“The Crystal Empire?” Chrysalis asked, raising an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
Celestia frowned. “A kingdom in the Frozen North, one with a powerful magic that coursed across Equestria a thousand years ago. It was taken over by a unicorn with a blackened heart, named King Sombra,” she explained.
“We banished him into the ice of the Frozen North,” Luna added. “But not before he cursed the kingdom to vanish, until now it seems.”
“If the Crystal Empire has returned, there’s a chance King Sombra has as well,” Celestia said, turning to the window. “The kingdom was once full of love and hope that spread across Equestria. It’s possible it might again… or King Sombra’s influence, if we don’t stop him.”
“King Sombra… Crystal Empire…”
Chrysalis’s ears perked up. “Khaji Da? What is it?”
“Inquiries… fragmented. Further data required.”
“Did the scarab say something?” Celestia asked, turning to her.
“It seemed to pick up on this Crystal Empire. It says it needs further data.” Chrysalis frowned. “Do you think it’s from the Crystal Empire?”
“It could be,” Luna said. “You mentioned seeing visions of snow and crystals, what else did you see?”
“A spire made of crystal, almost like a castle. There was some sort of blue light at the base of it,” Chrysalis explained. “If it really was the Crystal Empire I saw, I need to go there. I…” She trailed off, realizing what she was saying.
Celestia walked over and set a hoof on her shoulder, smiling. “We need all the help we can get,” she said with a nod. “I’ll send word to Shining Armor and Cadance to go ahead. They’re best equipped for this… aside from you, that is.”
“If the scarab is truly from there, I hope you find the answers you seek,” Luna said. “From what I could tell in the dreamscape, your mind and the scarab’s were almost one. If it continues, it is possible you might gain mastery over it.”
“Then let’s hope this Crystal Empire has the push it needs,” Chrysalis replied, walking to the door. As she opened it, she paused in the doorway and looked back to Celestia. “Can you… tell my changelings where I’m going? I do not want to leave them alone without knowing where I am.”
“I will.” Celestia nodded. “Good luck, Chrysalis.”
“Thanks.” She turned and left, muttering, “I’m going to need it…”
How the ponies had managed to construct a rail line almost to the Crystal Empire’s doorstep, Chrysalis didn’t know, but it made her flight easier. At the first signs of snow, the scarab activated its suit, allowing her to trace the tracks to their destination through the unyielding blizzard.
In the distance, she could just make out a train idling on an old, worn platform half-covered in snow and ice. And on the platform, she could make out two forms—a white unicorn and a pink alicorn.
“Well, I might as well get this over with,” Chrysalis muttered.
Shining Armor and Cadance recoiled as the changeling touched down on the platform, both gawking at her presence and new appearance.
“What are you doing here, Chrysalis?” Shining growled, standing in front of Cadance.
Chrysalis sighed. “Whether you believe it or not, I’m here to help you and the Crystal Empire,” she said. “I’m here for answers, and you’re here to stop King Sombra. At least for the time being, our interests align.”
“So what, you can take it over yourself?” Shining accused. “Not a chance.”
“There’s something more important here than conquest—if anything, I want to prevent it,” Chrysalis said. She held up a hoof. “For what it’s worth, you have my word: I am not here to cause you, or the empire, harm.”
Shining didn’t stand down, but Cadance stepped around him. She studied Chrysalis with a serious look before finally nodding. “Very well. Follow us,” she said, beckoning Chrysalis towards her.
“Threats: minimum. What course of action do you suggest?”
“Nothing, Khaji,” Chrysalis hissed through gritted teeth as she followed Shining and Cadance off the platform.
“Who are you talking to?” Cadance asked, looking back over her shoulder.
Chrysalis let out a long, tired sigh. “This… suit, or whatever creates it. I’ve been calling it the scarab, it calls itself Khaji Da,” she explained. “I have reason to believe it may have come from here, but it won’t tell me anything.”
“Is that what you used on Princess Celestia?” Shining grunted.
“Yes, in fact,” Chrysalis replied through narrowed eyes.
“Is it some sort of weapon or—”
A howling noise, like some great beast, sounded from the snow around them. The foggy gloom of the blizzard blackened and swirled up behind them, two glaring green eyes with red pupils pierced through the gloom.
“Run!” Shining yelled.
Shining and Cadance raced on ahead as Chrysalis gawked at the shadows. Her blue wings buzzed on their own and quickly caught up with the ponies’ retreat.
“Analysis: entity is weak to love energy.”
“Swell! How do I hit it with love energy?” Chrysalis snapped.
“Love energy?” Shining remarked.
Cadance, meanwhile, lit up her horn with blue magic and fired a bolt over her shoulder. It pierced the gloom and seemed to eat away at it, the wind howling with agony as it shrunk away from them.
“Shining, I’m going to cast a shield over the empire when we get to it,” Cadance said.
“That won’t hold forever!” Shining replied.
