The Last Crystal Unicorn

by TheMyth


Chapter 8

Amethyst pawed at display containing the chocolate cupcake. “Sweet, sweet chocolate...”

“Amethyst, you still have three more days in your punishment,” Rarity told him as she placed firm hoof on his shoulder, trying to stay stern under his pleading. “We’re only here to drop off Mrs. Cake’s order.”

Amethyst still looked longingly at the display. Finally, he sighed and turned back to Rarity, who was handing something to the baker.

Mrs. Cake looked at every side before leaning towards Rarity’s ear. “Y—You’re sure nopony knows about this?” she asked nervously, holding the package with care.

“I was very discreet.” Rarity whispered back to her, looking down upon the suit equally nervous eyes. “I’m sure Mr. Cake will enjoy your anniversary.” She smiled broadly, looking around the room. I am so glad Pinkie Pie is not here today.

Amethyst reached for the desk with his front hooves, peeking at the odd clothing. “Mrs. Cake bought Mr. Cake a suit?”

“... Yes,” Mrs. Cake said after a pause, sweating profoundly as she chuckled. “Yes... I bought a suit—”

“And that’s all,” Rarity chimed in, wanting Amethyst to end the subject.

“What kind of suit?” Amethyst asked curiously, trying to take a peek inside. He didn’t get far though, because of Rarity’s hoof being placed on his and pulling it away.

“You know what? I think four days is enough! Why don't we get you a cupcake after all?” Rarity asked with haste that Rainbow Dash would envy. nodding her head furiously to Mrs. Cake who forcefully smiling and near tears

“Truly? Thank you Miss Rarity, really—”

He was cut off by Mrs. Cake shoving the treat at him. “There you are, on the house. Now then, I have work to do, so if you would please?”

“Of course,” Rarity nodded, and then lightly pressed Amethyst out the door. “Bye bye!”


In the street, as Amethyst swallowed the last of his cupcake, he spoke. “Has Princess Cadance relayed any information on…” He trailed off, scrunching his lips as he swallowed and looked away. “Nevermind.”

Rarity smiled sadly as she shook her head. “I haven’t heard anything since the last letter I gave you.”

Amethyst was quiet for a moment as they walked onwards through the town. “I was wondering how much longer I would be welcome in your home.”

“Oh Darling,” she swept him up in a hug, nuzzling him softly. “You don’t need to worry about that. You can stay with me as long as it takes.”

“It might be forever,” Amethyst said as he looked away from Rarity’s eyes. “If she hasn’t been found by now...”

Rarity placed a hoof on his mouth, silencing Amethyst’s words. “You mustn’t speak like that,” she told him as she leaned into his eyes. “If it’s Ponyville or even the Crystal Empire, you will always have a home.”

Amethyst couldn’t help but smile, hearing those words and nuzzled Rarity in return as he held onto her. “Thank you.”

“That’s it right there.” She pointed and giggled. “You look so much cuter when you smile.”

“I—I—” Amethyst blushed furiously, lightly pushing himself away from Rarity’s embrace.

Rarity laughed nudged him softly. “Now go and have some fun with Sweetie Belle and the others,” she told him, seeing him run off. “Remember, no Diamond Dog mine trips, you hear!”

“Yes, Miss Rarity!”

When Amethyst disappeared from her sight, Rarity let loose a sigh as she walked back to her boutique. She didn’t get far though, as a white alicorn came flying towards her before landing right in front of her.

“P—Princess Celestia!” Rarity quickly bowed to the princess, having been caught off guard since she didn’t receive any word of a visit from her.

Celestia waved her hoof upwards. “Please Rarity, no need to bow before me,” she spoke in a soft maternal voice, the same she used with all her subjects. “I just want to let you know of the news we received so far.”

“Oh!” Rarity placed a hoof to her mouth in surprise. “Please, let’s talk in my boutique. Shall we?”

“Of course.”

Celestia took her seat at Rarity’s kitchen table and, despite her insistence that it wasn’t necessary, she began brewing up some of her best tea. Within minutes she was enjoying some of the best brew she had tasted.

