We made it to the city but the barrier was down and I saw Shining lying on the ground, "That is not good…" A ran over to him and checked his pulse, he was still alive good, but his horn had some sort of black crystals on them. "Shining, wake up…. Come on man, wake up…" I shook him.
He stirred, "Mmm… five more minutes Cadance…."
I groaned and smacked him, "You won't have a Cadance if you don't wake up now!"
"Ok ok ok I'm awake…. Oh man, what happened?" He asked looking at me, "Chris…. Chris! Wait… if you're here that means you have the heart right?"
I nodded and pointed to Spike who was holding the Crystal Heart, "Yeah but what happened to you man?"
He looked to the sky, "Ugh…. Sombra came… an hour ago… I tried to stop him; he knocked me out and went to the Castle."
Did it really take me an hour to get here? "Damn… that's not good. Can you move?"
He stood up shakily, "Yeah… but I can't do magic." He said pointing to his horn.
"I figured as much, but I don't need you to do magic. The girls were in the castle right?" he nodded, "Great that means he's probably going to want the Crystal Heart in return. What about Cadance?"
"She was in the Castle with the girls, if Sombra is there that means he got to all of them." Shining said.
"Alright… ok I have a plan…" We huddled together and worked out the details.
"We know what we have to do?" I asked them.
"Yep." Spike said.
"I have to admit, that it's a good plan let's just hope he doesn't think of it." Shining said same, now come on. We ran towards the castle and I saw that the town was empty. They were probably inside their homes or somewhere else, as long as they were safe. I held the Crystal Heart in my arms careful not to drop it.
When we reached the throne room I kicked the doors open and came to a halt. The girls were chained up to a wall and Cadance was chained up to the throne. Horns had strange rings on them and wings were bound to their bodies, all there mouths were covered as well and they all were looking at me hopefully. Sombra was on the throne sitting back relaxed with a cool look on his face, I growled a deep sinister growl.
He yawned, "Ooooo scary, I was wondering when you'd get here. Oh and it looks like you brought the Knight Prince and a Lizard how… quaint."
"Sombra… let them go." I said in a dangerously low tone, giving a quick look to Fluttershy.
"Oh I will if you give me that heart you're holding." He said.
The girls mumbled out grunts of protests, "And how do I know you just won't take the Crystal Heart and keep them like that?"
"You don't but," his horn glowed and a spike shot out the floor and stopped right underneath each of their throats. "If you want them to live you don't have much of a choice."
I looked to them all; they all looked at me with different expressions. There was fear and sadness, but mostly there was defiance even if one of them was crying, which I was proud of but not happy about, "Fine, just don't hurt them, please." The black crystals retreated and they let out a sigh of relief. Spike ran to Twilight and Rarity while Shining moved as fast as he could to Cadance.
Sombra had a triumphant grin, "Good, now come here boy and give me the Heart."
I sighed and walked to him, "You promise to let them go?"
"Yes, I do. Now the heart if you please." He said holding out his hand, I reluctantly gave it over. "Hahaha… Very nice…" His horn lit up quickly and a spike of crystal shot towards the girls.
I tried to move to block it but it was to fast, I looked in horror at who it was heading for and dropped onto my knees. "Fluttershy… no…" She couldn't avoid it due to the chains but it didn't deal a fatal blow, but it did go straight through her shoulder and she let out a loud muffled scream of pain and more tears flowed from her eyes and blood seeped from the wound. The girls were looking at Fluttershy in shock but rainbow was struggling against her chains as best she could to get at the dark unicorn.
"You are an idiot, did you really think I'd let the only leverage I had go? As if, I will use those mares, you, princey over there, and the lizard to make Celestia and Luna do whatever I want." He said with a triumphant laugh. I scowled at him and then started to laugh as well. "What the hell are you laughing at boy? I have the heart and I severely injured your loved one. If anything you should be furious if not dejected. What's so funny?"
I stood up with my head hung low, the laugh slowly turning sinister, "Two things, that ain't the real Crystal Heart, Sombrero!" I said slowly.
He looked at me with an oblivious looked and then he felt the water run down his arm, "W-what did you do?! WHERE IS THE HEART?!" He roared out.
"Second thing…" I looked at him glaring pure death, "You've made the biggest mistake in your entire life."
He was fuming, "And what's that ice boy?"
Mist and steam were coming off my body from it dropping the surrounding temperature, "You hurt someone I loved and who loved me back…" I fully lifted my head up, my eye glinted in the darkness that was covering them and my smile was twisted in rage. "And for that…. YOU DIE!" I jumped towards him faster than anyone thought possible and punched him square in the jaw sending him flying through the wall and out to the city. I jumped through the hole roaring as I came crashing down into the crater that Sombra made when he landed.
