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The Return of the Crystal Empire
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The afternoon had come, and Celestia was still in a very difficult position over what had happened with the changelings, and how they were now harboring a high ranking officer from their army. On top of all of that, she needed to oversee the cleanup from the battle the night before, and make sure everything returned to normal.
There was no room on her plate for anything else.
“Your Highness!” A guard called, running into the room.
“What is it?” Celestia asked, with a bit more venom than she had intended.
“Uh… News from northern Equestria!” He said, NOT wanting to be the bearer of bad news right now, “I am simply to tell you that… ‘It’ has returned.”
“No…” Celestia said, shaking her head at the completely horrible timing, “Are your sources accurate?”
“They’re right from the outpost, Princess,” He said, avoiding eye contact with her.
“Very well,” She sighed, defeated, formulating a plan as fast as she could, “Thank you.”
“Of course,” He nodded, ducking out of the room back to his detail.
“Shining Armor,” Celestia said to her guard standing on her right, “Please deal with any business for now, I must speak with my sister.”
“Of course,” He nodded, taking her place at the throne as she stood up, “Will you need anything else?”
“Prepare yourself, and Princess Cadance,” She said simply, walking out of the room, leaving him utterly confused, “You’ll be leaving right away.”
“…Am I supposed to do that now? Or when you get back?”
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Luna was stirred from her slumber by her door opening, something that didn’t happen often, considering nopony ever dared bother her slumber. It was so dark in the room however, she could barely see anything… being the princess of the night, you would think her eyesight in darkness would be amazing, but right now, all she could see was a dark silhouette entering her room.
“Who is there?” She said, darting up and readying a spell.
“It is I, sister,” Celestia said, lifting the covers on a window, allowing sunlight to pour into the room, “I have some bad news.”
Luna had half-expected Celestia to be chewing her out for the night before, and her rather horrible conduct toward the changeling invasion, but she could see that her sister was far too serious for that to be the case.
“What is it?” Luna asked, getting herself out bed, “You look like somepony died.”
“Luna, The Crystal Empire, and King Sombra are back,” Celestia said solemnly, not entirely sure how Luna would react to this news.
Luna’s expression was unreadable. She was obviously taken back by this news, but Celestia wasn’t sure if she was angry, or anything else for that matter. Her expression was blank.
“What else do we know?” Luna asked quietly.
“Nothing,” Celestia answered, “I’ll be contacting the outpost for specific information.”
“But it has just reappeared from shadow?” Luna asked, piecing things together in her head, “If that is the case, Sombra will not be at full power yet.”
“Indeed,” Celestia nodded, “I have asked Shining Armor, and Princess Cadance to ready themselves to go. They can keep Sombra in his place for now, until he is dealt with.”
“No.” Luna shook her head, “I will go, and I will be removing him from Equestria myself.”
“Luna, I don’t think—“
“Celestia,” Luna said seriously, showing that rare side of herself, “This night will be his last.”
“What do you intend to do?” Celestia asked, stepping closer to her sister, and giving her a very serious look, “Destroy him? Melt him into a pool of pony soup?”
“This isn’t a joke to me, sister,” Luna growled, a scowl plastered on her face, “He took my foal, and my love from me. I will take his life from him.”
“Luna, you may have lost her a thousand years ago, but right now, you have somepony else that depends on you,” Celestia rationally explained to her, “Scootaloo would have nopony to look after her if you were killed.”
Luna huffed. Celestia always had some kind of argument… But that didn’t mean she was wrong.
“So, please keep her in mind,” Celestia pleaded, hoping that would be enough to calm Luna down, “She is here with her friends now, is she not?”
“Yes,” Luna nodded, “They insisted on spending the night at the castle, despite the recent attack.”
“They’re too young to care for such matters,” Celestia smiled softly.
“I trust that the news of Sombra’s return will not reach them,” Luna said confidently, “We need to focus on defeating him… If we will be able to.”
“But remember, others have fought Sombra, besides the two of us,” Celestia said, “Both Rainbow Dash and Alex encountered him a thousand years ago… So I believe they should be the ones to go back.”
