"So what's the plan, chief?" Gearbox said as the two headed down the glistening streets toward the castle.
"I'm assuming you want to go look around the whole city?" Fade said in his usual unspirited tone.
"Yeah, if you don't mind."
"We'll split up then. You can have a look around and I'll head straight to the library. Make sure you book us a room for the night and meet me at the library when you're done."
"You sure you don't wanna come with?"
"I'm sure. I came here for information and it's most likely to be in the library. You can do whatever you wanted to do." Without another word or time for a reply from Gearbox, Fade headed to the library.
Gearbox headed off as well. He had picked up a map of the city from the train station and headed off. As the city was shaped somewhat like a circle, he decided go around the whole city until he wound up back where he began.
As he explored, things seemed a bit less fantastic than he was expecting. There were spas and bakeries, sweetshops and clothing stores, farms and grocery stores, fruit stands and theaters. It was all much like any other city, except everything had "crystal" in front of it. Crystal spas, crystal bakeries, crystal clothing stores, crystal etcetera. It seemed very....thoughtless? As if no creativity was put into the naming of these things. Sure it was all smooth and sparkling all the time, but that seemed to be the only trait. Even the Inn he reserved crystal rooms at was the Crystal Crystal Inn. It was NAMED the Crystal Inn, but it's also a Crystal inn, hence the double Crystal. It was just so stupid.
He collected a few crystals from a small stand for souvenirs and also research samples. He wondered why they were even souvenirs since everything was crystals, even the rocks. Or were they 'crystal rocks?' Gearbox felt too embarrassed by the question to bother asking.
He had finished his tour and headed to the library, or Crystal Library. In it, he searched through the various rows until he finally found Crystal Fade. Er, just regular Fade. He had made a small fort of stacked books in the furthest corner. Gearbox had long since stopped wondering how Fade could read books in the dark.
"Find anything useful?" Gearbox questioned, sitting on the floor.
"Not a whole lot more than what you'd already told me." Fade responded.
"I mean about your ancestor Emeraude."
"Oh. No, they don't seem to keep much in the ways of ancestry books."
"Then what're you still reading for?"
"Some of this information is still interesting."
"Like what?"
"Well, did you notice anything as you saw the crystal ponies?"
"Only that they're not very creative with naming things."
"Did you see any unicorns or pegasi?"
"Hmmm....now that you mention it...no, I didn't. Not crystal ones anyway."
"Mhm. Apparently they don't have any sort of unicorns or pegasi here. I suppose the crystal ponies are supposed to be their own unique variant. For example, earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, and crystal ponies."
"Well I guess they do have that whole sparkly business going on."
"That and they're all a little bit magical, though not to the extent of unicorns."
"Well I guess that's interesting."
"Still not getting it?"
"Getting what?"
"Sombra."
"What about him?"
"He's a unicorn. A unicorn from the crystal empire."
"Wait, that's right! Then maybe that's why he's so powerful?"
"That's my theory. The texts do state that crystal unicorns do happen, though extremely rare. From what I can tell they're typically about as strong as one of the Princesses. Though weaker."
"So weaker than an alicorn, stronger than a run-of-the-mill unicorn?"
"Yes, with Sombra being the exception."
"I wonder why."
"I imagine it's because of his hate and fear magic."
"Oh right. Well that's all cool. Find anything else?"
"Somepony called H. Trotter."
"What about him?"
"He was a crystal unicorn, older than Sombra. He seemed to be capable of great feats of magic, but left the Crystal Empire for some reason. The books say that his spells were wild and frightening to many and his presence was akin to misfortune. Maybe they kicked him out."
"Maybe. So hey, this is all interesting and everything, but it's getting late. We should head back to the room."
Fade shut his book abruptly, "Very well. But first, one more stop."
"Where at?"
"The Crystal Heart."
"Oh right! I can't believe I forgot to visit that."
"Well now's your chance."
"Right, let's go!"
The sun was beginning to set when the two ponies arrived at the spot where the Crystal Heart was spinning away.
Gearbox moved a bit closer, "Ooooo, so this is it huh? I really wish I could get a sample."
"You'd probably be arrested for it," Commented Fade.
"I know I know, but it's the only thing that's a crystal and DEFINITELY magical. Aside from random amulets that are pieces of junk 80% of them time."
Fade remained silent.
"Well, I guess we're heading back now?" Gearbox asked as he headed towards the Inn, but stopped.
Fade was not moving, merely staring at the Crystal Heart.
"Hellooooo, anybody home?" Gearbox now moved towards Fade.
Fade spoke up, "I've been wondering about something."
"Hm?"
"Why did Sombra use fear and hatred as his magics?"
"Come again?"
"Think about it. They're two opposing effects. One makes you cower and avoid something while the other makes you aggressive and resist something. While both are negative, why use them if they conflict?"
"I dunno. Maybe he had a lot of anger and caused a lot of fear?"
"It seemed like a grave mistake..."
As he said this, Fade's horn began to glow.
"Fade, what are you doing...?"
"Experimenting."
"With what??"
"The different kinds of magic." Fade's eyes began to turn and glow green while a wisp of pure black haze began to emit from his eyes. The glow of his horn also turned black. A smirk appeared on his face.
"Fade, stop! What are you doing!?"
"The reason why he was defeated was because of the failure of a combination he used. If you want to take over a city you need to use fear..." Fade reared his head back.
"Fade!!"
"Fear and DESPAIR!"
From his horn, Fade launched a stream of black directly at the Crystal Heart. It consumed the light radiating off of the Crystal Heart and caused it to slow down. It then began to rotate again in reverse. A black and green haze started coming from the Crystal Heart.
"I forgot to tell you, Gearbox." Fade said as he watched the Crystal Heart.
Gearbox could only watch in shock and awe.
"I did find out a bit about my ancestry. It was in the history texts."
Gearbox turned to Fade.
"The pony who got my ancestor pregnant? His name was Sombra."
The Crystal Heart erupted with its blackest haze. It burst upward in a column as it normally would, but instead of hope and joy, it was dread and terror. It spread and fell upon the city, taking away the crystalline qualities of the crystal ponies and afflicting them with a sense of despair that shook them to the core.