//------------------------------//
// Foundations of Crystal 
// Story: Echoes of the Old World 
// by Ultima75000 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 10: Foundations of Crystal

"A heart blacker than the night… a heart colder than ice…"





Please note that this chapter actually happens during the Season 3 premiere episode and actually crosses over into it. You may understand the chapter better after watching it and it is heavily recommended.







"Important mission she said"

The changeling trudged his way through ice and snow, his bug like wings frozen solid, his ice glazed with frost.

"Generous mood she said"

He nearly sunk into a pit of snow as the blizzard raged around him. Hail and snowflakes blotted out the skies and the screeching wind pierced his hide with the cold.

"If I knew her highness we're to banish me out to this frozen wasteland I would have taken the spanking and jail time, no regrets." Draco shook the pile of snow gathering on top of his head. His gnarled horn looked like it was about to crack like an icicle. He even had icicles under his nose!

"How in harmony's name am I supposed to find a thousand year old empire in the middle of snow storm?" He roared in displeasure. His next step forward caused the layer of powder to collapses underneath him. He slid down like a ice sled, trying his best to stop himself with his hooves; wings flapping.

But the cold temperatures and turned his wings into little more than frozen pads. As the fall became steeper, he lost his balance and rolled down the rest of the way in a boulder of piled ice and powder.

Bouncing, rolling, turning, twisting and flying in random directions Draco felt as if he was going to hurl. If he didn't know better he'd bet that whatever he did hurl would freeze itself midway in his mouth. Suddenly the giant snowball crashed into pieces leaving him buried underneath several feet of snow.

He popped his buggy eyes out of the snow like a bright eyed snowman. He blinked twice before blowing his nose hard, sending the snow off of his body and shot the twin icicles under his nose straight out.

"Now where am I?" He looked around trying to see through the storm. For a moment he did not see anything but white petals and icy streams, but slowly the storm became calm and his mouth fell wide open.

"How in the name of Celestia did I end up here?" he screamed. He was staring over the edge of a cliff over looking a giant canyon of ice and rock. He looked down the cliff towards the bottom. From what he could tell, it was a very, very long drop.

"It's not that way…" he said looking up "At least I hope not… I didn't sign up for this." He turned around to find a single cave opening amidst the wide open ice lands. It was small but it large enough for somepony to crawl in.

Unwilling to spend much longer in the storm, the changeling took his chances in the cave. He crawled in slowly before sliding the rest of the way in upon the frozen floor.

As he tried getting up his hoof slipped and fell face first into the floor. Draco had just about enough of this place. First the storm, then the giant snowball ride and now he could not walk without tripping!

For a good while he spent the next few hours trying to maneuver around the caves deep interior. Very little light penetrated through the roofs and walls of ice and stone, but the darkness suited changelings just fine. What was bothering him the most was he was spending most of the time crashing into frost bitten stalagmites and pillars rather than getting anywhere.

Finally learning how to self skate down the cave without as much trouble he continued looking for another way out until he found himself staring a strange structure deep underground.

It was a temple or at least a mausoleum of sorts. It looked as if it was carved from marble but the ice had frozen over much of it. Pillars seemingly forged out of frozen crystallized ice held a perfectly smooth domed roof high above it, the sun's ray flowing through it like stained glass.

Draco made his way slowly towards its white steps, climbing slowly up on all fours as to not slip and slide back down to the bottom. As he reached the inner plateau he beheld an altar of icicles delicately holding a familiar pillar of deep azure blue in its clutches.

"Another pillar…!" Draco said slowly climbing to his feet "My luck has changed! The Queen will surely reward me now!"

He grasped the pillar with both hooves and pulled. It did not budge; frozen in place from time and the cold atmosphere it was sealed in. Undaunted Draco tugged at the pillar harder and harder causing one of the icicles gripping it to crack. Finally the icicles broke apart releasing the pillar from its cold grip.

"Now to take this back too…" His train of thought was interrupting by the cracking of more ice. He looked down at the floor. The crack of the icicles holding the pillar had stretched itself down to the floor, reaching far and wide across the plateau.

Draco flapped his wings but they we're still covered in ice. Suddenly the altar collapsed and fell down a deep chasm, its maw becoming ever larger from the shattering ice. Draco with the pillar under his hoof dived down towards the stairs and slid all the way down, crashing down the steps.

As he landed at the bottom he lost his grip on the pillar and slid underneath ahead of him. Draco only heard the crumbling of the stairs behind him as the floor beneath him cracked even further. He didn't look back and furiously waved all hooves in a desperate effort to grab the tiny pillar and get out the hell out of there.

