//------------------------------// // Chapter 61: Facing Your Fears // Story: My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition // by SuperPinkBrony12 //------------------------------// "So, any ideas on where King Sombra might have hidden that heart?" Spike asked Shining Armor. "I suspect he'd hide it somewhere in this palace," Shining Armor replied, as he looked around "None of the Crystal Ponies ever set hoof in this castle after Sombra rose to power, making it the only place where he could ensure it would never be used against him. The only thing is, it could be anywhere within these castle walls. And I don't know if we've got enough time to search every nook and cranny, even if we split up." "Then I guess we need to narrow down our search, somehow." Spike concluded. "From what little I know of Sombra, I know he's extremely cautious," Shining Armor told Spike, as they reached the throne room "He wouldn't just hide the Crystal Heart anywhere within the castle, he'd want it hidden somewhere where if for any reason the Crystal Ponies dared defie him, they still wouldn't find the heart. He's got to have hidden it out of plain sight." "What do you mean by that?" Spike asked nervously. "Sometimes, if you want to defeat the enemy, you've got to think like the enemy," Shining Armor explained "And if I were thinking like King Sombra, I'd want to hide the heart in a place that's only accessable by dark magic." And he turned his attention to the crystal throne. "You're not thinking of-" Spike began. "I'm afraid so." Shining Armor interrupted, and after carefully checking to make sure noone else was around, he shut his eyes and began to let the dark magic surge through his horn. The burning sensation from the anger and fury contained within the magic was quite painful, but Shining Armor tried his best to ignore it. He then directed the magic into a crystal at the top of the throne that was different from the rest. Much to Spike's amazement, when the dark magic hit the crystal, it revealed a hidden spiral staircase in front of the throne. A staircase that seemed to work its way down into the depths of an unknown cave. When Shining Armor opened his eyes, he saw the staircase as clear as day, and was amazed at his discovery. "I figured Sombra was hiding something, but I never thought it would be something like this," he said to Spike "This is definitely worth checking out. You with me, Spike?" "O-of course," Spike said nervously "But just to be on the safe side, why don't you lead the way?" "As you wish." Shining Armor replied, and he and Spike began to make their way down the flight of stairs. What lay at the bottom, they couldn't tell. But both were hopeful it would either be the Crystal Heart, or at least something that would lead to it. The staircase seemed to stretch on and on for what felt like forever, wthout any end in sight. Shining Armor and Spike began to grow fatigued, as they made their way down row after row. "Just how long are these stairs?" Spike wondered outloud "It's like they never end." "That's impossible, every staircase has to have an end at some point," Shining Armor complained "We can't just turn back now, this might be our only lead to the location of the Crystal Heart." "Or maybe it's just a dead end that Sombra set up to trap us," Spike suggested "Maybe it's best if we go back up and look elsewhere." But as he turned around and prepared to head back upstairs, Spike lost his balance, and started to tumble down the stairs. Frantically, Shining Armor chased after Spike, and caught him in his magic just seconds before the baby dragon would've hit his head on the hard rock surface of the bottom of the cave. "That was close," Shining Armor said, breathing a small sigh of relief "You really should try to be more careful, Spike. If you didn't have such thick scales, you probably would've hurt yourself pretty badly." "Sorry to make you worry," Spike apologized "But at least we've finally reached the bottom of those stairs. That's a relief. Right, Shining Armor?" Shining Armor didn't answer, he was too busy focusing on a door that lay just a short distance away from the foot of the staircase. Just like the throne, a crystal was embedded into the top, and it was obvious what the intent of it was. "King Sombra went to greath lengths to hide the Crystal Heart behind all of these security measures," he thought to himself "The fact that they're powered by dark magic means that only he could ever access them, no matter what. He's certainly smarter than any other threat I've encountered, I'll give him that much." And with that, Shining Armor cast a small amount of dark magic into the door, forcing it open with a blinding flash of white light. When the flash faded, Shining Armor walked through