The following takes place while Trisha, Jeremy, Kitsu, Mia, Eva, and Mina, found themselves at the Wonderbolt Academy after the destruction of their plane.
Feeling a cold breeze on his cheeks, a young blonde haired boy is laid out in a blanket of white, which gradually became soaked in crimson.
Chris King slowly, but surely awakens from his unconsciousness, with the groggy feeling that dissipated with a steady stream of cold and snowflakes brushing against his skin. He opened his eyes and turned his head, noticing that the skies are dark, save for a beacon of light in the distance. Chris desperately got up on his feet and looked all around him until he saw a faint glimpse of the plane, not too far from him. He attempted to walk, only to feel a sharp pain on various parts of his body. He looks and grows horrified to see a gash on his left leg and right arm, and he felt several cuts on his face.
"Agh..." Chris groaned in pain, but struggled to get to the plane, trailing blood, "Damn it... just what... happened?"
Chris, trying his best to just ignore the pain coursing through his body, slowly dragged his way through the snow to the plane, with the hopes of seeing if everyone was alright. He could only think how horrible this is. He slowly checked his pocket to take out his smart phone, only to see that the screen was shattered beyond repair. He then reluctantly puts it back in his pocket, as he knows he can't call for help. He started to feel overwhelmed with desperation with a bit of guilt on the side.
"Hah... haaah... haaa... EVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Chris cried his sister's name, as he got progressively closer to the plane wreckage.
"I'm... I'm so sorry...! God, Jeremy... everyone... please, PLEASE be alright...! Agh...!" Chris cried out before he eventually made it to the open end of the airplane where it was cut...
"What... the hell?! How did this happen...!?" Chris became horrified to see that his private jet was cut so cleanly in half like butter. He stumbled to the ground, only to find a rather large, light-opal colored feather stuck at the cut portion of the plane. He picked it up and held it in his hand, while walking into the plane.
When he's inside the plane, he pockets the strange feather, only to find a white... something standing in the middle, between his unconscious and injured friends, hanging upside down, with their seat belts keeping them seated.
"Is that... a polar bear...?" Chris thought to himself, as his fear only grew ten fold. He knew that someone of his stature and current state would stand no chance against a polar bear.
The "polar bear" turned around, to show a masked face. Now that Chris got a better look at it, he knew that what he's seeing isn't a polar bear; it's a horse with a horn and a blue mane, appearing to be wearing a balaclava on it's face.
"Oh god..." Chris suddenly started to faint, but regained his composure. He decided, despite his injuries, to attack the Unicorn with a punch. But alas, his punch had no effect. It didn't even land.
Chris blinked twice, and turned around to see the unicorn, using what appears to be some sort of power, carrying Mr. Martin, Alice, Ruby, Mason, Avu, and Megan in a clear bubble. Chris began backing away in fear, but he too, was soon lifted into a bubble.
"Ah- wha, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO! I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIIIIIIIIIIS!! NO, LET ME DOWN!!!! LET ME DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN!!! HEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLP! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH... ah..." Chris's screaming was soon cut short when he suddenly was hit with a laser that came from the Unicorn's horn, causing him to pass out.
The next moment, Chris woke up in a panic, and falls out of a bed unfamiliar to him. He looked around, noticing that the walls, the floor and even the ceiling were crystal-like in appearance. Even the beds appeared to look like solid crystal, but for some reason, felt soft like a real bed. The entire room had a fine polish enough to see his own reflection. He looked at his hands, to find that they had a crystal-like appearance. It didn't take long for him to realize that this applied to his whole body...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Chris screamed to the top of his lungs, as if he had seen a ghost.
This of course, causes the other humans to wake up, and see Chris in his crystal state, causing them to gasp in fear as well, except for school teacher Mr. Martin, who was trying to rationalize the situation.
"Oh shit, dude! You're like a ghost!" Avu, a young man with short, spiky black hair and green eyes, was shocked as well.
"In all my years of disproving the existence of ghosts, I never thought..." Megan, a young man with a pair of scarred headphones around his neck, short dark green hair, and black-framed glasses, was dumbfounded and shocked.
"Guys, look at yourselves!!!" Chris pointed out that everyone else had crystal bodies, just like him.
