Twilight was left to her own devices in the guest room with Spike. Night was starting to fall and it was soon going to be time for slumber. Twilight, however, had no intention of sleeping. Supplied with a quill, ink, and some sheets of paper, the mare was allowed to write whatever pleased her. As she had done for years, the unicorn decided that she was going to mark down her theories on how to resurrect Celestia and how to restore her body regardless of the condition.
Twilight was interrupted in her task by the door opening and an angry guard chucking something at Twilight. She yelped and reflexively covered her face when a giant, boney hand emerged from around the corner to catch the projectile. Spike peered around the corner, its eyes glowing in the ambient darkness and terrifying what was a proud soldier mere moments ago.
"Uh, th-the Empress wanted me t-to give this back," she stammered.
Spike took a step, shaking the ground and causing the pony to run screaming.
"Could you close the door and show me what it is they threw, please?" Twilight asked.
The undead complied and passed her the item, delighting its master. It was the frozen hair of Celestia that still glowed with the magic that used to course through her body. The mare hugged it close to her and put it next to her papers to better illuminate what she was writing. A single tiny oil lamp wasn't enough to properly illuminate her room. With her inspiration and goal next to her, Twilight found herself compelled to write and rewrite all her theories, proving and disproving constantly as she worked through the night.
Or, that is how it would have happened had Cadance not come through the door and pulled away Twilight's tools.
"Hey!" the mare protested. "Give those back! I need them!"
"Twilight," Cadance started as she looked over the notes. "You need to sleep."
"No, I need to work," Twilight said. "If I don't write everything that comes to mind then I'll forget it when I wake up."
"Uh huh." The mare tucked the supplies away with guards hiding in the hallway. "Have you been doing that this whole time?" she asked incredulously.
The unicorn shrugged. "Yes? What's the problem? I haven't had many-" Twilight yawned unintentionally. "I haven't had any problems yet."
Cadance rolled her eyes. "Go to sleep, Twilight," the alicorn said firmly. "Don't make me treat you like a foal."
Grumbling, Twilight crossed her forelegs and puffed up her cheeks. "Fine," she said reluctantly.
The alicorn screamed mentally and shut the door, leaving the guards to watch it.
"What will we do if the undead attacks us?" one of the soldiers asked.
"We gave you that for a reason," Cadance said as she pointed to a glowing red 'badge' on the chestplate of the guards. "Press that and all the spire will be alerted to the necromancer trying to escape." She made to turn but stopped herself. "Don't get in the way of the undead," she added. "It'll only attack you if you impede it or try and attack its master, alright? It's less dangerous than you think."
"She says with the dead and wounded left in its wake," the guard whispered to her companion.
The night slowly turned to day, bringing Cadance and Shining Armor up with it. Flurry was still sound asleep in her crib at the foot of the parents' large bed. The two got up and stretched, cracking their joints in the process.
"Good morning, Flurry!" Cadance coo'd. Flurry yawned and shifted in place as her mother lifted her up. "Ooo. Still so tired. You already got tuckered out playing with Twilight yesterday? But you didn't play that much."
Shining pulled apart the emerald-green drapes covering one of the three large windows of their room and looked upon the growing capital. The crystal ponies were starting to become active themselves and bringing life back into the sleepy city. The new train station was also seeing its first arrivals, judging by the armored vehicle belching out thick plumes of smoke. The stallion still wasn't sure about its presence, but it helped link everypony up with the griffins and yaks to the east and the ponies over the mountains to the west. Of course, that line had yet to be finished.
As the Emperor stared outside, taking in the sunlight to wake himself up, his eyes shot wide in horror.
"Oh no," he gasped.
Cadance turned to him with Flurry on her back. "What? What is it?" she asked him.
Shining pointed at the window as he looked at his wife in horror. "Three of the Elements are here," he said.
"What?!" The alicorn hurried over to the window and looked around. "Where? I can't see them."
"Down there between the two pastry shops and next to the part of the street that was taken apart for the new water pipes."
Cadance nearly smushed her face against the glass but refrained from doing so. Her horn could destroy the window. "Where?! I can't see-Oh." She paled. "Why three? And why are they here?!" She turned to her husband, panicked. "We didn't call for them!" She started to pace about nervously, making Flurry laugh. "A message would have taken at least five days to get through to one of them!"
