Fall of the Crystal Empire

by Blaster Master

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Cadance carefully maneuvered her way through the alleyways of the Crystal Empire, hiding as best as she could from sight. With the palace guards distracted by the fire, escaping the palace grounds had been easy. But Cadance had never been outside the palace without her mother, father, or an escort of Guards. And none of those were options today.

Cadance had fashioned for herself a quick disguise from an abandoned cloak and covering her face in dirt. At a quick glance, she seemed to be just a lonely, dirty orphan filly. Their kind was plentiful, considering all the parents who never returned from the crystal mines. Cadance’s disguise wouldn’t stand up to too close of scrutiny, but would suffice.

Despite the streets being pristine and well monitored by the Crystal Guard, the back alleys were less so, the true underbelly of the decaying city. As the young Princess made her way through the alleys, she saw homeless, destitute Crystal Ponies everywhere, trying to scrape a living. They huddled around sad looking bonfires, many weeping and most just staring blankly at nothing. Cadance moved among them, keeping her head down and did her best not to stick out. Suddenly, a Crystal stallion lunged out at Cadance and but his hooves on her shoulders, a crazed desperation in his eyes.

“Please! I have a daughter! I don’t know where she is! Have you seen her? Her name’s Moonstone! Please help me!”
He shook Cadance violently, nearly knocking her hood down, but she was able to steady herself and stop his shaking.

“I haven’t seen anypony named Moonstone, please let me go! You’re hurting me!”

“I can’t remember her...” The stallion muttered, no longer looking at Cadance, “How did I forget my own daughter’s face? How can I forget my little…My little…? Oh no… I can’t remember her name…”

Cadance managed to wrestle herself away from the distraught father and left him behind as he mumbled on. She hated to leave him behind but there was nothing she could do, she could neither find his daughter nor heal his infected mind of the influence of the dark crystals. Cadance’s ears perked up at the sound of marching hoofsteps, and she turned to see a squad of Crystal Guards heading her way. She froze with fear, thinking they were here for her, but was surprised to see them march right past her.

“You!” The lead Guard called to a mare huddled under some blankets lying next to a wall, “Come with us! We need workers for the mines today.”

A pair of the Guards grabbed her in their teeth and lifted her onto her hooves. She stared at them dully, without any sign of resistance or recognition in her eyes.

“Wait! Please!” Another stallion approached the lead Guard, “She’s my wife and she can’t go to the mines today! She’s not well! She needs rest and-”

The Crystal Guard commander slammed his helmeted head into the face of the protesting pony, knocking the innocent stallion to the ground with blood shining from his nose.

“We do as the king commands, and the king needs more workers! Now shut up, or we’ll send you both to the mines!” Just for spite, the commander then stomped on the stallion’s stomach as he lay on the ground, and Cadance could tell from his wicked smile that he enjoyed it.

The guard group carried the mare off as her husband laid moaning and bleeding in the dirt. And as they took her around the corner and out of sight, he began to cry as well.

The despair here was nearly unbearable, and it nearly brought the Princess to tears to see her people so helpless. Everywhere she looked it was more of the same, everypony in the city had truly seemed to have given up all hope.

But she could not help them. Not here. Not now.

She needed to escape, to get help.

She vowed to herself that she would return and free them all. It was her duty as their Princess.

She would not abandon them.

And the talk of taking ponies to the mines had given her an idea…

***

“We’ve searched the palace, sire. She’s not here.”

“She must have escaped,” Sombra concluded, looking down at the reporting guard from his throne, “I want every exit to the Crystal Empire on high alert and the Crystal Guard to sweep the city, block by block for her. Search homes, businesses, sewers, everywhere. And send in Cadance’s bodyguards. I would have words with them…”

The guard bowed briefly and trotted out. Moments later, Cadance’s two bodyguards walked in, quaking with fear.

“My king-” One of them began, but Sombra raised a hoof.

“You failed me. I gave you a simple task: watch my niece. Watch a foal who’s barely earned her Cutie mark and make sure she never leaves your sight. You failed. You failed spectacularly. And, in failing, are partly responsible for the loss of much of my research.”

“Sire, please-!”