In his panic he was unable to properly stand up and his wings we're still frozen; with the pillar in front of him he knocked it further away with his horn before making a frog leap after it.

The floor had now begun to fully fall apart causing ice, rock and snow to sink down into the pit like a frozen pile of quicksand. Draco grabbed the pillar in his mouth before once again diving in the opposite direction of the interior avalanche.

He flew down the frozen caves, sliding and turning in many directions before being shot into a geyser of water.

For a brief second he thought the water was warmer than in should be in such a cold place. It was then he realized how hot it actually was and shot out of it in pain.

His wings now thawed out by the hot spring instinctively set him hovering above the ground, with Draco rubbing his bum with one of his hooves.

He spat the pillar out screaming "Hot! Hot! Hot…!" before plopping his ass right on top a pile of snow. He sighed as the sizzle from his rear sounded off.

"That was definitely not covered in my job description…" he said picking up the blue pillar from the floor "Can't get anything but better now…"

Suddenly he heard heavy hoof steps above him causing the huge icicles above him to shake.

"Oh you got to be kidding me…"

The steps stopped and the icicles stood still. Draco sighed in relief.

"That was close…"

Then a huge rumbling came across from the roof as a gigantic mound of black stormed its way over the rooftop. There was the distinct sound of cracking heard again.

"Why didn't I shut up?"

Once again he was on the run for his life as giant stalagmites of ice and stone rained down from the ceiling. Luckily for Draco his wings we're now fully operational but maneuvering through the cave past raining spears proved difficult. He nearly dropped the pillar on a tight turn but managed to catch it just in time.

For once in his life glad to see the sunlight from the exit he shot out like a speeding bullet and crashed into a giant mound of snow.

"Made it!" he said triumphantly hopping out of the powder. The storm had calmed down considerably since he first arrived but it was still snowing. Draco took a good look ahead of him and saw a blue haired stallion in the distance.

"Shining Armor…!" Draco gasped looking at Canterlot's Captain of the Guard. "Just as the Queen said!"

At first Draco wanted to get in closer but upon gazing further to his right he saw the giant domed shield behind the stallion. Draco's eye's widened larger than dinner plates.

"The Crystal Empire…! So it is true!"

Shining Armor then made his way inside through the shield.

"Where do you think you're going?" Draco said running after him. He stopped right before running into the barrier and placed a single hoof on it. The barrier didn't let it fall through.

"There goes getting in…" Draco sighed frustrated once again "Why's this barrier here anyways?"

Draco heard a growling sound behind him through the storm. He turned face to face with a pair of giant neon green eyes with a black shadowy mass as a body.

Draco gulped down his last comment "I'm guessing you're the reason…"

The eyes caught sight of the brilliant blue pillar underneath the changeling's hoof.

"CRYSTALS…!" It echoed opening what could be called a mouth.

"Guess so!" Draco cried dodging out of the way before being devoured by it. The shadowy mass chased him with its gaping black maw open wide. It was roaring the single word 'Crystals' over and over again.

"This is my gift to the queen you pile of muck!" Draco cried flying backwards around the dome "Not your dinner!"

After being chased around in circles Draco believed he had lost it, but the mass simply went around the other direction and Draco narrowly avoided being chomped in half.

Finally the mass split in two separate bodies and surrounded him. The changeling had his back to the barrier wall as the shadow began to slowly consume the area around him.

Then with a single faint pulse, the pillar lit up for a brief moment and Draco fell through the barrier like a bubble, just moments before being swallowed whole.

"Guess this was too good not to feed to something…" Draco joked looking at the dark mass glaring at him behind the barrier.

"Nah nah nah nah nyah!" Draco taunted it sticking his tongue out. "Go suck on an icicle!"

The mass roared its anger at the changeling but Draco simply blew a raspberry at it.

"Shining Armor! Your horn!"

Draco turned his attention towards the insides of the dome. Shining Armor had brought her sister along! And worse yet, all of her goodie two shoes friends. Although seeing Shining Armor's horn covered in what seemed to be black spikes was visually appealing.

Tucking the pillar underneath his wings he followed them inside further the Crystal Empire. Hiding behind the houses between each street as the group trekked its way towards the towering crystalline palace at the center of the kingdom.

"What is it with this place?" Draco said as he rolled over behind each block trying to keep out of sight "Not a single pony or anything else anywhere."

He lost sight of the group as they entered the palace "Rats! How do I follow them now?" Draco gazed up at the palace for a moment. He could fly up there, but then the pillar would fall out from underneath. He wasn't willing to part with it so easily.