“Have you brought any news on Amethyst’s parents?” Rarity asked hopefully. “The poor dear is beginning to lose hope.”

“I’m afraid not,” Celestia sighed. “And I’m afraid the news I bring has more to do with Amethyst himself.”

Rarity felt her blood run cold. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s truly wrong,” Celestia said. “At least, not yet. The Crystal Empire’s vizier, however, is starting to push for Amethyst to be returned to the Empire.”

“I... whatever for?”

“Amethyst would be considered a natural treasure,” Celestia said as plainly as possible. “The regular citizens are ignorant of him at the moment. But once they find out, they will demand that he be returned. I don’t know if we can ignore such a request.”

Rarity felt her heart beat quicken. She began to breathe deeply. “I... please, Your Highness, can’t you do something?”

“I’m afraid not,” Celestia said. She tilted her head a bit. “Are you really so concerned with losing him?”

Rarity felt her cheeks heat up. “Well... I suppose I am.”

“You were only supposed to watch him.” Celestia didn’t sound disappointed, however. She was merely stating a fact. “Suppose we find his mother. What then?”

“I...” She struggled to find the words. “I don’t know. I keep telling him he needs to keep his hopes up, but... in all honesty, I don’t think there really is much of a chance at this point, is there? I truly hope she’s around, but... but I have been thinking about him staying with me... for the rest of his foalhood at least.”

Celestia nodded. “I’m glad you have gotten so attached... but it makes what has to be done that much harder. We might have to relocate him regardless of whether or not he has a family here.”

Rarity bit her lip as she looked down, her eyes becoming moist. The thought of Amethyst going away from Ponyville, away from her. Over the last few months that Amethyst has stayed with her and Sweetie Belle, she had really grown attached to him.

Celestia lowered her head. “Rarity, I know this is hard for you,” she spoke softly as she nuzzled her softly. “But we have to do what’s best for him.” She raised her head and began to walk out of the boutique. “I will keep you inform about further findings and news.” She told Rarity with a smile, albeit her eyes were downcast in sorrow. Celestia stretched her wings and flew off towards Canterlot, leaving Rarity alone with her thoughts.


Amethyst trotted towards the Ponyville library, where he was told to meet up with his friends. For what reason, he didn’t know. He was still amazed at how a tree was hollowed out to build a construct for ponies to use on a daily basis. When he finally reached the enormous tree, he reached up for the door and opened it to let himself in.

“Hello?” Amethyst called out as he closed the door behind him.

“Hey Amethyst,” a voice from above called out to him from above. The colt looked up and saw Blaze Stream floating above and sorting the books in their shelves. He landed on the ground in front of Amethyst. “How can I help you?”

“Good day, Sir Blaze,” Amethyst greeted the elder stallion with a curt nod.

Blaze chuckled a little before speaking. “No need to call me ‘sir’, kid,” he grinned at Amethyst. “Just call me Blaze,” he leaned towards Amethyst, pointing to his forehead. “Got it memorized?”

“Yes sir,” Amethyst looked around before looking at Blaze. “Where is Miss Twilight and why are you here? I thought you were in the Wonderbolts?”

“The Wonderbolts don’t train on weekends and when I have time off I help my mare with the work in the library,” he leaned into his ear. “Between you and me, she hardly goes to sleep unless everything is in absolute order.” He raised his head and saw Amethyst’s confused look, laughing at it for a moment before clearing his voice again. “So, what brings you here today?”

Amethyst blinked and shook his head before clearing his throat. “Well, I was told to meet my friends here today. Are Spike and Light here?”

“Over here!” Both Spike and Light came from a room in the library towards Amethyst, bumping his hoof. “Looks like you’re number three.”

“Number three?”

“Third to arrive here.” Light told him plainly before looking up at Blaze. “You sure there’s no other books besides this one, Dad?” Light showed him an old book with no visible title.

“‘Fraid not. I know, because Twilight made me memorize this whole place. I’m sure that’s all we have.”

“What are we looking for?” Amethyst piped in.

