Crystal Protector

by Honest Wisdom

Dining with the Devil

Dining with the Devil

As bitterness blackened the Princes heart, the Crystal Heart said nothing.
She had abandoned them.

Sombra stormed into his room, stripping off his cape and armor. The metal clinked against the floor around him. He took a deep breath and Roared. The sound echoed through the Castle, waking Twilight from her rest and Causing panic in the dungeons. Sombra kicked out his legs and crushed his nightstand.

"I am a King! I do not yield to pathetic peasants and their dreams of grandeur." He stomped a hoof against the ground, cracks forming in the crystal floor. "I do as I please!" He flinched as the feeling of sharp knives stabbed into his thoughts, making it had to focus. Snarling, he laid back on his bed, eager to get some rest. Before he knew it, everything went black.

---

Rainbow Dash: Fastest flier in Equestria, Element of Loyalty, and one of the few to ever accomplish the legendary Rainboom... was running away.

More specifically, flying away. Far, far away from the impending doom that was Sombra.

It wasn't that she didn't want to stay and help her friends. Her loyalty was the reason she was flying away. The Princesses could do far more for them than she could, as awesome as she was, she still had limits. She couldn't battle someone made out of smoke and powered by fear and hate, for one.

Dash winced at the soreness of her wings. The blizzard whipped freezing shards of ice against her face, the wind fighting against her. She pushed forward anyway, determined to reach Canterlot. If she didn't, she was certain that He'd kill everyone. She had to save them, it was her duty as the Element of Loyalty.

Her wings gave out on her and she landed in a snow drift. She attempted to stand and failed, collapsing yet again from exhaustion.

She wrapped her wings around her barrel and curled into a ball to conserve heat. As the blizzard carried on, sow spilled up over her. Eventually, despite the cold, she fell asleep. She slept through the night and awoke once the blizzard had ended. She braced her wings and pushed out wards, in a burst of Pegasus magic. Aww, crap. I can't see anything. She sneezed. And it's freezing. I need to move quickly. She shuddered and opened her wings.

She looked up and saw smoke billowing out of the side of a mountain. It's either a dragon or a village, She took off in that direction, powerful wings propelling her ever forward. As she approached she saw a wall and several buildings hidden against the mountain. Her spirits lifted considerably and she dipped towards them already thinking of sitting by a warm fire and telling someone about what had happened in the Empire. Just as she drew closer she heard somepony shouting at her and saw ponies running to and fro.

A bolt of energy left a unicorn's horn and whizzed past her head. "H-hey! C-caref-ful!" They didn't hear her and more bolts of magic flew at her. She dodged them as best she could before somepony got lucky and hit her in the wing. She cried out in pain as she fell before passing out from a mixture of pain and the cold.

---

"Ugh...Did I crash into the Library again?" Rainbow Dash lifted her head to look around. The room she was in, while filled with lots of dusty old books, looked nothing like the familiar Golden Oaks Library. The walls were made from stone instead of carved from a tree. There was no purple librarian waiting to scold her for knocking over her recently re-shelved bookshelf. There was a brick fireplace only a few feet away and she was wrapped in a quilt.

"Ah... you're awake." An elderly looking unicorn said from his spot near the fire. He was reading a spellbook that was propped up in front of him. He barely glanced up as Dash attempted to jump off her cot and landed on her face instead. "Careful, you took quite a blow to the head."

She flinched as he lifted her in his magic and tucked her back into the cot. "What am I doing here?"

"Simply put, Crystal ponies don't like outsiders. They hardly trust me as it is, and I've lived here for years." He brought a bowl of soup to her lips. "My name is Starswirl. And you are?"

Rainbow slurped up some of the soup and stared at him. "Wait, you're Starswirl? As in Starswirl the Bearded?"

"That is correct." He smirked. "I didn't realize you were a fan."

"What? No. That's egghead stuff. My best friend Twilight talks about you all the time!" Rainbow tried to open her wings. "Ow! What the hay?" Her right wing was tightly wrapped in gauze. "Did you guys seriously shoot me down?"

Starswirl frowned and lifted the bowl towards her yet again. "We'd just received word that Sombra had returned, and the Capital as well. We were worried that you may have been someone else."

Rainbow remembered how the Crystal Ponies had reacted to the Mare who'd emerged from the Crystal. Her coat was similar to her own and her mane had been hidden beneath her helmet. "Now that's just Tribalist."

"I assume since you've said that, it means you meet her." Starswirl scowled. "She's a tricky one. Her special talent lies with Subterfuge and Intrigue. I'm amazed you got away without her slipping a poisoned blade between your ribs."

Dash's ears fell. She thought of how she'd flown away and simply left her friends behind. She couldn't have... could she? "My friends..."

"Are most likely long gone." He shared a sympathetic look. "I'm very sorry for your loss." He rose to his hooves and began to hobble out of the room, seeing the pain in Dash's eyes. "I will leave you to grieve."

She was so distraught she didn't notice the smirk etched across Starswirl's face.

Author's Note:

I'm baaaack~!!
The interwebs are back at my place, I was going to update sooner but i got destracted by Underworld. Let the updates commence!

Comments

[Animated Rarity]

Starswirl ehhhh hopefully you do this right and not fall on your face but still love da story

[Honest Wisdom]

5857660 That took me a moment. I didn't even realize I forgot to mention her.

[Ice Star]

So this guy is still alive? Intrigued.

But where is the pink one*? Shouldn't she at least be mentioned? I can't recall if she was.

*If you get that reference from the Iceverse give yourself a cookie.

[TwibraFlattercordlover]

She was so distraught she didn't notice the smirk etched across Starswirl's face.

So Sombra and Starswirl are the baddies in this fic...