He stood up and wiped his face off examining his hand seeing the blood, "You… what the hell did you do? You weren't this strong before." I didn't answer him instead I just growled and spat on the ground. "No matter I won't be letting you hit me agai-" I hit him again.
I kept punching him, making the crater deeper and deeper until he blasted me off of him with some dark magic.
He stood back up albeit a bit shakily, "Fine, you want to fight, then let us fight." He took on a fighting stance.
I just leaned over and charged, howling all the way. 'Hyōryū no Hakari' I said in my mind my body being covered instantly in clear, diamond hard scales. I held out my fist ready to punch him but he simply side stepped me and chopped me in the back sending me into the ground.
"Ugh, why does my hand hurt?" He looked at it and saw a thin layer of ice coating it and he cracked it off. He reached down and picked me up by the back of my neck. "I have no idea what you are, but I'm going to make sure you don't get the chance to make more." He slammed me back into the ground then picked me up again and tossed me through several buildings.
Eventually I stopped in a pile of rubble. "Thank god for the scales, other wise I would be in a lot more pain." I groaned out. I saw Sombra, in shadow form, coming through the holes I made flying through the houses so I decided to form the sword of the ice dragon. When he got close enough I jumped and slashed through the shadows.
He howled in pain and reformed into a solid body, "I forgot your little ice magic can hurt me in shadow form."
I smirked and held my sword out in front of me and he shot a blast of magic at it, shattering it, 'Well shit.'
"Is that all you've got?" He called to me, "Well if it is, let me show you what I have." His horn charged up and he shot a magical blast much like the one that put me in the hospital.
I put up my arms and wrapped my tail around me like a protective shield.
"What do you think that's going to do, pro…tect…you…? WHAT?!"
I felt the magic hit my tail but I didn't feel any sort of pain, just the impact, I looked over my tail and saw the magic flying off towards the horizon. I smiled, "Now let me show you what I can really do… Ice Dragon's Crushing Fangs!" I bent my arms and two giant spikes of ice formed off my elbows, I jumped at him and started spinning like a top, I used the tip of my tail increase my speed and he was too stunned to block or dodge me, I slammed into him the spikes slicing through his armor and into him. When I stopped spinning, my ice slowed him down enough for me to jump into the air and form a large drill of ice around my horns. I spun myself again and aimed straight for Sombra, "Horn Drill of the Ice Dragon!" I hit him square in the chest breaking away large chunks of the armor.
Before I was done he grabbed hold of me and tossed me back through the buildings but I was able to get my footing, not before skidding a couple of feet though. When he came through his eyes were exceptionally red. "You little…"
"Those were for Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash." I slammed my hands on the ground causing spikes of ice to race towards him but he dodged them, which I was expecting so when he landed I used my newfound speed to punch him again with a diamond fist, which of course sent him flying but I chased after him and started slashing at him with the claws of the ice dragon and changing to punching him with the diamond fist. When I felt he flew far enough I got the claws back out, dug into his stomach and slammed him back into the ground. I jumped back several feet panting. "Those were for Pinkie Pie and Rarity."
He crawled back out of the ground worse for wear, "I swear I will end you…"
"I'd like to see you try…" I did the classic hand taunt motion, you all know the one.
He roared and starting shooting beam after beam of dark magic at me which I deflected with my tail, this thing was useful. When I saw a break in his firing I gathered magic in my stomach and lungs before releasing it in a roar.
He saw it coming and held it back with a wave of powerful magic, but I kept it going until I couldn't anymore. "You didn't think I'd seriously let that hit me again did you?"
"I… didn't want… it to…" I panted out, pointing to his legs.
He looked down and saw they were trapped in thick ice, "How did… If you think this will hold me…" He shot a blast of dark magic off of it, it bounced off harmlessly, and he tried again and again and again. He even tried using his crystals to break it off, nothing worked.
I laughed, "Diamond hard ice Sombrero, nothing can break it… except for me, and by the way that was for Cadance." I started to inhale deeply, taking in all the ice and snow from the surrounding area for miles until I felt my magic energy fully replenished and then pushed beyond it's limits, it felt like I was about to explode but I needed all this power to get revenge for him hurting Fluttershy.