“Any other reading on cutie marks,” Spike said. “We’re going to spend today working on a way to find out Silver Spoon’s cutie mark.”

“Ah! Very well, then, when shall we start?”

“As soon as the girls get here,” Spike said. “We’re just going to try and find something here first.”

“You have fun,” Blaze nodded. “Just.. don’t destroy the library. Your mother just got it well enough to relax.”

“Okay,” both Spike and Light said. As Blaze returned upstairs, Amethyst joined in the book reading.

“Tell me, Silver Spoon... has she been feeling better since that day?”

Spike nodded. “I think so. She still seems pretty quiet. Like she’s nervous or something.”

“Maybe it’s just a little strange to her,” Light said.

“Pray tell, do you think that Diamond Tiara would try something? As in, do you think she might try to hurt Silver Spoon?”

“I don’t think so,” Spike said. “Diamond Tiara is too unpopular to try anything now. I don’t think even she’s desperate enough to try anything.”

“Have you seen her moping in class? She just looks at Silver Spoon, then looks back at her desk,” Light said. It was true, all of them were beginning to wonder if Diamond was beginning to see something appear on her desktop that was invisible to them. She hardly even talked unless Cheerilee called on her, and she went straight home after school, never even going to Sugarcube Corner.

“I see Silver Spoon look at her sometimes,” Spike said. “Like she actually wants to be friends with her again.”

The door of the library opened slowly, letting Pipsqueak and Apple Bloom in. Both of their cheeks were burning as they smiled broadly at each other.

The colts looked at the pair with arched eyebrows. “What’s up with you two?” Spike asked.

“Did you find anything out about Lady Silver’s cutie mark?”

The pair jumped, as if they had just noticed that they were not the only other ones in the library. “Oh, it’s nuthin’,” Apple Bloom said. It was said casually enough that it aroused suspicion... then again, there was likely little they could have said in any way that wouldn’t have aroused suspicion.

Before anypony could act on this, Pip spoke. “Where is th’ dame, anywho? You’d think she’d be on time, it’s her cutie mark we’re workin’ on.”

As if on cue, the door swung open. Sweetie was seen first, followed by Scootaloo, but behind them was Silver.

“Good day, Sil...” Amethyst began, but he trailed off when he noticed something. There were bandages across one of her front hooves. “Goodness, what happened?”

Silver Spoon blushed. “It... it was Scootaloo’s fault.”

All eyes turned to her, and the young pegasus blushed. “Well... I was thinking... Silver said one of the chores she did for the Cakes that day was feeding Gummy, so I thought maybe it was for feeding animals. There were some baby birds outside my house, so I flew her up on my back. Then the mother came, and saw us too close to her young...”

Spike head hit his hoof. “Oh, you...”

“Hey, I panicked! You would, too!”

“You could have at least made sure not to drop me,” Silver said in a deadpan tone. Amethyst realized it had been the first non-timid thing that she had said since that day that Diamond Tiara struck her.

“Hey, my mom said nothing was broken! Your hoof is just going be banged up for a little while.”

“Whatever. Can we do something that’s not going to get me killed?”

Inwardly, Silver Spoon knew it was a stupid hope, given what she had seen the group do before. But still, a smile creeped across her face all the same.

“Relax,” Apple Bloom said, “Ah’m sure Spike an’ Light found somethin’ here. They live in a library, after all!”

Both of the colts looked at each other, before rubbing the back of their heads and chuckling awkwardly. “We’re stuck here to be honest,” Spike finally spoke, looking away and pursing his lips.

“But don’t worry, I’m sure something will pop up soon,” Light told Silver Spoon, trying to cheer up the already injured filly.

Silver could only nod, groaning a little as she rubbed her forehead. She took a seat on the cushion, twitching slightly as she felt more pain when sitting down. “You really think there’s a book that can explain my…” she trailed off as she looked back at her cutie mark, “problem?”

Before any of the foals could answer, Blaze came in whistling with his eyes closed. When he opened them and saw Silver Spoon, he jerked his head slightly before flying over to the filly. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, his voice filled with concern seeing all the bandages.

