Crystal Ballerina

by BlueSkyHeadLeft010

The Crystal Empire: Part 3

"Okay. Cadence...Is that the same My Love Cadence Twilight told me about? She said she was the princess of....uhhh...sorry, I forgot." Wade scratched his head as me and him walked along the pathway to the castle. "So where is this Cadence, anyway?" He asked confused, even though we were heading right towards the castl- ah forget it....

"My love Ca-? Oh! You're using her full name!" I facehoofed. "She's the princess of love according to Twilight, and her brother is married to her." I quickly explained. "She's inside the throne room trying to hold the shield up to ward off Sombra until we can vanquish him." We entered the castle as several of the guards we passed seemed dashed and confused, some even holding various pieces of armor in their hooves and staring at them like they'd never seen it before.

"She's... married to her own brother? Incest is legal in Equestria?" Wade said confused as he rubbed his forehead. He then turned his attention to the dazed ponies. "...Whats...wrong with them? They all look like they're stuck in an acquiring trance... Heeeeey. Lady guard pony person..." Wade stooped down as he poked one of them in the face, gaining very little of a response. "Hellooooo, anyone in there?"

I groaned and made a scowl before I decided it would be much easier to talk to Wade in my normal appearance. "Gah no! I meant Shining is married to Cadence and Twilight is Shining Armor's sister." I sighed, grumbling before switching topics... "Everyone in the empire has been acting like that since since this place first appeared. Shining tried to briefly look into it but- excuse me, are you poking them?!" I exclaimed, suddenly very irked as Wade was totally tuning me out to mess with one of the poor saps who now had been poked so many times they had flopped over and didn't bother moving. The pony in question though didn't seem to be aware of it, as she continued to stare ahead with a dazed look. I couldn't believe him... Oh my god, is he ever going to take this seriously?? Some help he's supposed to be.. I thought gloomy, as I realized that the guards were indeed not getting up.

"Yes. Yes I am. What's WRONG with them? This ain't natural..." Wade replied as he began to rub his chin in thought.
He was right... In the midst of my rant I had failed to actually realize there was indeed something very wrong here...

Wade's words began to sink in, "Y-yea. At first I thought it was just PTSD, but now..." I hummed in thought as I leaned over to examine the dazed guard on the floor. That was when the ground started to rumbled beneath our feet, causing both me and Wade to stumble slightly as the remaining guards fell to the floor undignified. Something was wrong, and my guess it had Sombra's name written all over it.

"Ah fudge it! We ain't got time for this!" I exclaimed irritably, as I began to feel very frantic. To save time, I decided to shift back into my Earth pony form, and decided Wade could handle his own dilemma. Dashing out the castle, I turned right just in time to see Twilight headed right for me...
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"OOF!" I grunted as I collided with a wall of lavender fur. Okay, owww.... No matter how marshmellowy they look, ponies are not soft!
"Crystal?" Twilight's voice asked confused as my head finally stopped spinning. "Why are you here? I thought you were with Wade trying to figur-"

I grit my teeth, "No!" I stomped my hoof, before I realized I was causing a scene and simmered down slightly. "No.." I corrected as Twilight looked at me with concern, Spike too but he was sorta hard to see on Twilight's back and all... Come to think of it... Why does HE get to ride on her back??? "He didn't need me, so I decided to find something else to do." I lied, well sorta... I mean, to be honest I had no idea what was going through that blockhead's brain anyways, but he really didn't seem to be taking this all very seriously so what was the point in having him around??

"Well, okay..." Twilight said as she looked away for a moment at the flickering shield in the background and then back to me.. It didn't go unnoticed. "Hey what's up with the rumbling earlier? Is Cadance still holding up?" I switched topics, trying to take the heat off me.

Twilight instantly perked up and donned a serious face, "Well that's just it. She's not." She frowned. I looked at her seriously worried. "Me and Spike are headed to the castle to find the real Crystal Heart." She sighed, as she lowered her gaze. "It's the only thing that will stop Sombra now." She bit her lip.

