The Twilight of the Crystal Heart

by WanderingPony

Chapter 18: Rocking the Cradle

Hoof-fu was definitely not what Pinkie had always told her sister.

Hooves against spears is not fair. Hooves against flying, angry, armored changelings with spears is very unfair. And painful.

Maud slid under the rail car as four very long, unfair and sharp spears tried to finish the job they'd started, poking through her purple mane and scraping cuts across the now-thoroughly mangled frock. While the stabs had hurt, amazingly nothing was bleeding. She felt sick, hurting, and hollow...but no blood as the spears had delivered a few passing stabs.

The slide ended against a fence of more gleaming, steel points as she came out the other side. Flat on her back, the pony looked up to find the rest of the angry changeling "guards" with their weapons inches from her nose and belly.The other four soon joined them on the wrong side of Maud's life.

As death began to fall, her last thoughts were a distinct hope for fossilization in the time to come. It was rather comforting.

SMASH!

Death, and the malice behind it were swept away in a crashing wave of splintering boards, nails, and what appeared to be a previously well-secured door made of iron slats. The squeals and screams were mercifully brief but large in number, accompanied as they were by the sounds of large pieces of metal door meeting changelings.

Two pillars of what appeared to be oxidated iron stretched out over her. The ends had hooves. They had to be, as nothing would have done so much damage so easily. A few sparks- or perhaps sparkles drifted down. The two rams withdrew from sight briefly.

The stallion's head that replaced it was equally ruddy. And big. Like a hematite boulder, with flecks of limonite and two ovals of fougerite peering down at her. Fetching. "Yah ah'lright?", said the rock as it looked down at her, legs akimbo and crossed in what suddenly seemed incredibly awkward ways.

A few flakes of rust must have landed on her cheeks. From the looks of it, the stallion may have gotten some on his face as well, perhaps from the shattering door- and then the avalanche of Pies poured from the broken rail car and out onto the ground in a family hug of Pinkie-proportions. If she was blushing, surely it was from the utter mushiness of the embrace. Nothing more.

In the hugging and crying and celebrating that followed, nobody really noticed Big Mac's cutie mark had gained a little extra glitter.

---

When a pony lives in Canterlot for most of his life, he gets a feeling for when something has gone horribly wrong. Everyone panics and generally runs around like burning chickens (unless they're pegasi, in which case they tend to act more like drunken pigeons), the Guard acts like they're not panicking (mostly) and eventually the Princesses restore order and calm returns.

Blueblood, riding in a commandeered cart pulled by a recently de-cocooned team of Royal Guards noted the missing roof and the flocking of occasionally colliding pegasi from a mile away. The train of stallions pulled up to the front gate of Canterlot- mostly closed save for a shining helmet and spear poking through a crack.

"W-who goes?"

"Prince Blueblood and Princess Sunset Shimmer. Are your eyes as shaky as your voice, soldier?"

To Private Shaking Stones' credit, the idea of a dirty unicorn brandishing a rusty axe in what smelled like an apple cart and Prince had never crossed together in his head.

"Prince Blueblood is dead and he certainly never looked lik-k-k-k..."

Nor had he expected to be floating in front of said dirty stallion and his axe. Or the shabby-looking mare that had a distinctly fishy odor, nor the rather heftier and even fishier mare next to THAT one, collectively staring blue-green murder.

"I am your lord, Private. My aunts are in mortal danger. The roof is on fire. Open the gate or I will use you to open it."

The private had an excellent imagination. It served him well on considering a new path in life as gate-opener.

"Thank you!", the giant fishy mare exclaimed as the cart roared down the cobblestoned street ten seconds later. That was nice. It was good to know that ponies could be polite even at times like these, thought Shaking. It let a stallion go back to his gatehouse and be thankful he hadn't been thrown through a gate by angry royalty. A few hours of thankful thoughts behind a locked door and maybe something fortifying from that flask of medicinal stuff Foaming Flask kept behind the duty log. Just what a good soldier should be doing right now. Being thankful.

---

Pink and wings a-spread, the alicorn stood glaring into a stygian hole carved into the Appaloosan Mountains. Two small embers of hatred stared back, the sight alone making the herd of crystal ponies shy and snort even with their Princess keeping it at bay. Shivering colts and fillies watched as Cadence stalked into the shadows, driving the fearsome eyes a step back at a time until evil flames and the last wisps of blond tail-hairs were lost to sight.

The Princess would return once she had banished the scary monsters. She'd already promised her much-loved (and loving) herd and secret meal tickets. As stories go, "Princess banishes scary monsters" was a good one.

"Cadence" began to quietly converse with her equally false enemy as she rounded the first corner.

"The dungeon is positively dripping with malice, Lord Tirek. You've done wonders with the place."

A swarm of pony-sized white spiders skittered out of the path of the centaur and the false alicorn, pencil-thin legs atop bloated bodies. The withered, hate-filled eyes of Tirek stared through Chrysalis's false-skin like it had never been. The Master of Monsters always knew one when he saw it, after all.

