//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14. The King’s spell hasn’t released them yet. 
// Story: Possession in the Crystal Empire 
// by Askre 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 14

Flash sighed when seeing the snowstorm just outside the city. This was one of the main problems living up in the north, the Pegasi weather service could only control so much of the weather and tended to focus their effort over inhabited areas but let things go unscheduled and uncontrolled further off.

It also didn’t help that the Crystal Ponies were mostly Earth Ponies, Crystal Pegasi and Crystal Unicorns were very rare. So in terms of weather control they had always relied on their ruler to keep it under control and because of that it usually only concentrated around the city.

The few Crystal Pegasi that existed were either in the guards or were still being trained by a team from Cloudsdale to properly control the weather. So unexpected snowstorms like the one raging now were just a fact of life in the Crystal Empire. A fact that was seriously hampering Flash Sentry from sending his guard team to the three inns and investigating the tracks.

Then again this storm could be Sombra’s doing, there are tales he could control the weather, he did rule the Crystal Empire after all, he thought and turned to look at the guards that he had intended to send to two of the furthest inns.

“I suppose we could try and fly above the clouds,” a purplish colored guard suggested.

“You think you could find your way to the Rowdy Crystal Wolf from there?” Flash asked. “Not much ground visibility.”

“I think we’ll manage, besides the storm doesn’t seem to go too far northeast where that place is.” The same guard shrugged.

Flash Sentry nodded and soon enough three guards flew off and didn’t stop ascending until they were high above in the sky before heading northeast. The Pegasus looked at the remaining guards, three already took the hint and flew off using the same tactic but went North this time.

“That leaves us who were going to investigate the train tracks and going to the Crystal Ale,” Flash looked at the last remaining guards, two regular Crystal Ponies, one Unicorn and another Crystal Pegasus.

“If he jumped off the train, then any sign of that are long gone by now,” one of the Crystal Ponies pointed out.

“Then we make our way to the Crystal Ale, Sharp Spear, make a weather shield,” Flash Sentry ordered the Unicorn guard.

Sharp Spear nodded and activated her horn, soon all five guards were surrounded by transparent force field bubble that had a light blue tint. Flash had considered letting the three grounded ponies walk while he and the other Pegasus flew, but figured that for now it was best they all stuck together.

It was mostly on a hunch that he decided to take two more guards than he had sent to the other two inns. If Sombra did jump the train, no matter where on the track he would have landed, he would be closest to the Crystal Ale. The yellow Pegasus wasn’t so sure he would have made it all the way to the other two by now.

The guard was glad he had chosen to take Sharp Spear with them. She was from the Vanhoover area and knew the cold climates of the north very well. She had a good array of spells to help survive wintery conditions. This had made her a rather ideal Unicorn guard in the Crystal Empire.

“We need to take the west road that leads towards Sombra’s Maw and beyond, Strong Horn was no fool building his inn there, all kind of traveler’s trot on that road,” the same Crystal guard and before said with a grunt. “Even back when the King ruled.”

Flash Sentry nodded as he looked at the guard. His name was Bright Spark, he was middle aged and his coat was light blue and his mane and tail were maroon colored. If there was pony in the guards who knew the lands around the empire well it was him, he had served under Princess Amore before King Sombra usurped the throne and he had been forced to serve under the king as well. 

“Alright everypony, let’s move out,” Flash addressed the group and they headed out of the city.

Though they were all of the same rank and Flash Sentry was technically in charge, Bright Spark was put in the lead as he knew the way best even in a blinding blizzard. Sharp Spear’s weather shield held well against the howling wind and drifting snow, the yellow Unicorn mare smirked a little, this was barely a challenge for her. Beside her walked the other Crystal Pony, another mare named Emerald Shine. Flash took the rear along with the Crystal Pegasus, a burly purple pony named Blackberry.

“We are on the road now even if it isn’t too obvious, it’s managed to get covered,” Bright Spark announced.

“How far from here to the Crystal Ale?” Flash asked, they had already been walking for a little while, and even if they didn’t need to heed the weather it was still deep snow they needed to trudge through.

“Oh it’s still quite a bit a way, if memory serves, Strong Horn built it near Sapphire Creek, 10 miles as we trot,” Bright responded with a snort.

Ugh I could travel that so quickly if there was flight weather. Flash sighed and wished they could have taken the train to cut down a bit on the traveling time, but all trains to and from the Crystal Empire were halted while the snow storm raged.

“You don’t think this weather is um Sombra’s doing?” Emerald asked, she sounded uncertain, she was a fairly new recruit to the guards.

“He could control the weather around the Empire when alive, but I couldn’t say if he still has that power while a spirit possessing another pony,” Bright Spark grunted and glanced back. “But I will say I find it odd how concentrated the blizzard is on this area.”

Flash couldn’t disagree with Bright Spark’s assessment, the blizzard seemed to concentrate mostly in the west, exactly in the direction they were going. The five guards could do little but trudge on, at least Sharp Spear’s shield kept them safe.

“I think I see something up ahead near the road,” Bright suddenly shouted. “I think it’s a pony!”

