//------------------------------// // The Crystalling - part 2 // Story: A Dream // by totallynotabrony //------------------------------// “We think this plan might work to stop Flurry Heart's magic outbursts,” said Shining Armor. He and the others were gathered around the Crystal Heart. Taking it from its pedestal at the base of the castle had caused the weather to darken considerably. Hopefully they would be done before they were all buried in snow. “A Crystalling is a traditional Crystal Empire baby ceremony,” Cadance explained. “Whenever a baby is born in the Crystal Empire, the parents bring it before the Crystal Heart. They get the purest shard of crystal they can find, then pick a crystaller to present the baby to everypony who comes. Then they all share the light and joy they feel, feeding it into the crystal that joins with the Heart, and increases its power.” “Where do you get the crystal?” Twilight asked. Cadance frowned. “They’re naturally occurring around here. But with the destruction of the city…” “I’m sure it’s fine,” said Rainbow. She lifted a broken chunk of crystal off the floor. “How about this one? I think it fell off the ceiling.” “Well, it used to be part of the most beautiful castle in Equestria,” said Rarity. “Alright,” said Cadance. “Now we need to-” She was interrupted by the sound of a thirty millimeter gatling gun. Tin Mare swooped into a hover just outside, her blades kicking up a blizzard and her gun spitting fire. “There are hostiles outside. I am keeping them suppressed. Evacuation is recommended.” Her tailgate went down. In the confusion, Cadance dropped the Crystal Heart and it broke into a million pieces. There was a silence, punctuated only by the sound of automatic gunfire. “Um, I understand that breaking the Crystal Heart is bad,” said Applejack. “But it would take a while to fix it, and I don’t figure Tin Mare is prone to exaggeration. We should go and come back later.” “That would make it seem like we were finding buried treasure among ruins for when we come back,” said Rainbow. Nobody could really argue with that, and they loaded up. Tin Mare lifted off into the snowstorm. Applejack went into the cockpit for an update. “A small group of ponies were approaching the castle,” said Tin Mare. “They were packing heavy weapons, and based on their movements appeared to be up to no good. Sunset gave me authorization to engage. The enemies appeared to be highly trained, however, and immediately took to cover.” “Any idea what they were doing here?” Applejack asked. “No, however collecting more data could provide an answer. I recommend you speak to the Princesses. Perhaps the satellite feeds they commandeered from Valiant could help.” “Thanks,” said Applejack. She caught herself. It had been habit. Tin Mare had been helpful, after all. But was she supposed to thank a machine? Was Tin Mare a machine? Applejack frowned. Braeburn had made up his mind, but she was still unsure. The fact that she was even thinking about it spoke volumes, though. Tin Mare took them to Canterlot, landing in the castle courtyard. Knowing the Princesses were probably monitoring the airwaves, she’d called ahead. Celestia and Luna were waiting. The group met them. Shining and Cadance had wrapped the baby in a blanket to hide her wings. Flurry had gone to sleep, which helped a lot. Inside the castle, within the Princesses’ private quarters, they explained the whole story, including the part about a natural-born alicorn. Instead of ending the conversation on that note and bringing into question how worthy the two Princesses were if they themselves were not born alicorns, Shining steered the conversation back to the Crystal Empire. “All in all, not a huge loss considering the Empire was already wrecked,” concluded Shining. “More like a setback. Once we know what we’re facing, we can return to fix the Crystal Heart.” “That’s remarkably pragmatic of you,” said Celestia. “Since when are you so relaxed?” Shining shrugged, ruffling the cloak he wore. “Cadance and I started seeing the universe in a new way. We decided what was – and wasn’t – important. It's a balance.” “I’m more concerned about the mysterious group of ponies who arrived,” said Luna. “It sounds like we still don’t know their motivations or capabilities.” “It’s a problem,” said Applejack. “But I’m sure they’ll either announce themselves in a big show and/or we’ll squash them like bugs before they can do anything. There is what you might call a historical precedent.” They all agreed on that. “If we’re going to get started on fixing this, we’ll need a spell,” said Twilight. “Time for a library search!” “Twilight, could I speak to you for a moment?” said Celestia. The others said they would wait for her and left for the library. “Twilight, I wanted to talk about Silent Hill,” said Celestia. “When were you planning to take over the administration?” “I’ve meant to, really,” said Twilight. “But things keep happening. We were originally going to meet Shining and Cadance there today, actually, but they changed the venue to the Crystal Empire. And that’s just the mundane stuff. It goes without saying that the army of cutiemarkless ponies was a setback.” “Perhaps we can help you,” said Celestia. “Luna and I have been studying the laws and we think that avoiding some of that could enhance your ability to get things done.” “What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “We’re going to grant you carte blanche authority to do what you see fit,” said Luna. “You already gave me vague guidelines