//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: From Scholar to Ruler // Story: Spiders and Magic: The Kesshōkage of The Crystal Empire // by ElementBrigade //------------------------------// Chapter Five From Scholar to Ruler “Is there any particular reason why your father hid the Crystal Heart in a place like this?” Nanako asked as she continued to follow after Umbra through the slightly dark passageway. “You read what was in the book left behind by Princess Amore, right?” “You will live as long as the heart is in your possession and your magic will forever be bound by it. When someone other than you claims the heart, your reign will fall and you will fall with it.” Nanako quoted. “That’s what was written in the book before it vanished…which would explain now why he would hide the heart in a place like this.” “Indeed, father was paranoid that someone would steal the heart from him, so he hid it in the throne room where nopony would expect to look. If what was written in the book is true, and if my hunch is correct, then you’re the prime candidate to free the Crystal Empire and rule over it as its ruler.” “So this is what you were talking about. You want me to rule over the Crystal Empire, right?” Nanako asked as the unicorn nodded. “Indeed, much as I wish to rule the Crystal Empire…but the drive I had…died a long time ago. If I were to rule in the state I’m in now…it wouldn’t last long.” She said as the two would soon enter into a large dark room with the only light source being the Crystal Heart in the center. “If we’re to see this place going on the right track, it needs somepony to lead it to a brighter future. You killed my father, so it’s only natural that you would claim domain over the Crystal Heart and the Empire.” “Are you sure you want me to do this? I am an outsider after all.” “Well, it’s not like we have many options. Plus I’m pretty sure you’re stuck here given how you haven’t left yet.” “I…Suppose you make some valid points.” “I’ll stick around to offer some assistance, but once that’s taken care of I am leaving this place. Don’t expect me to return any time soon unless a crisis is involved.” The unicorn said as they reached their destination. “We’re here.” Nanako looked around Umbra to see a pale-colored heart made out of crystals as it was engulfed in a black aura of darkness. The unicorn moved to the side for Nanako to see as she slowly walked up to it. As Nanako came closer to it, the heart gave off a small pulse as the Celestial being felt her own heart pulsing a bit with the crystal. “How do I take care of the darkness around the heart?” asked Nanako as Umbra shrugged. “Don’t know. I can only guess you just need to touch it and the heart will be yours.” She answered as Nanako examined the crystal heart for a moment before placing her hand on it. It felt cold for a moment but slowly began to heat up as the darkness that was engulfing the heart slowly vanished. The girl’s eyes widened upon feeling some of her chakra being pulled into the crystal; it soon lit up with the same midnight blue color as her chakra. Within a matter of seconds, a wave of magic spilled forth, causing the darkness in the room to vanish and brighten up. This caused Nanako and Umbra to cover their eyes as the light soon spread throughout the crystal empire where it could be seen for miles. Within seconds, the bright light slowly vanished as the two slowly opened their eyes before staring in shock at how well-lit the room was. “I was not expecting that to happen,” Nanako said as she looked over at Umbra. Upon seeing how she blinked in surprise at her looking younger than, and standing up similar to how a human would stand on their two legs. “...Okay, yeah this is something I was not expecting.” “What do you mean by that?” Umbra asked as her vision began to return. The unicorn felt off for some reason as she decided to look over herself. The moment she saw herself standing on her two legs, she let out a yelp before falling backward onto the floor. “What in the name of Tartarus happened to me!?” She asked before noticing her voice was different. She unintentionally used her magic to take a piece of the crystal wall off and brought it over to her to look at herself in the mirror. Upon seeing herself at the age of nineteen, her mouth hangs open in shock. “I believe whatever the heart did, just made you younger than how you were before…I know it’s an obvious statement…but I’ve seen anything like this before.” “Dear Faust…I feel so…I don’t even know how to describe it.” Umbra said while admiring herself in the reflection as she tried to stand on her two legs once again though would stagger a bit due to losing her balance a bit. “Full of energy or something along the lines of that? How is this even possible?” “I would like to study this phenomenon, but we have more pressing matters to attend to.” “What could be more important than this?” “Like did this affect the citizens and the kingdom as well,” Nanako answered as she pointed at their newly lit surroundings. “Because if I’m correct and this heart is the symbol of this Kingdom, then that wave of energy must’ve spread throughout the empire as well, right?” she asked which caused Umbra to realize what she meant and motioned for her to follow her back to the throne room. The moment they reached the throne room, the two made their way over to a nearby balcony of the castle. Upon making it to where they could see the entire kingdom from the castle, their eyes widened in shock upon seeing it. From what they could tell, instead of the place being covered in snow and blood covering most of the streets and buildings, it was replaced with a more Eastern-style setting. The crystal trees were blooming with cherry blossom petals floating in the wind, houses were more of an old Japanese style home with a bit of modern setting added to them, and the streets were covered with crystals with certain middle parts of them carved out as water flowed down them. This wasn’t the only change that was made, when they looked up a bit, they would notice that the mountain terrain changed drastically and the dome