//------------------------------// // Chapter 14. From Renaissance... // Story: Resuscitatio Artium Magicarum // by Xomniac //------------------------------// For the longest time, time stood still. Scholar and his entourage glared at the Equestrians, victory and pride present in their eyes. The Equestrians stared at the Academics, dread, fear and confusion in theirs. The Crystal Ponies formed a ring around them, waiting with baited breath for something to happen. Finally, Scholar crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Nothing? Really? Come on, I spent the past week setting that line up.” Shining Armor gaped at him in shock, shaking his head in denial. “I- how!?”  Cadance, though tired and drained of energy, managed to give her husband a sad glance. “Shiny...” “Just- how the hell did you do all of this!? How is-!?” He was cut off by a raised wing. “Shiny...” Cadance repeated more forcefully. “Enough... It’s already done... all he’s going to do...” “Is gloat?” Scholar asked innocently. “An excellent idea! I do love a good bit of exposition anyways! But first!” He popped a finger up. “We should go and get dear Twilight! I do loathe repeating things. Gilda would you-?” Gilda smirked eagerly, crouching as she spread her wings before taking off in a bolt of black lightning. There was a huge crash of breaking glass followed by the black lightning returning. The lightning dissipated, revealing the griffon to be clutching the struggling purple unicorn in her talons. Twilight was trying desperately to get out of Gilda’s grip but the black-clad talon wrapped around her horn was somehow disrupting her magic. “G-grah!” She growled, purple lightning dancing around her horn. “Let me gugh! GO!” “You asked for it!” Gilda smirked. She heaved her arms back and tossed Twilight through the air like a sack of flour. Twilight flailed her hooves frantically as she sailed through the air. Remembering her magic, her horn lit up... And was promptly extinguished when a green stone hand caught hold of it. Twilight tried to struggle again, but promptly froze when a red blade pressed itself against her throat. “Hiya, main course!” Null chuckled grimly. “Say, settle an argument for us, wouldja?” Nix asked innocently. “What would be better as your topping? Ketchup?” “Or salsa?” Twilight groaned as she clenched her eyes shut. “For the record, I actually felt sorry for you little trolls when I heard that you were supposedly dead.” “Awww, how sweet!” “Just for that, we’ll make sure you’re unconscious when we run you through!” Twilight rolled her eyes. “How generous.” “We know!” “From us, that’s downright charitable!” “So!” Scholar clapped his hands together. “Now that we’re all together, any questions for us, your highness?” He asked Cadance, his voice dripping with false sweetness. The Alicorn stared at him quietly for a second before sighing and nodding her head. “Yes. Just how long has Sombra been dead? At a guess, I’d say since you got here, am I right?” The human tilted his head smirking imperiously. “Not even close. By my estimates, dark and gruesome kicked the bucket about...” He held up a hand and snapped his fingers in front of Iron Will. The minotaur tilted his head in thought for a second before nodding definitively. “Four hundred and thirteen years ago.” Scholar nodded with pride. “Ex-actly! Nice work!” The Equestrians gaped in shock. “Wha-!?” Rarity sputtered. “But how on E-Mundus!” She altered hastily when six sets of eyes glared at her simultaneously. “Did he die!?” The Rune Keeper bowed his hooded head as he chuckled grimly. “I was actually lying when I riffed on Celestia’s means of imprisonment. She did just fine. See, when she locked Sombra beneath the ice, she reduced him to nothing more than a soul. In his prison, Sombra was preserved. More than preserved, in fact. Whilst imprisoned, he was able to gorge himself on the magic from the ley lines, becoming more and more powerful every day. If he’d ever gotten out, he’d have been a god. But there was one problem, one fact preventing this, wasn’t there Cadance?” Attention shifted to the pink princess, who stared at Scholar for a second before nodding her head. “His soul wasn’t ready.” “Indeed!” Scholar concurred enthusiastically. “See, for all his power and for all his experience, Sombra’s soul just wasn’t ready for such an expanse of time. Now, me or Chrysalis, or even you could survive that easily enough. We’re effectively immortal, so we’d just sit there and wait. But Sombra?” He tutted sadly as he shook his head. “Powerful, yes, but mortal. Which means that after an effective amount of time, his soul would have...” He raised an arm and pointed at Twilight. “Pop quiz, Sparkle. Time plus mortal soul, what’s the end result?” The unicorn glared at him evenly. “Why?” The human shrugged. “Skill and knowledge first and foremost, I’m curious about what you know.” He met her gaze coolly. “If you need any incentive, remember that the golem holding the blade to your throat is very loyal to me.” Twilight paled drastically as her mind began running a mile a minute. She