//------------------------------// // Into the Crystal Empire // Story: Dusty Tome and Endeavor: The Amulet of Yolo Swag // by FortheNerd //------------------------------// By the time Dusty and Endeavor got on the train, a day and half had gone by since they first received word from their mysterious client. Dusty was positive that they would be able to find the amulet. She still had an almost child-like excitement about this trip, Endeavor mused. They never really ventured to the Crystal Empire before. Most of their travels were in warm or tropical climates. The first time they went out on their own solo trip she had told Endeavor that she felt like she was in a Daring Doo novel. Endeavor wondered if those books were what got her into the field of archeology in the first place. Right now they were in an overnight passenger car headed to the the frigid northern wastes. Then they were going to start hiking out to the mountain range where Dusty thought she had pinpointed the location of the entrance to the tomb where the Amulet of Yolo-Swag was kept. Endeavor noticed the Pegasus curled up on the bench next to him was now sound asleep, her head resting on the pages of an open book she was reading, leaning up against his leg. He carefully levitated the book out from under her before she began drooling and messed up the text on the pages. ‘This is why I have to laminate my notes’ he thought, smirking to himself. His thoughts were interrupted by the train pulling into the next station. Last stop before the Crystal Empire. Endeavor closed his eyes to try and get some sleep. He knew they’d be getting some strong coffee before heading out. It would only be one day of hiking (hopefully) before getting to their desired location. He relaxed and settled down into a comfortable position, falling asleep. ~ “So basically, the tomb is supposed to be where Yolo-Swag buried his bride, an Earth pony from the tribe that he supposedly used to found the Crystal Empire with. From my texts, I believe her name translates to ‘Song of Feather’ or ‘Feather Song’ more likely.” Endeavor struggled to hear Dusty’s impromptu history lesson as they struggled against the wind toward the towering mountain before them. “From what I can tell, he trusted her to take care of his Empire using her love for him to protect it. Which is probably why he buried his amulet with her body. We might have to fight off an angry spirit to get it or something,” Dusty joked. Endeavor scoffed at her joke. He would never admit it, but he was always kind of concerned they would end up being haunted by an ancient and evil magical spirit. He pulled his scarf closer around his neck, trying to fend of the biting wind. The mountain was stretching out above them. Soon he would have to attempt to climb it while Dusty flew up ahead of him. “Do you want me to try and scout for a route to take up? I think I can see where the opening to the cave is.” Endeavor nodded at her. He watched as she pulled her goggles up over her eyes, stuffing her own scarf tighter down into her vest, and taking off into the sky. Endeavor enjoyed watching her fly. She wasn’t really into flips or tricks but she always looked beautiful and graceful up in the air. The part he didn’t enjoy was being stuck on the ground, alone. He stomped around, pushing down the layer of snow beneath him, and watching her search the mountain side. He watched her appear to find a path as she was following it down to the base. Endeavor cantered over to the rocky incline to meet Dusty when she landed. “Alright. I’ve found a path that should work for you, big guy,” Dusty told him as she skidded onto the ground, sending bits of snow flying into the air. “Follow me.” She turned and started picking her way up the sloping rocks, and Endeavor following close behind, trying to fit his larger hooves into Dusty’s much smaller hoof prints. He didn’t mind the climb. If it weren’t for the cold wind it would be pretty nice. But the higher up they got, the smaller the path and the greater chance of falling. Endeavor moved much slower, his heavier weight being much more likely to slip around on loose rocks or break off weak chunks of the path. He was a bit tense by the time they reached the outcrop leading to what Dusty presumed was the entrance to the tomb. “So,” Endeavor breathed, relaxing a bit, “we search in here, see if we can find something that will lead us to the tomb?” He eyed the entrance, wondering how he was supposed to squeeze through it. “Right. I’ll try to get through there, maybe light up the area enough for you to pull off a teleportation spell?” Endeavor nodded. Dusty sucked in her breath and squeezed through the icy opening. Endeavor heard her digging around in her vest in the dark. Eventually she pulled out a lantern from her backpack, setting a match with her mouth and lighting the flame. “Can you see Endeavor?” “Yeah this should be enough.” Endeavor focused his eyes on the pool of light, charging up his teleportation spell. He closed his eyes as he let it go, feeling a tingling feeling as his body particles condensed and regrew in the area he was aiming. When he opened his eyes he was standing next to Dusty in a stone tunnel. Once seeing he was safely inside, she began to examine the walls. “Hm. Right here looks like a normal cave. But that passage to the back… This tunnel was definitely hoof-carved. Looks like we are on the right track.” As the two ponies continued down the stone tunnel it seemed to gradually shift from the ice covered rocks to frosty crystals. As they descended deeper into the belly of the mountain the walls became more cleanly cut and narrow. Endeavor led the way down the narrow shaft with his horn alight while Dusty tried to peek around his shoulder at the path ahead. Then out of the darkness a large crystal block stood in their path. It was perfected fitted in the pathway and Dusty could see some carvings in it. “What do you see Endeavor?,” she questioned peering at the tablet over the unicorns’ broad shoulders. “Gez give me a sec, would you? It appears to be an ancient form of Canterlonian.” The unicorn pulled out a pen and a small notebook from one of the