that covered the Empire had vanished. “Okay…this is something I was not expecting to happen when I touched the crystal heart,” Nanako said as she continued to stare at the scenery in front of her for a while before looking over at Umbra. “You do know that the ponies are going to ask questions about this, right?” “I know, which is why we’ll give it to them in the coming morning. Right now we’re going to have to do damage control for tonight. And by we I mean the crystal ponies.” “What do you want me to do?” “I’ll teleport you to my private chambers so you can get some sleep. I’ll come get you once morning comes. You earned it seeing how you killed my father and freed us from his tyranny.” Umbra answered as the celestial being noticed her horn glowing. Before she could get a word in, she was soon teleported out of the throne room and into her private room leaving the dark alicorn alone on the balcony as she looked up at the moonlit sky. A smile could be seen across her face as she turned around and headed back inside to do damage control of her father’s misdeeds. In the skies above the Crystal Empire, the changes did not go unnoticed by the local population. Soaring through the clouds, a small group of pegasi were currently staring down at the newly lit kingdom of the Crystal Empire. The four of them stare at each other for a moment before one of them orders the gray-colored pegasus to fly off to Canterlot at breakneck speed. While the pegasus was flying as fast as he could to reach Canterlot on time, the others decided to watch from above the clouds to keep an eye on the location in case something else happened. Nighttime fell upon Equestria as ponies began to close up shop or began their nightshift in their respective job that they work in. Within the castle of Canterlot, Solaris was currently looking at a magical projection of both the planet Earth, Equis, and thousands of crimson-colored threads connecting. The white alicorn stared at the image for what seemed like forever, that is until the sound of energy erupting out of the ground could be heard from outside of his room. Looking out at the balcony, he saw a burst of midnight-colored energy shooting up towards the sky in the distance. Solaris’s eyes widened upon seeing this as he was about to make his way over to the balcony until he noticed the magical projection flickering. “What’s going on?” He asked as the image vanished for a few seconds before reappearing. He noticed that the threads connecting to Earth and Equis quickly as the symbol of the Otsutsuki Clan appeared in the center of the two planets. The moment the symbol was in between the planets, threads from both planets connected to the threads from the Otsutsuki Clan's symbol. Once connected, the crimson-colored threads mix with the midnight blue-colored threads. “What in the name of Equestria is going on? The Web of Life has never done anything like this before. Could this have something to do with Peter?” Before he could think of any other possible reason behind this strange anomaly, the door to his private chambers opened up as Princess Luna burst into his room with a shocked expression on her face. “You saw it too didn’t you, brother?” Luna asked as the stallion nodded. “It’s hard not to notice a light like that in the middle of the night,” he said before paying attention to the magical projection. “Especially given what’s been going on with the web of life.” “What is that symbol?” Luna asked as she pointed a hoof at the Otsutsuki clan’s logo. “I don’t know, but if it’s here, then it might be something to do with what Discord said about Osborn having his chaos magic.” “You think he’s starting his attack sooner than expected?” Luna asked as Solaris shook his head. “Traveling between worlds is difficult enough even with chaos magic. Though we shouldn’t rule out the possibility of him sending someone or something into Equestria to cause trouble,” he said before noticing something was coming into the distance in his field of vision. The white alicorn squinted his eyes for a moment before widening at the sight of the pegasus wearing a wonder bolt uniform barreling into Solaris’s chambers. From what the siblings could tell, the pegasus was covered in frost on certain parts of his body. “S-Sorry for the intrusion, but I have urgent news to r-report to you both.” “Mother of me, what happened to you!?” Solaris asked as he quickly made his way over to the pegasus and assisted him up to his feet. “Did Osborn do this to you?” “No, that’s not the reason why I’m l-like this,” he said before taking a few deep breaths before speaking. “It’s the Empire…The Crystal Empire has returned.” Solaris and Luna stared at the pegasus with widened eyes before looking at each other with shocked expressions. There was a moment of silence hanging in the air before Solaris spoke up. “Report to the medical wing and get yourself some rest, Luna and I will take care of this matter.” “U-Understood.” The pegasus said as the white alicorn teleported the pegasus out of his room. He soon turns his attention to Luna who has a stern expression on her face. “If the Crystal Empire has returned, then that must mean King Sombra has returned?” Luna asked as Solaris nodded. “Should I bring Sunset and the others here?” “No, not tonight. Going to the Empire at night would be dangerous and would give Sombra an advantage. I’ll send a letter to them that we’ll meet up in Sunset’s home and discuss the matter and how to deal with King Sombra.” “I’ll inform Shining Armor and Cadance about this matter as well. Having the captain of the royal guard and an alicorn to counter Sombra’s magic would help if we have to do battle with the mad king.” Solaris nodded as the dark blue alicorn made her leave via teleportation. The moment she left, Solaris made his way over to the balcony of his room and looked up at the moonlit night and the sea of stars. A sigh escaped his lips as memories of how he and Twilight used to look up at the night sky as they would make a game to see how many constellations they could find within a minute or so. “Twilight…I hope you’re doing okay.”