I leapt high into the air and stopped, seemingly floating, "Metsu Ryū Ōgi Hyōki: Hyōkakō." I said calmly as a small ball off ice formed at the tip of my tail, it started to grow bigger and bigger until it was the size of a large glacier. "And this…. THIS IS FOR HURTING FLUTTERSHY!" I yelled out as I flipped my entire body bringing the glacier with it, when my tail was in the perfect position used the momentum to let it fly and hit Sombra with a force, speed, and weight that came with it. When it landed on top of the tyrant I roared and slammed my feet down into it, cracking it until it broke apart and I landed right on Sombra's stomach with all the rage of a dragon.
He coughed up a large amount of blood and looked up at me, I picked him up by his hair and that's when I saw it, the fear in his eyes. 'Do it… kill him… you know you want to…' I heard a voice say in my head. "No, I don't kill." I told it, my thoughts becoming foggy. 'He tried to kill Fluttershy, we only got lucky he missed. If you let him go he'll do it again.' It said, goading me on. "He won't if we lock him up." I said but I wasn't convincing it… hell I wasn't even sure I was convincing myself. 'You know that won't happen… Kill him or else he'll come back and take it out on your loved ones later… and it will be all your fault for letting him go now. Remember the temple...'
"You're right… he will just keep killing." I lifted my arm, my mind completely clouded, forming a spike of ice at the end of my hand, "No more, you won't hurt anyone I care about again…" I brought my hand down…
+CHRIS STOP!+ Ixis yelled out, her voice penetrating the fog.
I stopped an inch about his throat, his eyes were closed and he was whimpering. "Ixis, why did you stop me?"
+Chris… this isn't you, you would never do this. You value all life even if it belongs to someone like him. You believe in everything deserving a second chance, what if Fluttershy could see you right now?+ She asked me.
"Fluttershy…?" I asked.
+Right, if she saw you right now, if she knew you killed him, even after what he did, you know she would never forgive you. You know she would be forever scared of you. So please, don't do this, I don't want to see you lose anyone else you love anymore… please.+
I blinked, my head clearing up. "You're right… I don't want that…" I sighed and let the ice melt. I was still holding Sombra.
He was looking at me, confused, scared and relieved, "Why… why did you stop?" He asked.
"Because I'm better than you that's why." I looked behind me and saw that the crystal heart was placed in it's pedestal and a felt the magic coursing through the air. I dropped him and started to walk away. "It's done Sombra, leave and never come back, if I see you again I will kill you."
"Don't you dare walk away from me… come back here and finish it! KILL ME DAMN YOU!" He yelled out after me.
I felt a strong wave of magic pass by me, recharging and healing me, "I don't have to." I said quietly and then I heard the agonizing scream and the explosion. I looked up into the sky and saw several parts of Sombra flying through the air in opposite directions to a very far distance. I sighed happy it was over and made my way to the castle.
When I got to the throne room I was tackled by a blur of pink. "Hey Pinkie, good to see you're ok." I patted her back until she got off of me.
"We saw the entire fight Chrissy, it was so cool!" She said happily
"Yeah how you hit him and never let up like BAM BOOM POW! And how you deflected his magic with your tail, actually when did you get that?" Rainbow asked.
"Icesplosion.. had one at the temple." I said quickly.
"I hope you didn't ruin the books in there." Twilight said with a playful glare.
"Good to see you too Twi." I looked to Rarity who was just freaking out for whatever reason.
"Ah hope ya gave 'im a hit for me." Apple Jack said punching me in the arm.
"I gave him a hit for all of you… speaking of, is Fluttershy ok?" I asked looking around.
"She's fine we got her bandage up real quick once Shining Armor and Spike set us free, she's right over there." AJ pointed to the hole I made and Fluttershy was just standing there looking at it, or out it, I couldn't really tell. "I suggest you go talk to her partner, you were mighty scary even to me. Imagine how Shy must've felt."
"Yeah.." I walked over to her and gently touched her bandaged shoulder, "Hey Flutters, is your shoulder ok?" She nodded, "Are you ok?"
"I-I don't know… I'm proud of you for not killing him I really am but… I was also really scared of you." She said looking away from me.
"Scared… why were you scared?"
"When he hurt me, your entire posture changed it went from the calm caring you to… well a wild animal protecting what's yours. But that wasn't the scary part at least not for me, for me it was your eye. It looked so much like a dragon's more so than normal, but I could also see the bloodlust the urge to kill in them and when you were holding Sombra I was so scared I was going to lose you to that." She said tearing up and gripping her shirt.
"Shy…." I said softly.
"Chris… what happens when you really do lose control? I could tell that you still had control even when you were about to kill him, what happens when that's not there." She asked looking at me, and just like Sombra fear was in her eyes.