the door, only to be shocked at what awaited him. Somehow, he had ended up back outside the Crystal Castle. But now, everything had changed. The protective dome surrounding the empire was gone completely, replaced by an ominous red sky. "What's going on? This can't be the empire!" Shining Armor thought to himself, but everywhere he looked he could see familiar buildings, and familiar faces. Then, he looked up at the castle balcony, and gulped. Perched on the balcony was none other than King Sombra himself, with several brainwashed guards standing beside him for protection. "Well, what have we here?" the evil king asked, as he looked down at Shining Armor "Shining Armor, the last of the resistance, has come to surrender." "Surrender?! NEVER! Not to the likes of you!" Shining Armor shouted angrily. "It's hopeless, B.B.B.F.F," a familiar voice spoke up "When you disappeared, there was nopony left to stop Sombra, the empire became his once again." Shining Armor spun around, but what he saw a sight he wished he could forget. There were all his friends, Cadence, and even Twilight. All of them were chained up, alongside the rest of the Crystal Ponies, who's coats had returned to their dulled and depressed state. "What are you talking about?! I didn't disappear, I went through a door and the next thing I knew I ended up here," Shining Armor insisted "Somepony should've come looking for me, and seen the hidden staircase." "Don't listen to his lies, Twilight." Applejack said crossly. "He gave up, and ran away like a coward, leaving us to pay the price!" Rainbow Dash hissed. "And so did the rest of Equestria," Soarin added glumly "I was the only Wonderbolt to survive Sombra's wrath, everypony else was struck down the second they tried to fight back." "Worst of all, Sombra took away all the happiness and fun of life in Equestria." Pinkie Pie glumly mentioned, her mane and tail had flattened, and her coat had become a dull pink not unlike that of the Crystal Ponies. "Meanin' that we had no choice but to become Sombra's slaves if we wished to live," Braeburn explained "And it's all thanks to you!" "But! But!" Shining Armor stuttered. "No excuses," Princess Cadence said sadly "I kept holding out hope that you would come back to save us all, but you never did! I thought you cared about me!" King Sombra laughed as he observed the scene unfolding before him "So, do you see now, Shining Armor? You failed to stop my return, and everypony you cared about paid the price! Rather than admit you were a failure, you ran away. And now, now you've finally come to accept the reality of the situation. Unfortunately for you, I have no place for you in my empire. Destroy him, my faithful servants, and make sure it's painful!" "Nooooooooooo!" Shining Armor yelled, as his former friends and loved ones closed in on him. "-Armor? Shining Armor?" a familiar voice suddenly called out. Shining Armor quickly realized that the voice belonged to Spike. "Spike?" he asked "Where are you?" "What do you mean where I am?" Spike said in reply "I'm where I've been for the past few minutes. You practically zoned out." "Zoned out?" Shining Armor asked, and shook his head. Like magic, the sceneary changed, and he found himself staring back at the opened door in the cave. Apparently, what he had seen was all an elaborate illusion. "Yeah, it had something to do with that door," Spike explained, before his eyes gazed upon, and his attention seemed to suddenly shift. Shining Armor couldn't help but notice that his eyes were covered by a sickly green aura "Ponyville? How did I end up here?" he said outloud "Twilight? Wait, no! Twilight, please don't send me away! I'll do anything, but please don't make me leave! You and your brother are the only family I have left!" Shining Armor snapped Spike out of the illusion, by shutting the door. "A door designed to lead to your worst fear," he realized, and said outloud "How despicable of Sombra." "But, it felt so real." Spike said, as tears streaked down his face. "Don't worry, Spike," Shining Armor said with a smile, as he embraced Spike tightly in a hug "Those illusions we saw will never become reality! Twilight would NEVER send you away, and neither would I. And together, you and I are going to find that Crystal Heart, and save the Crystal Empire." And with that, Shining Armor used his regular magic to open the door again. This time, no illusion greeted his eyes, or Spike's eyes, as they passed through. But once they had passed safely through the door, they were shocked to find another set of stairs. This time, the stairs and the room they were in were a lot more polished, and sparkled brightly. "Again with the stairs," Spike commented "I'm beginning to think King Sombra had a thing for stairs or something."