would be to feed her and let her rest. Unfortunately, Twilight had no way of feeding Taylor. She could forcibly induce a feeding reflex, but once she got it started she wouldn’t have a way to stop it. Since Taylor was unconscious, her body would act on instinct and keep feeding until whoever volunteered was dead. Which obviously wasn’t an option.
So Twilight did what little she could to slow down the curse since that was pretty much all she could do. After that, there was nothing she could do unless Taylor woke up. And Taylor wouldn’t wake up unless she was fed. Which meant there was nothing Twilight could do to help her. So she needed to try and think of a solution to feed Taylor without sacrificing somepony to do so and for that she needed time. Fortunately Taylor wasn’t going to die right away but it was still an incredibly stressful situation for Twilight to be in.
Eventually Fluttershy came in, looking both tired and nervous. Shining Armor came in a few moments later with the medical books Twilight had requested.
Twilight gave Fluttershy a brief explanation of what was going on before tying a cloth around her mouth too. After that, the two of them got to work on trying to save Hope.
Twilight levitated the medical books with telekinesis and rapidly scanned through and referenced them as needed. She read through sections and made sure she understood the content as best she could before doing anything. And she tried her best to avoid doing anything particularly dangerous, trying to limit herself to the most simple procedures she could find for what she needed to do to help Radiant Hope. Fortunately, she was an avid speed reader and had excellent reading comprehension skills. Sadly, this was not her area of expertise so it was incredibly difficult and stressful.
While Twilight worked on Hope, Fluttershy gave her some advice based on the little she knew and acted as something like a nurse. Unfortunately the help she could provide was otherwise quite minimal.
Twilight did everything within her power that she was comfortable doing short of performing surgery. She was not a qualified surgeon and didn’t trust herself enough for that. So she tried everything in her power to avoid it.
She was able to stop all of the external bleeding and figured out a spell to constrict veins and arteries to at least slow down some of the internal bleeding. However, Hope was still low on blood. Unfortunately, Twilight didn’t know her blood type and didn’t have an IV bag or a hypodermic needle since those hadn’t existed a thousand years ago. So while she had managed to buy even more time, Hope still needed an actual doctor otherwise there was a good chance she was still going to die.
When she’d done all she could, Twilight finally let Rarity and Fluttershy tend to her own injuries.
“Since everypony’s injuries have been taken care of, we need to go try to figure out how to help Queen Amore… Fluttershy, could you stay here with Hope and Taylor…? I… I don’t think you’ll be able to do much for either of them but…” Twilight requested.
Fluttershy nodded. “Of course, Twilight… I’ll try to take care of them the best I can. If either of their conditions change, I'll let you know.”
“Thank you.” Twilight said gratefully before leading everypony out of the infirmary.
They went back to the throne room where Spike had just finished putting Queen Amore back together and sitting there talking to Cadance who looked exhausted.
“Twilight, are you okay? Shiny told me you were hurt.” Cadance asked as everyone walked in.
“I’m fine. I actually made it out okay. Everypony else got hurt way worse than me.” Twilight informed her. “How are you doing?”
“I’m tired, but I’m holding out as best I can…” Cadance responded.
“Well, hopefully Queen Amore can help us.” Shining Armor stated, walking over and sitting next to Cadance.
“Hopefully…” Twilight muttered, stepping up to the statue. She tried several spells, but nothing she did seemed to work. “What am I missing? There has to be a way to undo the curse!” She growled to herself.
“Twilight, I can tell you’re using light in your spells, but what about love? If Sombra’s weak to love and light then maybe the combination can undo his magic too?” Cadance suggested.
“But… I don’t know how. If I did, I’d take over maintaining the barrier for you so you could rest.” Twilight told her.
“Fortunately for you, I’m somewhat of an expert on the subject! We don’t have a whole lot of time and I have to focus on maintaining the barrier, but I can try to teach you some of the basics of love magic. I know you can figure it out from there.” Cadance told her.
“Are you sure? If you need to focus, I don’t want to distract you…” Twilight muttered uncertainly.
“I’m sure. I can spare enough of my attention to teach you at least a little bit.” Cadance stated with a tired smile.