"What's all the commotion?" A pony with a lab coat came walking into the room, with a crystal body as well. Her coat was a grayish blue with her teal-colored mane wrapped in a bun. She had an IV Vial mark on her flank.
"Oh god, this is too much...!" Chris stumbled to the ground, as he saw a talking pony... wearing a lab coat no less.
"Calm down everyone! Calm down! There's a rational explanation for us having crystal bodies!" Mr. Marten Martin, a tall and older man with short brown hair and a light goatee, wanted his students to calm down.
"Well, the human is right, there's no need to be alarmed you know." The pony said, trying to calm the humans down, but they practically ignored her, panicking amongst themselves.
"EVERYONE, CALM THE HELL DOWN!!!" The quiet, muscular young man with the short, red hair, shouted to the top of his lungs. "Sorry... I didn't mean to shout. But this horse has something to say." He apologized in a low, deadpan tone, and then pointed at the pony in the lab coat.
"I'm a pony." The pony corrected the tall human.
"You did this...!" Chris grew angry out of fear.
"Umm... sir, I didn't do anything to you except treat your wounds. All of you were pretty badly injured when you were found." The pony, presumably a doctor, said sternly, standing her ground.
"Then WHY are we walking crystals!? I demand an explanation at once!" Chris shouted.
"It's because you're in the Crystal Empire." Another pony said. A pony very familiar to Chris.
"You...! YOU! You kidnapped us!" Chris picked up a vase and threw it at the white, blue mane stallion, who effortlessly stopped it mid-flight and levitated it back to where Chris grabbed the vase. Chris naturally backed away, freaking out at what he just saw.
"Chris, stop!" Mr. Martin scolded.
"I saved your lives! I saw something huge flying in the air and crash at the Frozen North! You can imagine what would've happened if you were left out there!" The white stallion said.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... You... you saved us? Then why do we look like... THIS?!" Chris seethed, yet fear could still be heard in his voice.
"Because as I've said, I brought you to the Crystal Empire. You're under the effect of the Crystal Heart. In fact, it's why your wounds are able to heal faster." The white stallion said.
"Crystal Heart...? I... I don't get it..." Chris said, grabbing his forehead, unable to comprehend what's going on as he felt himself sit on the floor.
"Allow me to apologize for my student's behavior. I'm their club adviser, Mr. Martin. Since you saved our lives, I'd like to thank you." The teacher humbly said.
"You're welcome. My name is Shining Armor. And the mare here who treated your wounds is Doctor Saline."
"Thank you, Shining Armor, sir." The doctor thanked him. "As for you humans, I, and Shining Armor here, are what you would call, ponies."
"I know what a pony is, you fool." Megan quickly and arrogantly chimed in, only to be scolded a little by Mr. Martin.
"Sorry, my student can be a little rude to people he doesn't know." Mr. Martin waved off Megan's rudeness.
"Well, I would suggest that he'd refrain from being rude to the people that saved him and treated his injuries." Dr. Saline said.
"Easy, doc. They're humans, no need to scare them." Shining Armor said.
"Well, I have a question. It's a simple one." Megan said, adjusting his glasses, despite the lens being broken.
"A question, huh? It depends... we can't give too much information." Shining Armor said.
"How do you know that we're humans? To you, we should be some unknown alien species. But somehow, you know what we are. Explain yourself." Megan asked.
"I'm afraid I can't answer that now." Shining Armor said.
"Then how or why are we here? And didn't you find any others?" Megan asked.
"Other humans? No, I didn't find any. The only humans found and saved out there are you all." Shining Armor said.
"Wait, what about the pilot!?" Chris asked in a panic, as he noticed that the pilot wasn't with them.
"Oh... you mean the human at the front end of that thing... I... unfortunately... I couldn't save him..." Shining Armor broke the news, causing Chris to begin breathing heavily.
"Oh no... no, no, no, NOOO!!" Chris began to grab his head in a panic, realizing that his pilot is dead. He then begins to fear the worst. "Oh no... then the others... ugh... if they're all dead, it'll be all my fault...! Oh, how can I live with myself now that Jeremy's dead?"
"He... he has to be alive, right? And what about Trishy? or Mia, or Mina, or Kit-tan, or Eva...?" Alice Stanfield too feared for their lives. Alice is a girl with purple hair, wrapped in twintails, and her clothes of goth lolita fashion.