“Um…” Silver trailed off again, looking away. “Yes.”

“Did that Diamond Tiara do this to her?” He asked Light as he turned his head to face backwards to where the colt was sitting.

Scootaloo stepped in. “No Blaze, um…” she shuffled her hooves nervously, looking down in guilt as she retold the tale to the elder stallion.

“Geez Scoots, it’s one thing to help a foal learn how to swim again. But throwing her in a shark tank is just too much.” He told her, hoping she would understand his analogy. “Let’s see if I can get an ice pack for that.” He flew off to the kitchen, leaving the foals alone again.

Silver blinked before turning back to the others. “So what should we do now?” She asked them all, curious to see what their next move was.

“Well, if we can’t find any information in these books… we might have better luck asking ponies who you met on that day you got your cutie mark.” Spike explained to her, his eyes looking upwards in thought. “If that doesn’t work…”

Pip cut him off as he waved his hoof. “Let’s not think about that now,” he said as he reached for a book. “Let’s just place our attention on these books for now.”

“Right,” Apple Bloom replied, walking to the table and taking a book for herself to read. Soon every foal was reading a book on cutie marks, though Silver Spoon and Amethyst had to share one together. Which she didn’t mind at all.


Twilight yawned as she woke up from her afternoon nap, something she had picked up from her son Spike a while ago. She covered her mouth, giggling as she blushed. Once she was off the bed, she looked in the mirror to set her hair right again. Opening the door gingerly, she heard the sounds of foals talking downstairs and made her way to the source.

Once she was on the ground floor, she saw all the foals of the Cutie Mark Crusaders with books by their side. She couldn’t help but smile, happy to see foals reading in their spare time. She walked towards the group, clearing her throat.

“Hello everypony,” she greeted them as she was still smiling.

Spike looked up from his book and gave a soft smile to his mother. “Hey Mom, had a good nap?” he asked her as he grinned, seeing her looking away.

“Yes, thank you.”

“And you said napping was a waste of time,” Spike recited her words, imitating her voice when she spoke with authority.

Twilight only blushed more when the foals were all laughing at Spike’s imitation. “Yes well, enough about that…” she trailed off as she cleared her throat again. “Have you found anything yet?”

Light groaned as he closed his book and planted his face to the book’s surface that laid on the table. “No! Like, they always give information about how it’s an act of destiny and how you should wait. But they don’t explain how to identify what a cutie mark means when you don’t remember how you earned it!”

“I’m sure you all will find a reasonable explanation soon,” Twilight replied before looking at Silver Spoon and gasping. “What happened to you, Silver?!” She asked with her voice becoming exceptionally louder, but silencing once she covered her mouth.

“Let’s just say, we tried and failed to see what her cutie mark meant,” Scootaloo grunted, not wanting to repeat the tale.

At that moment, Blaze came back to the room with refreshments for the foals. “Here you go kids, my treat.” He placed the tray on a separate table, before floating to Twilight. “Slept well?”

“I did thanks,” she responded, wrapping her hooves around his neck and planting her lips to his.

“Eww!” It was only Spike and Light who spoke, when a few months ago, they might all have. No matter how old a pony got, seeing your parents kiss was something that made you uncomfortable.

“Well then, I think you better get going, then,” Blaze said. “We’re just going to be here telling each other how much we love each other.” As the sentence went on, his voice got increasingly sappy, and his lips puckered up into a kissy face directed at Twilight.

In a split second, there were only dust clouds where Spike and Light once were. The others ran out after them, less disgusted but not wanting to see the sappiness either way.

“That was mean,” Twilight said.

Blaze shrugged. “Don’t tell me you don’t want some alone time,” he grinned, kissing her on the cheek.

She giggled. “Well, you have been pretty busy with Black...”

He sighed. “I know. I’m sorry, Twi, but—”

She placed a hoof on his mouth. “I understand. Come on, why don’t we just go upstairs?” She walked past him, making sure to brush her tail across his chin.

He followed up quickly.