"Were they already on their way?" Shining couldn't find a reason for it. "What for?" He smiled in sudden realization. "Maybe it's just a visit, then!" he said. "Nothing wrong with that. We did say they could come whenever they felt like it." He nuzzled his wife's cheek. "Might not be as bad as we think it is."
Cadance whined. "I hope you're right. I don't want them to see Twilight. She's not exactly in her right mind right now."
"And with 'Spike' back, it might be able to break the lock on Twilight's horn." He exhaled, feeling his heart starting to race. "If she's pushed far enough then she'll probably order it to try and break that seal, then she'll be able to use her magic to escape...maybe." His brow furrowed in thought. "The Crystal Heart prevents any dead from being raised while it's under our control. Kinda wish it undid any that are already raised," he complained under his breath. "Even if she gets free, she can't raise any like she did at the border."
"Shining, honey. We don't even know what kind of spells Twilight knows, or even if she really has offensive spells at all." Cadance smiled nervously. Her attempts to calm her husband down weren't working very well, but at least she tried. "I'm convinced she would have used those spells when she got captured if she knew any."
"Let's hope you're right," Shining said.
"They're coming to the Spire," Cadance said.
The two hurried with Flurry in tow. The young foal was kept on Cadance's back by a magic harness, something she enjoyed as her parents flew down the steps until they realized they could just teleport to the first floor. Calling themselves idiots, the rulers teleported outside in front of the three elements, startling them.
"Girls! You're here!" Cadance said happily.
"Oh, gosh! You startled me!" one of the elements said.
"I'm so sorry, Fluttershy," the alicorn apologized. "I didn't expect you to be at the base of the spire so quickly."
"So it's the Elements of Laughter, Kindness, and Honesty that are here, then?" Shining noted. "What brings you three here? We don't have any celebrations in the works yet. They're still a ways off," he continued.
"The Map of Harmony directed us here!" a pink mare stated excitedly. "It called for three of us this time. Can you believe it?"
"Pinkie's raght," an orange earth pony added. "Dern thing only calls on us one 'er two at a time. Couldn't quite figure out what fer, just that we needed to come here ta the Crystal Empire." She huffed and took her stetson off to pass a hoof through her blonde mane. "Thing never tells us what we gotta do, just where we ought ta go."
"Sounds...upsetting," Shining said.
"It's enragin' 's what it is," the mare added with a scowl. She sighed. "Just a month 're so ago it sends Rarity 'n me out ta some village in the countryside." She smiled. "Pretty good place if'n ya like ta garden 'n whatnot. Really good soil, but not fer apple trees, so ain't no interest ta me." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, took us 'bout three days ta finally realize why we were there. We'd been tryin' ta fix everypony's problems and didn't fix the main one." She sighed. "Ah tell ya, we need a vacation from time ta time."
Shining and Cadance shifted in place. "So, why did you three come here?" the stallion asked. "Nothing wrong here," he said. "I mean, outside of the blizzard, but the Crystal Heart is responsible for that."
Fluttershy nervously stepped forward, her long pink mane covering most of her face. "Well, I don't mean to impose, but I think the map brought us to the spire," she explained. "The magic binding us to the elements seems to have dragged us here, after all."
"That's right!" Pinkie declared while throwing random confetti into the air. "I thought it might be you two, but I'm glad I was wrong." She waved to Flurry excitedly. "Hi, Flurry!" she cheered. She squeed when the foal exchanged the greeting.
Cadance had to adjust herself to the suddenly shifting weight of her daughter when she was about to speak. "Mmf. Well, I'm not sure what the problem might be. We haven't noticed anything wrong."
Applejack sighed. "Well, the map ain't never lied ta us 'afore. Can't go back or the map gets plum darn angry. Last time Rainbow came back it started howling like a siren, forcing her to go back."
"That was a dreadful day," Fluttershy said. "Ooo. My ears ring when I think about it."
"Turns out she was lookin' in the wrong place and it wasn't with ponies that she needed ta work with." Applejack pulled her mouth down and shrugged. "Who'd'a thought?"
"Well, feel free to enter the spire and ask around, then. I'm sure that the problem won't be too big."
"Thank ya kindly," Applejack said with a tip of her hat. "Ah'd rather not stay in yer manes fer too long. Rulers is busy folks, after all."
The two watched them with a smile as the three climbed the stairs into the Spire. Once the elements were out of sight, the rulers started to panic.
"Did the tree direct them to Twilight?!" Cadance panicked.
"What do we do? How is a map cantankerous? They'll never leave if they see her!" Shining said.