“This isn’t their fight, sister,” Luna tried to argue, “Why should they endanger their lives?”
“Because they now wield the Elements of Harmony,” Celestia explained, cutting off further arguments from Luna, “We don’t. They are much more capable than we are.”
Luna had no response. She wanted to fight her sister, but had no ground to do so. Her only course of action was to agree, and move on.
“Fine.” Luna said, her pride hurt a bit, “But I have an insistence.”
“What is that?” Celestia asked.
“I go with them to the Crystal Empire,” Luna said, “I will provide them with assistance.”
“Luna, I don’t think—“
“There is no room to move on this,” Luna shook her head, silencing her sister, “If anypony were to be hurt in this fight, I would never forgive myself.”
“Luna, I intend on making this situation a test for Twilight Sparkle, to prove that she is one step closer to—“
“To what? Becoming the next Princess?” Luna asked, rather indignantly, “Twilight Sparkle hasn’t sent you a letter on friendship in over a year. What makes you think she’s ready to take such a step?”
“With the return of her friend, I believe we can get back on track to her—“
“No,” Luna said quickly, “I would agree with you, had she been on track this entire time. But she would be ill prepared to complete Star-Swirl’s spell.”
Celestia sighed. She knew it would be near-impossible to deter Luna from going on this trip, and things had been too complicated recently for her to pass it on to Twilight. She was stuck.
“Alright,” Celestia finally said, standing up and nodding to her sister, “I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to stop you anyway.”
“Thank you,” Luna nodded, showing her sister a small appreciative smile.
“I’ll send Shining Armor and Princess Cadance right away,” Celestia said, stepping back to the door, “I’ll brief everypony else tomorrow morning, when everypony is properly rested.”
Luna didn’t answer. She simply nodded.
“I will watch over the night, Luna,” Celestia added as she exited into the hallway, “Rest yourself.”
She nodded again, as the door closed, leaving her in complete darkness.
Luna allowed for a moment of silence, before she spoke softly.
“He will not be so lucky this time, Bolt,” Luna said to the empty room, hoping silently that her old lover could hear her wherever he was, “I will make him pay for taking our family from us.”
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Alex was happy.
Right now, in this moment, all he intended to do was lie in bed and relax. He wasn’t going to do anything for the next month! Just sleep and—wait, something was missing.
Alex rolled over in bed, and was upset to find nopony next to him.
Had Dash gotten up?
Lifting his head, he saw her speaking to a guard with a troubled look on his face.
“I already told her, I quit,” Dash whispered, trying not to wake up Alex, “I plan on staying right here in bed.”
“She was insistent,” The guard explained, glancing behind her at the pony in her bed, and idly wondering about what his captain was like in her off hours, “It has something to do with an old adventure of yours.”
Dash frowned, she had no idea what he was talking about, but decided that it must have been important if Celestia would ask for her so soon.
“Alright,” She nodded, buttoning her coat back up, “We’ll be with her in a few minutes.”
Closing the door, Dash looked back to Alex and gave him an apologetic look, upon seeing him awake.
“Sorry about this…” She said quietly, walking over to the bed, “We’ll get this over with quick, and then get back to, well, bed stuff.”
Alex loved bed stuff. So, he decided that the faster this was over with, the faster he got to go back to doing those things he loved.
“Okay,” He grunted as he rolled out of the bed, straightening his hair with a quick spell, “I wonder what she could be so worked up about…”
Both of them headed out the door and down the hall, simply reveling in the others presence.
“So, Alex,” Dash said, trying to think of any topic she had wanted to discuss with him over the past two years, “How was… Um, the stone?”
“It was fine,” Alex shook his head, “I mean, with Discord keeping you company, how can you get bored?”
“What about him, anyway?” Dash asked, “Should he be freed too?”
“I think so,” Alex nodded, actually liking Discord’s presence a bit, “I’m sure he’ll be interested in helping us.”
“I’ll talk to the princess,” Dash nodded, “I have her ear you know.”