pockets on his utility jacket and began to scribble some notes. Then a certain pegasus flopped on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck, back legs hanging off the sides of his torso. “Dusty! What are you doing?” “The tunnel is too narrow! I can’t see around you. This is the best I could do.” “Or you could just wait!” Of course it really didn’t bother Endeavor too much. Being a pegasus she was much lighter than he was and hardly weighed anything sprawled across his back. But he let out a dramatic and tired sigh anyway. “Here.” He angled the notebook so she could read it. “Darkness within where the light can’t look upon it. There is some magic that should not be tampered with.” She paused for a moment. “Well how about blasting this baby open with some unicorn magics?” Endeavor gave her a questioning look. “Hey we’ve both seen more cryptic warnings than this. We should at least check it out. Besides I can’t hear any ‘cries of tortured souls’ or anything else to evil. We should be fine as long as we don’t mess with anything besides the amulet.” Endeavor nodded. “Alright. But get back behind me and stay there!” He felt the pegasus let go and shimmy down behind him. He braced himself, charging up a blast spell on his horn. Right before he felt he couldn’t contain it any longer he shot it right in the middle of the wall. And it did nothing. A grey scorch mark was the only thing on the crystal slab. “Well that was dud. Maybe there is a switch somewhere?” Endeavor looked at the surrounding walls right next to door more closely. He was distracted by the carvings before and forgot to properly examine the area. “Or there is a magic lock. Gah! Celestia’s beard we don’t have a spell!” “Oh! Wait a minute! I remember finding some sort of spell mentioned… or at least I think it’s a spell…” Dusty explained as she rummaged through her saddle bag full of notes. “Ah! Here it is! Read this and see if you think that might work.” “Hmm. I’ve honestly never seen anything like this. Must be some old Crystal Empire spell. I guess I’ll try it. Just hope it doesn’t blow up in my face.” Endeavor flinched at the idea of having a spell black back in his face. It gave him the worst of headaches. “It seems to be a pretty simple unlocking spell. Judging by the context I’d say it was so priestesses could get in and out without allowing commoners to enter the tomb. Of course it was meant for crystal ponies. Hopefully unicorn magic also works…” Endeavor concentrated on the text, repeating it over in his head as he felt a light glow appear around his horn. He pressed it lightly into the area of the door with a lock rune carved into it, almost worn away by time. A low rumbling emitted from the crystal block as it slowly slid down into the ground revealing a large, dark cavern. Hesitantly, Endeavor stepped inside, holding his head high with the largest light spell he could manage. They walked straight forward hoping to find a light source of some kind, losing sight of the entryway even in the massive pool of light. Finally they found something, a large monolithic crystal standing in what must of been the center of the cave. “Try lighting it up?” Dusty suggested. Endeavor touched his horn to the large crystal while casting his light spell. A blinding flash emitted from the point. When the light subsided the whole cavern was emitting a soft glow. In front of them they could see the crystal was now transparent. Dusty gasped. Inside the crystal was a strangely beautiful preserved pegasus. She had her wings and front limbs reaching outward, her white and brown spotted coat gleaming in the light. Her pastel rainbow mane sparkled, and the dark feathers woven in almost appeared to moving in an invisible wind. The two adventurers starred in shock at the strange sight for a few moments. Endeavor was the first to snap out of it. “It looks like she has the amulet…” Sure enough, there was a blood red teardrop-shaped gem encased in a thick gold setting that was strung around her neck by a thick band. “Certainly looks like an ancient, forgotten magical amulet.” “Tha...that’s Feather Song!”, Dusty finally managed. “I can’t believe she’s real! Or her body at least. And that it’s still here! This is amazing! The preservation is astonishing! I’ve never seen anything like this!” Dusty began examining the crystal from all sides, eyes wide with excitement. She fluttered around it, feeling the edges and making mental calculations of the structure. “Um… Dusty? Maybe we should have a look around. See if we can find something that can help us figure out how to get our hooves on that amulet. I’ll start looking over here.” He started walking away from the crystal, hoping to find a carving or something that might provide more context for what they were looking at. Dusty finally took her eyes off Feather Song and began to walk the other direction, re-lightly her lantern to see better in the dim glow of the crystals. Near the edge of the cavern Dusty spotted a strange crystal. Rather than emitting the soft purple glow of the others it almost appeared to take in the light, leaving a hue of shadow and void around it. “Endeavor! I found something!” she called, drawing closer to the strange aura. The quick canter of Endeavor’s hoofsteps came quickly. “Dusty don’t touch it!” She could hear his muffled voice calling for her but the aura of the dark crystal was humming in her ears. She leaned close to try and make out what was swirling inside the crystal. Without warning a sharp shard of crystal protruded out from the block, cutting Dusty’s cheek. She cried out in surprise as her blood dripped down the shard onto the block, making the dark aura turn from black to red. Endeavor desperately tried to reach for her, pulling her back before two more shards could land in her chest. The dazed pegasus stumbled to the ground as Endeavor stood over her, trying to quickly pull a bandage out of his bag. “Wha… what happened?” Dusty mumbled, looking around very confused. “I don’t know… I…” A low grumble echoed through the cavern, drowning out Endeavor. Two bright red eyes glared from inside the crystal. A low, booming laughter shook the cavern.