darted her eyes back and forth before swallowing heavily. “That much time... his soul... dissolved?” Scholar tilted his head at her before sighing and shaking his head. “Not quite...” Twilight looked like she might have a heart attack, whimpering in fear as Nix and Null chuckled malevolently. “But!” Scholar interrupted. “Close. Very close. An understandable mistake too. See, under normal circumstances, you'd be right. An unprotected and unprepared soul left alone? Some take days, others months, years, even centuries, but they all fade, dissipating into pure magic and returning to the world. “ “But Sombra!” He stuck his finger up to emphasize his point. “Sombra was different. Sombra was imprisoned in a one-way magic funnel. So when he faded, he became a pocket of his evil, tainted magic. And all those ley lines with all that magic? They just kept feeding and feeding that magic, making the pocket grow and grow. And as it grew, the magic interacted with the ice, changing it. Transmuting it.” “I-Into what?” Fluttershy asked. Gilda chuckled as she held her gauntlet-clad talon up. “Into this. These crystals aren’t just a fashion statement. They’re pure, undiluted black magic. Carved straight from Sombra’s long dead and bloated fractal corpse.” Iron Will grunted in agreement. “Which we found within hours of our arrival.” -o- “Scholar! Scholar, respond! We’ve found something!” “Yeah?” Scholar muttered. “What a coincidence. So have we.” He, Iron Will and the Twins were in an ice cave, staring at what they’d discovered. They’d spent the past two hours tracking what they’d sensed and it had led them to a fissure in the ice that stretched deep underground, leading to where they were. The group was awestruck at what they’d found. Arrayed before them was a cavern. A massive gallery, composed of black crystals, stretching deep under the tundras. Occasionally, sparks of black lightning flickered between the jagged spires, dancing a mad, free-spirited dance. The crystals simply radiated power. Even from where the Academics were positioned they could feel it. Magic, twisted and warped, but simply... awe-inspiring. “Holy...” Nix breathed. “Crap...” Null finished. Iron Will shook his head in awe. “This is...incredible...” “Yeah? Well this is urgent!” -o- “Once I heard about the Crystal Heart, a plan formed in my mind.” Scholar stated. “First and foremost, I had Iron Will mine out a considerable amount of the dark crystal, and transport it into Vitrum. Once there, he used it to forge the armor that Trixie and Gilda are wearing, as well as line a base of operations with the stuff. “Meanwhile, I stayed at the source with Nix and Null,” He held out a hand, into which the red golem eagerly dropped the large war horn he’d been handling. “And carved this. I call it the Horn of Sombra. A potent artifact, capable of altering normal  magic into dark magic, and delivering copious amounts of pain.” Shining Armor’s eyes widened as he stared at the Golems in horror, realization hitting him like a train. “I-it was you...” He whispered. “You were the ones who attacked us! Who slaughtered my men!” Nix giggled giddily, “Guilty!” “Psh!” Her brother scoffed. “Guilty nothing, we were eager to kill something!” “You see,” Scholar continued. “The point of this entire thing was misdirection. The magic in the dark crystals is potent, and obscures all other magic with it’s own trace, as well as protecting us from harmony. Using the Horn, Nix and Null were able to put on the charade of being the dreaded King Sombra, striking your men down left and right, and convincing you that the usurper had returned.” Twilight bared her teeth angrily. “And when all hope was lost, who else would come to save the day but the brave and courageous Scholar?” She asked sarcastically. The aforementioned human took a dramatic bow. “Please, do not forget my valiant assistant Iron Will! He was a great help.” Iron Will chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Awww, not a problem.” “But either way, yes, you are correct. I staged the rescue, taking the opportunity to discretely pass the Lexicon to Nix. This served the dual purpose of allowing her to propagate the Sombra illusion across the entire tundra, and lowering how much of a threat I was in your brother and sister-in-law’s eyes. After that, it all fell into place. Trixie used the power provided by the crystals to mask her and Gilda’s presence in the city, as well as cast an extremely powerful illusion to block out any and all pre-Sombra memories the Crystal Ponies might have, whilst Gilda scoured Vitrum unmolested.” Scholar narrowed his eyes at Twilight. “And then you came, and forced me to up the ante. I faked the blight crystals so that my threat level would lower even further, and plastered your brothers horn with real blight crystals so that he would be out of the picture as well. The way I saw it, one of two things would happen: either Gilda would find the Heart and I could dispose of you all discretely, or Nix and Null would force their way into Vitrum, ransack it and take the heart themselves. A win-win