Weakly opening her eyes, the Princess of Equestria finds that she was laying on a cold, hard, reflecting floor that looked like ice. Celestia sits up with a hand on her head, recalling how she got here. She was facing Naugus, she was swallowed by a vortex, and now shes sitting in a crystal world. A crystal empire she knew had nothing on this place at being literal; but it also left a lack of life from this. No plants, flowers, bushes, trees, or even ponies were anywhere in sight of this glassy cold world.
The alicorn princess began a search for something, somepony, anything that might help her at getting out of this world. She walked at a slow pace to observe her surroundings. The mare found crystals in a variety of shapes that formed resembling decorations. Plants, statues, chairs, a castle, stairs, bri-... a castle! Celestia headed for the fortress in hopes of finding some authorities that might have some answers at getting her out of here.
She enters the throne room with wishful thinking but was sadly met with the harsh reality of finding no one there. The princess encouraged herself that someone must be here and begins searching room after room. It seemed pointless with this search, all she was finding was more and more crystals. It came at a little bit of a shock when she found a wooden door in this crystal labyrinth. Her heart starts beating louder with anticipated hope and swings the door open. She enters the room but was only able to find a soft cushy bed settled next to the wall.
"You've got some nerve returning back here, Julian" Celestia's eyes widened and turned when hearing another person. "I said before, 'I want you out of this cas-" the source of the voice stopped mid-sentence when he saw the princess. He wasn't a pony she ever saw before, let alone species. He was a squirrel like 'pony'-oid that had two tones of brown fur. A blue uniform with gold epaulettes surrounded his body along with the black boots that he stood in. His expression was a surprised one, the type that leaves someone frozen with an open mouth and a drooping mustache. He also was holding a candelabra in the air but he slowly placed it down on the ground. "I-I'm dreadfully sorry for frightening you my dear. I never get guest around here you see and the ones who are here are wretched beings." He straiten himself up and takes a deep breath.
"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is King Maximillian Acorn."
Applejack was leading her fellow friend through the wild Everfree Forest in search for the castle ruins. Rarity and Fluttershy followed close behind AJ with Rainbow Dash tailing the end, lost in her own world.
"I wonder if this Chaos Emerald will be in a different color then from the last one?" the meek Fluttershy asked everypony.
"It would be nice if it was actually green like the name it portrays" Rarity complied.
"I think this one might be a golden yellow. It just seems like a good combo in color for the elements of harmony. What color do you think it will be, Applejack?"
"I don't know, haven't really considered that. What about you, Dash?"
"..." Dash was still oblivious to her surroundings.
"Dash" the orange mare snapped her back into reality "what do you think?"
"He's a dweeb!" she lashed.
Applejack turned at the baffled answer "...the color of the jewel?"
"Jewel!" the pegasus became flustered "Oh... um.. color... ah... wha-whatever you said."
"I didn't say a color."
"Oh, then.. hmm... er.... l-l-lets just keep m-moving" she managed to say before flying ahead of the group.
The girls gave a concerned look among themselves before following after Dash. "So any ideas where the gem might be?" The country mare asked.
"Well, Twilight said that it would be surrounded by four column and resting on a pedestal in the center. It would be perfect for the treasury, but something like this might be in a more secluded area" Rarity recalled. "Well, wherever the jewel resides lets just hurry and get this over with."
"What do you mean by that?" the cyan pony flew up to the unicorn's face. "Are you saying I'm slow? You think I'm slow, don't ya? DON'T YA?"
Rarity was slowly pulling back, a look of shock and wonder was on her face from this sudden outburst "No."
Dash flies backwards, doing a hand gesture where she points two fingers at her eyes and then points at the unicorn's eyes with those fingers.
The moments that followed were silent one; all waiting for one of them to question the obvious. The question wasn't really brought up until they finally arrived at the castle, where it was answered before it was asked. Rainbow Dash puffs out her chest and points a thumb to herself "Leave this to me guys, I'll find that gem in no time flat."
Applejack sighed "Dash, you shouldn't go alone, besides-"
"Don't worry, I'm more dependable then any hedgehog could possibly be" and with that, she flew into the ancient fortress.
"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE IT'S AT!!!" Applejack ran after her, hoping she could keep up.
Fluttershy was giving a worried expression at the two stubborn mares "Poor thing, she must feel intimidated by Sonic's arrival."
"They do seem a lot alike" Rarity begins walking into the castle with Shy "They both share the same uncultured traits, can be quite stubborn at times, have strong egos that must be proclaimed and both have a tendency on getting things done at a fast pace."
"Should we try and consult her?"
"No, let it be. This will do her some good."
"It will?"
"Yes. She needs to accept that there are others just like her. Besides, a little competition can always do you some good."
Speaking of the mare, Dash is soaring down the hallways of the old structure. "That stupid rodent may be fast, but he's definitely no Element of Loyalty" she encourages herself before landing. "EVERYPONY WILL SEE THAT I'M STILL THE BEST THERE IS" she yells into the corridor. The vibration of her voice bounces on the walls and responds by dropping a small stone on Dash's head. "Ow... they will see! Now, if I wanted to hide something very important, where would I hide it?" Walking down the hall with a hand on her chin, she crosses a room that might hold the answer. The pegasus double takes and start beaming from her deduction skills "In the bedroom! That's a perfect place!!!"