"I know I'm going to regret this…" he grumbled hopping onto one of crystal castle's supports and climbing his way up with his hooves. It was a snail's pace but eventually he found himself staring into the throne room from the edge of a stained glass window.

A visibly tired Princess Cadence was being support by her husband. She looked as if she was about to keel over as the magic in horn flickered like an old light bulb.

"So she's responsible for the stupid barrier!" Draco said "Typical… her husband did the same thing…" He put his ear on the window to hear over the conversation inside.

"Crystal Ponies!" Rarity's voice echoed through the glass. "There are crystal ponies?"

"Say what?" Draco pulled his head away from the glass and nearly slipped. "That's new."

He put his head next to the glass again and listened in further.

"A research paper!" Twilight's voice now sounded

"Really?" Draco grunted wanting to hear something more interesting

"Too gather information from the Crystal Ponies and give it too you! This is gonna be great! I love research papers!" Twilight continued

"Oh come on!" Draco's temper finally blew its cork and he gave himself a giant face palm.

Not wanting to listen to Twilight's voice or any other ponies for that matter he scaled down the castle walls and hopped off the bottom.

"I'm going home… I got the pillar and that is enough excuse to get the hell out of here…" He turned around the corner of town and bumped head first into a crystal pony. "Out of my way you!"

The pale lavender colored crystal pony mere shook her head and with a very disappointed face said "Sorry…" and continued walking on past.

For a moment the changeling had no idea what to say about the freak encounter. Just 'sorry?' That was it? No 'ahh a changeling?' Something was very wrong here.

"Hey you!" Draco turned around and cried to her. She turned her head and gave the same sad look as she did before.

"Yes?"

"Umm… are you feeling okay?" Draco could believe he was asking that question. Especially to a pony; crystal or not.

"I'm sorry…" the crystal pony said again "I don't remember anything… I haven't remembered since King Sombra came to power."

"King Sombra?" Draco said puzzled at the title

The lavender crystal pony all of the sudden winced in pain, shutting her eyes as if something was eating her head.

"And I don't want to remember…!" She cried before turning away and running off

"Well that certainly was… interesting…" Draco said. He took a look around the rest of town. Now some of the crystal ponies we're once again wondering the streets. But all of them looked sad and depressed.

"Great Depression much?" Draco joked at the scene until he caught sight of Twilight coming down the road.

He dove behind a house and watched a she knocked on one of the doors for information. Surprising enough she got the same answer he did. The crystal ponies don't remember anything; and they don't want to remember.

"Maybe the others are having better luck…" Twilight said as she tried the next house.

"Let's find out…" Draco sneered before leaving his hiding place. He traced the movement of the others and found they had even less success than Twilight did.

Rainbow Dash was far too straightforward about it, Fluttershy was to shy to pester anyone very far and Rarity was busy day dreaming.

"Now where is that annoying pink one?" Draco asked looking around. All of the sudden two crystal ponies screamed "Spy!" and ran.

Draco turned to find Pinkie Pie dressed up as a spy, complete with night vision goggles. "You have got to be kidding me…"

Pinkie Pie put on her night vision goggles and looked in his direction.

"Oh crap, move!" Draco bolted before she could get a good look, but Pinkie wasn't paying close attention. ("Ooh, night visiony")

His last stop was Applejack, but it looked like she was having the same issue.

"You sure you don't know anything?" she asked another crystal pony
"I'm sorry, I just don't feel like talking about it…" the pony replied all moody

"Isn't there anyone in the empire that knows anything about it?" Applejack asked

"Brilliant…" Draco sarcastically said "You wanna learn something? Read a book! Go to freaking library, sheesh!" Then it hit him.

"Hello?" Applejack called out "Is someone there."

A lavender coated crystal pony came out slowly from behind the house. "Yes…" she said

"Hi, I was just wondering if you knew anything about the Crystal Empire?" Applejack asked

"Let's see… I'm trying to remember… there's a castle in the kingdom… and a library…"
"A library? That could work…! I better tell the others!" Applejack furiously shook the crystal pony's hoof "Thank you very much!" she took off without another word

The lavender crystal pony's depressed face turned into an evil grin as changeling revealed his disguise.

"No problem at all fools…" Draco said chuckling to himself.

Some time passed before the group finally arrived at the library. Draco followed closely, peeking over from one of the windows as Twilight spoke to the librarian.

"We're looking for a book!"
"We have plenty of those…"

Draco hit his head on the wall "Come on do I have to hoof walk you idiots or something? Go to the history section already!"

