//------------------------------//
// Ch 1. Do Tell 
// Story: Depths of Despair 
// by CEverw00d 
//------------------------------//

Ch 1. Do Tell

“So, you heard the news about the Crystal Empire thing?” A light-grey stallion asked to break the silence. He wore goggles with a greenish tint and his mane was a simple dark brown. He was messing was a contraption that looked merely like a box full of cogs and screws.

His companion was a dark-grey unicorn with a jet-black mane, one that hung over this stallion’s left eye with jagged edges. He was flipping through blank white pages with half-opened green eyes as he replied, “No, Gearbox, what is a Crystal Empire thing?” His tone and expression would imply that, though he was asking, he really didn’t care about the response. 

“So, like a month back, some whole city just popped out of the snowy regions, apparently it’s the home of some crystal ponies! Doesn’t that sound interesting?”
“Not really, but I’ll humor you. What is a crystal pony? Why did the city pop out? What happened next?”

Gearbox put a lid on his contraption and slid it to the side on the table. The table itself stood under the only lamp in the room. The room was large, but cramped due to dozens of shelves stacked with bins of contraptions and parts, displays of finished gadgets, and stacks of comics. What wall wasn’t covered by a shelf had various colored tubes hanging from them filled with dimly-glowing liquids and apparently rock fragments. The ceiling had criss-crosses of metal beams from which more tubes and nick-knacks could hang from. The floor was covered in paper, stacks of booklets and comics, and various art utensils such as brushes and pencils. 

Gearbox answered, trying to sound like he was telling a horror story or some old legend, “A thousand years ago, the crystal ponies lived in their own empire. Apparently they’re kinda like earth ponies but can be all….crystally. Anyway, the city had disappeared after their evil King Sombra got sealed away by the princesses. Then I guess Sombra unsealed himself and brought the city back. Apparently he was back to his usual evil stuff, whatever that was. Causing fear and stuff.”
“Uh-huh. And who...or what was Sombra? A dragon? Alicorn? Another Draconequus?”
“Actually, I heard he was just a regular unicorn. But I mean, if he’s from the Crystal Empire, he must’ve been some sort of crystal unicorn, ya know?”
“Regular unicorn, eh? Yet strong enough to get the princesses’ attention.”
“Yup, and guess who showed up after that?”
“The heroes of Equestria?”
“Yup! In addition to the Captain of the Royal Guard and his wife.”
“Does this end with the powers of love and friendship blasting Sombra to kingdom come?”
“Pretty much. The Crystal Ponies all shared their energy with something called the ‘Crystal Heart’ and apparently that thing defends the whole city. When it activated, it blew Sombra to pieces.”
“Why didn’t they just use it from the get-go to get rid of him?”
“Apparently Sombra hid it…or somebody hid it. Sombra hid like an entire stairwell with his anger-fear magic. Even then, the crystal ponies all were all scared and unhappy so they couldn’t power it right away. Our favorite heroines basically threw a whole festival to make ‘em cheer up. Then I guess Princess Cadence used some love magic or something. I don’t exactly know, and the pony who told me about it didn’t know much about it either.”
“He knew enough. But what’s this about anger-fear magic?”
“Yeah, apparently it’s something different from the usual magic that all unicorns use. Sombra used it and apparently any unicorn can use it to make some pretty nasty stuff happen.”
“Well I guess that’s one more thing for you to look into.”
“Pfft, it’s hard enough just trying to make NORMAL magic, let alone friendship and love magics. Now there’s this weird dark magic? I’ve got my hooves full.”
“Maybe that’s why it’s magic and not some gadget that you can just throw some nails and screws in.”
“No way dude, I’ve almost figured it out. Magic can TOTALLY be made artificially. At the very least if I can’t remake it, I can imitate it.” 
“Yeah, yeah I’ve heard it before.” The darker pony got to his feet and nudged the papers aside as he looked over to Gearbox, “So, do you want to go?”
“Go?” Gearbox said, tilting his head.
“To the Crystal Empire. It might yield some clues for you. I’d like to know more about this ‘Sombra.’ “
“Holy haystacks, you actually want to go out and DO something!?”
“Is that unusual?”
“It’s completely unheard of! Fade Black never wants to do anything ever! You’re more boring than watching paint dry! I still can’t even IMAGINE where you find the material for your books and comics! How can you make such hilarious and amazing stories when you’re as dull as a rock outside of them!?!?”
“It’s a mystery. The world may never know.” Fade said as he made for the only door in the room. 
“Argh! Maybe I should try to make something that can read your mind instead of trying to make magic!” Gearbox headed for the door behind Fade.
“I’m sure you’d need magic for something like that.” Fade used his magic, creating a green glow from his horn that lifted the latch-lock. He then pushed the door open and closed his eyes more, groaning as the sun shone. When he opened his eyes, he looked around at the gravel road and then towards the city nearby.

The home that Gearbox and Fade inhabited was a simple wooden box just outside of Manehatten that the two had constructed. It was close enough to where they could walk into town easily, but far enough away for no real cement roads to extend to them. 

Gearbox called out, “We should probably get some heavy coats and scarves and stuff. I hear that between the train station and the Crystal Empire is nothing but snow, snow, and more snow.”

“Alright. We’ll do some shopping and head off…” Fade looked upward towards the sun, but not directly at it. The sun was low, just above the horizon. Fade groaned as this meant that they’d have to wait before leaving. “It’s almost night. We’ll get some snow gear and head off on the earliest train tomorrow. We’ll stop by the station to check the times, understood?”

“Roger!” Gearbox raised his hoof in salute and the two stallions headed off city-ward.