The Last Crystal Unicorn

by TheMyth

Chapter 13

Rarity and the others were running up the stone stairs that belonged to the library tower of the castle. “Are you sure this is the right way, Shining Armor?!” she yelled out to Shining, who was just behind her.

“I’m certain,” Shining replied as he focused on the spell. “But I really suggest you let me stay in the front, Rarity! This could get very ugly and—”

“I know!” Rarity barked out as she clenched her teeth, narrowing her eyes as they continued to run up the stairs. “I may not be a guard like you, Shining, but I am far from helpless!” she said as they finally reached the top of the staircase. Rarity paused for a moment, letting the others catch up to her. “Is this where they are?” she asked Shining, pointing her hoof to a large wooden door.

Shining caught his breath, surprised that a famous fashionista had so much stamina in her, before looking at the targeted door. “Yeah, this is where the trail ends.”

“Alright,” Rainbow spoke as she made her way to Rarity. “I’m sure the enemy doesn’t know we are here yet, we can just bust our way in there and—”

“Rainbow,” Rarity cut her off, placing a hoof to her mouth. “I think we should rather do something a little more practical, wouldn’t you say?” she asked her rhetorically but didn’t wait for a response as she turned her head back to see Blaze behind her. “Blaze, do me a favour, yes?”

Blaze walked up to her, still feeling a little rage at what happened to the mare he loved. “What do you need, Rarity?” She asked her, as he clicked his neck a few times.

“Blast that door to oblivion, would you?”

A grin formed on his muzzle, with his wings flaring up again and his hooves burning brightly. “Stand back,” he told the group, who complied immediately. He flapped his wings slowly before beating them faster. A large ball of fire starting forming in front of him that stayed intact. With one final strong flap that created a gust of wind, the fireball went flying to the door. The large explosion soon followed, with the wood from the door flying ever as a tremor was emitted from the blast.

When the smoke cleared, Rainbow Dash stood in awe at what had transpired. She turned her head slowly to Blaze. “That was awesome.”

Blaze huffed as he smirked. “Thanks.” He turned to a silent Shining Armor, who looked at him with darted eyes. “Twilight helped train me.”

“Yes yes!” Rarity waved her hoof to in the air. “We have more important things to do now!”

Two guards came galloping out. “Halt, in the name—”

They didn’t last. Rainbow Dash and Blaze had them taken care of them so quickly that their allies didn’t even see what exactly they did. All they knew was that the two were know on the ground, out cold.

Rarity was in the room just as quickly. “Stop!” She was shouting before she even saw what was going on, saw what was going on with Amethyst. “Let him go!”

Ruby lowered the knife.

Rarity fired the biggest blast she could manage, hoping to strike Ruby. Sadly, her aim was off, and it went flying to the side, missing her by inches. The knife cut into him.

Then, the crystals shook. They turned red, then rose into the air, circling in a sphere above the colt whose blood made it possible.

Then they stopped.

“What?”

That single word was all Ruby had time to get out, because at that point every crystal exploded into shards, flying in all directions.

Shining Armor was in front of Rarity and quickly put his shield up. Shards struck with surprising speed, pounding the barrier. Shining was caught off guard, but still managed to keep his shield up.

And then it shattered.

The shards struck his horn, embedding deep in his horn.

He yelled in pain, rearing up in pain, and then falling on his side. He groaned, his front hooves clutching the base of his horn.

Ruby’s eyes widened. “Wait! You’re—”

And then Rainbow Dash slammed into her. She made sure her hooves hit her head to make absolutely sure that she was knocked out.

Rarity was up at the stand. “Amethyst! Oh, sweetie, are you okay?”

Said colt lifted his head slowly, his ears ringing and his vision blurry thanks to the explosion. He rested a hoof to his temple, feeling a warm liquid coming from a cut on his forehead. Amethyst flinched a little when he felt a sharp pain as he touched the wound, where immediately Rarity placed a cloth on it.

“There there,” Rarity cooed at him, wrapping the cloth on his head as she inspected the rest of his body. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” She asked nervously, seeing only a scar on his leg.

Amethyst shook his head, his eyes becoming moist as his lips quivered. He flung his hooves around Rarity’s neck and started to sob into her shoulder. He was shaking violently and he felt the gentle hoof of Rarity rubbing his back.

“You’re safe now, Amethyst,” Rarity nuzzled him, feeling his shaking stop and she lifted his head to face hers. “I’m just going to take you to the hospital wing, to get that cut checked on, okay?” she told him softly, only receiving a nod from him as she looked into his red-rimmed eyes. Rarity rested him on her back and she started to walk out of the room, before turning to Shining and the others. “Will you three be alright here?”

Blaze nodded once to Rarity, looking to the two guards he and Rainbow had bound with rope they found near the table. “We’re all good here, just get Amethyst to the hospital and we’ll meet you there once we sorted this out.” Blaze told her, tightening the rope around the two corrupted guards.

With that, Rarity left the room in haste. When she closed the door, Rainbow flew over to Shining and inspected his horn. “Are you alright?” she asked him, squinting her eyes to see some shards stuck on his horn. She recalled how crystal shards were attached to his horn when they first dealt with Sombra.

“I think so,” Shining answered Rainbow, forcing his magic to remove the shards embedded on his horn. He clenched his teeth as he shut his eyes, feeling pain on his horn when the crystals were finally removed. Shining turned his attention to Ruby, his face forming a scowl as he got up. “I knew something was wrong with her, but this…”

Rainbow flew next to him and looked down on the fallen crystal pony. “Hey, stranger things have happened…” She gave off a forced smile, but removed it when Shining did not return it. “What you think went wrong?”

“Once she wakes up, I think we’ll know,” Blaze answered for Shining. “I hate to rush things, but don’t you think we should head off to the hospital wings?”