Twilight hesitated a moment longer before nodding. “Alright, if you’re sure… Where do we begin?”
Cadance proceeded to spend the next half an hour talking Twilight through the fundamentals of love magic. Twilight, being the quick learner she was, actually managed to grasp the concepts incredibly fast.
“Okay, I think I get it… I think I have an idea.” Twilight said before turning back to Queen Amore’s statue.
Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and focused. “Love and light…” She muttered to herself before casting a spell using a combination of the two.
Queen Amore’s black crystalline form was engulfed in a bright white light. After a moment, the crystal began to crack and flake off revealing flesh and fur underneath.
Queen Amore gasped and backed away causing the rest of the crystal to fall off of her and disintegrate to nothing. The light faded and Queen Amore looked around in surprise. Her fur and body were translucent, faceted, and shiny like that of a crystal.
“Where am I? Where’s Sombra and the Crystal Heart?” She asked, looking around. Then recognition crossed her face. “My throne room…? It looks different, somehow…”
“Queen Amore, I’m Twilight Sparkle. The personal student and protege of Princess Celestia. There’s a lot to explain and not a whole lot of time.” Twilight told her.
Queen Amore looked at Twilight, her injuries, and the injuries on the others. And saw the exhaustion on Cadance’s face and the glow of Cadance’s horn as she maintained her barrier spell. “Very well, explain what you can.”
Twilight nodded. She proceeded to explain the situation as best she could. Starting from how Queen Amore was turned to crystal and was shattered, and then everything leading up to Taylor sensing her pieces, leading everyone across the Frozen North and into the Umbrum’s prison to gather the pieces.
“I… I see… A thousand years… And you went into the Shadow Prison?! No wonder you’re all hurt. It’s a miracle you made it out alive at all! Where is Queen Weaver now? I would very much like to thank her.” Queen Amore asked.
Twilight grimaced. “Uh… Well… About that… She, um… As a changeling she eats love… Well, she used an extremely powerful spell using both love and light to destroy the Umbra that were about to kill us… In the process she used up almost all of her love… Then she carried all of us about a third or so of the way back to the Empire before falling unconscious. So she’s currently in the infirmary…”
“Destroyed? No wonder she used up so much love! That’s not at all how love magic should be used! Oh dear… Is she going to be alright?” Queen Amore inquired.
“She’s currently unconscious and is starving to death… And since she’s unconscious we can’t feed her. At least, not safely… If we tried to induce a feeding reflex while she was unconscious, she wouldn’t be able to control herself and would keep draining anypony who volunteered until they were dead. So… We don’t know if she’s going to make it…” Twilight explained.
“She’s dying?” Queen Amore asked, sounding both sad and guilty. “She’s dying because she decided to try and save me?”
“Well… Yes and no… We were trying to get your pieces so we could bring you back. But we got surrounded by the Umbrum and she was trying to save us. So it’s because she was trying to save all of us.” Twilight said, trying to ease the guilt she heard in Amore’s tone.
“And… She feeds on love?” Amore asked.
“Yes, but like I said, we can’t feed her. It’s too dangerous.” Twilight told her, starting to get worried.
“Well, I just so happen to be an expert in love magic. I think I can help her…She’s in the infirmary at the moment, yes?” Queen Amore asked.
“She is…” Twilight said cautiously.
Queen Amore smiled. “I can tell you’re worried. It’s alright. I’ve heard your warnings. I’m not going to do anything that will put my life in danger. I can help her without hurting myself in the process. Trust me. She saved my life. I want to return the favor.”
Amore then looked at Cadance with a smile. “Thank you for all you’ve done to protect my Empire in my absence, Princess Cadance. I can take over maintaining the barrier after I’ve helped Queen Weaver. And I have an idea for a more permanent solution. You just need to hold out for a few more minutes. Can you do that for me?”
“I think so… And you can just call me Cadance. We’re family after all!” Cadance said with an exhausted smile.
Queen Amore blinked in surprise. “We are?”
“Yup! We’re distant relatives…” Cadance told her.
