Distasteful, Twilight rose her face from the floor to meet the source of the sound. The intruder, who stood in the stairwell. Luckily, it was not Luna. The voice of this new pony was very unregal. The voice sounded like it was from the south. It reminded Twilight of Applejack. With a scowl, and not wanting to deal with anypony at the moment, Twilight wiped her tears away from her face.
"What.. What do you want.."
Twilight hissed, her voice cracking as she spoke. The pony emerged from the stairwell, and approached Twilight. Twilight had never seen this pony before. She was a dusty blue earth pony mare, with a striped cyan and dark blue mane. She had these neon green eyes, almost the same color as.. Its eyes. Upon looking at this pony, Twilight felt more anger erupt within her. For the mare's sake, she attempted to hold her fury back. This mare was innocent, from what she could tell.
The earth pony laid down only a few feet away from Twilight, brushing away the books to make a little clean spot for herself. The mare sighed, shaking her head in disappointment before locking eyes with Twilight. Twilight had furnaces of malice her eyes, which did appear to worry the mare. By the obvious hesitation before the mare started to talk, Twilight could tell she was scared.
"I know ya are really sad about what happened in the Crystal Empire, but don't take it out on yourself."
The mare started, as Twilight's top lip twitched, threatening to expose her teeth and take an attacking position. The mare stopped, thinking of what to say next, obviously.
"I have a offer for you."
The mare stood up, flicking her tail at the unicorn on the ground. Twilight felt in her gut that something was wrong as soon as that mare turned around. This wasn't a regular mare. She could feel it in her horn. There was magic about this mare. What type of magic it was is a mystery. Being on edge, Twilight's horn flurried. She furrowed her brow and pointed her horn at the mare.
"Join us, and we will take down the king of the north. Also, we won't burn your library down."
The mare continued, turning back around. Twilight looked wide-eyed at the mare. Was she offering to be her ally? Her ally in her time of need? Twilight, for once in what felt like forever, was happy. Overjoyed. She ignored the second part out of her sudden burst in happiness. Twilight gave a quick nod of her head, as the mare smiled. Twilight shot up off the floor, before promptly falling back down, straight onto her face. Regaining her stature, the earth pony mare smiled as well, and gave a swift symbol to follow.
"Do you mind if I pack up my things first?"
Twilight asked, realizing she still had nothing to adventure out with. The mare nodded in agreement before trotting down Twilight's stairs. With a quick levitation spell, Twilight was able to pick out her saddlebag from underneath her still straight bed. From behind her bookshelf, she grabbed a black robe that she thought would be useful. Seeing as the princess told her to hide, that's what she planned to do. Quickly putting on her things, Twilight looked over the disorganized library. It pained her to leave it in the shape it was. This was probably the last time she would ever be here. Twilight said her goodbyes, stashing her old Starswirl the Bearded costume away in one of the library's secret compartments, which she had installed herself.
After she was packed, Twilight clipped the robe's front together with the attached pin, one that was the exact same as her cutiemark. As much as she didn't want to have her cutiemark shown off to everypony around her, giving away her identity, she didn't have any other choice. She didn't exactly have any other black cloaks. Maybe Zecora had some. Lifting up her cloak, she put her saddlebag on underneath her cloak. Her saddlebag was also adorned with her cutiemark.
Once outside her library, Twilight noticed there was an equivalent of a bandit group waiting outside her house. There appeared to be about Twenty or so ponies outside of Twilight's home. They all either wore masks or were wearing hoods that covered their faces in shadows. When Twillight arrived, she scanned the small crowd of ponies for the mare who had previously entered her home, and she was decently easy to find. She was beside that white unicorn stallion with a pure black mane and tail.
"I'm ready to go."
Twilight informed as she stepped infront of the mare. The stallion beside the mare twisted his head to look at the mare as well. The mare scanned over Twilight, giving her a silent evaluation, obviously.
"You got any weapons?"
The stallion asked, he had directed the question towards Twilight. A sort of television reporter voice could be heard from the stallion. He was a bit strange, but it didn't matter to Twilight. She would go with a band of misfits to get rid of the demon of the north. She would do anything to get her friends back. Anything. Twilight pointed to her horn to answer the question, as the southern mare looked over at the stallion, un-amused. Obviously, the element of magic's main weapon was going to be magic. No dur.
"We've gathered intel that there may be an portal that is in the Crystal Empire, hidden away in the deepest depths. We don't know where the portal leads, but if The King finds out about it, he might be able to be anywhere and everywhere effortlessly."
Somehow, the mare had shed her country accent. Twilight didn't know how she did it, but the information she was spouting was very useful. A portal. There were a couple different portals. Some lead to different worlds, and others just teleported you somewhere, with no magical effort from pony or thing entering it.
"A quick question, why aren't you using its full name?"
Twilight asked, as the mare looked positively terrified at the question. Twilight had no idea why. The mare looked at the stallion, in hopes that the masked stallion would answer the question for her, but he just stood there silently. The mare looked back at Twilight. Shaking her head, like she was trying to shake a vision or memory from herself.
