//------------------------------// // Ch 9: The Crystal Empire... I thought this would be more exciting. // Story: Dream come true? // by Storm Shine //------------------------------// "Hey Jet!" Gilda yelled excitedly, pouncing on me. "Oof!" Well... That's one way to wake me up. "Hey Gilda, what's up?" I asked after recovering the air that had escaped from my lungs. "Apparently there's someplace called the Crystal Empire, and it just reappeared or something." She said, seeming excited, "Dash told me about it." "The Crystal Empire's appeared already?" I mused aloud, though I didn't realize I was vocalizing my thoughts. "Hmmm... Do you want to see the empire Gilda?" "Can we!?" She exclaimed, giving me an adorable pleading look. I smiled at her, "I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't planning on going." I grinned as I used my powers to sneak us aboard the train to the Crystal Empire. "Now we've just gotta find seats." Gilda chuckled, "Like the ones right there?" She deadpanned with a smirk. "Yeah... Smartflank." I responded, taking a seat. "Don't you mean toned-flank?" She asked mischievously. "You bet I d-... er..." My face tried to match the color of my body as my mind caught up with my beak and Gilda began laughing at me. I was saved from further teasing by a door opening and a group of six chatting mares walking inside the compartment. "Betcha can't wait ta see yer brother again." Applejack was saying. "Yeah, it'll be- Jet!?" Twilight responded, changing from cheer to shock as she noticed me and Gilda lounging around the compartment. "What am I, invisible?" Gilda asked. "Nope, I can see you quite well." I replied, looking over at the Griffon. "And you look great." She turned away with a small blush and the hint of a smile, "You're going soft on me Jet." She said, acting tough. "Tch, you know you like it when I say sappy stuff." I rebuked, waving a claw at her. Then I turned towards Twilight, "So what's up?" "What's up? What's up!?" She said, seeming agitated, "How did you get on the train!? Better yet, why!?" "Because we wanted to see the crystal empire of course." I told the purple unicorn as if it was obvious. "How did you even hear about the Crystal Empire!?" Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously, "I might've mentioned something to Gilda." "Of course." Twilight deadpanned, facehoofing. "In her defense, I knew about it long before her or Gilda could've told me." I said, raising a claw into the air. "And you knew that... How, exactly?" Twilight asked, her left eye twitching slightly. "That's..." Everybody leaned in to hear the answer, "A secret!" I finished cheerfully, causing everyone to face-hoof/claw. Always wanted to do that! Twilight muttered something angrily under her breath about 'information hording, shape-shifting humans' as she walked over and took a window seat nearby. Departing the train to be greeted with a severe blizzard, Twilight heard her brother call her name and called out in return. "Shining Armor!?" aforementioned white unicorn came walking into view with what looked like some sort of Star-wars rip-off snow-gear before taking it off. "Twily, you made it!" He then proceeded to embrace his sister in a hug. "We'd better get moving." Shining stated after the hug ended, "There are things out here that we really don't want to run into after dark..." Yeah, sorry to glaze over the panicked questions and stuff but it was pretty boring. To sum it up, Scared questions, vague answers, ponies running from Sombra in shadow form, etc, etc. Then on the other side of the barrier, Shining armor reveals his horn to have been sorta crystalized and stuff. Sure I could've helped, but things are gonna run the way they will... Probably... Okay, who am I kidding? I'm gonna meddle at the first fun-looking opportunity. I grinned as the group walked around, looking at all the crystals surrounding us. Yeah this environment is just begging to be messed wit-... That dance. Do they even realize just how provocative that 'Ladybug' dance is? They're shaking their rumps in the air for Cawes sake. ....Yeah, I've been picking up some Griffon lexicon from Gilda. Anyways, moving on... I'm not sure what I want to do here, it's all so... Yeah. I'm just gonna observe for now. "HAhahahaha~ Hahah... ha... heh... Oh this is hilarious." I laughed, floating around as I observed the Mane 6 trying to get info from the ponies. "Wait for it... Wait for it..." I murmured to Gilda as Applejack approached Twilight. "A Library!?" Sparkles sparkled, "Why didn't you say so!?" "I just can't help but laugh at her..." Gilda managed to say to me, the two of us laughing uproariously at Twilight's reactions to the books. "It's like she's purposely asking to be laughed