about what I needed to do,” said Twilight. “Isn’t that the same?” “No, that was a free pass to do what you wanted without guidance,” said Celestia. “This is a free pass to do what you want without consequences.” “I’m still not sure I follow.” “Twilight, we’re granting you immunity from all crimes.” Twilight’s eyes went wide. “Oh my. I’m not sure that’s something I really need.” “Just think about it,” said Luna. “We have decreed that you are now above the law as Governor of Silent Hill. It’s just one more tool you can use to expeditiously set up operations there.” “Uh, okay. I’ll think about it.” Twilight nervously went on her way. Celestia and Luna shared a chuckle and a hoof bump. Twilight met her friends in the library. While Canterlot may not have had the same books as the Crystal Castle library, it still contained thousands of years of material. The problem was finding what they needed. A couple hours in, they were all getting hungry. It had been quite a while since they had last eaten, considering they’d started the day quite a long ways away. “Donuts?” Rainbow suggested. They all agreed on that. The donut shop had been a favorite of theirs every time they were in Canterlot. Joe was not the nicest pony, but a darn good baker. The radio on the counter played soft tunes and the girls proceed to eat donuts. As they were finishing up, there was a faint buzz of static and Tin Mare’s voice pushed through the radio. “This is Tin Mare broadcasting on all frequencies. Alert: a group of suspicious ponies is approaching the donut shop.” She had been keeping an eye on the area on the assumption that the incident in the Crystal Empire had not been isolated. Sure enough, the mysterious group was back. Inside the donut shop, Twilight said, “What do we do?” “They’re here,” said Applejack, looking out the window. “‘Least I figure that’s who those suspicious-looking ponies are.” “You can go out the back, but make it quick,” said Joe. “I don’t want any fights in here.” The six of them exited the building. “Can we get a pickup?” asked Twilight, looking to the sky. “Tin Mare’s too big to land in these narrow streets,” Rainbow pointed out. “Ground exfiltration, then,” said Appleajack. Looking around, Twilight spotted an unused taxi. No telling where the taxi pony was. And this could be very important. Not that she was comfortable with it, but the Princesses had just authorized her to break the law… “Let’s go,” Twilight said, pointing to the taxi. Rainbow and Applejack quickly harnessed up and the others climbed aboard. Behind them, the group of suspicious ponies burst through the back door of the donut shop. “Go!” shouted Twilight. The chase was on. Fortunately, they were in little danger of being caught considering they had two of the most athletic ponies in Equestria pulling the wagon. That still didn’t mean they were going to easily lose their pursuers, however. The yellow wagon was easy to spot. The cart rounded a corner like a freight train, scattering pedestrians. “You could have crushed them! They had the right of way!” Twilight shouted, temporarily forgetting the immunity she had been granted. “They can be dead right!” Rainbow retorted. Ahead, the street widened as it approached the castle. Tin Mare sideslipped into position at the corner, hovering just over the street facing the taxi. She was kind enough to wait until the others had passed underneath her and gotten clear before opening fire. The ponies in pursuit had already shown themselves to be familiar with combat and had gotten out of the way before Tin Mare’s gun spun up. Tin Mare fired just a few rounds to make the point and then banked up and away. Her job was done, as the taxi passed through the gates of the castle seconds later. “We really should figure out who those ponies are,” said Applejack, only somewhat winded from the sprint. “Yeah, but they haven’t done anything yet,” said Rainbow. “Clearly they aren’t that much of a threat compared to us.” “Be that as it may – or may not,” said Twilight, “remember that hubris was what got Valiant killed.” “Are you saying he should have been even more paranoid and preemptively homicidal?” Rarity asked. “No! I’m saying that we’re pretty capable, but we shouldn’t underestimate anypony,” Twilight corrected. “Which is why I think maybe we should go back to Ponyville. It’s smaller, so we’ll know immediately if any suspicious new ponies appear. Also, nobody cares if it gets destroyed.” “I care,” said Fluttershy. “I didn’t mean literally,” said Twilight. “Just that it’s happened so often that it would be less of a tragedy because the townsfolk are used to it.” “I would think it would be more of a tragedy because it’s happened to them so many times,” Rarity said. “Twilight, you’re still not good at the whole other ponies’ feelings thing,” said Pinkie. “You’ve still got a lot of friendship lessons to go.” That pissed Twilight off so much she was still arguing about it when Tin Mare returned them to Ponyville. Guinness was there to meet them, proud to show off that he had the initiative to retrieve Skyla from where she had been babysat for months. The Cakes were not exactly pleased, but Guinness was generally as nice a guy as you could find in Ponyville. And he was married to Rainbow, which got him sympathy points if nothing else. But back to the point, he brought Skyla to meet those getting off Tin Mare. When they met Shining and Cadance with Flurry, it was awkward. “Yay!” said Skyla. Flurry fired a bolt of magic that, had it not been aimed straight