"Jeremy's alive. I'm certain." Mason said in his deadpan demeanor, but had a bit of confidence hidden within. Mason wasn't one to panic very easily.
"Yeah, a guy like that, he wouldn't die even if you killed him." Mr. Martin said, trying to believe. "If he's alive, then the others definitely are. They have to be alive."
"Well, for his sake, I sure hope the others are keeping him in check. Right now, as we speak, I'm sure he's going insane." Megan chimed in.
"Assuming the boss is even alive. For all we know, he could be dead already." Avu made a morbid joke, even stiffing a laugh.
"Avu! We don't have time for your antics now!" Mr. Martin said scolding Avu. "We can't afford to panic right now, and we can't fear the worst! We don't even know where we are! The first thing we need to do is assess the situation and figure out what to do!"
"You... you mean... big brother is..." Ruby, the little girl in this group, with black, curly hair and purple eyes, began to tear up.
"No, no, I'm sure he's alive! He's gotta be! Don't you believe in him? I'm sure he's out there searching for you! For us!" Alice said, making a feeble attempt to cheer Ruby up.
"Mmm... yeah..." Ruby agreed, but still missed her big brother surrogate dearly.
"Still, this is kinda bizarre ya know. Like, guys, it's gonna take some time adjusting to all of this." Avu said.
"He's right. I'm sure you humans are probably uncomfortable right now. So why not sit tight and wait until your injuries are fully healed?" Shining Armor said.
"Wa-wait! Just how long do we have to stay?" Chris tried to ask, but Shining Armor took Dr. Saline outside, and left already.
"So much for that..." Megan mumbled.
"Uggggggh! Damn it, why is this happening?! Ugh... The pilot's dead...! And if Jeremy's dead, it's all my fault! And if he's not dead, he'll find me and maul me! Dad's gonna kill me for this! Agh, this sucks... this just... SUUUUUUUUUUUCKS!!!!!" Chris's fears and panic evolved into screaming.
Meanwhile, Shining Armor spoke with the doctor alone.
"I'm going to ask Cadence about what to do with the humans. Make sure nopony finds out that they're here, okay? We don't want the pursuers coming for them." Shining Armor said.
"Sure thing, sir. But really, it's been a while since the last time I seen humans. At the very least, can I tell them some information about where they are so they don't panic any further? That screaming is getting on my nerves." Dr. Saline said.
"Yeah, go ahead! Just don't let them out, no matter what." Shining Armor said.
Shining Armor left the medical section of the Crystal Palace, heading straight up to the top floor to speak to his wife, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, also known as Princess Cadence.
"I'm glad you made it back safe! What did you find out there?" Cadence ran up to her husband, giving him a quick kiss.
"Humans... seven of them..." Shining Armor answered giving a deep sigh, getting next to his wife.
"More of them, huh? Has Nightmare Moon been looking for a replacement for THIS long...?" Cadence worried.
"I wonder... she hasn't gone after any in particular before, despite Luna's warnings. It might be the same for the seven I found out there." Shining Armor closed his eyes, thinking about Luna's words before the sealing happened.
"Something's... just not right this time. We already sealed Luna at her request last year, so why, and how?" Cadence wondered, worried that the seal's power may have weakened.
"I don't know, but the only way that seal will break is if Nightmare Moon found another host." Shining Armor looked into the eyes of his wife. "By the way, the humans I saved mentioned six other humans being with them..."
"If that's the case, then maybe she's finally making her move." Cadence shook her head in disbelief. "The humans who we saved years ago never made any reports of anyone missing from among them until now."
"Maybe there's a certain criteria that Nightmare Moon needs before she looks for a new prisoner." Shining Armor surmised.
"I'll write to to my sister Celestia about the news. The only hope have is that the missing humans were saved by the Elements of Harmony... Nightmare Moon won't have an easy task getting to the humans if they're with Twily." Cadence said, heading over to her table to grab a sheet of paper.
"Maybe we should help these humans by showing them how things work here?" Shining Armor asked.
"Yes. But I'd like to speak with them myself too." Princess Cadence answered, as she wrote her letter to Celestia using her magic.
Meanwhile, Chris has finally calmed down by the time Dr. Saline returned to the room.
