The Crystal Empire...arguably the most beautiful area of Equestria, with Canterlot as a close second if not the best. This empire has been safe for months now. After King Sombra returned and was defeated, the crystal ponies have been living their lives in peace. Although the recent weekly snowstorms are the worst weather since Sombra's rule, the crystal ponies continue to go about their lives in freedom and peace. One particular stallion is quite interested in the strange weather as he steps up to the Crystal Palace.
Standing still, the stallion simply stared at the palace as if it would produce an answer. He scanned the massive building and eventually looked towards the top. Glancing past the building, he noticed something strange about the weather. The snowstorm's clouds, which were surrounding the entire empire, were swirling together high in the sky. The entirety of the clouds looked like a swirling dome that has formed around the Crystal Empire. As the stallion looked upon this phenomenon, he smiled.
"Right, well if she brought me here, then something interesting must be happening." The stallion turned his attention back to the empire. He saw crystal ponies shopping, playing, and enjoying their day. He continued to smile as he started walking through the streets.
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"Tell me again why we left Ponyville," Rainbow asked, still trying to fathom Soren's decision. Soren sighed. This was the third time he had to answer Rainbow Dash's question. The couple was currently flying across Equestria, mostly in a random direction.
"We left because evil seems to be attracted to me," Soren answered. "Wherever I go, villains or bad things are always around the corner. I'm hoping it will stop eventually, that way I can return home. But you...you could return at anytime, so why stay with me?" Rainbow Dash scowled at him. The answer should have been obvious.
"Because you're my coltfriend," Rainbow said. "I'm not gonna let you travel around by yourself. Besides, I know you want to relax, and I know the perfect place to visit."
"Oh? And where is that?"
"The Crystal Empire! It's awesome over there. There are crystal ponies that live there, and they have this cool-looking palace that's also made of crystals." Rainbow Dash was actually getting pumped just by talking about it. Soren chuckled at this.
"So basically, everything is made of crystals, except the plants I'm guessing?"
"There are probably plants made of crystals too."
"Sounds like a good place to visit, especially since I've never been there. Lead the way." Soren looked towards the sky and noticed the sun slowly starting its descent onto the horizon. "Actually, let's stop at the nearest town to get some food and some sleep."
"Sounds better than my plan to just wing it there in one trip." The two continued to fly until they found a resting point.
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The Next Day
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The stallion investigating the Crystal Empire's weather stood near the blizzard's cloud cover at the edge of the empire. He made a face of thinking and concentration as he constantly stared at it. Eventually, he decided to walk straight through the clouds. Pretty soon, the pony was surrounded in grey clouds and cold winds. They didn't bother him, but they made him much more curious as he stepped out of the clouds. What he saw next amazed and shocked him. He was still in the Crystal Empire but in a completely new area!
"So walking straight through the clouds causes one to teleport to a random point on the edge of the city," the stallion thought aloud. "This is definitely turning into an interesting trip." His thoughts were soon cut off by a curious sight that he saw out of the corner of his eye. In the sky, he saw two pegasi that just flew through the cloud dome. He could see that they weren't crystal ponies, so he deducted that these two were new visitors. Curiosity got the better of the stallion as he decided to run through the empire just to meet them.
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Soren and Rainbow Dash finished flying through some nasty cloud cover and finally arrived at the Crystal Empire.
"Sweet Celestia, that weather back there was horrible," Rainbow Dash moaned as they continued flying. "Even I wouldn't like to fly through that again."
"This trip is amazing so far," Soren said sarcastically. "We must have arrived during some bad weather." The two of them flew to the center of town before landing. Although the clouds held a rough blizzard, it was simply snowing inside the empire. Upon entering the empire, the first sight Soren saw was the massive crystal palace Rainbow described to him. 'That place is huge,' Soren thought. He looked around at the homes and buildings of the area. Already he was impressed.
"You were right, Rainbow." She looked towards him as they landed in front of the castle.. "This place is amazing."
"Heh, I told ya. Maybe we'll get to see Shining Armor and Princess Cadence."
"Who?" Rainbow Dash face-hoofed.
"I forgot. You had amnesia, so you don't know about them, plus we never really talk about them anyway. Shining Armor is Twilight's brother and captain of the Royal Guard. Princess Cadence is Twilight's old foul-sitter and princess of the Crystal Empire. The two of them got married awhile back."
