Crystal Chris's Heart
“What were you thinking Chris?” A voice woke Chris from his slumber, causing him to jolt upright and look around where he was. He was as far as he could tell, nowhere; a white horizon spread as far out as Chris could see and every direction was the same.
“Huh?” Chris mumbled sleepily as he placed his hands onto the cool surface and noticed they were smaller and much like he remembered them from before his time inside the crystal. “Who’s there?” he asked while taking another more thorough look around the expansive abyss. His eyes set on a motionless body and a standing body just beyond it.
“Look what you did to us” The standing body spoke in a scarily familiar voice. “You almost killed us… again.” Its voice definitely sounded male and also more than a little disappointed in the current situation as its eyes set onto the lifeless body.
“What do you mean again?” Chris asked while standing up and falling over, he had just gotten used to his new height and weight so the change back threw him off slightly, he staggered and swayed for a few seconds before becoming used to his old eight year old frame and size.
“Remember when you took us away from the crystal last time? We were about to fall face first into the crystal roads and die by the time I got us back.” The body stepped forward and revealed itself to be a carbon copy of the motionless body on the ground, it took a second but Christ realized that the motionless body was in fact his body and the man standing beyond it was him.
“Who are you? Why do you look like me?” Chris responded with hesitation and slight fear, memories began resurfacing; the changeling attack to be exact. Small memories of his fight with Sombra while the screams of innocent humans and ponies had echoed through his heart as each one fell to the bloodthirsty creatures.
“I look like you because I am you… or rather I’m your heart.” The man shrugged and caused Chris to shiver in fear, he was exactly like him in every aspect; the only difference was the posture. While Chris’s was one of joy and playfulness the man’s was one of seriousness and control. They were completely opposite in the way they carried themselves, yet they seemed to be more alike than not.
“I doubt you are my heart.”
“Well that doubt is misplaced, I’m that shard of Crystal Heart you have in you.”
“How are you talking to me then? If you’re just a piece of crystal then you shouldn’t be able to talk to me.”
“I have no idea of that myself. If I had to guess I’d say that in return for giving your life back I was also granted life.” The elder Chris smiled, “It’s really funny that you didn’t even know who I was until now, I remember you calling for my power all those years before the crystal took us back. We fought alongside each other all the time during that war and we never even knew each other’s names.”
“I… Called for you?”
“Amnesia must be a horrible thing.” Was all the older Chris responded.
“Well since I apparently don’t know your name anyway, do you have a name?”
“Dave used to call me Christopher; since I was much more mature than you he thought I needed a mature name.”
“Dave?” Chris asked softly.
“Oh that’s right you don’t remember our old life do you” the Chris now known as Christopher responded.
“A few things are missing.” Chris admitted with a hint of embarrassment.
“To be expected, Dave put a strong memory block spell onto you just before we fought him off.”
“Memory blocker?”
“He didn’t want you to go on a rampage I’d say. You know being trapped in the crystal for so long, a lot of the people you loved would’ve grown old and died.”
“So who is Dave?”
Christopher let out a soft chuckle and turned his back to the younger Chris. “The Stallion that saved your life and in turn granted me mine.”
“That doesn’t really help.”
“The Stallion we had to fight to keep the people we loved safe.”
“Still pulling a blank slate.”
“Oh creators why are you so stupid. Dave was Sombra.” Christopher got annoyed and spat the answer hastily.
“Sombra was called Dave?” Chris responded with a tilted head.
“Back then you gave two ponies a human name, one was your adoptive mother Clara and the other was Dave; the Unicorn that saved your life.”
“Oh yeah,” Chris responded with a small smile “I don’t really remember Dave.”
“That’s too be expected considering he’s suppressing your memories.” Christopher spoke in a calm tone while crouching down and prodding the lifeless body that he so resembled.
“So why are we here?” Chris asked while making his way towards the body.
“Because you stayed too far away from the heart and began to die.” Christopher spoke without meeting Chris’s gaze, but when he didn’t receive an answer he decided to elaborate. “Since your heart is part of the crystal it needs to be near the crystal in order to stay charged, when away for too long the shard inside you will start to lose its magical properties; or if you prefer we would start to die. Knowing that this happened before we returned would’ve been an amazing piece of information but I guess Dave doesn’t want us to be around.” Christopher finished his short explanation and sat down while regarding the two Chris’s with interest.