up, would have flattened Ponyville. Guinness chuckled. “She must be the Princess of Dragon Balls with a power level like that.” Finding something to take her mind off the earlier slight, Twilight jumped in to moderate. “Shining, Cadance, what do you want to do? I think it can be said that Skyla was kidnapped from you.” “You named her Skyla?” Cadance asked. “Well, I wanted to name-” Guinness began, but Pinkie cut him off. “I’ve totally got to throw a party since it’s Flurry’s first time in Ponyville! So she did. The whole town showed up, as per usual, with the notable exception of Trixie and Daring. Sunset mentioned they were off looking for something called Columbia. Twilight made a mental note, but didn’t expect to be able to do much research of her own, based on past Valiant topics she’d attempted to seek. She turned back to the crowd. Nearly everyone in town was under one roof. This made it a little easier to surveil for potential threats. Twilight’s attention to detail found one almost immediately. “Who’s that over there?” “I recognize her. She’s a doctor from the hospital,” said Applejack. “She treated Coloratura.” Coloratura nodded in confirmation. “In fact, I might want to go talk to her. Somepony’s been messing with my eye again.” “What do you mean?” asked Rarity, eager for conversation that would distract her from Maud’s affection. “I keep finding foreign materials in the socket,” said Coloratura. “Usually when I wake up in the morning.” She lightly touched her eye patch. “What does foreign materials mean?” said Rainbow. One wonders why Rainbow was there, exposing the children to her radioactive self. Then again, alicorn children. And don't say that Rainbow had taken the responsibility of going to Zecora to get some of the radiation-blocking drugs that Trixie had been using. This is Rainbow we're talking about. “Usually wires or small pieces of metal,” Coloratura said in response to Rainbow's question. “I can’t figure out how they keep getting in there.” The girls shared a concerned look that Coloratura didn’t catch. Applejack put a hoof around her shoulders and led her away. “Let’s find someplace more quiet to talk about it.” In the meantime, Twilight’s attention swung back to the doctor. She supposed the pony did look a lot like a doctor. She wore a long white coat that reached the floor and had a small gold pin on the lapel. Maybe from a university or something. The doctor’s attention was focused on Flurry. That wasn’t unusual, since it was Flurry’s party and nobody in Ponyville had ever seen a baby alicorn before. Still, there was something in her expression that set Twilight on edge. How should she proceed? Find some way to talk to the doctor? What would Valiant do? Probably walk over, inflict some pain, and ask direct questions. Twilight decided to do the opposite. She walked in the other direction, but encountered someone that might as well have been Valiant. Cordoba was sitting in a corner by herself and drinking coffee. Her usual cutlass was by her side. A filly not mingling at a party was out of character for Ponyville. Twilight automatically asked, “Is there something wrong?” “We just had my father’s funeral. You were there.” Twilight cringed. “Sorry.” Cordoba took another sip of coffee and did not respond. Twilight tried again. “Is there anything I can do? Do you need anything?” “No.” “Well, you can’t just sit here in depression. Believe me, you’re better off socializing instead of withdrawing into a shell.” “What do you know about it, puta?” “I’ve collected more data on friendship than anypony.” Twilight had decided to change how she proclaimed her frienshipness. At the very least, nobody could argue that she had constantly been writing about friendship. But Cordoba did. “What does that get you? You haven’t done anything with it.” “How do you know?” Twilight challenged. “You don’t know me.” Cordoba’s expression changed slightly, perhaps amused, perhaps surprised. “And why should I?” Explaining to Valiant’s daughter why she should care about Twilight was a difficult question to answer. She eventually replied, “Because maybe I know something you don’t.” Cordoba gave a short, humorless laugh. “Do you really think you could teach me?” “I can teach anypony anything,” Twilight pointed out. “I taught Rainbow Dash.” Cordoba reluctantly nodded. She had to give Twilight that. “So what’s the worst that could happen?” Twilight asked. “I could become your friendship student.” “I was thinking that was the best thing that could happen.” Cordoba grinned with a hint of malice. “Is that what you think?” “You should learn about friendship. I don’t know why anypony wouldn’t want to have friends.” “Reasons,” Cordoba replied. “I know you didn't have a conventional upbringing,” said Twilight, “but making friends shouldn’t be a scary thing.” “I’m not scared of making friends.” “I don't see many friends,” said Twilight. “Prove it.” “Are you daring me to make friends?” Twilight shook her head. “That wasn't what I was going for, but...what the heck, I dare you to be my student and learn about friendship.” “Very well.” Cordoba put down her coffee cup and put out a hoof to seal the deal. They shook. This is so exciting! I can get so many more friendship lessons by teaching somepony else, Twilight thought. Also, maybe I can get information from her to fix some of the problems Valiant caused. Idiota, thought Cordoba. So that’s how Twilight got a student of her own and, several months later, inadvertently brought about the end of the Equestrian Government.