situation.” “But me and Twilight found the heart first!” Spike exclaimed, jabbing his thumb at his chest. Gilda clenched her talons at the reminder, bowing her head in shame. “So what?” The griffon whipped her head up to stare at Scholar in shock. The human continued undeterred. “Who cares who found the Heart? The end result is that we have it. And for the record, you couldn’t have found it without Gilda’s good work.” Gilda turned her head away timidly, a blush showing through her feathers. Twilight blinked in confusion. “Wait. wha-?” Scholar snorted incredulously. “Please, do you really think that a library in an empire founded by a bookworm like me would lack any defenses? Or that an accomplished mage like Sombra would leave the path to the Heart undefended? The only reason you got to the Heart was that you were following in Gilda’s footsteps, nothing more and nothing less. If you hadn’t, well... let’s just say I’m relieved you did.” The captive unicorn stared at him in shock, trying to process what she had heard. “I... well, thank you Scholar, that’s-” “After all, this is my place now. Do you have any idea of how hard it is to get stains out?” “Aaaaand there’s the other horseshoe.” Scholar chuckled. “I try. Well!” He clapped his hands together. “I think that’s everything, so on to the next phase of my dastardly plan!” The last part was heavily dramaticized and over-emphasized. Rainbow Dash scowled as she rubbed futilely at her eyes, trying to dispel the feeling of immense liquid nitrogen and molten magma being simultaneously poured into her sockets. “Oh yeah?” She growled as she blinked owlishly. “And what would that be?” Scholar’s smirk became predatory. His grimoire snapped open in his hand, runes flowing out and around him. The crystals composing the cage containing the Crystal Heart flashed as they turned inwards, black lightning dancing along their points. “Well, it starts with this.” The runes halted their movement, the crystals lit up with black lightning... And the Crystal Heart shattered. Cadance’s eyes snapped wide in shock. “NOOOO!” She shrieked, struggling desperately against Shining Armor’s renewed grip. The Elements and Spike stared in horror as the fragments of the diamond flew about. The onlooking Crystal Ponies gasped in shock and awe, murmurs and whispers running far and wide throughout the crowd. Applejack, who had been helping to support Rainbow Dash, blinked in surprise as something registered with her. She raised her head and scanned the crowd. Rainbow Dash grunted in surprise at the loss of contact. “Something wrong?” The cowpony swallowed heavily. “Hopefully nothin’, otherwise... we might be in some serious manure.” Cadance gasped for breath for a second before growling and attempting to lunge at Scholar, once again being restrained by her husband. “You bastard!” She screeched. “You damn low-life bastard! Do you know what that was!? Do you know how much t-time and effort- it was a work of art! And you just- just...” “Destroyed it?” Scholar asked innocently. “I did. A shame, for like so many artifacts before it, it was both elegant yet fully capable of killing me and those I care for. But hey!” His glasses flashed as his smirk became even more malicious. “No worries. Remember that old saying I brought along with me to this world!” His runes flowed along the ground, interacting with the fragments. Slowly, they glowed and lifted into the air, floating above the crowds. The Equestrians watched with awe and the Academics watched with ill-suppressed glee. “Waste not, want not!” The crystal fragments shot into the remnants of the cage. The crystals crunched and ground into each other, dust swirling into complex shapes and runes illuminated the entire arrangement like a tiny, shining cloud that grew in size as the crunching and grinding became a hissing sound before it rose into a chiming as the transformation began to reach it's end. Arrays blanketed the crystalline mass before there was a final flash of light. The dust and light cleared, and the onlookers gasped in awe. Floating before scholar was a large crystal cube, its sides each a yard long. The cube was composed of smaller cubes, twenty seven in all. The crystal was multihued, flickering and morphing through a wide spectrum of colors. Occasionally, the sides flipped at ninety degree angles one way or another in a seemingly random manner. Runes and magic swirled around the cube in an ethereal aura. The glyphs flowed along the smaller cubes, sometimes flashing and shifting. The cube seemed to simply exude energy. Twilight swallowed heavily as the arcane magic washed over her. “What... is that?” Scholar’s expression shifted, going from a smug smirk to a content grin. “This... is a masterpiece. One that I started designing about a week or so before everything went to hell. I worked on finishing it the whole week I was here. This... is the Crystal Matrix.” Scholar’s smirk renewed tenfold. “Now, here’s how things are going to work out.” He snapped his hand out, sending a flurry of runes flying past the Equestrians. The crowd parted as