Chapter 6: Return to the Crystal Empire
"Last Stop! Vanhoover!"
"That's weird" Spike wondered as he and the rest of the "King Sombra Resistance Team" left the train "The train should go on to the Crystal Empire"
"You're right" The conducter walked up to the ponies. "But we got a message from Vanhoover station saying the tracks in the Crystal Mountains mysteriously dissapeared and were replaced with buffers".
"I guess we'll have to hoof it" Twilight sighed "Getting back to the empire is imperative!"
"Alright! Me, Fluttershy and Princess Luna will fly overhead and watch out for any danger" Rainbow Dash announced as she flew up with Luna
"Um, maybe I'll just stay down here" Fluttershy whispered, no way was she flying around in a dark, scary place full of unknown dangers "Maybe I'll wait here until you come back"
"Come now, Fluttershy" Rarity comforted her scared friend "You can walk with us but you simply can't stay here"
"Fine" Fluttershy sighed as she walked along with her friends
"Getting to the empire will take a couple hours, it's at the other side of the range" Cadence trotted in front to lead the way.
It took 4 hours of walking until the empire was in sight, the dark red glow could be seen in the distance, it looked like Sombra wasn't getting any weaker.
"There it is!" Pinkie panted, all this walking had made everypony tired, except for Spike who was riding on Twilight's back.
"Look out!" Luna yelled down as a red beam of magic shot past the team, luckily they all ducked out of the way before anyone was hurt by it. A pony made of pure shadow emerged from the blizzard.
"One of Sombra's guards!" Shining Armor cried.
Cadence shot the shadow pony with her magic, he vaporized immediately.
"So we don't get caught, we should all disguise ourselves as Crystal Ponies" Luna suggested
Cadence transformed the whole group, even Spike, into depressed Crystal Ponies.
"Cool!" Pinkie was amazed
"Can't we be a bit more sparkly?" Rarity complained
"Don't you think Sombra would be suspicious if he saw a group of happy Crystal Ponies?" Rainbow replied
"True" Rarity admitted as the group continued walking.
Eventually they entered the once great empire. They were greeted by a large troop of Shadow Guards who escorted them to the Castle.
"Your majesty" One of the guards addressed their king as they brought the 10 ponies into the throne room "We caught these ponies entering the city a while ago, we don't know where they came from or why they are coming to the city."
"Intresting." Sombra didn't recognise these ponies "Where did you come from?"
Cadence spoke up "We come from a small village on Mount. Snowflake, we are mostly the only adults in the village and have left our foals in the care of one elderly mare. We came to make sure all was well when we saw that the city was under your control"
Sombra raised an eyebrow "And why must you all be here and not just sent this stallion here" He pointed a hoof at the disguised Shining Armor "He seems able to brave these weather conditions and get here from such a far away part of the mountain range."
"Safety in numbers?" Cadence replied
Sombra shot a truth spell at the group and exposed them all as the ponies they really were. "Guards! Arrest these ponies and throw them in the dungeon, except for the dragon and the Crystal Princess. I want to keep an eye on them!"
The group was seperated as most of them were taken to the dungeon, leaving only Spike and Cadence in the throne room.
"How stupid do you think I am?" He began "Unlike you, I have some knowledge of this entire mountain range. There is no village on Mount. Snowflake and even if there was every single Crystal Pony in Equestria has been forced to come to the city, so that I can keep an eye on them all!"
Sombra conjoured up a cage to keep his prisoners in and he left the throne room to patrol his empire for any more intruders.
"Now what are we gonna do?" Cadence whimpered
Spike looked around looking for a way out, he tried burning the bars of the cage, but they were fireproof.
Cadence noticed something in the distance, a bookshelf. She used a magnification spell to read the names of the book. After a minute she found something of intrest: "Ancient History of the Crystal Empire, Volume 3: Rulers and their History"
Cadence levitated it over to her and opened the section on King Sombra "This should be interesting!".