"No… I… I would never let it get that far. I swear I wouldn't." I told her.
She shook her head, "Chris… you lost your temper just from me being hurt. I go out on dangerous assignments with the girls all the time. What happens if I get injured to where it will cost me my life, what if I do die? What if we have a daughter or son and she or he gets hurt or worse? Would you still have control then?" She asked me dead serious.
"I… I… no I wouldn't…" I dropped to me knees, "I wouldn't have any control…"
"What do I do when that happens, what do we do when that happens?" She asked me.
"You… you get as far away from me as you possibly can. When I lose control I don't care who is a friend or an enemy. I will probably hurt them regardless. If I lose control I want you to run and if we have a child I want you to take the child and run, fly, do anything and get as far away as you can go to a hot place, I can't survive in places like those for long. Just promise me you'll do that because I don't believe I will be able to keep control." And that was that…
"That's your worst fear isn't it? That one day you'll lose control and hurt the ones you love." She hit the nail right on the head, that was the main reason I kept my emotions in check, pretty sure I said that before. I just nodded, "Chris stand up."
I did and looked at her, "Fluttershy…."
She shushed me, "Chris, let me tell you what you told me… if you can't believe in yourself, don't. Don't even believe in me… believe in the me that believes in you."
I smiled, "…That doesn't make any sense."
She hugged me, "No, but it made you smile and that's all that matters. I love you Chris."
I hugged her back, "I love you too Shy."
"Why is it always mushy mushy stuff with them?" Rainbow asked.
"Honestly Dash, Ah just think you're jealous." AJ said.
"A-am not!" Rainbow retorted with a blush.
I started laughing, then Fluttershy started laughing, and then it spread to everyone else. Man it was good to be with them. I looked up and saw the ghost of Faux Rarity staring down at me with a smile, me looking up got everyone else's attention and they gasped, save for me and Spike. She mouthed something that I made out to be thank you, came down and kissed me. It's weird to be kissed by a ghost, like imagine feeling wind against your face but the area around your lips is cooler than the rest of you face. When she was done she backed away and waved, disappearing. I blushed and looked at Fluttershy who was just scowling at me. "What? Don't look at me like that, I have no idea what that was about."
"Chris… that was Princess Platinum. Why was she here, more importantly why was her ghost here?" Cadance asked, so I explained what Spike and I saw in the temple and how those bodies should be taken out and properly buried. Cadance agreed and said it would happen as soon as possible.
"I'm just curious as to why she looked exactly like me? Oh could that mean I'm a direct descendent of Princess Platinum?" Rarity asked dreamily.
"Wouldn't surprise me really, by the way, you look good enough to eat Shy." I told her loud enough for everyone to hear.
"C-Chris!" Sweet the distraction worked.
"What?! You look like crystal, we all do… in fact it's a bit hard to refrain from eating myself." I bit into my arm and yelped in pain, "Ok… yeah not a good idea. So what now?"
"Well, I guess we celebrate." Cadance said. "And we all know who to leave that to." We all looked to Pinkie.
She just smiled her classic pinkie smile, "IT'S TIME TO PARTAY!" She yelled out.
And so we did, the entire Empire partied for the span of 4 days. At the end of the four days there was a Ceremony held where Spike and I got medals of heroism and bravery as well as the whole adoption event. Why it had to be such an important event? I had no idea best summary of it? Vows and stuff, now I'm the Drako Prince of the Crystal Empire, Defeater of King Sombra, blah blah blah pointless titles blah. I was just happy to have a family again.
And about Princess Platinum, even if she wasn't an Alicorn she still lived an exceptionally long time. And apparently she helped found the Crystal Empire and was one of the ponies who insisted that Cadance's Family be put on the throne instead of her, despite them not being royalty, but they had a way with ponies that she did not so she felt they would do better. Princess Platinum also knew Sombra long before he became corrupted with dark magic, in fact they were even lovers but when he got corrupted she left him but she never gave up on him. When she saw that he was his normal self even if only for a short while she decided to follow him to the Pillars, this got the attention of several other ponies and they decided to leave during nightfall and follow, which is why we found their bodies in the temple. Same with Princess Platinum who we suspected to have wanted to convince Sombra to let the people and Empire free only to die to the one she loved. We also assumed that Sombra saw this and it is what pushed him into darkness completely. I could sympathize with him, if I killed Fluttershy even accidentally I'm pretty sure I would go crazy too.
A day or two later Spike came to my room one night. I heard the knocking on my door and answered it, seeing my little buddy standing there. "Hey, Spike, what's up?"