the snowflake-shaped design in the center of the plaza lit up. A pair of crystal spires began growing, one from the ground and another from the bottom of the citadel above. The two stopped their movement with their points a little more than a meter apart. “That is the central node for Vitrum’s main communication array.” He explained “By plugging the Matrix into it, I can tap into the rest of the city’s systems and reawaken them. From there, I’ll have complete control of every inch of this place. And no, Twilight,” he cut her off, seeing her disbelieving look. “That is not an exaggeration. Vitrum wasn’t unconquerable for nothing, back in the day being an enemy of the state in this city was literally not a viable tactical option.” “So!” Gilda clapped her talons together eagerly. “Any questions before we finish owning your dweeb-asses?” “Yes...” Cadance growled, slowly extricating herself from Shining Armor’s grip and shakily rising to her hooves. Her horn sputtered and flashed for a second before fully igniting. “What the hell makes you think that I’m going to let you get that thing anywhere near that node?” The Magisters narrowed their eyes, preparing to fight... but were halted by Scholar raising his hand. The human frowned at the Alicorn. “Cadance... why are you acting like this? So devoted, so earnest... you’re on your last legs, and you know it. Even back in the old days you never went this far.” Cadance flared her nostrils. “What happened to Concordia was a mistake. A horrible, horrible mistake that I truly regret. Ever since those years, all along those two millennia, there have only been three things that I have taken pride in. The first is my marriage with my husband.” Shining Armor couldn’t help but to smile. “The fact that I was able to help a young foal grow into a beautiful, intelligent mare.” Twilight’s eyes widened, pride filling her to the brim. “And lastly...” She turned her head to gaze out over the crowd. “This city. The Crystal Empire was my home. I sealed the majority of it and mutilated it because it was the only way to keep from drawing any attention, to make Vitrum’s threat seem minimal. The troops that were positioned here? They were nothing compared to those that were elsewhere. I’m not saying that things were perfect, but I did my best to alleviate things. I tried my best to make sure that the witch hunts Celestia insisted on performing for members of the Academia rarely turned up any results. I protected my citizens, I kept them safe! I even tried my best to give them as much comfort as I possibly could!” Throughout her tirade, Cadance’s voice had been rising and becoming more determined. “It wasn’t perfect, I know that! I know that it doesn’t excuse what I did! I know that I can never make up for it but damn if I haven’t tried! I have done horrible things, but the cost has never been worth it! The constant nightmares, the memories of the consequences of my choices, the relentless thought in my head that I could have done better, that I should have done better!” She breathed heavily, her mane shadowing her face. “But nevertheless...” She continued quietly, her voice naught but a whisper. “The Crystal Empire... was my home. The Crystal Empire was one of the few jewels I could find in this self-inflicted hell that I’ve been living. I already failed it once when Sombra overthrew me...” Cadance raised her head to meet Scholar’s gaze, an inferno of determination blazing in her eyes. “I’ll die before I let you take it away from me again.” For the longest time, the two stared at each other unflinchingly, testing their wills against each other. Finally, Scholar sighed and bowed his head. “Your determination is admirable. But...” He looked back up at her again, his glasses glinting. “That’s not going to be enough to stop me. Besides,” He smirked confidently. “I’ve got a plan.” “Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash growled, flaring her wings as she glared straight ahead. “Just try it!” “...” “What? You got nothing to say?” “Erm... Rainbow Dash, darling?” “Yeah Rarity?” “You’re... speaking to Twilight.” “DAMN IT TRIXIE, STOP MESSING WITH MY EYES!” The blue unicorn snickered to herself. “Anyways!” Scholar continued. “I, as always, have a plan for getting past you dopes.” “And that would be?” Cadance demanded. “Well you see...” He started, wringing his hands together. “It starts with- NOW!” He roared at the Golem Twins. Acting on cue and before anyone could realize what was happening, Nix hurled Twilight at the Equestrians and Null grabbed the Matrix, both flying straight towards their goal. Cadance blinked in shock for a second before hastily grabbing Twilight with her magic and setting her on the ground. She then tried to blast the red golem with a bolt of energy. Null spun around the attack, tossing the cube to his sister. Rainbow Dash tried to take off and grab them, but was evaded with ease. Applejack also put up a valiant effort, trying to lasso the pair, but was rewarded with her rope being cut to ribbons. Reaching the spires, Nix tossed the Crystal Matrix into the