Equestria Wars Episode IV: Shadows of Equestria

by sonicdash123

Chapter 5: The Crystal Knight Temple

Charming Thunder entered the throne room and saw the princesses, his mother, Cadence, and Twilight are alright. His mother then walked up to him as she asked, "What was that all about?"

"We have a new enemy," Charming Thunder said. "General Calamitous."

"I've heard of that name," Luna said. "He was once a proud general before the wedding of Twilight Sparkle and Charming Thunder. He was an expert on tactics and a very good strategist."

"Interesting."

"Now that he has returned, he won't stop until you're dead, nephew."

"What must I do."

"For now you, Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack will go with Cadence to the Crystal Empire to find whatever you can at the Crystal Knight temple," Celestia said. "If Calamitous ever shows his face again, we'll be ready."

I want to go too," Amidala said. "It has been a long time since I have been away from the Crystal Empire."

"Agreed," Twilight said.

"Not without me," a voice said from behind. Star Swirl the bearded stood behind them. The group were shocked.

"What are you doing here?" Charming Thunder asked.

"Its been a thousand years since I stepped foot inside the temple. I want to tag along."

"Its settled then," Cadence said. "We depart for the Crystal Empire immediately."

"I wish all of you the best of luck," Luna said.

"Even to you, Master Star Swirl," Celestia added. The group then exited to meet up with Applejack and Rainbow Dash as their quest was about to begin.

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At the hangar, Rainbow Dash was readying the Eta-class shuttle as Applejack made sure that the fuel is in the ship. As the group arrived, she saw a bearded unicorn that she recognizes. "Are ya' Star Swirl?"

"Thats me."

"Oh my gosh. The world thought you were dead."

"Its a long story to be honest with you," Charming Thunder said. The group then walked up the ramp and saw Rainbow Dash pressing buttons to start the engines.

"Is the fuel loaded?" she asked Applejack.

"Yup."

"Alright. Crystal Empire here we come." The engines of the shuttle started to run as she flipped switches and pressed buttons. The shuttle then left the hangar and it plotted a course for the Crystal Empire.

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The shuttle carrying Charming Thunder and the crew arrived at the Crystal Empire and landed at the docking bay near the castle. The ramp of the shuttle then lowered and the group walked out. As they left the docking bay, they came across the temple of the Crystal Knights. The stairway lead them to the entrance to the temple. As they entered the temple, Applejack turned on a flashlight on her helmet and revealed a hallway with collapsed and barely destroyed statues of the Crystal Knights. "So this is the temple?" Charming Thunder asked.

"It is," Twilight said. "But...what happened here?"

"This happened when Sombra betrayed us. He came alone and slaughtered everypony in this temple." The group then continued on through the hallway to find a power switch and turn on the lights. They entered the power room and flipped the switch. The lights then turned on in the whole building. "There is a library if you are interested in looking around.. There we store information about the fallen knights and the history of the famous heroic knights."

"Twilight and I will check it out," Charming Thunder said.

"Rainbow and I will check if the elevators are working," Applejack said.

"Me and the princesses will take the stairs to the second floor to look around," Star Swirl said. The group then broke off as Charming Thunder and Twilight entered the library. The library had huge shelves full of books that barely got destroyed. Twilight flew up to one of the shelves to start reading one of them as her husband saw a door in the back of the room. He walked up to the door and slowly opened it. Birds then flew out of the door which startled him in the process.

"You alright, honey?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. I'm alright. It was just birds." He then entered the room and came across a blue glowing cube shaped object. "Hey, honey. I think I found something." Twilight then flew in the room where Charming Thunder was and saw the object he levitated up. A few seconds later, a hatch where he got it from slowly opened. It revealed a red and gray metal mask.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Its...a mask. Whats it doing in here. I don't know what this cube thingy is but I think we should show it to Star Swirl.

"Great idea. I'll grab a couple of books to bring home so that I can read them." She then left the toom and collected as many books as she could. Once she finished, she met up with Charming Thunder and decided to explore more.

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Applejack and Rainbow Dash arrived at the area where the elevators are and pressed the button to lower it down. The elevator doors then opened and they entered. The elevator then went up as they waited for it to stop at the floor it was designated to go. "So, AJ," Rainbow said. "What else do you know about these Crystal Knights?"

"I also heard that in this temple, there are spirits of the dead around here," Applejack explained. "Like Star Swirl said, Sombra was the one that destroyed every pony in this building."

"Ghosts? Ha!"

"But thats not all, some say that at the top of the tower were heading to is the place where the spirits of the council lurk."

"Again with the ghost stuff."

"i'm just joking' with ya'. There are no ghosts in here."

"You had me worried there." The elevator beefed and the door opened to reveal a room that has chairs formed in a circle at the windows.

"This must be where the council was seated. And look at these chairs."

"Yeah I know. These chairs are still in great shape. Even if we sit on them." Rainbow then sat on one of the chairs as she looked around.

"The view does look great up here. Look. I can see our ship from here." Rainbow and Applejack looked out of the window and saw ships flying out of their docking bays and landing pads. "It makes me like a ruler of this kingdom."