“It might not have to,” Chrysalis said. “I remember something, but we need to get to the castle.”
Finally, in the distance, came the faint glints of crystal. A large spire loomed over dozens of smaller crystal structures constructed in a circle around it. As Chrysalis and Shining Armor raced through a pair of crystals that acted as a gate to the city, Cadance ignited her horn brighter.
The gloom hissed in pain as a bubble of blue magic lifted over the Crystal Empire. Eddies of wispy black smoke made it through, but sank into the ground, seemingly vanishing. In the empire itself, the snow melted away and the sky overhead betrayed no signs of the howling blizzards outside—if anything, it looked like a peaceful, sunny day.
“What did you remember?” Shining asked as they headed for the castle.
“At the base of the castle, there was this light. I think it came from some sort of crystal heart,” Chrysalis said. “If what I saw was a vision of the past, perhaps it’s the key to stopping King Sombra.”
“Worth a shot,” Cadance panted. “But where would it be?”
Chrysalis looked up at the towering castle and smirked. “Being a ruler myself, the most precious parts of my Hive are locked away deep inside. It’d be the last place anyone could look for something.”
“Then let’s get searching,” Shining said.
As they raced into the castle, the eddies of smoke near the barrier returned. They blossomed from the ground and sparked with black energy, slowly transforming into blackened crystals.
Chrysalis stepped into the castle’s throne room. Her magic-canceling throne, the heart of her Hive and the core of its defense, rested in its deepest bowels. Perhaps, she reasoned, Sombra would treasure his weakness equally.
“Anomalous energy signature detected,” the scarab reported, and a round target appeared on the crystal at the top of the throne.
“Perhaps some sort of magic lock,” Chrysalis said. “Can you trigger it?”
“Adjusting energy signature to match.”
The gauntlet cannon formed on Chrysalis’s foreleg and she aimed it at the crystal. To her surprise, a beam made of bubbling purple and green magic shot out, sparking with black energy.
The purple crystal dulled grey, and a shadow bled down the throne and dais to the floor. In its wake, a large, square opening appeared. A spiraling staircase led down into the depths beneath the castle.
“Shining Armor, Cadance, I found something!” Chrysalis called as the gun melted away.
Shining and Cadance ran into the room, eyes wide at the pit in the floor.
“How did you do that?” Shining asked.
“The scarab comes in handy,” Chrysalis replied smugly. “Come, it must be down here.”
Chrysalis’s wings buzzed as she flew down the pit, followed by Cadance, and lastly Shining, who grumbled as he raced down the stairs.
At the bottom was a simple door with another crystal on top of it, dull and grey like the throne’s crystal had been. Chrysalis’s gauntlet cannon formed again and she fired upon it with the same dark energy, causing Cadance to shrink back as Shining joined her.
The door opened to a bright white light. Chrysalis stepped through it and…
She was back in her Hive.
Chrysalis gawked at what she was seeing, it truly was her Hive, her throne room even! She was captivated for a moment, but her ears twitched. The Hive was deathly still. Not a sound whispered through the endless corridors and tunnels.
“Hello?” she called, panic rising in her voice. “My changelings, where are you? Thorax! Pharynx! Antenna? Someling answer me!”
“Psychological interference detected. Eliminating.”
The vision was shattered. Chrysalis blinked her eyes rapidly as she looked around.
She was back in the catacombs of the Crystal Empire. Shining Armor and Cadance were there staring at her.
And where the door had been was a smoldering hole in the wall.
“Interference eliminated,” the scarab reported, a cannon vanishing away from her foreleg.
“You can say that again,” Chrysalis muttered.
“It must have been some sort of… dark magic. A doorway that leads to your worst fear,” Cadance said, stepping up next to Chrysalis and setting her hoof on her shoulder. “You said something about your changelings?”
Chrysalis blinked and looked at her, and realized there was moisture in her eyes. She blinked it away and shook her head. “No matter, the heart must be this way—”
The sounds of screams and cries came from above. Cadance gasped as the magic lighting up her horn sparked and flickered. “The shield! It must be breaking somehow!”
Chrysalis grit her teeth, looking between the opened doorway and the castle above. She turned to Shining. “Go with Cadance, get the heart. I’ll deal with this,” she said.
Shining frowned, but nodded, leading Cadance through the opened door. Chrysalis’s wings buzzed to life and she soared back up the staircase.
Chrysalis emerged in the throne room and flew through the nearest window, gawking at the sight.
The shield bubble had numerous holes poked through it. The crystal structures she had seen before had become encased in blackened crystal. Shadows crept towards the castle, spreading more dark crystals through the empire and turning the green grass brown. Crystal ponies fled towards the center of the kingdom.
And there, at the entrance, was the great looming mass of wispy shadows, a face now visible: green eyes, red pupils, a curved red horn, and a victorious, fanged grin.
“King Sombra,” Chrysalis muttered.
To Be Continued…