//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: The Last Crystal Unicorn // by TheMyth //------------------------------// “Ya think Rarity is okay?” Applejack sat on a bench, her hat on a table as she was treating herself to one of the castle’s delicacies. Not on par with her family treats though, but they were quite delicious by her standards. “If she doesn’t get back in the next ten minutes, I’m going right down to wherever she or that Ruby is,” Rainbow Dash replied, sitting on a couch as she stared off into space. “Just hope Rarity can get some answers from her.” Fluttershy cringed. “You don’t think Rarity would really… hurt Ruby, do you?” “Fluttershy,” Twilight came up to Fluttershy, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “If Pip was in trouble and somepony was out there to hurt him… what would you do?” Hearing the question, Fluttershy lowered her head in thought. “Oh… I would be so mad I would just teach them a lesson not to hurt my baby boy and—” “Exactly.” Twilight cut her off. “And if somepony were to harm Amethyst now, Rarity would be at their throats for it.” Pinkie tapped her chin as she looked up to the sky. “But does Amethyst really have to stay here?” Pinkie asked curiously, still wanting to throw him a party. “I mean, won’t he be very lonely here?” Twilight sighed as she closed her eyes. “Politically, he should remain here since he is now considered a ‘national treasure’ for being the last of his subspecies…” Twilight trailed off as she sighed again. “But morally, he should remain in Ponyville with his friends.” “Got that right,” Applejack said as she got up from the bench. “Not to mention how poor Rarity would feel if she had to let go of that colt,” Before any of the mares could speak, the door opened again and Ruby came in with her plastered smile. “Is everything in order here?” she asked joyfully, looking to each of the mares in the room. “Yeah we’re fine,” Rainbow Dash snipped at her. “Wait a minute… where’s Rarity?” she asked suspiciously, flying towards the crystal pony in the doorway. “Oh, she decided to spend some time in the hot springs alone… said something about ‘a lady having privacy to improve her figure’,” she giggled at the saying, but none of her company were joining her. Twilight narrowed her eyes, tapping her chin. “Really?” “Really,” she assured. It wasn’t very convincing. “Alright, I can see your worries. You’re a bit wary of me because I served under Sombra, am I right?” Everypony blinked at the bluntness in her voice. “Well... yes.” “Listen, there’s nothing to tell. I served the king who came before Sombra, and he let me keep my job after his coup. There was a time when I, like everypony else in the Empire, thought he was a great pony. Maybe he was, in his own way. As totalitarian as he was, life under him was better for the average pony than under our last king, with his incompetent financial spending and constant drinking. If he had died a few years earlier, you might be seeing statues of him in our square. “But he was a monster, and he proved it, first through the Culling, then when he started trying to conquer other lands. Yes, I ate up his propaganda for awhile, everypony did. A silver tongue can be more deadly than any sword. But in the end, I was subject to his horrors the same as anypony. “And yes, I’ve been pushing for Amethyst to stay in the Empire. He is the only survivor of the horror of the Culling. It’s very likely that he survived because his mother died protecting him. He deserves to be back here as an example of how the crystal unicorns That’s it. That’s all I have to do with anything. Do you need any other convincing?” “I... suppose not,” Twilight said. “Did... Rarity say anything to you?” “She gave me a few evil looks. Honestly, I don’t blame any of you. Sombra was a monster, and I’d be equally as wary... no, more so, I actually lived through it, if our roles were reversed. I bear no grudge for any of this.” “Well... alright then,” Twilight said. “I’m glad we got that cleared. Now, when are the foals due back? I want to meet the colt in question.” “They should be along shortly,” Twilight said. “They had best. The Empire is a pretty safe place, but I still think more precautions must be taken for his sake. You never know who out there might be the proverbial snake in the grass.” Rarity groaned as she came into consciousness. Her first thought was that she was in pain. The second was that it was dark. She checked to see if she had opened her eyes. She had. She saw carpeted wood surrounding her, and she in the company of brooms and dust sweepers too. A closet… is she serious?! She felt the opening with her hoof and tapped on it, feeling it was locked on the outside. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing her magic. There was no horn ring... likely too hard to procure one without raising suspicion. A good sign. Rarity was not skilled with magic as Twilight was, but when the situation called for it she was more than capable of using it. Her horn started to glow brightly in a purple aura and when she released it, the closet’s doors burst opened. Remains of the door slammed against the wall and she careful made her way out of the confined space. She looked around her and saw many other closets and furniture along with sets of armor and other accessories. The castle’s storage room, obviously, and from the looks of the dust on the various crates, so unused that Shining Armor and Cadance were likely not sure it even existed. Rarity flicked a bit at how filthy the place was, and of how she must have dust and Celestia knew what else in her coat and mane, but she pushed that thought aside. There were bigger thing to worry about. She scanned the room, trying to find a way out. When she finally made her way to a door, she tried to open it but found it impossible when she tried to push it open. When she used her magic, she was met with a spark that made her jerk backwards. “Is this door magically protected?” she asked herself, sighing in defeat and looked around to find another way. Rarity squinted her eyes and a broad smile came to her when she saw what looked like a tool box. It became clear to her that Ruby had to do some quick thinking in response to her questioning, and simply ordered her thrown into the first unused room where she would be out of the way enough. That meant no time to double check what was in it. Another plus. She rushed over there, using her magic to empty it out and looking at the tools on the ground until she found what she was looking for. A crowbar. She lifted it up the ground and rushed towards the door, hitting the bar into the opening and pushing hard. This is where I thank Spike for not being there to carry the gems I find! She thought to herself as she used all her brute force to open the door. She heard a crack and soon a hole tore open where she placed the bar’s edge in. Rarity laughed in relief and used her magic to levitate the crowbar through the hole and hitting the door multiple times on the outside until the wooden bar broke. She opened the door successfully and exited the storage room. “What’s that noise?!” Rarity froze and looked up, seeing two shadows in the corner. She looked around and hid herself behind a statue before two guards came marching towards the door. “Buck!” one of the guards yelled out as he stomped his hoof to the ground. “That mare escaped!” “She couldn’t have gotten far,” the other said. “Come on. The sooner we find her, the sooner we get to have our fun.” The tone in the guard's voice on the word “fun” made Rarity’s blood turn cold. There was only one kind of fun that stallion could mean. As soon as they passed, she shot down the hallway in the opposite direction. She had no idea where she was or where she was going. She racked her brain. Shimmering Ruby would have thrown her in a room near where she was captured, she wouldn’t risk getting caught lugging her body through the castle. The direction the guards came from likely was the one where ponies were. She had to find somepony, if not one of her friends, maybe a guard... they couldn’t all be loyal to Ruby. Or could they? No, she couldn’t risk it. No matter how many were loyal to Cadance, she couldn’t take that chance. Not while Amethyst was in danger. She needed to find somepony she could trust. And she needed to hurry. She didn’t know how long she had been out, and he could already be back at the Palace. “Presenting, before Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the last of the crystal unicorns, Amethyst Craft.” Cadance rolled her eyes at the overly formal introductions, but Shimmering Ruby had insisted on it. ‘It’s going to be a memorable day for the Empire,” she said. “Historic, as a matter of fact. You won’t want it to go by without some kind of marker.” Amethyst looked equally unpleased at all the attention as he walked before the thrones, everypony watching him. He could already pictured Pip giving him a hard time, and Silver Spoon... seeing this dragged out was probably making everything harder for her. “I’m glad you could join us up here,” Cadance said. “Are you aware of your position politically, little one?” “I am.” Cadance sighed, relieved at the words Amethyst spoken. This could have gone worse… “Amethyst, as the last of your kind, you are considered a national treasure to the ponies here in the Empire.” “What Princess Cadance means,” Ruby chimed in, wearing a broad smile and her eyes glittering. “Is that you are perhaps the most precious citizen of the empire today.” Precious to my plans! She began to walk up to him slowly. Amethyst felt even more uncomfortable with Ruby’s words and the look she was giving him. The look alone made him quiver. “But,” Shining called out, also making his way to Amethyst. “What Cadance and I were thinking, is that you as a pony should have a choice of where you want to be in life.” Ruby froze, her eye twitching and she turned her head slowly to Shining. Her eyes now burning in frustration but masked in fauxed confusion. “Pardon me Prince, but haven’t we discussed that he ought to remain here for—” “Well, this is something that Shining and I have considered alone,” Cadance cut her off, making her way to her husband’s side. “We cannot simply keep Amethyst here as some trophy when he has established himself in another location with friends and loved ones he has made in the weeks since his awakening.” “But—” Cadance raised her hoof, looking Ruby in the eye to remain silent. She looked down on Amethyst, smiling softly to him. “Even though you are a national treasure, you are just a foal. And as a foal, you deserve to be happy.” “This is of course your decision