Before Shining could speak, a squadron of guards came into the room with spear and armor ready. They were all regular, garden- variety ponies, much to the group’s relief, no loyalists among them. “Prince Shining! We received word from Princess Cadenza of the situation.” The guard in front saluted his superior. “What shall we do with them, my liege?”

“Take them all to the dungeon. Every guard who was loyal to Ruby as well. Then I want you to prepare a roster of every guard who was on staff during Sombra’s reign. We’ll need to weed out any potential remaining spies.”

The two guards saluted, then began doing as they were told. Shining Armor just watched the scene with a heavy heart. Ponies he trusted...

“Do you really think there are going to be anymore?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Traitors, I mean. Wouldn’t they all have dropped the act when Ruby did?”

Shining shook his head. “They might have had a contingency plan in place for this kind of thing.”

“You think they’ll try and get Amethyst again?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean, they don’t know the spell didn’t work yet...”

“I doubt anypony knows the spell but Ruby, they’ll focus on rescuing her first. He’s safe for now, at least...” The last words trailed off at Shining losing himself in thought. “And that means... we have an excuse to send Amethyst back to Ponyville!”

The group blinked in confusion, so Shining continued. “If the crystal ponies hear that Amethyst was used to try and bring Sombra back, they won’t be able to send him away fast enough! It’s perfect!”

“But... he isn’t...”

Rainbow Dash was cut off by Applejack. “Nopony needs to know that,” she said sternly. “Besides, even if it was said so, ponies might miss that detail.”

Shining nodded. “Paranoia tends to overshadow facts. But we’ll worry about that later. Come on, we better get to the hospital wing.”

---

“Shh... it’s okay...”

Rarity was stroking Amethyst’s mane. He had calmed down a bit, but he still looked like a wreck. With his bloodshot eyes and the large scar on his foreleg, he looked like he just wanted to nuzzle into the mare that cared for him and sleep for a year. His long breaths sounded much too loud for Rarity.

“Ruby is taken care of, she can’t hurt you.”

Amethyst lowered his head, his breathing becoming longer. “I… I was…” He couldn’t finish his sentence as he laid his head in his hooves. He felt Rarity holding him and lifted his head again. “I was so scared!” He cried out as he held onto Rarity.

“I know…” Rarity whispered to him, looking down on him with moist eyes as she nuzzled him. “I’m so sorry this happened to you…” She trailed off as she continued to hold onto Amethyst. “This should have never happened to you at all… I’m so sorry…” Her own lips started to quiver when she looked down on Amethyst.

Drying his tears off when he looked up to Rarity. His eyes suddenly widened and he looked down to his chest, finding his necklace missing. “My necklace! It’s—”

“Right here.” Rarity levitated it to Amethyst, placing it around his neck. The necklace was open, thanks to Ruby, and she could see and hear what laid inside of it. “Is that your mother, Amethyst?” she asked him curiously, as they both looked down on the picture. She only saw him give a slow nod to answer her. “She is so beautiful…” She trailed off as she stared into the picture. She looks like me…

Amethyst looked up to Rarity again, his eyes looking away from hers though. “Miss Rarity, I want to know… when this is all over… can we go home?”

Rarity cocked her brow when she heard his words. “Home?”

“Back to Ponyville.”

“Amethyst…” Rarity uttered out, holding him tighter. “Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure you wish to live in Ponyville rather than here?”

“Yes,” Amethyst answered her, placing his unscratched hoof to her chest. “I don’t want to live here anymore, I don’t have family or friends here…” he trailed off again as he looked away. “And I don’t care if some politicians order me to stay, I just don’t wish to remain here.”

Rarity’s irises expanded when he finished speaking. “You really mean that?”

“Yes.” Amethyst mimicked his last answer. “That is… if you will have me?” He asked her when he looked at her face and saw her mouth contorting. “If you won’t have me as family, maybe—”

He could not finish, his face buried into her chest as he felt her hooves tightening around him and felt her head resting on his. Amethyst could hear her crying and felt the tears on his head.

“Of course,” Rarity said. Her voice was beginning to waver, but she successfully fought against it. “Of course I will. I’ll be your family.”

There was a silence. Rarity kissed the top of his head and he nestled into her even more. “I can get the papers signed as soon as I get to Ponyville,” Rarity said. “I’m sure Celestia can get it approved quickly.”

“... Miss Rarity?”

“Yes?”

“...May I call you ‘Mom’?”

There was a paused before Rarity’s grip tightened. “You can... if you’d like. I... I don’t want to replace your mother in your heart...”

“Mother would have wanted me to move on,” he whispered as he closed the necklace and held onto it. “I’ll miss her, I will. But…” he looked up to Rarity’s glittering eyes. “I’ll love you just as much.”

She smiled. “Then you can live with me. I’ll be your mother, and Sweetie will be your...” She stopped, thinking a moment. “Your... sister,” she said at last. “I suppose she will make a better sister than an aunt,” Rarity giggled, with a river flowing freely from her eyes as she held onto Amethyst and nuzzled his head softly.

She felt Amethyst smile against her. “Thank you... Mom.”

Comments

[chaos2012]

Dawwww ah mah god! Dat ending!

[mbpony 512]

Aww, that was some ending towards the Crystal Empire adventure. Still, I should've known that why Shimmering Ruby needed Amethyst for his blood to bring back Sombra. Good thing that the ritual failed and that Amethyst ended up safe, harmed but still safe.

Now it's time to return home and back to the lives of normality.

Please do keep up such good work upon such a great story.

[Wyrme]

= me when Amethyst asked Rarity if he could call her mom.

[TeddyUrsa]

my exact feelings reading this chapter that is all