"Yes!" Twilight cried as she grasped a very large textbook. "History of the Crystal Empire"

"About damn time…" The changeling said gazing through the window again. He found himself simply staring at a pile of books all over the floor. The group had left.

"Where did they…?" He turned his head around the corner; they we're taking the book to the castle.

"Well that's real smart…" he said "Back to slippery castle walls again."

By the time he reached the windows of the castle, Twilight had already begun explaining the contents of the books.

"Crystal Fair…" Draco replied listening in "Sounds cheesy…"

"We'll get started right away!" He heard Twilight say before the sound of a closing textbook. "We can save the crystal ponies with their history!"

"Ah crap singing…!" He covered his ears

One long painful song and fair preparation later…

"Sometimes I absolutely hate my job…" Draco said as the song finished. He sniffed the air, it was… pleasant. It surprised him as earlier the only emotion he sensed was misery and sadness. As happiness and excitement filled the air in anticipation of the Crystal Fair his changeling senses start to tingle.

And it felt good…

"The Crystal Heart!" he heard the cries of a pair of female crystal ponies. In quick reaction Draco turned himself into a lavender crystal pony again before anyone noticed.

"Do you think they really have it?"

"Of course we have it!" Rainbow Dash butted in quickly "We can't have a Crystal Fair without a Crystal Heart!"

"Of course you can't…" the librarian crystal pony said "The whole purpose of the Crystal Fair is to lift the spirits of the crystal ponies so the lights within them can power the Crystal Heart so the empire can be protected!" The librarian's coat suddenly flashed with life. "I do work in a library!"

'Okay… that was certainly very explanatory…' Draco thought 'you would think you'd know you work in a library when you just inside it…'

At that moment the shield flickered and died out allowing the cold wind to penetrate to borders of the kingdom.

"Yes…! I can get out!" he cried ignoring the others around him.

Then the changeling saw the giant mass of gray clouds the covered the entire horizon followed by two enormous green eyes. Many of the crystal ponies screamed and ignored his previous statement.

"Nevermind…"

Before the clouds covered the kingdom, the shield as quickly as it died sprang back up. The dark mass howled in pain as it was repelled once more.

"The one time I'm glad there's a barrier." Draco said looking at the castle balcony where Princess Cadence was desperately trying to hold on to her concentration. "But for how long?"

He then caught sight of Twilight along with Spike storming inside the castle alone.

"Now where is she going in such a rush?" he wondered. Carefully he disguised himself as part of the landscape, essentially becoming invisible before sneaking his way past everypony and inside. He quickly and quietly made his way till he was in the throne alone with the little dragon Spike.

Twilight had already opened the secret passageway in the room and was already on her way down.

"Spike, can you see outside?" Twilight cried from the deep pit she was descending into. Spike ran past the hidden changeling and looked outside the window.

"Not good! Cadence's magic must be fading faster than before! Twilight's footsteps doubled in pace.

Draco looked down the stairs. She was already almost at the bottom. He chased after her as quickly as possible and only stopped when Twilight tripped over a broken step. He wanted to laugh at her bad luck but covered his mouth.

'Come on stupid, get the door open already!'

Twilight reached for the door but all of the sudden it literally moved out of the way. After a few tries, the purple unicorn shot the door with a ray of black magic and it finally stood still and opened.

Twilight sat there for a moment staring with unblinking eyes at the open door. The changeling waited for her to move but she sat there perfectly not moving a single muscle. For a brief moment Draco looked at her funny and then walked in view of the door way.

It was a wall! The door lead nowhere but stone wall!

"Well that's crap…" Draco whispered "What kind of door is this?"

He placed one of his hooves on the wall and the dark gem above the door started to glow. A ray of black and green zapped him on the spot sending shivers down his body. Unbeknownst to him as the dark magic entered his mind the azure pillar long hidden under his wing responded in turn cancelling out the effects of the spell cast and his earlier invisibility.

"That really hurt…" Draco said not knowing what had transpired. Twilight was still gazing mindlessly ahead at the wall as he shook off the after effects. The changeling then looked at his hoof. He wasn't invisible anymore!

"Twilight? Twilight!" Spike's voice echoed all the way down to the bottom of the stairs

Draco quickly before the baby dragon reached the bottom hid behind a large boulder.

He then heard Spike cry out for Twilight again, but this time he was begging not to go…

"King Sombra's magic… a door that makes you face your worse fear…" Twilight explained to Spike

'King Sombra again…?' Draco started to think a little more about the name along the giant mass of shadows outside the barrier. 'He was that thing that tried to eat me!? Why the lousy messed up piece of horseshit! Hang on… why didn't that door affect me?'

