My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- Off The Record

by The King of Hearts

Crystal-Kingdom-Cutie-Mark-Crusaders

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Crystal-Kingdom-Cutie-Mark-Crusaders -- Whew
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Might have some errors.
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It had taken them a few hours, but the three girls were finally able to find their way from the train, to reach the limits of the Crystal Kingdom. They had all seen their friends be chased by that mass of black smoke, and decided to take it easy on their way there. And, after some watching, they found that the monster circled the city with more-or-less of a pattern. So, once they knew it, it was easy to slip by, and reach the boundary without detection.

Entering the bubble, they were all blown away by the contrast between where they had just been, and where they were now.

From the dark blizzard, to the shimmering utopia, they wondered just how it had been possible for a place like this to even exist here.

“So this is where my great-great-great grandmother was born,” Scootaloo said to herself, lessening the number of ‘greats’ for everypony’s interests, “I can’t believe this place can even exist in the snow like this!”

“Well, it’s a thousand years old, right?” Sweetie squeaked, managing to bring her jaw up from the ground, “Maybe there was some of that climate change, or whatever it’s called!”

“Don’t be silly!” Apple Bloom laughed, looking back to her friends, “That’s jus’ a myth!”

Scootaloo sighed; she wasn’t in the mood to have this argument AGAIN. Sometimes it surprised her how topical her friends could be sometimes.

“Let’s go find somepony!” Scootaloo eventually suggested, jumping forward and fluttering her wings, “I’m sure we can help!”

“Won’t we get in trouble for being here?” Sweetie asked, frowning, not really having considered the repercussions of sneaking along until this point, “We should stay hidden, and then sneak back!”

“Don’t be a Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom joked, trotting along the edge of the protective spell, “Let’s take a walk!”

This suggestion satisfied both girls as they followed along behind her, deciding to start their exploring of this place slowly, and away from the possibility of trouble.

Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.

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Cadance could feel the last bit of energy she had left dwindling. Seeing Twilight had been truly exciting for her, but it only delayed the inevitable for her. She was going to pass out very soon. This situation had placed a massive strain on her, something she simply wasn’t used to.

And as much as it made her feel like a monster, Cadance was in love with the idea of just throwing this kingdom away, and getting some rest. The thought of closing her eyes and drifting away was so tempting… so, so temping…

No!

She had to stay vigilant!

She wouldn’t go to sleep!

But… Maybe closing her eyes for a moment wouldn’t be so bad! Just a quick bit of shut eye, and she could get some of that energy back! Maybe if she found the right mix of shut-eye, and being awake, she could stay awake forever!

That was…

The best plan…

She had ever…

Whoops. Her plan backfired.

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The girls had almost finished a lap of the kingdom, idly exploring the nooks and crevices the area offered. They had seen some water, and a whole bunch of grass… All in all, it was less than exciting, but a good fit for the three of them.

“Look at this rock!” Sweetie giggled, tapping a large white crystal-shaped rock, as a musical tone came from it, “This is so cool!”

“One sec!” Apple Bloom said, running over to a similar rock, and tapping it, releasing a harmonizing note to the air.

“There’s no rock for me!” Scootaloo pouted, rolling her head around, “That’s lame…”

“You can ring the next one,” Sweetie said, pointing to another of these rocks off in the distance.

However, before they were able to start heading in that direction, the walls surrounding the kingdom started to flicker.

“What’s going on?” Scootaloo yelled, as the wind started to rip into the once safe area.

“Ah’ don’t know!” Apple Bloom called back, “But, uh… We should get away from this wall!”

They all quickly took her advice, as the barrier completely faded, revealing a massive black cloud at the edge, as a dark, maniacal laugh sounded from it.

Slowly, it reached its head forward, just passing the area the barrier had been, when suddenly the spell snapped back to life, and it sliced the only piece of him that had crossed the barrier off. The tip of his horn.

The three girls watched from a bush as the tip of black and red flew into the safe area, and landed on the ground.

“Ew!” They all said together, as the horn continued to glow dimly.

“He just got cir- circ-dum-sized!” Sweetie gasped, losing the other two in her terminology.

They all watched in awe as the tip of his horn melted in to the ground, and started warping the soil around it with darkness.

“What’s it doin’?”Apple Bloom asked, as the darkness started to spread along the ground.

“I think it’s infecting the kingdom!” Scootaloo said, as the darkness spread throughout the ground in erratic patters, spreading to small rocks and grass, turning it all black.

“Hey! Look at that streak!” Sweetie pointed out, as they followed a line of darkness that didn’t seem to head for the kingdom, but a large field short distance away.

Deciding that it was the most important thing for them to be following, they chased after it, keeping right on it’s tail, until it reached a large circular rock, that it promptly vanished underneath.

“Where’d it go?” Scootaloo asked, circling the rock, looking for any sign of an exit, “It must still be under here!”

“Quick, Sweetie! Move it outta the way!” Apple Bloom commanded, as the small unicorn cast the strongest spell she could moving the rock to the side no more than a quarter of an inch.

Underneath the rock, was something none of them expected. A large hole.

“Let’s move it the rest of the way!” Scootaloo said, pushing the rock further to the side with her head.

Her friends quickly joined her, and succeeded in sliding the slab far enough away to reveal a staircase leading downward.

“We should go get somepony now,” Sweetie said confidently, knowing they were crossing the threshold from ‘fun and games’ to ‘dangerous.’

“No way!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo said at the same time.

“Ah’ never get to help AJ with any of the hard work at home!” Apple Bloom complained, “This’ll be mah’ big chance tuh show her how useful ah am!”

“And I know all those fighting moves Luna taught me!” Scootaloo reassured, “We’ll be just fine Sweetie!”

She wasn’t sure if she should trust her friends or not. Rarity had been very adamant in teaching her about knowing when to ask for help… But she didn’t want to be the chicken here.

“Okay!” She said finally, as her friends beamed in response, “Let’s go!”

So, they all slowly headed down into the darkness, hoping they could have something to do with saving the day in this place.

Comments

[Bread Shot]

Merry Christmas Everyone, Everypony, Everyling, Everygriffon, Everydragon And Everything else!

[IAmInASnuggie]

What happened to this story being over?

I'm very happy that you're still updating this BTW. Keep up the good work.

[Booster Spice]

Another Churchill moment. Ponykind ocasionally stumbles over the truth, but mostly picks themselves up and continues on.

[adamdwarf]

Sombra: you must construct additional pylons.

[Dr_D]

The chapter has arrived.
Christmas has come early.

Anyways, have a good holiday everyone.

[sbloom85]

Nice. I gave it a look over and I didn't find any mistakes. I can't wait to read more.

[DakotaP227]

Possible new chapter by Chrismas??? :?

[Super-Brony12]

Cutie Mark Crusader Kingdom Saviors! YAY!

~ Super-Brony12

[darthvader45]

Oh no, if Sombra finds the magic mirror pool, we're all screwed.

[Sylpheed Dashstep]

You know, this would be a bad time to change the characters that we're following, wouldn't it?
Since when does it ever stay with a character after they find something that has the potential of saving everything?
You have a point...you get a pass this time KoH.
~Sylpheed and Eli