“That’s a lot to take in and my brain hurts.”
“That’s to be expected since now you’re trying to break the spell but all you’re doing is causing yourself pain.”
“So I should stop trying to remember the past.”
“Yeah that would be for the best.” Christopher watched the younger form of himself, “Something that makes me wonder however. Why are you an eight year old again?”
“It’s probably because I like being small and able to climb into places that mom and Celestia can’t reach me in.”
“That’s always a bonus, even during combat your small frame was good for dodging.” Christopher stood up and held his hand out for Chris, “You’re almost ready to go and I feel this was as nice a reunion as any.”
Chris took the hand and shook it with a look of complete joy, “I’ll see you some other time.”
“Definitely” Christopher replied before looking down at the unconscious form of Chris, the abyss they were inside began to close in around them; Chris started to freak out but Christopher placed a hand on his shoulder and calmed him. “One more thing don’t play games in your sleep with that princess, your body won’t recover fully if it continues.”
“Okay Fine.” Chris huffed in disappointment as the world turned black.
“Auntie Celestia, Auntie Luna. What are you doing here?” Cadence greeted her two guests with a joyful smile, until she glanced behind the two and saw Chrysalis disguised as Chris’s mother Clara. “What is she doing here?”
“Cadence we’ve come on urgent business.” Celestia began before being interrupted by an erratic Clara
“Where’s Chris?” Clara shouted while pushing the two princesses out of her way.
“Why would I know where that human is?” Cadence spoke with distaste in her tone.
Celestia pushed Clara back and took her original place, “Because we have it in good reason to believe he has returned to the crystal empire in order to replenish his magical life force.”
“Why would he need to replenish his life force?”
“Because he’s only alive due to a shard of the heart inside him, I thought we already spoke of this.” Clara interrupted again, pushing Luna out of the way and taking her spot beside Celestia.
Luna shook her head softly and decided to wander around for a while, turning tail she walked out the way she had arrived and arrived at the top of the castle stairs “I wonder what the Heart actually looks like.”
After a quick walk down the staircase Luna arrived at the location of the heart, coincidentally underneath the castle and sitting proudly atop its pedestal. Looking around the immediate area Luna concluded she was the only pony in the immediate area, with the utmost haste Luna made her way to the heart and stood in front of it; her gaze never wavering from the centre where she was sure Chris was.
“Please return to us” Luna spoke while placing a hoof onto the smooth crystalline surface, “Don’t leave us alone for another thousand years.” As Luna finished her prayer the crystal began to hum softly, causing Luna to move away in surprise. The heart cracked open and a body was flung forth and dropped onto the ground with a loud thud, immediately the crack in the heart disappeared and looked it good as new.
“Owww” the body groaned in pain, lifting its head it revealed itself to be Chris. “Lunie what are you doing here?”
“CHRIS!” Luna cried while throwing herself towards her friend and gripping him in her forelegs, “We thought you had returned to the heart for another millennia.” Luna felt tears begin to well up as she realized how scared she’d been if Chris hadn’t returned, the moment however was interrupted by three sets of hooves appearing behind them.
“Sister what was that noise?” Celestia began to ask questions but stopped after seeing Chris hugging with Luna, Clara shoved past Celestia and dove towards her son; pulling him from Luna’s grasp and into her’s.
“Chris don’t you ever run away again” Clara cried into her sons shoulder.
“She’s definitely changing because of him.” Celestia laughed to herself as the third set of hooves came to a stop beside her and cadence entered her vision.
“I’d rather have that human-“ Cadence stopped her rant short as her eyes settled on the smile that was plastered on the human’s face “it’s the same smile as that boy” Cadence whispered to herself before turning away in order to clear her thoughts.
“Everything okay Cadence?” Celestia asked, averting her gaze from Chris in order to look at her niece.
“Yeah I’m fine. It’s just- nothing.” Cadence looked back towards the human and the two princesses that were fighting for a hug from him, as her gaze set on the human she watched as for a slight moment his form shimmered and changed to that of the child from her memories; the very same child that had died from glass piercing his heart.
“Chris…” Cadence began to speak, causing the human to look up as his smile faltered for a half a second before returning.
"It can't be you"