That prompted the guards to rush over, but still being mindful to keep Sharp Spear in the middle so that the shield still blocked out the weather. Once they were closer, Flash could see a light crimson Unicorn mare half buried in the snow, her cutie mark was a pair of peppers. Fortunately, the weather shield could be adjusted to allow ponies to enter so all they had to do to spare the pony further assault from the weather was to walk right over to her.

“Sharp, let that shield radiate a bit of warmth, Blackberry you’re with me, we can use our wings as blankets, one wing under her, one wing over, Emerald, Bright try to rub some life into her,” Flash Sentry ordered as he immediately lay down right next to the pony.

The yellow Pegasus grunted a little when Blackberry rolled the mare onto his outstretched wing, but he could take the strain, they needed to minimize her contact with the snow, she had clearly had too much of it already. Once the burly guard was satisfied that the pony rested on Flash’s wing, he lay down and draped his wing over her. Emerald and Bright went to work to try and wake her up, gently but firmly rubbing their hooves over her to help warm her. Sharp in the meantime concentrated on adding extra energy to her shield so it would radiate a bit of heat inside the protective bubble.

“Any of you know her?” Flash asked the other guards, the Crystal Ponies shook their heads but Sharp Spear looked uncertain.

“I don’t personally know her but I think I’ve seen her before back home around Vanhoover,” she told him. “I think her name is Hot Spice or something, comes from one of the smaller villages near the city.”

“What would she be doing out here, in a blizzard no less,” Emerald wondered and brushed away some of the orange mane covering the mare’s face, the guard could have sworn she heard the pony stirring.

“Ugh…” came finally a soft groan and the crimson pony’s eyes blinked open and she gasped in surprise.

“Shh, it’s alright, you’re safe,” Emerald told her gently and smiled, she and Bright Spark stopped now that she was awake, plus it was starting to get nicely warm inside the bubble.

“The Crystal Ale! Weird meat eating pony! Everypony unconscious!” the crimson mare cried and tried to rise up but felt too weak.

“Calm down, ma’am, you are safe with us, can you tell us what your name is and what happened?” Emerald continued to talk with the same gentle tone as before.

“I-I’m Spicy Hot… I work at the Crystal Ale,” the mare said as she tried to calm down, having noticed that all five ponies wore guard armor she felt quite a bit safer.

“Two strange ponies came to the inn, both wore cloaks, I know one of them was dark gray and I could see a bit of dirty blonde mane when I was talking to him. The other…” Spicy shuddered. “There was something unnatural about him, he ordered meat to eat, even the stallion with him was grossed out by it. Then…everypony was unconscious, their eyes glowing green, and that strange pony suddenly appeared behind me. I think he was going to attack me, I managed to escape. Tried to run back to the city but then the blizzard suddenly hit.”

“Looks like your hunch was correct, Flash,” Bright Spark glanced at the Pegasus. “The King eats meat and he was no doubt also feeding on the fears of the other patrons.”

Flash nodded, however they had a problem. Although Spicy was now awake, she was clearly still weak and affected by her long stay in the snow. Sharp Spear was needed for the weather shield and she could not go into two directions. They would have to take Spicy back and take her to a hospital before proceeding to the inn and investigate.

The Pegasus was about to ask if Spicy could stand, when suddenly the weather died down all around them. Seeing no need for the shield anymore, Sharp dropped it. Flash sighed in relief, this simplified matters greatly but before he could say anything Blackberry rose up.

“Now that the weather is cleared up, get her on my back. I can take her back to the city while the rest of ya head onwards,” he said.

“Are you sure?” Flash asked, waiting patiently while Bright and Emerald helped Spicy to rise up to her shaky hooves. Once she was off his wing the Pegasus stood up.

“Yeah, I think I can manage it fine.” Blackberry nodded.

Spicy obviously couldn’t stand for long, she was already faltering so she was helped onto the back of the large guard. Flash wasn’t sure if this would work, the mare looked too weak hold on and they didn’t have anything to secure her with. But the purple Pegasus took off before anyone could say anything and he seemed to be mindful of the Unicorn he was carrying.

The remaining four guard didn’t waste any time now that the blizzard had died down and increased their speed after the snow covered road. It still took a while and Flash was starting to dread what kind of a scene they would come across at the inn, Spicy’s description had not sounded very promising.

Finally, the inn was in sight. Flash spread out his wings and took off towards it at a greater speed than a gallop through the snow would permit, thus he arrived well ahead of the other guards. He kicked the door open and rushed inside, stopping short when witnessing the room before him.

Everything was still and silent. Creatures and ponies leaned forward in their seats, their heads resting on tops of the tables. Almost everyone’s eyes were glowing green and their faces were disfigured in grimace of pain and fear. Then Flash noticed that two tables had three Crystal Ponies each whose eyes were not glowing. Carefully the Pegasus approached one of tables and cringed when seeing the blood coming out of their noses and mouths. Taking a deep breath, he examined the closest body only to confirm what he was already fearing, the pony was dead.

They are all three dead. He looked over to the other table and didn’t need to go over there to see that the Crystal Ponies were no more as well. Why did he only kill the Crystal Ponies?