open space, where it hung spinning in the air. They then sped back over to Scholar’s side. Thinking quickly, Applejack reared up on her forelegs, lashed out with her back hooves... SLAM! “OW! CONSARNIT!” And hollered in pain when they slammed into a barrier of glyphs. “Nice try!” Nix taunted. “But there’s no way we’d leave such an important access point unguarded!” Null finished. Cadance shook her head, trying to clear the fog from her mind. “I...it doesn’t matter...” She muttered half-heartedly. “You still need... a spark to integrate it... and the only way... is for the Empire’s citizens to be happy...” Scholar stared at her deadpan for a second before raising his hand and snapping his fingers.Trixie grinned eagerly, her horn lighting up in a dark purple aura. Seconds later, the crystal floor began lighting up as magic flowed into the Crystal Matrix. Twilight’s ears lowered as she watched the Matrix begin to rotate rapidly. “Oh minotaur shit...” The Rune Keeper puffed out his chest with pride. “Excellent work, Trixie! A fine illusion indeed,  and so rapid too!” The unicorn illusionist’s pupils dilated as she darted her eyes back and forth. “Um... er... riiiiight.” Upon hearing her hesitant tone, her friends and comrades snapped their attention to her. “Trixie...” Nix started. “What aren’t you telling us?” Her crimson brother finished nervously. “Well...” Trixie rubbed her shoulder nervously. “The...Confused and Confounded Trixie... hasn’t exactly... cast her spell yet.” Iron Will and Gilda’s eyes bulged incredulously. “What!?” They hissed incredulously. Scholar’s head whipped around and scanned over the crowd. “But how...” His eyes widened in realization. He then began to shake and shudder. Nix and Null floated over his shoulder hesitantly. “Scholar...?” “Is everything alright?” Scholar shook even more violently, threw his head back, and... “HAHAHAHAHA!” Promptly sent the two of them reeling when he burst into uproarious laughter. The twins blinked in unison. “What the-!?” They demanded in unison. Scholar’s only response was to laugh harder, slapping his hand over his eyes as he cackled. “HAHAHAHAAA! IT NEVER FELL!” He gasped, tears of joy streaming out from between his fingers. “EVEN AFTER ALL THAT TIME! ALL THOSE YEARS! IT! NEVER! FELL!” Gilda gave the Twins a bemused look. “Do you have any idea what the hell he’s going on about?” They shook their heads in response. “Nope.” “Not even the foggiest.” Finally, Scholar stopped laughing as he sighed contentedly as he leaned back forwards, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath. “I’ll... I’ll tell you soon enough... For now...” He smirked as he eyed the glowing cube that was spinning rapidly. “Let’s put this place under... new management.” The Lexicon snapped open in a flash, runes pouring out of it in an arcane torrent, shifting and rearranging into array after array. The Matrix’s rotation sped up until the cube was naught but a blur. Finally, the cube shattered, the smaller cubes flying out of the plaza in a blur of light. The remaining cube’s radiance could be equated to that of a small star. Scholar glanced back at his assistants. “Ready?” The Twins nodded eagerly. “Ready!” The Rune Keeper flicked his hand hand from his book to the pair, sending a flurry of glyphs at the two. When it struck them, the two jerked for a second, their eyes flashing with energy before they somewhat snapped to attention. Their hands floated before them, fingers splayed and ready. Runes formed arrays directly beneath their fingertips and several screens of glyphs with data shifting at break neck speeds appeared before them. Their fingers moved at blinding speeds, typing on the runeboards and flicking through streams of information. Nix and Null spoke in chorus, their voices devoid of emotion. “Connecting to Vitrum Maintenance Networks. Standby... Connection established. Warning: Networks in critical disrepair. Warning: Environmental hazard detected. Foreign energy signature identified as hostile, inhibiting Rune Networks and negatively affecting residents. Activating Environmental Protection Arrays.” Runes flowed along the crystal roads, lighting them up once anew in an arcane light. “Commencing environmental purge.” The light in the streets shifted to a dark red, flaring up and out of the crystal and into the air in a blinding inferno of magic. The very air burned like oil on water. This went on for a full minute before the light receded. The ponies stumbled around in shock, their minds reeling from the sudden influx of magic. While Scholar didn’t even twitch, the reactions from the rest were far more expressive, as demonstrated when Iron Will groaned as he rolled his shoulders, “Iron Will is feeling much, much better now.” “Oh yeah!” Gilda crowed gleefully as in a flash of lighting the black crystal covering her was replaced by her usual gold plates. She smirked victoriously as she checked her armor over, readjusting her aviator goggles on her forehead. “Finally! Those crystals might have been a rush, but their colors left a lot to be desired. No gold, no glitz