to make, Amethyst,” Shining said as he also leaned down to the colt’s eye level. “What do you say?” Amethyst was gobsmacked. He had prepared to be removed from Rarity’s care and placed perhaps in the castle or in another’s home in the Crystal Empire. Yet now, here he was given a choice. A choice to either return to his old home or remain in his new home. “Well…” Amethyst gulped, blinking profoundly as he mouthed silently. “I want to be—” “Oh, for the love of Equestria!” Everypony’s head turned sharply to the remark made and saw Ruby charging at Amethyst. She grabbed hold of him and dragged him to the front entrance. “You two!” She pointed to the guards. “Keep the false rulers at bay!” It happened in a flash. Spears pointed at the Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire. Right from the vizier’s proclamation, the pair was already getting to their hooves, but not quick enough to escape entrapment. Twilight was quicker. She ran forward, lighting up her horn, her eyes glowing to match, but Ruby had prepared for her as well. A sharp pain erupted in the back of her head and she went down. A guard stood above her with blood on his blade, the same blood that was darkening Twilight’s mane. Blaze and Rainbow Dash were only slightly slower in reacting, and they were in the air. But before they could go any farther, the guard pressed the blade of his spear on Twilight’s neck. “Another move and I split her neck.” The two stopped moving forward, but they were both shaking with rage. “You...” “On the floor. Get with the others. Now.” They obeyed, although they looked as if they were trying to vaporize Ruby with their looks. “What’s going on here?” Cadance demanded. “What’s going on is I’m reclaiming the Empire for its rightful king! Sombra will live again and take the throne once more!” Two guards surrounded Amethyst, grabbing him by the forelegs and lifting him into the air. “Let me go!” Amethyst yelled. “Let me go!” “There’s only one way you could have survived the Culling is if you carried Sombra’s blood, and it’s that little detail that’s going to be a good for me.” Amethyst stopped cold. “S-Sombra? He’s... he’s my father?” “If he hadn’t been, you’d be dead. He was no fool. He let you live because you were destined to be his heir. Now come on.” Amethyst was too stunned to fight back as he was led away. “Stop! Stop, bring him—” Cadance was cut off by a spear to her stomach. “I think you’d like to remember that it’s not just your life you have to worry about.” Cadance froze, feeling the tip of the spear on her stomach, where her son was too. She looked Ruby and bit her lower lip, glaring daggers at the former vizier. “You won’t get away with this!” “I’d like to see you stop us,” one guard barked at her, spitting on her face. “There’s no way you will get out of here—” The doors burst opened again, revealing Rarity. An enraged Rarity. Her hair looked frizzled and she was grinding her teeth. Her horn looked burnt as she was breathing deeply and giving off a sithing glare to the guards. “Where is he!?” “Great! You let the dog out—” Shining took his chance and charged to the guard keeping his wife at spear point, summoning as much magic to blast the guard to the wall. The wall broke and the guard kept on flying, away from the others. “Why you—” The other was even less fortunate. Rainbow and Blaze came flying at top speeds towards him, using their hind legs to hit him the gut and have him skid away from Twilight. The other guards tried to attack Shining. When they reached him, they were repelled by his magic that formed a shield around him and Cadance. Before they could attempt another attack again; Twilight, Blaze and Rainbow rushed towards them. Blaze’s hooves and wings were now wrapped in fire, which he used to fight the one guard standing the furthest away from the others. “You made a fatal mistake making my fillyfriend bleed,” he spoke calmly, his eyes phasing out before he charged at the guards with his whole body become an inferno. The guard tried to scream out, but an explosion silenced his words as he was now lying on the ground. His whole body bruised with his legs twitching and his coat burnt. He felt Blaze pulling him up with his hoof. He looked at the red stallion with his eyes darting and his lips quivering. “H-How the hay do you—” “Oh? You’re still alive?” Blaze cut him off, leaning his face. “Since you are still alive, why don’t you tell me what that crazy mare wants with Amethyst?” Blaze cocked his brow, seeing the guard’s eyes closing. He was still breathing, but he was unconscious. “Tsk!” Blaze dropped him and turned to Twilight and Rainbow, both victorious from their battles. “You got something from them?” “No…” Twilight sighed in defeat, lowering her head. Blaze only nodded. “I guess we better—” “Look out!” Another guard came dangerously close to Blaze with his spear, catching the pegasus off guard. Before he could reach, his neck was grabbed in a magical collar. The caster being Rarity, who pulled him towards her. “Where is he?” The guard actually seemed a little put off, but it wasn’t out of intimidation. It was more out of surprise. Rarity simply did not look like a mare that would act the way she was acting. “You... you won’t get me to talk,” he said. His voice hardened after the first word. His stunned state was over. Rarity tightened