The Prince of the Crystal Empire

by PaladinColt

The Shadows of Fear

A lone unicorn was walking through the snow, one evening. The snowfall was heavy, and the winds were blowing snow against the young stallion's face. But he kept on going, heading towards what appears to be a spec of light on the horizon. As he drew closer to it, he noticed it beginning to take shape, revealing a warm-like environment and crystal-made buildings. His walk became a run as he began to dash through the snow toward the sight. The closer he got, the clearer it became; he finally caught sight of a palace made of crystals and a smile came to his exhausted face. But suddenly, just as he was nearing the border of the frozen wasteland and the crystal paradise, a dark cloud suddenly descended upon him, surround him. He frantically tried to find a way out, losing sight of the crystal palace he was longing to go to. A pair of eyes began to appear through the cloud. The eyes were glowing, with purple flames coming out of them. As he witnessed this horrific sight, a voice came from the cloud, saying,

"You are unworthy to rule this Empire. You do not deserve to be a prince. You are weak and useless!"

The cloud, then began to engulf the unicorn, making the young stallion feel as if he were being sucked into a vortex. All he could do was scream in horror and agony.

"Ahh!"

-

The unicorn woke up, immediately sitting up from his bed. Sweat began to flow from his face as he began to pant for breath. He looked around and found himself where he had always been; in his bedroom in the Crystal Palace. He gave a sigh of relief and began to wipe the sweat off his face. Just then, he heard a familiar voice call his name.

"Shining Armour?"

The stallion turned his head to the direction of the call. He found his wife, Princess Cadence, who had just woken up from his sudden awakening. She lay there, looking at him with concern. The princess of love could tell that something bothered her sleeping husband.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, Cadence." he replied. "I just had the same bad dream again."

"You wanna talk to aunt Luna about it?" she suggested.

"No, I... It's fine. I'm fine..."

He lay back down beside her and gave her a hug. Cadence returned the hug, bringing him closer to her, resting her head on his shoulder. She was still worried about him; this was not the first time this had happened before. He had been waking up in the middle of the night because of the same dream for three nights now. She feared for her husband, but Shining Armour always assured her that he was alright.

"Let's go back to sleep." said Shining, kissing her on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too, Armour." she replied, giving back a small smile.

-

The next morning, Shining Armour woke up first. He got out of bed, making sure he did not wake his sleeping wife. After going to the bathroom to refresh himself, he made his way downstairs to the dinning room to have his breakfast. There, he saw the servants, who were just preparing the royal couple's breakfast. Upon seeing them, they immediately began to hurry up, almost in panic.

"You don't need to rush, guys!" said Shining Armour with a chuckle. "Cadence won't be up until a little later, and I won't eat without her."

Despite this, the servants continued to work hurriedly, so Shining Armour decided to take his place at table. A plate of waffles were set before him with a cup of coffee. He took a sip of the coffee, but stopped since it was too hot. As he was waiting for his wife to arrive, a Crystal Empire Royal Guard came up behind him and gave him a letter.

"Thank you, corporal." said the unicorn, taking the letter from the guard using his magic.

The guard made his salute and exited the room. Shining unrolled the letter and began to read what was inside.

Dear Shining Armour,

My sister and I have decided to make a full scale review of the Equestrian Armed Forces this weekend. We wish that you may ready the Crystal Empire's Armed Forces for a military parade in Canterlot for us to examine the military strength of our nation. We are very confident that your Crystal Guards will be well disciplined and will show their best at the parade this weekend.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia

Shining Armour was delighted; he had been so eager to show off how well-trained the Crystal Empire Royal Guard had been, thanks to him and some military advisers from the Canterlot Royal Guard. As he read the letter, Princess Cadence entered the dinning room.

"Morning, Shining Armour." she greeted with a smile.

"Good morning, Cadence." he replied, showing off a big grin on his face.

"Well, looks like somepony has a good start of the day, despite last night's kerfuffle."

"Well, Princess Celestia is asking me to parade the Crystal Empire Royal Guard through Canterlot this weekend for a full military review!" Shining Armour said excitedly. "They're going to be so proud of how I trained these colts!"

Cadence smiled. She knew how important this was to him even though she knew little about military stuff. She took her place at table and was served with some toast and orange juice. Shining Armour continued to talk about the parade and how excited he was. It seemed like what had happened three nights before was suddenly gone, and she was happy about that.

"I can't wait to see you and your colts show off your best performance this weekend." said Cadence.

"You'll see, my love!" replied Shining Armour. "I bet my colts are gonna be even better than what we have back in Canterlot."

Cadence giggled, knowing that her husband, per se, was from the Canterlot Royal Guard. Shining Armour caught his breath from his burst of excitement and prepared to make another sip from his coffee. Suddenly, as he neared the cup to his lips, he noticed something strange in the coffee.

Suddenly, without warning, the same dark eyes he had seen from his dream suddenly appeared on his drink. He gasped, dropping the coffee cup on to the floor, spilling the drink. Cadence and the servants noticed what had happened, and the alicorn princess asked,

"What's wrong, Shining?"

Shining hesitated to answer for a while. He did not want his wife to worry about his dream again, so he decided, reluctantly, to lie, saying,

"The coffee was too hot." he chuckled and continued. "I... uh... I guess I was so excited about the parade, I forgot my coffee was still hot."

"Forgive us, your highness!" said the servants, thinking it was their fault the unicorn burnt his tongue. "We did not know the coffee was too hot!"

"It's not your fault, guys." he replied. "I was just too excited that I forgot to wait for my coffee to cool down. No harm done from you guys."

Cadence was not convinced, but before she could say something else, Shining stood from table and went over to kiss his wife on the cheek, saying,

"Well, I guess I gotta go prepare my colts for the parade. We'll probably do a practice parade on the streets before we can take it to Canterlot."

"Sounds great." said Cadence. "You take care of yourself, Armour."

"I always will, my love." he replied. "I always will."

With that, Shining Armour left the dinning room, leaving his wife at table and his servants cleaning up the mess he made. Cadence sighed, still a bit worried about her husband.

-

In the courtyard, Shining Armour called on the military advisers from the Canterlot Royal Guard for a meeting. These stallions were Officers from Canterlot sent to the Crystal Empire to train Crystal Ponies into becoming the Crystal Guard. They were all experienced officers, some of them had served under Shining Armour when he was still Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard.

He began to explain to them about the parade and gave them their specific roles.

"... And later, I want to have a practice parade to make sure that our colts are ready for the big event in Canterlot. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, your highness, sir!"

"Good. Dismissed!"

With that, the officers made their salute and made their way to do their specific duties. As they left, Shining Armour called on one of them to remain.

"Leftenant Flash Sentry!" he called. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, your highness, sir." replied the officer. This young officer was Flash Sentry. Unlike the majority of other officers, who were mostly unicorns, this one was a pegasus, and unlike other Royal Guards, his fur coat was color yellow orange aside from the traditional white and grey. He was one of the few experiments of the Equestrian Royal Guard known as the Colored Stallion Battalion, who had began to recruit colored stallions into the Armed Forces.

"I have a favour to ask you." said Shining Armour to the young officer.

"Anything, sir." he replied.

"I want you to clear the skies of any clouds today. I want the skies cleared for the practice parade. Understood?"

"Yes, your highness, sir!"

"Very good." Armour said. "You may go now."

"Thank you, sir!" replied Flash as he made his salute and flew off.

Shining Armour still felt uneasy. He remembered the dark cloud had seen in the dream and he wanted to make sure he did not have to see those same dark eyes again. He shook his head, trying to get the memory of those eyes out. For some reason, he had seen those eyes before, but where?