or glory!” “Agreed!” Trixie concurred as she used her magic to flap out her hat and unfurl her cape. “The dark and mysterious look is not befitting of the Great and Powerful Trixie! Silver alone is truly capable of displaying her splendor!” The Equestrians however, were not quite so happy as they stared wide-eyed at the group, even as they felt the raw magical energy surging through them. To varying reactions. Pinkie Pie vibrated in place, “Wowowwowwowwowwowwow! Thiiisss iiisss grrreeaaattt!” Only the tense situation stopped her from immediately launching into party planner mode and covering the city with streamers, balloons and other decorations. Twilight’s horn was lit up like a sparkler, sparks jumping out of it wildly as she visibly fought to keep her magic under control. “Speak for yourself...” She grunted, sounding as though she was about to be sick. Rarity groaned as her own horn imitated Twilight. “Agreed! It feels like I’m about to burst!” For once, Spike was in disagreement. He was flat on his back, moaning happily. “How’s that a bad thing? I feel great! Like I’ve eaten a whole buffet of crystals!” “EEP!” Fluttershy hid behind her mane as her wings poofed out uncontrollably. “O-oh dear... oh my...” Her habits might have worked to dull her sense of shame, but even she found her situation to be embarrassing. “I-I- look, I can explain this...” “Nah, no need.” Rainbow sighed as she rolled her shoulders and flexed her own stiffened wings. “This is natural. Excess energy makes you stiffen up. Believe me, I popped a wingy more than enough times in weather-management training to know. Lightning clouds can be real shifty. Still, one heck of a jolt, am I right Applejack?” The cowpony hummed in agreement, looking over her body contemplatively. “This is... somethin’. Feels like I could bench-press ten hay-bales at once. Plus Big Mac.” Cadance sighed happily as she used her magic to straighten her coat out, the fatigue gone from her eyes. “Well, I suppose that there are some advantages to more magic. I’ll have to bring it up with Celestia... Still!” She glanced over at Shining Armor. “How do you feel Shiny?” Her husband responded with an eager grin, his horn flashing as his magic ran all over him. Light glinted off of the air surrounding his person. “Like I could help capture some wanted felons.” Cadance nodded in agreement, her wings and magic flaring as she glared at the Academics. “Music to my ears.” Scholar’s response was to flip to another page in his book, conjure an Array around the covers and slap his hand into the middle of it. “Initiating Primary Administrator Override. Designating subjects Shining Armor and Cadance as hostile.” “Override accepted. Defensive Network activated. Deploying Class-Omega Containment ‘Heartbreaker’ and Class-One Containment Modules.” Cadance paled drastically. “Oh. Right. He can do that.” Before either of them could react, seven pillars of rune-encrusted crystal shot out of the ground. Six were arrayed around Cadance and one was in front of Shining Armor. The ones around Cadance were equidistant in a hexagonal pattern, heavily engraved with an intricate pattern of runes, glyphs and shapes. A cloud of arcane letters orbited around them. They flashed once before several tethers of energy lashed out, interconnecting the pillars and wrapping around Cadance. She struggled momentarily before the runes hit her. She collapsed to her knees, devoid of magic again. The pillar in front of Shining Armor was far less intricate, carrying only a few uniform rings of words. A tether of magic lashed out and wrapped around Shining’s horn and body, shattering his  protective sphere. However, unlike his wife, Shining didn’t collapse. Instead, he grunted forcefully as his horn flared even brighter. Slowly, the binding lifted off of him, held back by a visible pink barrier. Scholar whistled appreciatively. “My my. Impressive.” Shining chuckled ruefully as he cracked an eye open to look at the human. “What did you expect? I’m Twilight’s brother. I might not have her reserves, but I was made Captain for a good reason.” The Rune Keeper hummed. “Well. It looks like I’ll just have to take you seriously.” He twisted the array in his hand at a ninety degree. A line of runes flashed before the Twins. “Reassesing threat level to Class-Three.” A pair of pillars extended behind Shining Armor, breaking through his shield and bringing him to his knees. “Shiny!” Twilight raised a hoof towards her brother. “Hup hup hup!” Scholar cut her off with a raised finger. “Aiding a criminal will only end up with you being designated as an enemy of the state. Don’t want to end up in Class-Four containment, do you?” The lavender unicorn whimpered fearfully as she took a step back. “Good. Now then...” Scholar laced his fingers and popped his knuckles eagerly. “This is when things get serious.” He traced out several lines of runes before a circular array with a pulsing rune in the middle coalesced directly over his book. “Initiating total system reset.” He slammed his palm through the rune and into the page. The Twins eyes