Queen Amore’s smile grew significantly, filling with pure love and joy. However there was an undertone of sadness within it. “You must be one of my descendants then! My great granddaughter must have escaped Sombra’s reign. She was the only living family I had. It gladdens me to know she made it out and had a family of her own.”
She approached Cadance and embraced her. “Well, Cadance, words can’t describe how happy I am to meet you. I just wish it could have been under better circumstances… I’ll take over maintaining the barrier and let you rest soon.”
Cadance was a bit surprised by the embrace at first but eventually leaned into it and returned the hug. “Thank you…”
Queen Amore released Cadance. “Twilight Sparkle, please lead me to Queen Weaver.”
Twilight nodded and she and the others led Queen Amore to the infirmary where Fluttershy was sitting with Hope and Taylor. Cadance and Shining Armor followed along after them.
Hearing the doors open, she looked over and saw everypony walking in with Queen Amore following behind them.
Fluttershy cowered a bit, hiding behind her mane shyly.
“Queen Amore, this is Fluttershy. Another one of my friends. She’s a bit shy around new ponies.” Twilight said as they walked in.
“Greetings, Fluttershy. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Queen Amore said in a friendly tone She then looked past Fluttershy at the two beds and her eyes widened in surprise.
Ignoring Taylor for the moment, Queen Amore went straight to Hope’s bed. “No… Radiant Hope…”
“You know her?” Twilight asked.
Queen Amore nodded. “I do. I knew all of the orphans in the Chestnut Falls’ Orphanage… She was Sombra’s only friend… What happened to her?”
“She was with the Umbrum in the Shadow Prison. She was living with them for the past thousand years. They’d been lying to and manipulating her this entire time… She had your final piece. When Weaver took the piece from her, the Umbrum stopped pretending to be her friends… She couldn’t accept it and tried to reason with them while we were trying to fight our way out, and this is what they did to her. Weaver is the only reason she’s alive. While we were all busy trying to hold them off, Weaver jumped in to save Hope rather than letting the Umbrum kill her.” Twilight explained.
Tears seeped from Queen Amore’s eyes. “That sounds quite like those monsters… They likely planned to use her as a tool to escape if Sombra failed… The poor dear… Is she going to be alright?”
Twilight shook her head. “Fluttershy and I did everything we could for her, but neither of us are doctors… Because of what Sombra did no pony remembers anything, so we couldn’t get an actual doctor to help her. On top of all of that, even if we could, the medical knowledge and technology of the Crystal Empire is a thousand years out of date. A lot of advancements and innovations have happened in that time. So, she’s stable for now but she needs an Equestrian doctor or to be transferred to an Equestrian hospital as soon as possible. Otherwise, she’s going to die.”
Queen Amore squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Taking a deep shaky breath she was very clearly holding back tears. “How long?”
Twilight looked away. “Like I said, I’m not a doctor. I can’t say for sure.”
Leaning down, Queen Amore said quietly, “Hope? It’s Queen Amore. I’m back. I haven’t given up yet, so don’t you give up either. If I can save you both, I will. Just hang on.”
She then stood back up and walked over to Taylor’s bed. She looked at Taylor for a moment. “So this is Queen Weaver… I’ve only heard vague rumors of Changelings. None of them were pleasant. I would never have thought they were actually real, let alone that one would save me and my Empire.”
“Are you sure whatever you’re going to do is safe? She really can’t control herself while she’s unconscious.” Twilight asked nervously.
Queen Amore nodded. “I’m certain. In my time, I was the world’s foremost expert on love magic. If anypony can help her it’s me.” A pink aura enveloped her horn and a crystal appeared next to her in a flash of light. It was fairly large.
“What’s that? Some sort of magical artifact that’ll help you fix Sk… er… Weaver or something?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.
Queen Amore chuckled. “Oh no. Nothing like that. It’s just a normal crystal. Diamond to be exact. It’s what I’m going to do with it that matters… So long as there’s a degree of separation I should be safe, correct?”
Twilight looked between Amore and the crystal in confusion. “I… suppose? What are you planning to do with that crystal?”
“I’m planning to use it as a vessel to store a significant amount of love. After all, that’s quite similar to how the Crystal Heart works. Only, this doesn’t have to be nearly so complex. It needs only to store the love I put into it so Weaver may feed upon it instead of feeding upon me. A trivial matter in comparison to the Crystal Heart.” Queen Amore told them.