"Are you done with your screaming? It's getting on my nerves, making my ears ring." Dr. Saline asked, as she saw Chris sitting on his bed, hugging his knees, suffering from various fears.
"I don't blame the poor guy for being scared..." Alice said.
"It'd be kinda funny If the ladies at school saw the kind of wreck he's become." Avu teased, unable to resist a jab at Chris's habit of flirting with various girls at school.
"Avu, I think that'd ruin his reputation." Mr. Martin said.
"As for you, miss equine doctor, where are we? Where is this Crystal Empire?" Megan asked.
"To answer your question, you're in the land of Equestria. The Crystal Empire is just a part of it." Dr. Saline Answered.
"Hmph... Equestria? So we're in ponyland." Megan scoffed.
"Essentially. The one who saved you is one of our leaders, Shining Armor. Essentially, we're all Crystal Ponies, but Shining Armor is a Unicorn." Dr. Saline elaborated.
"Hah! Unicorns! Now I've seen everything!" Megan began clapping after he said that. Doctor Saline could feel that he's merely mocking her though.
"No, I disagree, mister glasses." Dr. Saline referred to Megan. "You've yet to see a pegasus. As for me, I'm technically an earth pony."
"Pegasus? You mean a hor- err, I mean, pony, with wings?" Mr. Martin asked.
"Of course. As for us Crystal Ponies, we're native to this empire, so being in this crystalline form is quite our nature. It's thanks to the magic and blessing of the Crystal Heart."
"There's that word again... just what IS the Crystal Heart?" Avu asked.
"It's what helps protect this place." Dr. Saline answered, pacing left and right at the entrance, keeping her eyes focused on the humans.
"Protect, huh? Is that some kind of magic like that Shiny pony was using?" Alice asked, referring to Shining Armor.
"Well, let's just say, the Crystal Heart is an all powerful artifact, so the magic from that is different." Dr. Saline said.
"Mmm... well, umm... maybe being crystal like... isn't TOO bad, right...? I mean, look at you! You're kinda cute in a way. All shiny and pretty..." Alice said, examining the pony and making the best out of the situation.
"Well, I am a little proud of my mane, but please, don't stare too much." The doctor said with a deadpan expression.
"Okay, I have another question. Why are ponies doctors? How do they know the basics of medical care? How do they hold anything with those hooves? It's as if your sentience is on par with that of us humans. What say you?" Megan asked.
"We have doctors because somepony needs to be able to help in case somepony gets injured. Good enough for you, Mister Glasses?" Dr. Saline explained rather irritably.
"No. Because it just doesn't fit within my realm of logic! You ponies are able to grab and hold things despite not having fingers! Ponies somehow speak human language, English no less, yet look at this text in this pamphlet! There's no trace of the language!" Megan picked up an old pamphlet from the stand next to him and waved it around, which appeared to have information of a festival of sorts.
"That pamphlet is of the Crystal Fair we had a thousand years ago." Dr. Saline said.
"A thousand years ago!? You mean to tell me you equines held onto thousand year old pamphlets!?" Megan couldn't help be irritated. "It's like you're becoming hoarders. How foolish!"
"Well, we did have one recently too, but that one was only held to restore this empire to it's former glory and get rid of that tyrant..." Dr. Saline said. "Oh wait, you wouldn't know about King Sombra, huh?"
"King Sombra? Who's King Sombra?" Mr. Martin asked.
"Ooooooh, only the most vile tyrant we've ever had." Dr. Saline explained the legend of the Crystal Empire, about King Sombra's reign over their land until the princesses sealed him away. She then went on to explain the time when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sealed him away. But before his defeat, he cursed the Empire, causing it to vanish for a thousand years before it's sudden return. She would then explain how Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and the Elements of Harmony helped to destroy the evil king.
"I don't recall reading a book this insane. And I thought you were telling a story from a children's book." Megan said, lying back down onto his bed, looking at the ceiling.
"What do you mean? I answered your questions about King Sombra. How could you compare that to a simple children's book??" Dr. Saline, stomping a hoof on the floor, showing her irritation.
"Haha... he means that the books he's used to reading don't have talking ponies defeating evil kings, that's all. He probably thinks this whole phenomenon is us being trapped in a children's book." Avu explained.
"Huh. Well, he's got to be the rudest patient I've treated." Dr. Saline griped.