"Of course. Such wonderful creatures to twist and warp into servants...and did you bring me a few ponies to play with?"

"My ponies. Mine."

"Pity. I was hoping I'd find a decent dragon or two, but I keep killing the weak little things when I try and transform them. And for some reason, I can't make a proper meal of the things like you can."

"It is a good thing that we have taught you other methods of feeding, master. Are you not glad that I found you again?"

A black ribbon, speckled with blue sparks of witchfire curled itself protectively around Tirek, who stroked it like a long-lost pet.

"Oh, yes, my beautiful Rainbow. I had thought you gone, but to find you here, waiting for your master...oh, what sweet delight it has been! We make such wondrous creations, and when they kill, the taste is exquisite. Love has nothing on the taste of death and terror, Queen Chrysalis. Your bugs feed you, my creatures feed me."

A wisp of something obscene streaked through the stale air and with a faint scream, found itself sucked into Tirek's withered maw.

"Mmm. Earth pony, poisoned to death on the tail of a giant scorpion and then torn to shreds in the desert. Invigorating."

The bellowing laughter sent ponies fleeing in all directions from the hungry mouth of the cave, and the hungrier one inside it.

"You will keep your things away from my food, Tirek. As was agreed. Let them see your pets, but none are to be touched. Once we have passed, the pony-kingdom behind us is yours to glut yourself on. Their so-called heroines will rot in dungeons, the Princesses are shamed and distrusted, and soon to have their hooves stained for murder as easily as the rest. All it will take is a little slaughter, and you will glut yourself on the deaths of ponies and every creature that loves their Equestria. Enjoy them, as I will enjoy mine."

Such a pretty mouth should never have been used to speak of treachery and killing, but then it wasn't Chrysalis's real mouth to begin with.

"Now, shall we make some terrifying noises before I "scare you off", Lord Tirek? If you can make them scream louder than I can, I might even let you have one from the larder."

Luckily for the crystal ponies, they managed to be terrified more of Chrysalis's screeches than Tirek's predatory howls, and none were lost in the long, shadowy trek through the mountains, the forests beyond where monsters unseen by living pony lurked, and finally to a slightly decrepit but welcoming little village and castle, where their Princess of Love had promised them. A forgotten, abandoned bastion of Love from the decorations that adorned the cottages and buildings of the little town. No-one would find them, and here, they could build a new life free of the evil minions of the Sun and Moon.

Chrysalis had made sure any luvcat bones had been safely disposed of in the forests with Tirek's pets, anyway, and the only monsters allowed would be hers.

---

A ravenous beast stalked the Royal Kitchens as ponies screamed, ran around, and rumbles shook Canterlot Castle to it's foundations.

Another "Twilight Sparkle Magic Moment" was hardly going to faze one mopey, monster-munchies Spike the Dragon. Not with a giant bowl of rocky-roaded pudding waiting for it's moment of gastric glory in his gullet. No, not at all! All the kitchen staff fleeing, a handy hoof-stool, and he'd even gotten to the "special stash" he could smell coming from the upper pantry. Marbled pudding with big chunks of sweet, sweet peridots mixed in with the marble-pebble crumbles.

Maybe one more clawful of peridots.

Spike's tummy growled.

Two. The slightly tubbier than usual dragon tottered up the hoof-ladder to his date with dining destiny. Behind him the pudding bowl blorped as something crystalline tumbled from the upstairs dumbwaiter and sank without a trace into the Celestia-serving-sized dessert. The dragon, with a grand sweeping gesture coated the surface of the chocolate-vanilla-peridot-marble-swirl with a generous helping of gemstones and inhaled the divine fragrance. It was magnificent. Almost electric, as if a thunderbolt of flavor awaited in the center of the culinary creation. A siren called to him from the bottom of the bowl, and Spike would answer as so many pony sailors might.

His fanged mouth opened wide, he dove headfirst into the the sweet like the pig he was and bit down on the extra secret ingredient.

Ten floors above, Rainbow Dash writhed unaware as phantom fangs bit into her flank, green flames bordering the black, spotty haze that had become the only things her battered brain could behold. Hooves tried to drag her spasming body from the dining room dumbwaiter, but her hooves had made a thorough trap from the ruined machinery and stallions flinched from the suddenly fanged mouth and staring, slit-pupiled eyes of what had been a perfectly normal pegasus not a moment ago as her jaws snapped on empty air, biting at something she saw only inside her burning skull- black, draconic, hungry for her.

Purple-shod hooves pulled Dash from the edge of the shaft, gently held the chattering jaw and stroked the blue-tufted ears as they grew ragged and pointed and crooned a lullaby that peaked now and again with clicks and squeaks no normal pegasus could produce or hear, but pierced the nightmarish swirls of wyrm and flames. The wildfire became a steady tickle, friendly rather than fierce. The dark places became thoughts of lair, of nap instead of nightmare. The squeaks and clicks became words, half-heard in the drifting dream.