"There is a curse on his name, placed there recently, by The King himself. Each time you utter his name, you get the worst visions imaginable."
The mare met eyes with Twilight again, as Twilight could feel the truthfulness in her words. The fear. Twilight dared not to ask if this mare had seen these visions for herself. As she could tell that she probably had. She wouldn't have hesitated so much if she hadn't seen the images. Images that Twilight was now thankful she had not seen again. Twilight had seen her worst fears, back in the crystal empire. Her worst fears were now a reality, thanks to her failure. Also, another thing stuck out to her. Twilight had been referring to The King as an it. Even though it- he was clearly a stallion. A stallion of sorts. He was more like a monster straight from Tartarus. That's probably why she referred to him as an it. Demons did not have a gender.
"It doesn't matter right now. We have to get out of here. We're burning daylight. We need to get to Hollow Shades."
The mare informed. Twilight still did not know this mare's name. Perhaps that was for another day. Taking one last glance back her library, the band of ponies started to move through ponyville, and towards the eastern reaches of Equestria. This would be a long trip, if they were going to be walking there. First, they would have to get past the river that separates ponyville from foal mountain, then over foal mountain, then through a forest, then they would be in Hollow Shades. That's the path they planned on taking. Luckily for twilight, she remembered she had a compass and map of Equestria inside her saddlebag. How convenient.
The path just described seemed like the one they were going to take, seeing as there were a couple rail road tracks in the distance, running over the river. The tracks were placed on a bridge that was extremely old and unstable, but still managed to hold the trains. It wasn't too late to inform of a better path.
"Uh, may I suggest we take a different route? I know there's a better way."
Twilight informed, stopping the group she was currently walking behind. Twilight had pulled out her map, and was currently looking over it.
"We could pass through the Everfree, and through Rambling Rock Ridge. It would land us farther away from the mountain, but it does give us the option to go around the mountain instead of over it."
Twilight informed, levitating her map. The leading mare of the brigade trotted to Twilight and looked at her map.
"This map is decently old. There's a tunnel through Foal Mountain."
The mare replied, pointing at the foal. Twilight blushed in embarrassment, because she had been to Foal Mountain before. She just kinda forgot there was a tunnel through there. So, with no more interruptions, the group of traveling ponies trotted over to the rickety old train track holding bridge in silence. It wasn't too far past here. Maybe, two, three days walk at most. The ponies passed over the bridge with ease, though some seemed a bit more worried to pass over the unstable bridge than others. Most of the pegasi in the group just flew over it as a precaution.
Twilight's adventure was about to begin. An adventure of country-changing proportions. Just after she stepped past this bridge, her life would be changed. For better, or for worse? That is for the spirits watching over her to decide. One hoofstep at a time, Twilight followed the herd of other ponies. This trip would not be fun, that was for sure. She knew no one here, but maybe she would get some new friends, to help fill the void once they stopped for the night. With the sun at about mid-day, Twilight knew they would make it to the tunnel of Foal Mountain before they stopped.
Twilight found herself walking, staring off into the distance blankly as she walked. She was thinking about her friends. Where they were. What they were doing. Wether they were dead or not. That's all she could think of right now. It was a big thing that was stuck in her mind and refused to leave. She thought of Rainbow Dash, the loyal. The brave.
Rainbow Dash refused to let this scene play out. With a beat of her wings, she was soaring up towards the cackling King, who was quick to notice the mare flying towards him. He looked at her with utter confusion. Like he had never seen a flying pony before. It did not matter to him. His platform shifted and covered The heart and The king that now possessed The Crystal Empire's savior. Rainbow Dash banged on the crystal shield, her hooves quickly beaten to a pulp.
"Get outta there, you coward!"
Rainbow Dash cried, taunting the King within the crystal shell he had formed to protect himself. Which to his advantage, was working decently well. Rainbow Dash was relieved, and both frustrated. Rainbow Dash, for once in her life, was truly scared. Truly terrified. It took all of her willpower to force herself to hit this thing that had just been chasing her an hour or so ago. Something that tried to kill her, and had basically rendered Shining Armor's magic useless. The fear of the unknown. Rainbow Dash didn't know what this guy could do. She had no idea. The thin outline that Twilight had given her about this guy didn't comfort her. He was the master of dark magic. From what it had sounded, Dark magic was incredibly powerful, and by the looks of it, it helped this guy seize their only hope.
A sudden crystal pillar smashed into Rainbow Dash, punching her right in the gut, and up into the air. It left her stunned, as she beat her wings in a desperate attempt to get her air back. The crystals shattered and disappeared, leaving the new ruler out in the open. To taunt Rainbow Dash, obviously. His horn flurried with magic, as Rainbow Dash was still trying to get her air back. Once she did, she was immediately shot down.