"That's just his way of assessing the situation." Avu said, getting out of his bed.
"Why do you know so much about him? You speak as if you know him better than he knows himself." Dr. Saline surmised.
"Well, I just have this little talent for understanding people. It's not wrong, is it? I can tell you're not the kind to take ungratefulness very well, judging from your exchange with Megan. And I can tell that Shining Armor guy, I can tell he's a chill guy when he's not at work." Avu said, as he began walking around the pony in a circle, examining her.
"I believe your little talent isn't going to work on us ponies." Dr. Saline said, keeping her focus on Avu.
"Oh ho ho ho! It's as I've said... my talent is reading people and knowing how they tick. Knowing how sentient ponies tick would be a challenge accepted. I think I'd do my boss proud if I figured you guys out and have a lot of information to give him when he finds us." Avu gave a devious smile, proud of his status as his club's information broker.
"Avu, are you seriously trying to figure out ponies? Really? I didn't think you were the type." Mr. Martin couldn't believe what Avu was saying.
"On the other hand teach, you find these ponies... cute, right? I wonder if you find them cuter than Magical girls or something." Avu surmised, trying to hold in his laughter.
"I have no idea what you speak of. Anyway..." Mr. Martin, after denying Avu's claims, turns to the pony doctor. "This Equestria... any idea how we got here?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer that one. Lack of sufficient knowledge." Dr. Saline nonchalantly answered.
"I'll answer that one." A pink pony with wings and a horn walked into the room. Everyone found themselves gasping in awe.
"Wooooooooow... A unicorn with wings...! She's beautiful...!" Alice said, looking at her beautiful mane and pink coat.
"She's so pretty!" Ruby agreed.
"Pretty or not, we still don't know who she is." Megan said under his breath.
"Greetings, humans. I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and I'd like to welcome you to the Crystal empire. As for your bodies in their current state, please try not to be alarmed."
"They were alarmed for a while actually..." Dr. Saline said.
"Oh, wow... err, I'd like to apologize for the inconvenience..." Princess Cadence said.
"It's not an inconvenience. We're alive, right? That's good enough." Mason spoke, after all this time.
"I see... but why is that one so horrified?" Cadence asked, looking at Chris, as he was still shaking in fear, panicking.
"It's all my fault..." Chris continued to mutter to himself.
"He... well, he thinks it's his fault that we ended up here..." Mr. Martin said. "He's the one who suggested we all take a trip of some kind, and the plane we flew in was one of his private planes... all for the sake of the club president who had been overworking himself lately." Mr. Martin explained.
"I see... so you guys are... a club? Like, from a school?" Cadence asked.
"We're a journalism club. I'm their teacher and Club Advisor, Mr. Martin. The guy with the glasses is Megan, the big guy there is Mason, the guy standing there by the doctor is Avu, the girl wearing all black is Alice, and the little girl she's holding is Ruby."
"Thank you for introducing me to you all. Now, I'm here because I have something you might want to hear." The Princess said.
"And that is?" Megan asked.
"You all were brought here by an evil force who is after you." Cadence said, which only caused Megan to laugh it off.
"Hah! Surely you jest! An evil force? It's bad enough you all are spouting so much nonsense about magic, evil tyrants, elements of harmony... this is all one elaborate prank, and I think I'm about to discover the punchline." Megan scoffed.
"A joke, huh? Well... let's try something here..." Cadence said, firing a beam of magic at Megan's eyes, causing him to take his glasses off and cover his eyes.
"AAGH! ...... what...?" Megan felt nothing on his eyes... in fact, his eyes were perfectly fine. The only thing he could see in the his blurry vision, is a pink light that soon faded. He quickly noticed that his glasses were fixed. "My... glasses... you..."
"I used magic to fix them." Cadence answered.
"Hah, look who just got schooled!" Avu teased, giving a slight giggle.
"Fool... this is just..." Megan felt irritated that he was proven wrong. He knew there was no plausible way to explain how his glasses were fixed with human tricks.
"Now that you finally believe that magic is real, let's get to the main point: Nightmare Moon." Cadence said.
"Nightmare Moon? What, does she cause nightmares or something?" Avu asked.
"No, she... Nightmare Moon is a living prison that wants to bring everlasting night to Equestria." Cadence said.
"Everlasting night? What, so it'll just be night time forever? That doesn't seem like a very big deal." Alice said.