He rubbed his arm looking down, "How do you do it?"
"How do I do what? You're gonna have to be more specific than that." I told him.
"How are you not having nightmares of that temple… all those dead ponies… that pony that looked like Rarity…" He said softly.
I blinked and sighed, "Come in and sit on the bed I'm going to go make some coco."
"I… thanks…" He walked passed me to the bed and I went to the small kitchen I had in my room… what? I'm a prince I get what I want. I made 3 cups of Hot Coco and came back and saw Spike sitting in Fluttershy's lap.
"Here you go." I handed a cup to him and he took it with shaky hands. "So you've been having nightmares huh?"
He nodded, "Whenever I close my eyes all I see are the frozen ponies and then I see… her and that changes everything to everypony else being frozen. Twilight, you, Shining… everyone… dead and cold and it's just me. I'm the one who caused it and I wake up screaming and and and!" He started hyperventilating.
I put a hand on his head, "Deep breaths Spike, deep breaths."
He heeded my advice and he started to breathe normally again, "That… that happens… how do you do it? How aren't you freaking out?"
I took a deep breath, "I do have nightmares Spike, I have nightmares all the time, these are just added to the endless list of nightmares I have. I wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying more times than I care to count."
"So how are you not… crazy?" He asked.
"Because I have her," I pointed to Fluttershy and she smiled at me, "and you, and everyone else. I know that when I wake up and I see all of your smiling faces I know that my nightmares are just that, nightmares."
"Oh…" He said, not really expecting that.
"What were you expecting me to be like, 'I've seen so much death that it doesn't affect me anymore'? I'm not that much of a badass Spike. I actually hate death and killing, I try to avoid it as best I can. Lemme tell you a secret, when I almost killed Sombra, that night I couldn't sleep because I was so close to just losing who I was. I was just rocking back and forward muttering to myself." I said with a chuckle.
"You were?" He asked.
"Yes, he was, it took me hours just to calm him down enough to go to sleep and when he did if I tried to leave or move he would start to whimper again." Fluttershy told him.
Spike laughed, "You whimpered? Really?"
"Yeah yeah, yuck it up." I said with a growl. "But that's how I'm not going insane with everything. If you need to you can come and talk to us whenever you want, you also have all of our other friends too, remember that. I know I have to or else things could get bad. And if I could recommend something, go talk to Rarity after you're done here, ok?"
He nodded, "I can do that, thanks, I feel better."
"No problem now go on, and take your hot coco with you." I told him, he jumped out of Fluttershy's lap and off the bed bringing his drink.
"You handled that really well." Fluttershy said, wrapping her arms around me.
I shrugged, "Eh, I was just telling him the truth." I yawned, "I'm tired though, let's get to bed."
After the festival and the night Spike came to our room, the festival will be known as the Crystal Ice Festival from now on by the way, I spent the last few days at the Empire with Fluttershy… it was nice to see the ponies with memories. The kids were always coming up to me wondering what I was and the adults encouraged the ones who were either too shy or scared. I wish a lot more places like this. Anyway we spent a lot of time together… A LOT of time together. Ixis told me I should be careful or I'd end up having a kid, which I honestly wouldn't mind. Finally the day came when it was time for everyone to go home. Everyone except me, everyone was complaining of course. I promised them all they'd get as much time with me as they wanted when I got back. Surprisingly though the pony I was expecting the most protest from was quiet. But I understood that she knew I had to do this and we gave each other a look saying that no matter what we'll wait for each other. They still had my pins and I could send them letters with the emerald I still carried. I gave them all hugs goodbye and watched them board the train. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
"Chris are you sure about this? You're going to be away for years." Cadance said.
"I'm already part of the royal family Sissi, I can't take this back even if I wanted to." I told her looking at the train as it departed.
"I know, I just wish it didn't have to take long but with Shining wanting to give you proper training, the royal training and the other stuff you'll have to do, it's going to take a few years to finish. I'm sorry." She said.
I wiped my eye and smiled, "Don't be, this is just the end to one chapter of my life and the interlude to the beginning of the next one. If this is what I have to do to get to that next chapter and be back with Shy, then so be it. And besides it won't be all bad I'll probably see her at the Grand Galloping Gala each year if she decides to go."
She thought about that for a second, "Yes, I suppose you will, so are you ready to get started?"
I grabbed the necklace that had the heart-snowflake charm Fluttershy got for me attached to it, "Yeah, lets, it's going to be a long 5 years ain't it?"
"I'm afraid so Chris, I'm afraid so."