Her wings burned like they were caught with the sun's fire. Rainbow Dash yelled. Oh boy, did she screech. Her air was taken, as he cyan wing turned to a crisp, burning black from all the crystals on it. Crystals covered her wings. They stabbed through her wings, as they grew and spread through her wings. They hurt. They burned. They smoldered like burning irons. She fumbled in the air, and down. Down to plummet into the crowd, just like Spike had. Within the last few seconds, she found herself glding down, crashing into the now grayish crystal streets.
Twilight hoped that everypony was alright. She wasn't exactly in a place to see what had happened after Spike had left. Rarity had told her that Spike had fallen down into the crowd below, and disappeared after that. She worried for two certain mares, out of all of them. She knew they wouldn't be able to survive in such conditions. Fluttershy, the Kind, shy, and fragile one, and Pinkie Pie, the constantly happy and bubbly mare.
Fluttershy was swift to join Rainbow Dash, tending to her wounds. Rainbow Dash had just stood up to the newest tyrant of the Crystal Empire. Fluttershy looked over the hyperventilating Rainbow Dash, staring at the smoking black crystals that stuck out from Rainbow Dash's wings. Fluttershy had no idea what to do. She was absolutely paralyzed when she looked at Rainbow Dash, who was holding back tears. She was probably in the worst possible pain one could imagine. Pinkie Pie had sped over to Rainbow Dash, slower than Fluttershy had, but she was still here. Fluttershy looked up at the King high above.
Fluttershy could feel something within her ignite. Something guided her into the air, and up towards the platform. Much like the previous encounter with a pegasi, the King simply stared at her like she was an alien. Fluttershy made sure to make her approach nonthreatening. She did not puff up her chest, or stick her hoof out in front of her, threatning to punch him in the snout. Once close enough, Fluttershy stopped her approach, and landed on the platform. The entire empire was silent. Silent with shock that this mare had not yet been killed. As soon as she landed, The King had hissed at her, making her flinch. It did not stop her though.
Fluttershy raised her hoof, and once she did, A crystal spire sprouted right in front of her. Blocking her path. The platform had grown from a one-pony platform to one that could be considered almost stage sized. One big enough for a decent battle. The onlookers below could no longer see what was happening with the two ponies. Stepping around the spire, Fluttershy found herself now only feet from her opponent. With a stern gaze, Fluttershy unleashed her weapon. The stare.
The staring contest went on for a good five minutes. Her opponent breaking slowly. Refusing to move from her gaze, he had tried to light his horn up, but Fluttershy would only harden her stare, causing him to stop. He had placed down the crystal heart, and it was solidly below his hoof. He obviously wanted to keep it.
"How.."
He had whispered to himself multiple times through this staring contest. Inaudible whispers were not Fluttershy's concern. It was time to show this pony what for.
"How dare you scare innocent ponies like that."
Fluttershy started, her vocal onslaught of disappointment was soon to be unleashed. Her opponent had shrunk in size slightly through the entire five minutes. He was a really hard cookie to crumble. Fluttershy could feel her stare twitch and start to burn. Staring for five minutes had burned her eyes. They were extremely dry.
"What would your parents say if I told them about this?"
Fluttershy questioned, now starting to take more steps towards the King. Big mistake. A thin, almost invisible green laser had connected the two's eyes together. Apparently she had been too far away for this green laser to connect to her eyes. The King was obviously relived by this, as Fluttershy's vision changed. She was no longer on the platform. She stood outside her own house.
Her home was burning down. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of animals ran from her home. Some burning alive, even.
Fluttershy screamed, running away from the scene, as she had ripped her eyes away from The King's. She smacked her face directly into the crystal pillar behind her. The King now towered over her, fear in her eyes, she swiftly closed them. Bracing herself. A cold, hard hoof pushed on her neck. Fluttershy could not react to this, as slowly, she could feel her air passage way closing and opening. Like this was cruel joke. Upon opening her eyes, she could see a magical aura strangling her throat. She was then lifted up to the pillar by her throat.
"You will be useful.."
He hissed. His aura now let her go, as crystals formed over her appendages. Basically strapping her to the pillar.
In all her day dreaming of what could be happening to her friends, Twilight bumped into the pony infront of her. They promptly grunted, as Twilight apologized. Twilight looked around at her surroundings. She was now in a sort of dark forest, as ponies spread out, pushing away the bushes, and getting rid of some of the plant life to make a camp. At the northern part of the camp site was a gaping large cave entrance. It was slightly foreboding, as stalactites hung off the entrance, making it look like the mouth of a monster. Or a snake with no bottom jaw. That sounded a bit cruel. After looking about the camp for a bit, she noticed they were lacking a fire.
Twilight ripped a couple sticks and branches off the trees surrounding the camp site, piling them neatly in the center of the camp. Next, she plucked a couple rocks from the surrounding area with her magic, just like she had done with the tree branches. She created a small fire place, circling the rocks around the branches and twigs. With a swish and flick of her magic, Twilight made flames erupt from the fireplace in a gorgeous blaze. She smiled at her work, seeing all the other ponies look at the now operational fire.
Next, it was time to make some friends.