Pink energy began flowing from her horn into the crystal which began to glow with a faint internal light. When she was done, Queen Amore sagged in exhaustion. “Oh… I may have overdone it a bit… Well, regardless, this should be more than enough to feed Weaver. Though… I’m not quite sure how to make her feed on it.”
“Leave that to me. I’m pretty sure I know how to trigger a feeding reflex in her. Just hold the crystal infront of her mouth and stay back.” Twilight stated.
As soon as Queen Amore lowered the crystal to only a few inches in front of Taylor’s mouth, Twilight cast a spell of her own. Opening Taylor’s mouth and then stimulating her biology into starting the process of feeding.
Pink energy began to flow from the crystal into Taylor’s mouth, indicating that it was working.
Twilight smiled happily. “It’s working!”
The mood in the infirmary began to brighten significantly as everypony realized Taylor was going to be okay.
After about a minute the pink energy flowing into Taylor’s mouth ended. At that point Twilight forced Taylor’s jaw shut just to be safe.
Queen Amore teleported the crystal away again.
Everypony waited with bated breath.
I groaned groggily as I started to wake up. I opened my eyes and found myself in a blurry unfamiliar room.
I felt strange emotions all around me, but close by were people who were happy, relieved, and… grateful?
Pushing myself up I flinched as something floated in front of my face. It took me a second to recognize it was my glasses.
Grabbing them with my telekinesis I put them on and the blurriness cleared significantly.
I found myself in a bed surrounded by ponies. Twilight and her friends, Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, and one more pony I didn’t immediately recognize. It took another moment for me to remember everything, at which point I assumed the new pony must be Queen Amore.
I looked next to me and saw Radiant Hope in a bed near mine. She was in rough condition, but her emotions were positive. I assumed Princess Luna must have been giving her pleasant dreams despite the condition she was in.
Pinkie Pie rushed over to my bedside and wrapped me in a spine shatteringly tight hug. “You’re awake! We were so worried!!”
“Pinkie… You're… crushing me…” I struggled in the Earth Pony’s overly tight grasp.
“Oops! Sorry.” She released me and backed off a bit but I could sense the abundance of happiness and excitement within her.
“Happy to see you’re okay too, Pinkie. The same goes for all of you. I thought we were all going to die.” I told them.
“We almost did, but you saved us.” Twilight stated.
Applejack nodded. “Yep. There was this bright flash and suddenly those varmints vanished or were squealing like scared hogs being chased by a manticore. Then ya carried us half way back to the Empire before you collapsed on us. Twilight said ya used up all your love on that last spell, and were starvin’ to death, again. Only this time we didn’t know how to feed ya since you were unconscious so we weren’t sure you were gonna make it. Gave us quite the scare. Fortunately, Queen Amore here figured out a way to feed ya safely.”
“Excuse me, I believe I might have misheard, did you say ‘again’?” The pony who I assumed to be Queen Amore asked.
“Yes, again… While we were going around collecting your pieces, Weaver was using her magic to carry us around. And Sombra tried to stop us by blocking the paths with his cursed crystals. So she had the brilliant idea to turn into a dragon and chew straight through them. So the love magic inside of her was expended as it conflicted with Sombra’s dark magic and they destroyed each other. So she was effectively starving herself on top of making herself sick. And she didn’t tell us then tried to lie about it even when she could hardly stand. I had to bring it up and we had to convince her to eat. It’s a good thing we did too, or she would have died as soon as she cast the spell that saved us from the Umbrum.” Twilight explained.
“You’re going to hold that against me, aren’t you?” I groaned in frustration. “I already explained my reasons to you girls. So you know damn well that’s a biased depiction of what happened.”
“Is it really though?” Rainbow asked, jokingly.
“Yes.” I stated firmly. I then looked at Queen Amore. “So… You’re Queen Amore. Thank you for saving me. I have no idea why that spell used as much energy as it did.”
Queen Amore shook her head. “No. I should be the one thanking you. From what your friends have told me, without you they would have never learned of my pieces and would never have found me.”