at!" "Catchy song." I decided as Applejack looked at the 'Crystal Heart', "But the heart looks like crap." "Hey!" Twilight protested, "I think it looks great!" "Keep fooling yourself Purple-Smart." I replied smugly. "Besides, it's crap no matter how well you think you carved it... Just wait 'til you learn the truth about the Heart." "Truth? What truth?" Sparkles asked. "You'll find out soon enough." "I didn't know it was an actual relic!" Twilight cried out worriedly, "The book didn't mention anything about the Crystal Ponies powering up the Heart!" She flipped through the book. "There was a page missing! How did I not notice!?" I chuckled as they re-raised the blue dome to keep Sombra out. "Yo Shining!" I called as Twilight ran out of the room to find the Crystal heart. "What is it Jet?" the prince asked curiously. "I'm gonna go keep your little Shadow infestation busy... Don't try to +tell Twilight though, even if I end up 'disposing' of it." I told him, walking towards the edge of the balcony. "The Empire still needs that Crystal Heart, whether Sombra is around or not... And she needs to pass her little 'Test'." I added. Gilda made to follow me, but I shook my head. "No, it's not safe for you out there Gilda." I told her, before blinking. "Wait... Actually, you know what.. Nevermind." I laughed at my own forgetfulness, "He's made out of shadows, which means he couldn't hurt you unless I wanted him to.... And that's never gonna happen." Gilda rolled her eyes at my little 'sappy' moment before socking me in the shoulder. "Ow..." "I'm not scared of a namby-pamby little half-dead prince anyways." She told me, a bit grumpy at the idea of being treated as a damsel in distress. I wonder if she even realizes the reference she almost kind of made... Hehe, Snape was more than just half-dead by the end of that series... With that silly thought, I flew off towards the border of the barrier, Gilda following close behind. What can I say? I like to meddle, and messing with Sombra might be fun. Stepping though the barrier, I noticed a large gathering of shadows. "YO SOMBRA!" I shouted out with a grin. "Grr..." Sombra's large shade-form manifested in front of me. "CrYstALs...." I laughed, "Wow you're ugly." I taunted. "GRarRR!!" Sombra dove at me with a roar. I laughed as his form splashed harmlessly around me before reforming. "Guess what Sombra?!" I called, "You're made of Darkness and Shadows, with limited control over Crystals that you've corrupted!" I grinned, "AND ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE WITHIN MY DOMAIN!" I began twisting his shadows into silly shapes, smiling faces and puppies and balloons and the like, as he roared at me. "Awww~, who's a weak little villain?" I asked tauntingly with a grin. "Who's a weak little villain?" Gilda laughed behind me, Sombra's darkness unable to go near her without my say-so. And I definitely was NOT going to give the okay. "StOP ThIS FOolISHness aT OnCE!" Sombra demanded, as I continued to mess with his shadowy form. "Hmm... Nah!" I decided, chuckling at his continued exclamation of rage. "Huh?" I looked towards the failing barrier, "Might as well let you go over there, Twilight's probably nearly at the Crystal Heart by now. Can't keep her from her lesson..." I said, releasing Sombra and his shadows from my control... Mostly. I kept a bit of control, making sure that he couldn't hurt Gilda. And after that, things played out pretty much the way you'd expect. Twilight and Spike got the heart out, Cadence caught Spike, Empire was saved, Twilight passed her test, etc... But who cares about that? Gilda and I had a blast! The End. Not really... No, not just yet. "So Gilda..." I started, looking at her as we lay in bed back in our cloud-house. "Yeah Jet?" Gilda asked curiously, arching a brow as she looked back. "What would you say, if I could make it impossible for you to get hurt?" I asked curiously. It's possible, just steal the concept of Gilda getting hurt and bam. Invulnerable. Gilda frowned, "What brought all that on?" "Well, if Sombra hadn't been made out of shadows, there's some possibility you could've gotten hurt or something following me, and I just sorta wanna make sure that doesn't happen an-" My rambling was cut off as Gilda pulled me into a kiss. "Don't worry about it you Doofus, I can take care of myself just fine." She told me as she pulled back from the kiss. Yeah, that sounds more like the Gilda I first got to know. "Alright, fine. But if you die on me, I'm gonna be pissed." Gilda grinned, "Good thing I'm not gonna die any time soon than, isn't it?" She asked, just before pouncing on me. I smiled into the latest kiss, my darkness drawing the curtains shut with a thought as things got heated in the bedroom.