Concerned, I noticed Spike was patting Twilight's mane. "Well, let me come with you. You might need some... help!" I offered fake smiling.

"I don't know. But- ow!" Spike tugged on Twilight's ear, causing her to stop and frown at the Drake. "Okay, fine. But we need to hurry." She snorted as she cast a look at Spike who simply shrugged.

I could tell Twilight was nervous, and to be honest so was I. "Great! Lead the way!" I cheered, trying to lighten the mood, while on the inside I was freaking out... If Sombra comes then- NO! No... Not going to think about it, hehe.... We're GOING to find that heart and then everything will be okay... Right? Right. I argued in my mind as we walked into the Crystal Castle...
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"No... No, not here either. UGH!" Twilight frowned as me and Spike continued to watch her search. Yea... We gave up about 5 minutes in when she started arguing about us not putting things back in their proper place. I sighed as I rubbed my face with a hand and leaned back on the giant crystal throne in the center of the room. "Maybe it's not here Twilight." I said.

"Yea, Twilight! Perhaps Sombra dug it in his back yard or something..." Spike pitched in as he rolled around on the floor absolutely bored.
"It's gotta be here somewhere! It just has to be!" She panted as she used her magic to grab books and shake them before stacking them back on their shelves. Hehe... Such a librarian.

"Urgh! It would help if you didn't just sit around..." She muttered under her breath. I gave up, "Ok, I'll move..." I stretched before looking at Spike, "You coming?" I asked.
Spike was about to reply when Twilight suddenly walked in front of me and held out a hoof, "Wait." She said, as she scrunched her face at the throne.

"Uh... Ok?" I asked confused.

Suddenly Twilight jumped in the air excited, "Of course! How could I have not realized this?!" She laughed.

Me and Spike looked at each other concerned. Okay the mare's lost it. Time to leave before she tries to do something with magic we're all going to regret.

"Um, Twilight? What's going on?" Spike asked concerned, as I moved in behind him ready to pounce upon the mare if she got any crazy ideas.

Giggling like a school filly, Twilight smirked. "We are not going to find the crystal heart!" She said.

"Bwhuh?!?" Both me and Spike said at the same time.

"Well, I meant we won't find it here because this isn't Sombra's castle." Twilight quickly corrected as we breathed easy.

"Wait, so the heart is in another castle?" I asked confused.

Twilight shook her head, "Yes and no... This is where Sombra ruled, but it didn't look like this. Watch." Twilight smirked as she lit up her horn suddenly as her pinkish aura began to charge.

Curious I watched as Twilight started to strain at the magic she was casting, before an ominous chill went down my spine and I looked to find her aura changing from bright pink to a very, very sickly purple with green sparks flickering off her horn like hungry jackals. I didn't even get time to call out to her and ask what she was doing, before she shot her magic at the top of the throne where a small crystal sat and enveloped its shiny hue into a black hard surface.

The magic spread down the throne and cast an eerie shadow in front of us before melting the floor in a similar fashion, revealing a set of hidden stairs.

Woah I blinked in surprise, as Twilight cut the magic tied to the crystal and placed her hooves together in a odd way, like she was trying to clap her hooves.

"Wow, that's one long staircase..." I whistled as Twilight immediately began to descend while using her magic as a makeshift flashlight.

Turning into a crane, I followed Twilight down the stairs as we continued to descend.

"Spike, stay here and keep an eye out for me please." She called as Spike replied ok as we cautiously continued down...

Grabbing a crystal with her magic, Twilight threw it down the bottom of the pit as we listened for a kerplunk..

Thirty seconds passed, then a full minute. I shook my head, "It's not going to go kerplunk." I sighed as I felt both our spirits plummet after that.

Nevertheless we had to keep going. As I flew I wondered what everyone else was doing at the moment...

Suddenly the ground shook as rubble began to shake loose around us....