"It is the Change. Why did it stop? Her wings and tail are still of the Day, Starlit."

"The Night Father is not with her, but...she smells of dragon. How? Who? Her eyes. Sweet moonlight, she has the eyes of Bahamut...could she be the one?"

Dash's mind settled into the first pain-free rest it had known for days, the words sliding away into strange but friendly scents and jasmine-kissed fur to snuggle her nose into.

Ten floors below, Spike had no such company, but the first bite of his magicite-spiked dessert had been beyond anything a baby dragon could have ever expected. A rainbow of colors smashed through rationality and exploded in every direction through Spike's thoughts.

Fly. Speed. Wind. Clouds.

WINGS!

Flights that Spike could never have imagined, could never have done rushed into him, the essence of the pony he'd accidentally sampled, transmitted on a dark, strange strand of dragon that he would have never imagined.

He -stretched-, days of gluttony burning away to form a sinuous spine, baby fat consumed to fuel the transformation of a child dragon into the next step of life. Wings sprouted like newborn leaves, pushing a shower of shed scales away from his back to leave a forest-green canopy of membrane. The back stretched and hardened, flight muscles sliding under the skin that shed bits of skin in a sparkling pink river. Stubby paws stretched into more graceful limbs, and the tail became a long, whip of glittering scale.

The young wyvern Spike raised his graceful muzzle from the bowl and yawned, licking a few smears of pudding and crumble away from his nostrils with a long, serpentine tongue. Finally, the endless appetite had found an end, replaced by the desire for nap. He went to pick up the bowl. It seemed smaller.

Wait, were those his arms?

Something pulled at his back as he started. Wings? He had wings? Look at that tail!

Hubba-hubba, Spikey-wikey!

Twilight had always told him that growing up would be a surprise, but WOW. A few experimental flaps scattered dish towels and an empty box of pudding mix around the floor, but left him hovering in mid-air. Naptime could wait. Future Spike could clean up the kitchen. The first good thing in days had happened, and Twi-

A pang stabbed through the giddy joy.

-and Rarity would be amazed. Beautiful things always made his Rarity happy, and he was beautiful. He hadn't managed one thing to cheer her up...and now, here he was.

A three-foot long streak of dragon blurred through the kitchen door, out a window and up, up towards...oh, wow. How did they do that? Twilight wasn't around to mess up the roof agai-

The purple spot on the floor focused into the one thing Spike wanted more than even Rarity.

Roaring, he folded his wings and dove towards the rubble-strewn floor for the greatest treasure of his life.

---

Ponies scattered in every direction as the beast crashed to the ground, claws scrabbling for purchase on smooth tile and smoother-still melted tiles as it half-slithered, half-ran to the fallen Princess Twilight.

"Twilight!" it roared, joyful.

A spear nearly punched through one dark green wing as a guardspony warded the strange dragon away from his fallen Princess.

"Hey! Watch it, you dumb pony! I just got these wings! What's....wrong with Twilight! You said she was gone!"

A sniff told Spike that she was anything but dead. The now line of guards swiped and stabbed, sending him tumbling snout over tail in midair to escape.

"HEY!" Flames licked from his mouth. "That's my SISTER!"

"T-that egghead doesn't have a...Spike? Is that you?"

An exhausted Rainbow Dash, dried blood streaking on her nose and ears looked up at the loud noise in her cradle of bat-pony mattress. The usual "You woke me up from a six-hour nap early for what?" look. Their eyes met, and suddenly, an already eroding wall between pegasus and wyvern dissolved into a momentary eternity.

Joyprotectfamilyprideflyingscared-

tiredprotectfriendsawesomeflyinghuh?

JoyprotectfriendsflyingprideAWESOME.

WE.

And just like that, Spike had two sisters. The new one managed to be awake for about a minute more than the old one had managed before resuming an exhausted naptime, an indelible smile creasing her face even when she started snoring.

Bat wings swatted Day Guards, shoving them out of the way and chiding them for threatening Spike, of all things. Princesses live and once-again-live were carried away to the infirmary, with less nobleponies following behind. With the exception of Dash, nothing seemed to rouse the others, which was a disturbing situation at the least.

Having a filthy Prince charge in with a squad of naked guards was even more disturbing. Being told there was a changeling plot and attempted regicide? It took a few hours of the newly militant Blueblood to stomp out another pony panic.

No Princess of the Sun OR Moon or Magic awake to handle things like the day and night, monster attacks, changelings, and the Stable being thrown tail-over-teakettle for months of rule by Blueblood? An entire royal line in a coma with the ponies everyone expected to save the day, once they no longer thought they were going to blow up Canterlot? Strange crystal cutie marks? Cutie crystals? Utter confusion, dogs and cats living together and mass hysteria?

That would be another story or three to tell. It's a big kingdom, after all.

Author's Note:

The Crystal Heart series continues in Waking The Crystal Heart and side stories!