"We haven't even gotten to get Twilight through a day here!" the alicorn continued. "Hoooo. What do we do? We can't redirect them and tell them they can't go somewhere forever! Applejack is a smart pony. She'll eventually put two-and-two together and realize that they have to go where Twilight is."
"Not to mention that Twilight will have to get out at some point, and she's under constant surveillance by guards."
Flurry was laughing while her mother bounced around nervously. She wanted to have more fun like this and pouted when her mother stopped.
"The guards!" the two ruler said together.
"We haven't told them to keep quiet!" Shining squeezed through clenched teeth. "What are we supposed to do if one blabs?!"
"The best we can do is try and catch them all and have them spread the word through the floors," Cadance explained.
The two nodded to each other and did just that. Shining teleported to the lower floors and worked his way up while Cadance did the opposite. They weren't going to let something bad happen to an already unstable Twilight Sparkle, especially since she had just returned into their lives. Both worried for her mental well-being, and with how nosy the Elements tended to be, there was no doubt in either of their minds that the three mares would push too far.
After several minutes of rushing, the two met back up three floors below Twilight's, both gasping for air and suffering through the strain of pushing one's muscles past their limit.
"Okay," Shining said. "I told everypony not to talk about Twilight."
"I did the same," Cadance said with a grin. "Not just the guards, but the servants as well."
The stallion giggled. "Good. Normally we shouldn't have to worry too much...Unless Twilight decides to leave herself...Oh no."
"Don't worry," Cadance said assuredly. "I told the guards to bring Twilight a bunch of paper, ink, and quills to her room. She'll be too occupied writing those...awful theories on bringing the dead back to life." The mare shivered.
"Well, at least she's just writing them, and necromancers never figured out the solution to that," Shining said. "We can at least find some comfort in her being occupied." he shrugged. "Could be worse, I guess?"
"Oh, y'all're here?" Applejack said.
"What? Oh, yes. Hello, Applejack," Cadance greeted.
"You're pretty fast," Shining commented.
The mare stood up proudly. "Farm work toughens ya up. Fluttershy 'n Pinkie 're behind."
"I see," Shining said. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
"No..." Applejack sported a look of suspicion. "But Ah think the ponies here're hidin' somethin'. Call me crazy, but they seem ta want ta say somethin' but it might be too much of a dilemma. Ya got 'ny guests 're somethin' from abroad? Could be a political thingy." She exhaled loudly. "Hate politicickings 'n such, but if it's fer harmony Ah figured 'why not?'."
"Can't say we have any," Cadance said. "I--"
She froze. Both she and Shining felt the red alarm go off and alert the spire. They didn't have time to react when they heard a familiar voice cry out from the stairs.
"Cadance? You forgot to give me back my writing supplies," Twilight called out. "I just want that then Spike and I will go back."
"Who's that?" Applejack asked.
"A non-political visitor," Cadance responded with a very unconvincing smile. "Those stupid guards didn't do what I told them!" she growled at Shining.
"What?!" He looked at Applejack and grinned nervously. "Those stupid idiots! I'm going to make them run a hundred laps after lunch. Around the city!"
"We'll be right back," Cadance said. "Wait for us right there, please."
"Alright?" Applejack responded. The farm pony narrowed her eyes at the two rulers as they rushed up the stairs with a laughing Flurry in tow. "Should they be gallopin' around with that foal on her back?"
The two found Twilight wandering with guards following her but keeping a significant distance from Spike.
"Twilight!" Cadance blurted out angrily. "What are you doing out of your room?"
"I wanted my writing supplies, is all," the unicorn explained casually. "I didn't want to be too much of a bother since you have this empire and Flurry to take care of, but the guards didn't want to listen to me, so I had Spike escort me while I looked for you. I know that you know where everything is since you took it from me last night," Twilight huffed.
Cadance dragged a hoof across her face. "I told the guards to bring you some new ones. I would've brought yours back afterward."
"Is Flurry alright?" Twilight asked.
Cadance gasped in horror and brought Flurry into her forelegs. The foal had turned green from all the excitement and was swaying left and right. "We were so distracted that we forgot Flurry was here! Oh, my poor baby!"
Shining groaned and tapped the sides of his head. "There's too much stress lately in too short a time. If I wasn't already white I'm sure my coat would've turned that color by now."
"You?! What're you doin' here?!" an angry voice cried out.
"Oh no..." Cadance whimpered.