“We’ll call it even then… So, what now? Do you have any idea how we can stop Sombra? Preferably without me having to go out there and do the same thing to him that I did to the Umbrum. That sucked.” I asked her.
“Now…” Queen Amore started as a pink aura enveloped her horn. “I take over maintaining the barrier for my granddaughter.” She then looked over at Cadance. “It’s time for you to go get some sleep, dear.”
The aura enveloping Cadance’s horn vanished and her body visibly relaxed. “Thank you so much… I’m sorry I can’t stay up and get to know you, but I’ve been awake for the past several days straight.”
Amore waved a hoof. “It’s fine. I understand. You’ve more than earned it.”
They hugged and Cadance walked off with Shining Armor. I could sense relief radiating from both of them. “Make certain you eat something before going to sleep, dear!” Amore called out as Cadance and Shining Armor were walking away.
“I’ll make sure we stop by the kitchen before I take her to bed!” Shining Armor called back.
When they were gone Amore said, “As for stopping Sombra, I do have an idea. And no. It doesn’t involve you pushing yourself to the brink of starving to death to execute him. In fact, I would rather save him from himself.”
I blinked at her. “You what?”
“He was raised as a pony rather than an Umbrum. There’s good in him, unlike the vast majority of his kin. He’s simply deluded, angry, and feels hurt and betrayed. He believes because he’s an Umbrum he must be a monster, that he has no other choice. He’s wrong, he just needs to see it.”
I looked at her incredulously. “You’re joking…”
“Oh no. Far from it. I’m quite serious.” Queen Amore shook her head. She then gave me a curious look. “You don’t approve?”
“The bastard turned you to stone, usurped your throne, mind controlled your entire kingdom, spent the past however long trying to turn us to stone, and you think he can be redeemed? If we aren’t going to execute him, why the hell don’t we throw him back in that crystal prison thing with the rest of the Umbrum? At minimum, he deserves a lifetime sentence in prison.” I was tempted to say he belongs in the Birdcage, but I restrained myself. No one here would know what I was talking about.
Twilight looked at her friends before looking back at me. “Technically, he did spend the past thousand years trapped in the ice here in the Frozen North. That's roughly the same length of time that Princess Luna was banished to the moon for what she did as Nightmare Moon. Longer, actually, since Luna was banished later than him and returned before him. We were able to help Luna redeem herself after she returned. So I see no reason why it would have to be different for Sombra.”
“Princess Luna was banished to the moon?” Queen Amore asked, clearly shocked by this revelation.
“There’s a lot you’re gonna have to catch up on, your highness.” Rainbow commented.
Queen Amore nodded. “Clearly… Well, regardless, I need something before I can act to try and help Sombra. The Crystal Heart.”
“I’ve noticed you mention that a few times now, but we’ve never heard of it before. What is it?” Twilight asked.
“A powerful artifact I created long before Sombra came to be. It was meant to protect the Crystal Empire from the Umbrum. I also used it to imprison the Umbrum, trapping them forever within the Shadow Prison. Interestingly, though I am its creator, even I don’t fully understand its power. It far surpassed my intentions for it.”
“What do you mean? If you created it, how is it possible that you don’t understand what it can do? That’s not how enchanting works.” Twilight asked, very confused.
“Well, if one were to look into it they could see visions of their destiny within. It also seems to have extended my life beyond my natural limits. I created it two thousand years ago. So I was already a thousand years old when Sombra turned me to crystal and conquered the Empire. I never intended for either of those things. I merely intended for it to make a barrier to keep both the cold and the Umbrum out of the Empire and as a tool to amplify my own love magic so I could use it to better resist the Umbrum. It seems to have grown significantly beyond what I ever intended for it, and I can only speculate as to why. That growth it has undergone is the only reason I was able to use it to create the Shadow Prison and seal the Umbrum within, at all. Else I would have done so the moment I created it.”
“It’s probably gone.” I stated.
Queen Amore looked at me curiously.