"Fool! If night lasted forever, there would be no way to grow any crops or plants due to a lack of photosynthesis! Trees wold eventually die, and the oxygen would be depleted. This planet would become a new moon! But it's as I said... this is just a children's book plot." Megan said.
"It's the kind with a bit of fridge horror, you have to admit, man. Think about it... Everlasting Night? What if there were no lights? The whole world would be shrouded in darkness, like a deep void." Avu said "I'm guessing that's why these ponies don't want us to leave. Am I right?" Avu glanced at Princess Cadence as he made his claim.
"You guessed right... I really can't allow you to leave. But at the very least, I'll help you find your friends." Cadence sheepishly said.
"....doesn't change the fact that the others being alive is only a mere possibility..." Megan said.
"Then give us some time to find out, okay?" Cadence said. Suddenly, just as Shining Armor and the doctor left the room, a beam of light from her horn flashed for a slight moment.
"What was... that...?" Megan asked, but suddenly felt very drowsy.
"Big... bro..." Ruby muttered before passing out along with everyone else.
"Sorry about this... but it's going to take some time to find out anything you all want to know..."
"It's okay. You did what you had to." Shining Armor said, consoling his mare.
The humans eventually opened their eyes, finding themselves in the same room, with the same crystal form. They all turn around to find the Princess standing there.
"Rise and shine, you all." Cadence greeted them with a smile.
"What the heck was that...?" Megan said, still feeling a little groggy.
"I decided It would be best to cast a sleep spell on you all. I didn't want to keep you awake while you waited for answers. That would've been pretty bad."
"And so tranquilizing us was the best solution. Good job." Megan sarcastically said.
"Megan, she has a good point, even though it's going to take a little bit to try walking again." Mr. Martin said, as he had a little trouble trying to stand.
"Soooooooooooo... how long were we sleep, princess?" Avu casually asked.
"For three days. But thankfully, I'm happy to inform you that your friends are safe! They'll have to com-" Cadence announced, but is cut off by the happiness of the humans.
"Really!? My big brother... he's... okay...?" Ruby meekly asked, her happiness becoming more noticible.
"Yes, he's alive. They all are." Cadence confirmed. "Thank goodness Luna saved them..."
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! He's alive!" Ruby cheered.
"My sister...! she's okay!" Chris's tears began to flow like a waterfall, now that he knew that his sister is okay.
"I told you guys, didn't I? They had to be alive. Did you all believe?" Mason asked, giving a light smile.
"Of course, silly Mason!" Alice answered, unable to hold back her tears of joy.
"Mr. Martin... I know you're a smart man... so you agree that she COULD be lying, right?" Megan whispered to Mr. Martin after walking to him.
"Well, the ponies did save our lives... I'd like to try trusting them..."
"Fools... celebrating so quickly...! We don't know these... beings...!" Megan said.
"And I say try having a little faith, Megan." Mr. Martin said.
"Well, I have no reason to see why she'd lie. She doesn't look the type." Avu said out loud. "Plus, what reason, would she have to lie? Ponies are herbivores, so they won't eat us. It's like... they're human in a way."
"Avu raises a good point... Hey, show us some proof! You can do that much can't you?" Chris asked.
"Uhh..." Cadence was stumped. How would she go about showing proof?
"Well?" Megan asked.
"Because she has no way of showing proof! Lay off her, will you?!" Shining Armor came to his wife's defense.
"Because we don't know if she's lying to us!" Megan angrily responded. "Our plane was cut in half, and six of our friends were separated from us! Yet you conveniently claim to have saved us? What a load of bull!" Megan said.
"The same could be said about you! So why don't you calm down and give her a break?" Shining Armor came to Cadence's defense.
"Please, don't fight!" Ruby cried out, running towards Princess Cadence. "This cute Pony says Big Bro is okay! I want to trust her!"
"Typical naive kid..." Megan grinded his teeth, as he thought to himself.
"Thank you, but there's no need to defend me, really." Cadence said, flattered that even a child is on her side.
"Sorry. Once again, I apologize for my students." Mr. Martin said, lowering his head.
"No offense taken. I understand why you're all suspicious, but I promise you, we're here in peace. We have no intention of harming you." Cadence said, looking down at Ruby. "Isn't that right, child?"