The other three guards finally arrived. Flash looked at them and waved them to come over. Bright Spark looked grim as he took in the entire inn, Sharp Spear frowned and Emerald looked around nervously.

“Do you know what is going on?” Flash looked at Bright. “The six Crystal Ponies here are dead, but the others look like they are under a spell.”

“It’s like I said before, the King was feeding on their fears. They are all under his spell of fear, living some of their worst fears in their mind,” Bright Spark growled and stepped over to the other table where the dead ponies rested. “But the Crystal Ponies… it is a message.”

“A message?” Sharp Spear looked over at him, she had approached a table with four Griffons.

“To us, the Crystal Ponies.” Bright Spark sighed and reached out to close the eyes of the dead. “He wants us to think we are not free of him, that he will be back and this is what happens to those who think they are free.”

“But we are free!” Emerald protested and was shaking a bit now as she still looked around, there was fear in her eyes.

“You are, this is a scare tactic and it’s not going to work,” Flash declared, he walked over to the green Crystal Pony and gave her a reassuring pat on the back. “We are going to need help with this, get a cart for the bodies and we might need some strong magical assistance to rouse the patrons from the spell.”

“I don’t suppose shaking them will work,” Sharp Spear wondered and shook the nearest Griffon but nothing happened.

“Usually it should,” Bright walked to another table and shook the Diamond Dog that sat there. “The King must not have wanted them to wake up so easily.”

“I’ll fly back to the city and get more guards to help here and maybe one of the princesses can come and help with waking everypony up, you guys keep an eye on things here,” Flash said and headed outside.

The other guards nodded, Emerald moved over to be closer to Bright Spark, still not feeling too comfortable with the whole situation. Sharp Spear started to walk around the inn, occasionally making another attempt to shake someone but always with the same results, nothing.

“I think I found the innkeeper,” she then called when arriving at the bar counter.

Sharp Spear walked behind it and approached the brown Minotaur lying sprawled on the floor. The Unicorn nudged him with a hoof but like all the others there was no response. She looked up. Bright and Emerald were working on gathering the dead ponies, closing their eyes and covering their faces with the hoods of their cloaks. The mare frowned and wondered if the two Crystal Ponies knew the deceased. They hadn’t mentioned it, both probably wanted to be professional. 

Although she was from the Vanhoover area, Sharp Spear had started in Celestia’s Royal Guards and spent her first years as a guard in Canterlot and was thus still getting to know everyone in the empire. She had transferred when Shining Armor moved to the Crystal Empire. The royals hadn’t been sure in what state the empire guards were in so the prince had requested to be allowed to take some of his old guards with him. Sharp had jumped at the opportunity to serve up north, her weather shields and other spells related to the colder climate were just not serving as well in Canterlot.

“You guys need any help?” she asked, feeling a little out of place. Emerald and Bright were much like most of the Crystal Ponies, from one thousand years in the past. In a blink of an eye they had suddenly been brought to their own future. One day slaves to a tyrannical king, the next they were free once again but living forever with the painful memory of their enslavement.

“We just need a moment, if you don’t mind, Sharpy.” Emerald looked at her and smiled apologetically. She and Bright had been standing by the bodies in silence when the Unicorn addressed them.

“No problem.” Sharp Spear nodded and turned back to the unconscious form of the innkeeper. She walked closer, wondering if she should attempt to move him from this spot.

A brown furred hand suddenly shot up and grabbed her by the throat. The minotaur’s green eyes focused on her and with a growl the innkeeper suddenly rose up, still holding the struggling guard. With a mighty shove he then threw the Unicorn across the inn, landing with a crash on some tables further away, sending still unconscious patrons to the floor.

Bright Spark and Emerald whirled around as this was happening, staring shocked at the Minotaur, his eyes were now completely green and glowing bright. The mare gasped when seeing some of the other patrons beginning to rise up, their eyes just like the innkeeper’s. Then a chill went down their spines when hearing a dark cruel chuckle echoing through the inn.

“I figured some guards would come along and learn what happened here. I hope you like my surprise, I kept it secret from my traveling companions just in case they tried something that would warn about it,” the voice of King Sombra spoke, it sounded strange though, like it was being spoken by many. Then it hit the two Crystal Ponies, the innkeeper, the rising patrons, their mouths were all moving. He was speaking through them.

“Now guards, these poor peons have been driven mad by their fears. They only see the monsters that haunt their minds, do you think you can fight all of them off? They will only think they are defending themselves from what seeks to destroy them,” Sombra explained and laughed before everything went silent.

Bright Spark scowled as he saw the patrons of the inn all turn towards him, Emerald and Sharp Spear who was slowly rising up with a soft groan. 

“They don’t look like they have been driven mad, aside from the green eyes,” Emerald whispered.

“That’s because the King’s spell hasn’t released them yet,” Bright grunted and his eyes narrowed when the green glow seemed to dissipate from the patrons. That’s when the screams began and suddenly every guest of the inn and the innkeeper rushed for the three guards, nothing but fear and madness in their eyes.

End Chapter 14