“What? Think about it. You had some ultra powerful magical artifact that was essentially his biggest weakness. The only thing that could keep him out of the Crystal Empire forever. It only makes sense that he would have destroyed it. Like actually destroyed it. Broke it up and ground it to dust then dumped the dust into the ocean rather than leaving shards behind like he left your pieces behind. It’s what I’d have done in his position. He had no reason to keep it around.”
“Except I caught him stealing the Crystal Heart when he turned me to crystal. If that’s what he wanted to do, he would have broken it right then and there instead of trying to steal it. The fact he stole it instead suggests he must have had other plans for it. Perhaps he thought he might corrupt it and use it for his own ends. Or perhaps he was worried that if he destroyed it the love and light magic within it would be released and he would be destroyed along with it. Whatever the case, I know for a fact he didn’t destroy it. I have a connection of sorts with the Crystal Heart. I can’t tell its exact location but feel its presence. It’s close by. Somewhere within the Crystal Empire. If it had been destroyed I would know it.” Queen Amore told us.
I shrugged. “Fine. Then I concede the point. I didn’t know you could sense the thing. I was just making an assumption.”
“So, Twilight, you mentioned Princess Celestia sent you to help save my Empire as some sort of test. To be quite blunt, I do not appreciate that she decided to make the fate of my Crystal Ponies and my Empire a test, but regardless I have a task for you. Find the Crystal Heart and bring it back to me. The Crystal Empire can only truly be saved with the Crystal Heart.” Queen Amore said, looking at Twilight.
Twilight nodded. “I won’t let you down!”
Queen Amore smiled and chuckled. “I’m sure you won’t. However, I’m also going to need the help of your friends.”
“What do you need us to do?” Rainbow asked.
“I need you five to help me set up a very special event. The Crystal Faire! It’s an annual event meant to renew the spirit of love and unity in the Empire! The Faire will help us recharge the Crystal Heart. After that we can deal with Sombra.” Queen Amore informed us. I could feel the happiness and excitement radiating from her. It was obvious to me that she enjoyed the Crystal Faire and was looking forward to this.
“A fair?! Woohoo! This is gonna be so much fun!” Pinkie Pie cheered. Apparently she was just as excited.
Queen Amore chuckled. “Indeed it will! I’m glad to see I’m not the only pony looking forward to it! However, there are some traditions you’ll need to be familiar with. Since I’ve taken over maintaining the barrier for Cadance, and I can take shifts with my granddaughter after she’s had some time to rest, we have plenty of time. So, let’s discuss all the details over dinner, shall we?”
Apparently Amore wanted me to join everyone for dinner so I got up and started following everyone out. However, as we were walking out I noticed Amore ask to talk to Twilight. So I decided to hang back and eavesdrop a bit.
“Twilight Sparkle, you say medical knowledge has progressed in the thousand years I’ve been gone?” Amore asked.
“It has, and by a lot.” Twilight confirmed.
“Then, I must ask. Do you have a means of getting in contact with Celestia?”
“I do. Spike’s fire is magically connected to Celestia. So he can send messages to her and receive messages from her. Isn’t that right, Spike?”
“Yup! It doesn’t matter how far away she is, she gets any letter I send instantly! Since you’re focusing on maintaining the barrier, I can even write down any message you want to send to her for you if you want.” Spike offered.
“Wonderful! Then I will take you up on that offer. I need her to send the best doctors she can as soon as possible to save Radiant Hope…”
I tried to listen in a bit longer but it had simply turned into Queen Amore telling Spike what to write. Mainly, announcing her return and requesting Celestia and Luna send doctors as soon as possible.
When I felt the message was coming to an end I left and followed everyone’s emotions to the dining room. I already had my dinner so I didn’t expect to eat with everyone else, but I thought it might be rude if I decided not to attend dinner at all.
Fortunately no one questioned what took me so long. I was pretty sure they just thought I had to use the restroom or something.
Surprisingly immediately upon seeing Queen Amore, the few servants working in the castle seemed to start shaking off whatever master effect Sombra had over them. They even looked different. Their coats were previously dull and washed out but grew more vibrant and colorful, even taking on a slight glittering look, as the master effect weakened.
Dinner went about how I expected, with Queen Amore explaining the traditions associated with the Crystal Faire and asking for a more detailed version of the story of how we found all of her pieces and saved her.