flashed. “Reset initiated. Restoring Operating System from last known backup. Warning: multiple system restrictions in place. Administrator Authorisation: Mi Amore Cadenza.” “Override. Administrator Authorisation: Scholar.” “Administrator Override accepted. Removing restrictions. Purging locks. Purging restricted backups. Reactivating dormant systems and networks. Warning: Major partitions of Vitrum deactivated. Subarchives, Overloft, Lucente District. Confirm reactivation.” Scholar nodded definitively. “Confirmation, Authorization: Scholar.” “Confirmed. Commencing reactivation.” A combination of cracking and shattering began to fill the streets of Vitrum. All over the city, cracks spiderwebbed in the ground. Walls of runes materialized, slowly pushing the Crystal Ponies away from the areas of activity as the cracks grew in size, pieces of crystal flying through the air to bounce off the rune-walls with loud pings before clattering to the ground. With mighty lurches, massive spires of crystal jutted out of the ground, spearing into the sky. They reached high enough to scratch the sky. Fissures split the streets apart, cracking it open with chasms that stretched deep into the earth. Suddenly, the plaza began shuddering violently. Chasms encircled the area, and the castle above. With a huge jerk, the entire area wrenched itself from the ground, floating up and up and up, until the plaza was equal with the center of the towers. It seemed as though the entire city would rip itself apart but even as everyone present watched, the floating sections of the city that had torn themselves free began to shed more and more crystals, filling the air with a cacophony that made the Equestrians cover their ears while Scholar and his comrades simply blocked the sound with their magic. There was a moment of silence before a large amount of crashing rang out. Finally, eight separate bridges shot out of the towers, connecting to the plaza. All around the city, bridges and staircases were interlinking buildings, forming roads that interlaced through the heights of the city. Runes floated languidly through the air, in streams, clouds, or simply alone without any accompaniment. “Lucente District activated.” Shattering echoed from the depths of the chasms that were left. Jagged towers jutted out of the bottom of the floating areas and from out of the walls of the ravines. Lights lit up all along the depths, illuminating the land-locked depths. Stairs and bridges interlinked the towers. The walls of the chasms cracked open, tunnels reaching deep into the heart of the crystal. They stretched deep, deep beneath the city, leading to secrets that had laid hidden and untold for centuries. Down, down the fissures went, tearing open the land as the Crystal Ponies stared wide-eyed alongside the Equestrians while Scholar’s grin threatened to split his face in two as he watched the bridges jut out like jagged spines to link sections together, shafts of clear crystal forming to channel magical energy as he pointed out features to his enraptured comrades. Twilight and the others were close enough to hear him explain about the shafts containing magic that allowed for safe and rapid ascents and descents to certain levels of the archives, a massive and sprawling collection of knowledge. Twilight’s ears pricked up and she couldn’t help but speak up. “Are... there any libraries?” Scholar nodded, uncaring as to her allegiance, “Yup. The one you guys were in was a fraction of the whole. Eh, I’ll see about whether or not you get a pass later.” “Subarchives activated.” More shattering rang out, only this came from beyond the city limits. Once the noise died out, there was silence. Nothing appeared to be changed. Then, a shadow began to fall across the crowd. Shouts of shock rang out as the ponies looked up to behold an island of crystal floating above the city. Towers of crystals hung beneath it like massive stalactites. And it wasn’t alone. It was joined by more and more fragments of landscape, ranging from gargantuan to relatively minor. Some floated low enough for bridges to extend up to their borders, and others reached up from them to those higher up. To the shock of the Equestrians, falling off the side of some of the islands was... “Water?” Rainbow Dash asked in shock. “Eeee-yup!” Scholar nodded definitively. “From rivers, flowing over the edge. Looks like the ecosystems up there are a-okay. From what I’m reading here, it looks like the forests unsealed alright too. Going to need to remove some of the animals from stasis in the archives and start repopulating though... Ah well, them’s the breaks.” “Overloft activated. All districts reactivated and at full operating capacity. All other systems activating normally. Entering standby mode.” The Twins shook their heads violently, dismissing the Arrays in front of them. “Gugh!” Nix cried, clutching her head and readjusting it. “That sucked! I hate it when we do that!” “Agreed!” Null concurred. “It feels like something went rifling around in our heads!” “Hey hey hey!” Scholar protested over his