Rainbow begins her search under the bed "I always cram stuff under here. Garbage, books, albums" but she found was bugs, dust, and webs. "Nothing..." she sits up to view the room and sees a closed French door "...alright then, the closet." Dash jumps up onto her feet and latches her hands on the doorknobs "There's always something hiding in the closet." The doors flew open and Dash was engulfed in a cloud of dust. She coughs and waves the dirt out of the way to find that dresses and shoes were in there. "Not here either..." she squinted her eyes to scan through the dust filled air to find a make-up table. Dash opens the drawers to find a few socks, some make-up, and a brush inside of them. "Where is it?" she slams her fist on the table causing a bit of vibration to the room.
"...Ow!"
Applejack was looking through rooms of the castle in search for her rash friend. She traveled through the Great Hall, she traveled through the Kitchen, and finally took pause in a room with glass bottles stacked on wooden racks. "Darn that girl, she would fly through a thunderstorm just to inflate that over-sized head of hers" she murmured before leaning against one of the racks of the room. She scanned her surroundings to come up with the conclusion that she was in the Bottlery. "Hmm... I wonder" Jackie picked up one of the bottles and wipes the dust off the brand name "Ha! I knew it! Sweet Apple Acres' Cider" she smiled at her family's brand.
"Wonder if it's still consumable?" AJ looked over the room once more and found a cork screw. "Alrighty then" she twisted the metallic helix into the rubber plug and pulled with all her might, but it wouldn't budge. "Stubborn little rascal, aren't ya?" Jackie messaged her arm before making another attempt. She gritted her teeth and groaned at removing the top, but it gave little response from the cork. AJ wouldn't let up and continues her struggle. She shifts her body into various poses, her arms steadily begin to shake from the pressure she puts into her attempts.
The cork soon escaped from the glass container with a popping sound and a stream of cider following it. "Whoops" Applejack embarrassingly said, lucky enough to avoid drenching herself with the beverage "guess I shook the bottle a bit too much." She peers into the bottle and sees theirs still some left in it. Jack tilts the bottle just enough for the liquid inside to reach her lips. Her eyes dilated when she sipped in a bitter taste from the bottle; she responded by spitting it out. "CONSARNIT! It fermented!" Jackie recoiled backwards from the drink "Smells worse than rotten eggs bathed in vinegar." She tries to rid the taste from her mouth by shaking it off. She bumps into one of the old wooden racks and a shelf from the furniture breaks; dropping the bottles that it held. Applejack took quick actions and grabs as many bottles as she could before the fell. The attempt at catching soon became overwhelming as the other shelves soon broke from the increased weight. The bottles where rattling and shacking about. It didn't take long for AJ to realize that this situation was about to get worse.
"Ah oh..."
Rarity and Fluttershy have been searching the castle together and found themselves walking down a strange hallway where there were stone hands holding torches. A look of frustration was etched on Rarity's face while she walked down the corridor.
"What a strange hallway" the pegasus said softly.
"Must be the 'Place of Arms'" Rarity joked.
As they traveled, Fluttershy noticed a perfectly shaped hole in the wall. "Rarity" she ran up to it "Do you think the Chaos Emerald might be back here?"
The unicorn shook her head as she walked by "No that's an Oubliette; a small room for prisoners to die in because they fell through a trap door." The yellow belly mare jumped back from the wall with a shriek. "Frankly, I've been having some trouble at getting any signal of a Chaos Emerald in here. I don't even think theirs one here."
"Don't say that Rarity" Fluttershy encouraged her friend "we still haven't found the alter after all. The gem should be located there right?"
"Yes" she smiled at the reassurance "but where could an alter be in this old place?"
As the two girls continued the journey, a familiar sound started to get louder and louder. It was... ranting... ranting of two hot headed mares.
Rarity and Fluttershy reached the room with the bickering fillies. The room they were standing in was large in height and length. It had a vibe that told this place was a ceremonial place that held rituals of some sort. No doubt this was a chapel. At the side of the room, Rainbow Dash was arguing with Applejack about something trivial. Rarity caught a strange odor coming from Applejack that just smelled awful. "What are you girls arguing about?"
Applejack glanced at the two mares entering for a second before returning to her current frustration. "We ain't arguing. I'm just scolding her for barge-in in here without us"
"I said I would get the gem. What? You think I can't do it?" Rainbow scowled.
Rarity gave her opinion "We all know that you can do it by yourself dear, but we should stay together. You can't just go into some ancient castle just so you can show off."
"Show off?" she snorted to the remark "I'm not showing off. I know I'm awesome."
Then Fluttershy spoke up "You've been showing some kind of grudge against Sonic, so you might be trying to prove that your awesome because you... um... feel... threatened."
"I'm not threatened by that RAT!" Dash stomps her foot on the floor, causing a vibration to the room. "...Ow!" a stone from the ceiling fell on her head. Dash snatches the rubble and attempts to strangle it "I HATE THIS PLACE!" then she hurls the stone at the wall. The wall was dented and begins to crumble apart; forming a cloud of dust from the collapse.
When the dust cleared, the girls found another room behind the debris. The room had a small broken shrine with four column spread apart to form a square and a pedestal in the center. This new room is called an Oratory, a small chapel used by the royal family to pray in privacy.
The girls entered the small shrine and found that the pedestal which hold the Chaos Emerald; was barren.
"Where is it?"
"Do you think somepony got to it first?"
"Like who?" They looked at each other for any ideas, but none of them had a clue.
"What do we do now, Twilight is counting on us to find the emerald."
"What are we going to tell her?"