the collar. “I’ll make you talk.” “Go ahead,” the guard said, his voice sounded strained but there was no quaver in his voice. “It doesn’t matter what you do to me, it will be nothing compared to what Sombra would do if I betrayed him.” Rarity considered him for three more seconds. Then she turned to her friends. “Twilight! I need you to do... whatever it was you did to Yellow. Twilight?” “Um... Twilight’s a bit out of comission,” Rainbow Dash said. Indeed, the lavender unicorn was being helped up by her coltfriend, only groaning. “You two,” Shining Armour said, pointing to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, “take her and Cadance, and the foals to our tower.” The pair nodded. “As for finding Amethyst, that’s no problem. I was a guard before I became a Prince after all, and Amethyst was important enough that I took note of his magic signature.” Shining Armor lit up his horn. Within seconds, a thin, wisp like trail appeared in the air, going down the same hallway that Amethyst had been dragged down. “That way, and we better hurry.” Rarity looked at the guard she was still holding for a moment, then slammed him into the floor as hard as she could before running down the hallway. Shining Armor was right behind, and the rest of the group followed. “... wake up. Wake up. Wake up, you little colt!” With heavy eyes and a massive headache, Amethyst lifted his head to see the gleeful eyes of the mare who foalnapped him. Ruby grinned down on her prize as she was looking down on him, licking her lips. “Hope you had a nice rest when we were setting things up here.” Amethyst looked around himself and saw he was in a dark room with books everywhere against the walls, with the window curtains closed and dim candles around him. He found himself bound in rope and felt he was on a stone table. Another thing he saw were a number of crystals around him, all red as blood with one being shattered in front of him. “What are you going to do me, you wretch!” Amethyst squirmed as he tried to get loose from his ropes. having tried and failed to use magic. He could feel a cold sensation on his horn, and saw he was wearing a ring of some sort. “Magical restraint,” Ruby told him plainly, as she finished setting up the last crystal. “Just to make sure you don’t try something funny,” she walked up to two guards who were standing by in front of the door. “You two have this door locked and bolted?” “Locked and bolted, your grace.” Ruby patted the one guard’s head as though he were a puppy. “Good boy,” she walked up to the table, using her magic to lift the shattered crystal into the air and hovering them before her. “Soon my King, you will be amongst us again…” Amethyst continued to struggle to get out. “What are talking about?!” he demanded Ruby to answer him. “What are you going to do with me?!” “I’m just bringing your daddy back, is all.” “What!?” Ruby groaned as she planted her hoof to her face. “King Sombra of course!” “Are you mad!?” Amethyst shouted out as glared at Ruby. “There’s not a chance in Tartarus that monster is my father!” “Then tell me, why did you survive the Culling, boy?” Ruby snarked at him as she a shard of the crystal in a specific place on the table. “Why are you still alive today?” Amethyst tried to spit on her, but he missed. “My mother’s the reason I am still breathing!” “Yes, your mother. One of his Majesty’s concubines obviously. Lucky enough to be bedded by him.” “Don’t talk that way about my mother!” Ruby ignored him, she seemed to be mumbling to herself. “Crystal here, another there... yes, yes, very good...” Amethyst struggled. He tried to put on a brave face, but he failed. He was going to die, he realized. He’d never see Rarity, or Sweetie, or Silver again. He would never get a chance to tell Sweetie that she was like a sister to her, or Rarity that she was like a mother. And Silver... he would never get a chance to make things up to her. Ruby pulled a knife out and placed it on the stand. Amethyst shivered and tried to break free, reaching even deeper into the limited amount of energy he had left. Ruby apparently was simply getting the knife ready, if she planned to use it at all. She continued to circle the stand, placing crystals Amethyst suddenly got an idea. “Wait! Please, I know for a fact Sombra cannot be my father. Tell me, you would recognize one of his concubines if you saw their photo, correct?” Ruby actually looked up. “Perhaps...” “The locket, around my neck. There’s a picture of her in it. That will clear things up.” Ruby considered for a moment, then set her items down and made a reach for the locket. After getting it open, she saw her. “Yes...yes... she wasn’t a concubine necessarily. She was a record keeper, in charge of chronicling His Majesty’s life.” “See! It means...” “It means nothing, boy. If Sombra ordered a mare to bed, she went, regardless of status.” She snickered with a wicked smile. “If any of those mares downstairs live, Sombra could very well bed them all before killing them. Do not distract me.” “No! Don’t hurt them! Please!” “I’d worry more about you,” she told Amethyst as she placed a hoof to his cheek. “This ritual won’t kill you, don’t worry. But Sombra will not be happy at you for trying to delay his return. And believe me, being his son won’t save you. You’ll wish I had killed you, I promise.”