shoulder, absentmindedly flicking through his grimoire and running over the appearing rooms. “Don’t stop now, I need to know how things are running while I recalibrate the defense systems!” Nix and Null’s eyes twitched simultaneously. “You want intel...” “Make them do it!” And with that, the Golems sent flicked their hands at the trio, causing streams of data to flow in front of them. Iron Will blinked in shock before narrowing his eyes. “Umm... wow, alright... Iron Will sees that the residential districts are being relocated and refurbished... Environmental Arrays running at full capacity, maintaining biomes...” “Hmm...” Trixie muttered under her breath as she ran her hoof over the lines of runes. “Archives are intact, stasis seals preserved...” She smiled grimly as she read over a particular line of text. “Oh yes...Trixie shall enjoy plumbing such depths of knowledge.” Her smile morphed into a grimace as she read over another line. “Except when it’s about plumbing, ugh.” Gilda hummed to herself as she tapped at the runes with a claw. “Time and dates are resetting... external connections are being reestablished... the guards are arming themselves at the armory...” She froze and reread the data. “Wait a second...” Scholar whipped around and stared at her in shock. “Wait, what!?” Before anyone could react, a large amount of stomping and flapping filled the air, rapidly approaching the plaza. Iron Will groaned and ran his hand over his face. “Ooooh crap...” The Crystal Ponies parted as armored stallions and mares streamed into the plaza. They came from both the ground and the air, Earth Ponies and Unicorns toting spears and swords, and Pegasi flapping above the crowd, some with spears clutched in their hooves and others with bows and arrows. Their armor was deep silver, covering the majority of their bodies and encrusted with runes. A full platoon encircled the Academics, spears lowered directly at them. Pegasi hovered above them, some with arrows nocked for their heads and hearts. A quartet of ponies trotted from out of the crowd. One was an Earth Pony stallion, one a Unicorn mare, and two were twin pegasi, a male and female. Their armor was far more intricate, with color highlighting the majority of it and runes glowing visibly along their limbs. They trotted wordlessly towards Cadance and Shining Armor. The Earth Pony, Unicorn and male Pegasus went over to the Alicorn, and the female Pegasus to the Captain of the Guard. Scholar growled under his breath but plastered a smile on his face. “Well I’ll be damned! Pilum!” The ruby-red Earth Pony grunted in acknowledgement, tossing his golden mane back with a negligent flick. “Gladia!” The Unicorn with a glittering diamond-white coat snorted derisively, an expertly-styled lock of light green mane covering an eye. “Arcus! And your dear sister Sagitta too!” The sapphire male Pegasus rolled his eyes and his emerald sister spat on the ground, their light blue manes cut shot and practical. “The greatest generals of ponydom! After my time of course.Weren’t you promoted about a day or so after I was convicted? Eh, either way, none of my business. So, hows that extended life that comes from higher ranks working out for you, hm? I bet you were enjoying it! Well, right until Sombra threw you in prison. See, this is why I was against people opening the cells, some of you were in there for a reason!” The generals ignored him in favor of the captive ponies. As one, they stuck their hooves into the pillars. There was a flash of light and runes and then the containment modules receded into the ground, releasing their captives and allowing the Gladia and Arcus to support Cadance and Saggita to help Shining Armor. Scholar’s smile morphed into a grimace. “Ah. Administrative authority. Ooooof course. Perfect.” Pilum turned around to glare at the Academics. “By the authority of the Equestrian state, you four are under arrest for terrorism, anarchy, and treason. Surrender peacefully or we will use lethal force.” The soldiers all took a step forwards, jabbing their weapons at the group. The Academics glanced at each other hesitantly, but acquiesced when Scholar half-heartedly raised his hands in front of his chest. “Damn it, this is like Las Pegasus/Vegas all over again!” Scholar and Trixie gave each other shocked looks before Scholar gave Cadance a scathing glare. “Damn it, you renamed Vegas too!? Is nothing sacred to you people!?” -o- Deep beneath Vitrum, at the bottom of the Subarchives, massive crystal chains criss-crossed over a pair of gates that lay flat on the ground. Suddenly, runes flowed along the chains, causing them to unlatch from their positions and recede into the walls. Multiple Arrays flashed over the gates for a moment before disintegrating into oblivion. Slowly, with a great amount of grinding and grating, the gates swung up and open. Light shone down into the cavern below. For a second nothing. Then, something stirred within the shaded darkness. Nothing moved, and then... Light glinted off of a bone-white set of lipless fangs that curved into a grim smile of satisfaction.