“I’m sure you’ll never let me forget it,” Alex smiled, as they walked into the main lobby, and then toward the throne room, “How has being a captain been for you, by the way?”
“Pretty good,” Dash said, recalling the generally positive experiences she had had so far, “I’ve got more money than I know what to do with.”
“Really?” Alex asked, thinking briefly about the salary a captain of the guard would make, “What have you got? Like, a million bits?”
“Something like that,” She laughed, not letting on how low his guess actually was.
Walking through the open archway, Alex and Dash were faced with Luna and Celestia, both on the throne pedestal.
“We need to have a discussion with you two,” Celestia said, as the door was closed behind them, leaving the four in the room alone.
Alex looked back and forth, he knew what this was about!
“Is this about the loud noises?” Alex asked quickly, “Because I told her to be quiet Princess! You gotta believe me!”
“It’s not about that, Alex,” Celestia shook her head, not in the mood for humor at the moment, “I have a special mission for you and your friends, Rainbow Dash.”
“What is it?” She asked, surprised that they would be asked to do something like this so fast, “I thought we had earned some time to rest…”
“I’m afraid it will have to wait,” Luna shook her head, not wanting to waste any time, “The Crystal Kingdom, and King Sombra have both returned.”
“Are you serious?!” Alex said instantly, “Like, the guy that killed Bol… uh, I mean—“
“Bolt.” Luna said seriously, “Yes.”
“You and your friends have been tasked with protecting the kingdom from his powers.” Celestia explained, looking to her sister.
“That task will be considered completed when Sombra is dead,” Luna said darkly, giving pause to Alex and Dash.
“You make it sound like this is a mission to kill him…” Alex said quietly.
“It is.”
“No, it most certainly is not,” Celestia cut in, upset that Luna was acting this way, “You will defend the kingdom from him, and deal with King Sombra accordingly.”
Luna gave them both a look that told them her intention.
“Why are you tasking us with this?” Dash asked, “Isn’t this more up Twilight’s alley? To command something like this?”
“Not anymore,” Celestia sighed, showing a moment of sadness, “You are the capable ponies for this situation, and will be taking point.”
“What about Princess Luna…?” Alex asked, looking to the still-serious sister, “Will she be the big boss?”
“No,” Celestia shook her head, “She’s only going to assist.”
“Understood,” Dash said, straightening her posture and saluting Celestia, “When will we be leaving, ma’am?”
“You’ll be leaving right away.” Celestia said, gesturing to the door exiting toward the train, “Your friends will be waiting for you to fill them in.”
“Don’t we need to pack?” Alex asked, as a suitcase appeared beside him in a puff of smoke, “Oh, okay, got it!”
“Is there anything else?” Dash asked, looking between her two bosses.
“Alpha will be accompanying you,” Celestia said, remembering that final detail, “Twilight insisted he would be helpful, so I’m giving him this chance to prove himself.”
“Oh!” Alex said suddenly, “Speaking of proving yourself, I think we should let Discord out of his stone!”
Celestia nodded, she had been thinking about doing just that, but was wanting a bit more information from Alex before it happened.
“Do you think we can trust him?” Celestia asked, getting this conversation out of the way quickly, “I wouldn’t want to deal with his havoc all over again.”
“He’ll be fine,” Alex nodded, “I’ll just beat him again if I need to.”
“And be turned to stone for another two years?” Luna asked.
Alex sighed and hung his head, “You guys are never gonna let me forget that, are you?”
“I’ll consider freeing him once you’re all back, but please, it’s time to go now.” Celestia gestured to the door as it opened once again, “I hope to hear good news.”
Alex, Dash, and Luna all left the throne room in an awkward silence. The two of them would have had no issue talking to each other, but the princess was kinda souring the mood. So, they went on their way in near-silence, ready to head off to a place none of them had been in a thousand years, since the hat had been dropped so suddenly.
"So much for bed stuff..." Alex grumbled, wanting to just go back to bed, and let Sombra do his thing.
"On the train dear," Dash whispered.
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