"You can call me Ruby!" The little girl put her fist against her chest as she proudly proclaimed.
"Well, Ruby, I appreciate it." Cadence thank Ruby, brushing her head against hers, showing affection to the child.
"Anyway, did you say your plane... was cut...?" Shining Armor asked, wanting to know more immediately.
"IN HALF." Megan angrily confirmed.
"How?" Doctor Saline asked.
"That's what we'd like to know! I'd go so far as to say that something launched an assault on us!" Megan speculated, clenching his fist.
"I looked outside when I was in the cockpit with my pilot. He was worried that something was wrong when he noticed that it looked like night time a little too quick. We were only in the air for at least two hours, heck an hour and a half after takeoff." Chris explained, making frantic hand gestures.
"And then that scary... mist stuff started leaking into our plane." Alice shuddered, as she remembered being so close to the mist.
"Wait, there was mist in the plane?!" Chris turned to Alice, surprised, as he didn't see the mist leak in due to being in the cockpit at the time.
"It looked like a starry sky." Mason said, eyes closed, envisioning the mist by his feet.
"Sounds like Nightmare moon..." Cadence wondered.
"Nightmare Moon... you've mentioned that name already. It's as if you know how it happened." Megan said.
"I can't say I know how Nightmare Moon cut your plane in half, but I'm sure she had something to do with it..." Cadence said.
"Well... I... I have this feather I found by the plane... did this Nightmare Moon call a bird to attack us?" Chris said, pulling the feather out of his pocket. The feather was at least a few inches larger than a regular butcher knife.
"That's a pegasus feather..." Cadence immediately pointed out, which made the others
"Pegasus... you mean a freaking pegasus was the one that cut our plane...?!" Chris said, looking at the rather large feather in his hand.
"That should be impossible! It's a feather! There's no logical way to explain that could cut through solid steel!" Megan argued, slamming his fist against the wall.
"Umm... I think I read somewhere that a Pegasus can sharpen their wings if they fly fast enough, but that was only a theory on a website somewhere..." Alice said, getting out of her bed and getting close enough to look at the feather.
"Well, a Pegasus is capable of using magic to sharpen their wings when they fly at high speeds, so the human is right." Doctor Saline said.
"Wait, how did you know that?" Shining Armor asked Alice.
"Well, In our world, there's always a talk of mythical creatures and magic and stuff. I know a lot of people don't believe in it, but I do, kinda... you heard of witchcraft before, right?" Alice explained the best way she could.
"No, we have not. We don't really use a strange term like that to describe our magic." Shining Armor said.
"I guess that's true... I don't see you reading out spells from a book or anything..." Alice said.
"But you do believe in magic, right?" Cadence said.
"Yeah!" Alice answered excitedly. "You're gonna teach us magic, right?"
"Not quite. But I think I can at least trust you humans with something special, but under one condition!"
"Really?" Avu commented.
"What are your demands? Is it money?" Chris asked, which only earned a laugh out of Cadence.
"No, silly human. Instead, I'd like for you to wait until your friends reach the Crystal Empire. Is that okay?"
"We can agree to that," Mr. Martin said, then gave his students a very stern look. "Right, everyone?"
The other humans agreed with Mr. Martin and settled on Cadence's simple condition of waiting for Jeremy and the rest of the crew to get to the Crystal Empire.
"Okay. That being said, I'll entrust you humans with a means to at least protect yourselves." Cadence said, summoning her crystal guard to the room.
The guard carried a huge, mysterious ruby-like treasure chest. Once the chest has been set on the floor, Avu and Chris walk up to the chest, and crouch down, holding the handle.
"Umm... I'm sure it's not money... Because otherwise, I feel like a pirate." Chris said.
"We can open this now, right...?" Avu asked, holding the handle, controlling his urge to open it.
"Yes, you may open it." Cadence answered.
"Are you sure about this...?" Shining Armor whispered to Cadence.
"If what my sisters said is correct... they'll need what's in there." Cadence replied, hoping to calm Shining Armor's suspicion.
Avu and Chris use their strength to open the lid of the treasure chest, which was heavy enough already. Upon seeing the contents of the chest, Avu and Chris's eyes widen at the sight of what's inside.
"Whoa, what is this...?" Avu asked, reaching inside the chest...