“Tell me, Guard,” Sombra interrupted, “You’re trained to use a spear, aren’t you? What do you think of this?”

Sombra’s horn glowed and he telekinetically summoned a spear from behind his throne. It was long and silver, topped with a head not made of metal, but of dark crystal.

“It’s my own design,” Sombra said casually as he spun the spear idly with his magic, “It took quite a while for me to get the spell just right, but I think this new spear will be quite a bit more effective than the ones currently employed by the Crystal Guard. But first…”

Sombra’s horn flared and the spear rocketed towards the guards, landing point first in front of them, the sound of the impact vibration ringing in the large room.

“I’ll need to test my prototype.”

One of the guards didn’t understand what Sombra was talking about. The other did.

The one who understood dived forward and gripped the spear in his teeth, and with a colossal effort, yanked it from the floor. Then he spun around, moving like a blur, and stabbed his comrade in the chest with the weapon, piercing the guard’s armor like it was made of paper. The stabbed Guard looked down in horror at his wound, but his horror only intensified when he saw the crystal spearhead glow and dark blue, glowing crystals began grow from the wound in his chest and across the Guard’s armor, then along his body. The doomed guard screamed as the crystals covered his face and he crystalized fully. Then he shattered into dust. The guard who had performed the stabbing dropped the spear as his mouth became agape, horrified by the effect of what he’d done.

“Quick, armor piercing, and provides total annihilation of enemy combatants,” Sombra muttered as he jotted his notes down on a scroll, “Very effective indeed…”

The remaining bodyguard, still surrounded by the dust of his former companion, knelt before King Sombra.
“My liege, let this serve as a demonstration of my loyalty! Allow me to continue to serve you, my king!”

Sombra laughed, long and loud and cold, at the guard’s appeal.

“‘A demonstration of your loyalty’!? All you demonstrated was my weapon’s superior killing power, and while I appreciate your participation in this endeavor, you are far from absolved. You want to truly prove your loyalty?”

Sombra’s horn glowed and a square shaped bottle of green liquid was levitated to the guard’s hooves.

“Pick it up,” Sombra commanded.

The guard did as he was bid, picking the bottle up in his mouth.

“Pour some of it on your leg.”

The smallest hesitation.

“That is an order from your king.”

The guard used one hoof to open the top, and poured the contents on his other leg. Then he spat the bottle out of his mouth.

“I follow you, my king! Even to death!”

“Good,” Sombra said, a wicked smile spreading across his face, “You’ve truly proven your loyalty.”
Sombra’s horn glowed again.
“Now hold still…”

***

At one of the heavily guarded checkpoints out of the Crystal Empire, a large wagon was approaching. Pulled by enslaved Crystal Ponies, the wagon was a solid steel box with no windows, no seats, and only one entrance in the back. Inside were a dozen Crystal Ponies on their way out of the city and heading towards the Crystal Mines in the nearby mountain range. But the wagon was stopped at the checkpoint by the Guards, and thoroughly searched. As the guards had the workers file out of the wagon, one stood out. A little foal with a cloak who seemed too young to be working the mines.

“You!” The captain of the guard called, “Stop!”

The foal stopped in her tracks and turned her hooded head away from the officer to hide her face.
Now the captain was sure something was off and approached her. He reached out a hoof to pull down her hood and as he did so he was struck by a blinding flash from under the hood. The captain and a few of his soldiers were dazzled by the flash and closed their eyes, crying out in pain. Cadance bolted, galloping around the stunned guards and heading towards the shield wall.

“Kill her!” The captain screamed, “KILL THE GIRL!”

Other guards began to cry out, calling for the blood of the fugitive princess as they gave pursuit. Cadance ran through the barrier and the effect was immediate: where they had been no wind a moment ago, it was now howling loudly. Where she had been only a little chilly, she was now freezing. But Cadance pressed on, running through the snow. Several guards also passed through the barrier in pursuit and hurled spears after her. The spears landed around Cadance, but none landed true. The warriors tried to give chase, but soon lost sight of her as the blizzard intensified and they soon lost the ability to see more than a few feet.

Cadance had escaped the Crystal Empire, but she was far from out of danger.