He peeked over the boulder again. Twilight had finally opened the passage way and went inside. Looking up through the door he said: "That is a lot of stairs."

Draco took his time climbing the stairs, he didn't want to be noticed but at the same time he couldn't lose track of the unicorn. He had to make sure she found the heart or he'd be in trouble too. Tired after climbing several straight stories of steps and he sat down.

"Who puts a Crystal Heart up a hundred flights of god damn stairs?" he gasped. He then heard the cheers of Twilight as she slid up (or down) the backside of the stairs. Draco gazed at her as she ascended further and further away.

"Hey that's cheating!" he cried getting up on his feet and rushing after her.

When he nearly reached the top he wished he had simply flew his way up instead. He couldn't feel any of his hooves or legs and his chest was panting for air. Barely a single stories worth of stairs was left and he crawled the rest of the way up. He then poked his head over the top step for a look.

The wind from the altitude was blowing hard here. The Crystal Heart stood suspended mid air at the center of room. Twilight Sparkle walked closer and closer to it ignoring the notable symbol beneath it.

'2000 bits that there's an-'

The unicorn took a single step onto the snowflake circle. *BEEP!*

'Alarm…'

Twilight all of the sudden was encased within a prison of jet black crystals, the heart falling out of her reach. The unicorn tried to escape but dark magic sealed her in well and tight.

"Spike you have to take the Heart to the fair!"
"But Twilight!"
"GO!"

Spike took the heart and ran as black crystals overgrew the plateau. Draco watched as the little dragon jumped off the high plateau. Pulling himself together the changeling dragged himself towards the edge of the plateau. King Sombra had resumed his attack on the kingdom and already much of it was covered by his corruption.

"I got the Crystal Heart!" Spike cried running down the thin spire of dark crystals
'DON'T TELL HIM THAT!' Draco said to himself.

"That is MINE!" growled King Sombra forcing his way inside the empire boundaries creating bursts of dark crystals as he moved. As a huge spear of dark crystals propelled the dark king upwards, Spike lost his footing and fell with the heart.

King Sombra licked his lips as if ready to devour both dragon and heart whole. But Shining Armor had thrown his wife Princess Cadence to intercept him, snatching both of them from his sights. Gliding down with both the heart and Spike the crystal ponies pointed and stared at her.

"Behold the Crystal Princess!"

Smashing the fake replica that Twilight had carved, Cadence harnessed the power of the Crystal Heart which released a powerful wave of magical light that tore the black hearted king to pieces.

"Why am I not surprised?" Draco said viewing the happy ending

As the wave approached he sighed "This is not going to end well for me…" he shut his eyes as the magic struck. To his great surprise he didn't go flying through the air as expected. In fact the wave revitalized him. He felt more powerful than ever!

As he opened his eyes he glanced at his hooves. They we're shining! Translucent even! The magic of the Crystal Heart had empowered him too! As he marveled at this new development he gazed upon the pillar he had been hiding for so long. Its blue color was furiously brimming with brilliant light, much brighter than it ever did.

"Perhaps I have to thank this for my luck…" Draco said smiling. It was only then as he heard the sigh of Twilight he realized that he had spent to long here and hopped of the plateau before he was seen.

The magic of the Crystal Empire had created an aurora across the skies. The smell of magic coursing through them made Draco's entire senses tingle. He had never felt like this before. Full of energy and brimming with power he flew down to the very edge of the empire where the layers of snow once more became visible.

As he proceeded in the direction of his homeland a single object in the white blanket of snow caught his eye. He landed softly on the ground and picked it up. His observation made his mood even better and he began to laugh heartily. Behind him he could hear the cries of joy from the ponies of the Crystal Empire celebrating their freedom.

"Laugh while you can my little ponies" Draco snickered "Just keep on laughing…"

The changeling held up his prize: The pillar… and the broken horn of King Sombra.





Author's Notes
Part two of the double chapter update; Happy Thanksgiving everyone

This is mainly a filler chapter about the Changeling Draco and his covert mission into the Crystal Empire. It can be debated that this chapter can kinda be skipped but I rather have an part in the fan fiction on explaining things to come. I believe the ending itself is enough reason since I do wish that King Sombra got more of a role like the other villains did.

Expect him and expect the Changeling too.

On a side note this chapter is probably more humorous than the others since its mainly a side adventure through the eyes of a changeling. Much of Draco's depiction in this chapter is more for a comical sense than the serious part seen in earlier chapters.

Next few chapters well underway! Enjoy the holidays!

Ultima75000