"Haha, talk about love at...first..." Soren was laughing but saw something out of the corner of his eye. He trailed off to get a closer look at the object. He took a few steps forward. "Rainbow Dash..."
"What's the matter? See something amazing?"
"I guess you can say that. Look." Soren pointed a hoof, and Rainbow trailed it to see a very familiar object. The two of them continued to stare at it, shocked. The TARDIS was sitting on the side of a road that led to the Crystal Palace. After giving each other a look, they walked up to the blue box. As they stood in front of it, Soren looked worried. "You don't think Twilight followed us, do you?" Soren asked. Rainbow shook her head.
"None of our friends would do that, but I'm really curious to know how it's here. Let's go inside." Soren agreed with her. He pushed on the door and discovered that it was unlocked (or the TARDIS simply recognized him as the Doctor). Being a gentlecolt, Soren ushered Rainbow to go first. Rainbow Dash stepped inside, and just as Soren was about to follow her, a voice yelled at them.
"STOOOOOP!!!" Soren froze, then the TARDIS doors slammed shut. Rainbow Dash immediately started pounding on the doors to be let out. Soren turned to look at the pony who yelled at him. His eyes widened as a familiar stallion ran up to him. The stallion had a brown mane, a chestnut brown coat, and an hourglass for a cutie mark.
"Doctor?" Soren asked in disbelief as the Time Lord stopped in front of him. The Doctor caught his breath and looked a little surprised.
"Oh, have we met?" the Doctor asked. "Don't think we have. Anyway, let's get your friend out of—" The Doctor couldn't finish his sentence since the TARDIS started to vanish right before their eyes. Within a few seconds, Rainbow Dash and the TARDIS were gone. Soren and the Doctor looked at each other.
"So what's the problem this time?" Soren asked.
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The Future
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An armored pegasus was doing his weekly scouting of a quiet area of the Crystal Empire. He heard a strange noise a few seconds ago and was now looking for the origin of it. The Crystal Empire houses many strange noises and sounds since The Arrival, but this particular one was different. The pegasus soon heard a door creaking open. 'Gotcha' was his only thought as he swiftly, and silently, flew towards the noise. Minutes later, he saw a sight that irked him. 'Stupid bandits.'
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The 'whirr'-ing of the TARDIS could be heard clearly in the silence that was the Crystal Empire. After the blue box landed, Rainbow Dash immediately stepped outside. She gasped as she looked upon a destroyed Crystal Empire. Small craters were dotted across the land, destroyed buildings had portions of their respective foundations missing, and the sky was grey with strong winds blowing. The place was now grim and dirty. Rainbow spent a few minutes walking through the horrible land.
"What the hay happened here?!" she gasped. "How long was I gone?"
"Not long enough to escape from me," said a mysterious voice. A pegasus swooped down and slammed into Rainbow Dash, knocking her away. As she got up from the blow, Rainbow scanned her assailant. The pegasus was bigger than her and was wearing metal armor and a metal helmet that looked fairly hard to see out of. The armor itself looked old or partly destroyed; she assumed it was self-crafted. Dash couldn't see his face, but she could see two weapons slung onto his back. Rainbow couldn't make out what they were, for they were in their holsters.
As Rainbow looked at the attacker, he jumped in air to attempt to slam onto her. She pushed away from the spot she was at then took to the sky. Rainbow launched herself at the armored pegasus and punched him. Although the strike slightly hurt Rainbow, it sent her opponent rolling backwards, but he quickly recovered. He drew a knife from one of the holsters and threw it at the mare. She flew into the air, causing the blade to completely miss her, yet as it continued on its path, the knife became surrounded in magical aura. As Rainbow noticed this, the stallion flew up, grabbed her, and brought her to the ground. As Rainbow Dash was pinned to the ground, surprised beyond belief, the knife appeared next to the armored 'pegasus' and was now pointing straight at Rainbow.
Looking into the defeated mare's eyes, the stallion seemed to hesitate. He tilted his head, and upon realizing something, backed away quickly. Rainbow Dash stood up and stared at her attacker. He took his helmet off, and Rainbow Dash nearly collapsed from disbelief as she looked at her old friend. He was a white alicorn with a black mane and green eyes. His coat was dimmer than usual and his mane was scruffy.
"S-Soren?" Rainbow Dash whispered in disbelief.