Chapter 13. It is good to meet you
Chapter 13
“So the Princesses have put everypony on high alert, they are going to be sending guards around Equestria to keep an eye out for trouble and they will of course be on the lookout as well,” Twilight explained to Shining Armor and Cadance, they were in the throne room of the crystal castle. She had just arrived on the train with Spike.
“Right, we have had a word from the stations the Friendship Express stopped at, no signs of two dark gray Unicorns,” her brother said with a heavy frown. “Which means Sombra jumped the train.”
“We’ve already guessed that he wouldn’t stay too far away, I don’t think he’s given up quite yet on regaining the Crystal Empire,” Cadance added.
Twilight nodded, wishing she could have arrived a little sooner but the train from Canterlot had been delayed so it had been roughly in the morning when she and Spike finally came back to the Crystal Empire.
“And when we find them, it will be a matter of containing Sombra, he’s inside somepony else. Like I told Cadance, he could force us to make a really, really bad choice,” Shining said trying not to think too hard about those options.
“Great so you have no idea either how to do that.” Twilight sighed having hoped that his brother and sister-in-law would have come up with something. Her brother tried not to look too embarrassed and decided not to tell her that he had actually been hoping for her to have some ideas.
“What do we know about possessions?” the purple alicorn wondered, berating herself for not having brought any books on the subject. She knew some of the basics but not all the details.
“Not a lot, it’s not like Ponies get possessed every day. I did note one thing,” Shining Armor mentioned as he rubbed his muzzle thoughtfully. “Sombra did not seem to do anything when Private was unconscious.”
“But how do we know he wasn’t unconscious those times when Sombra was in control and talking to us?” Cadance asked.
“No… Shining is on the right track,” Twilight became thoughtful as she went over what she knew about possessions in her mind. “Unless the spirit has taken complete control over the body and purged the other conscious from it, it still relies on the host to be both living and conscious. When in control the spirit just pushes the host back and represses him, but most bodily functions are still tied to the host. That means if we were to knock Private unconscious, Sombra would not be able to do anything.”
“Then that begs the question, why Sombra just hasn’t done that in the first place, that is purging Private out and taken fully over the body.” Shining Armor frowned as he considered this.
“He can’t or he would have done that already. This is our advantage, Sombra can’t take completely over his body and he must not want to risk too much harm on Private, sure he’s caused him plenty of pain already but he’s so far not killed him yet,” Twilight said and sat down so she could clap her hooves excitedly as a plan was starting to form in her mind.
Spike had silently listened the conversation so far, a little bit bored since he couldn’t really add anything to it. The dragon wondered if they would miss him if he snuck out to the kitchen to find something to eat. Then something said caught his attention and started to make him wonder about something.
“Uh, won’t a blast from the Crystal Heart blow up this Private?” he asked, causing the three ponies to all look at him.
“No, no I’m sure it will just separate Sombra from him, right?” Cadance said looking at Shining and then Twilight who was actually considering what her assistant just said.
“I know the Elements of Harmony would do that.” Twilight rubbed her muzzle. “They did something like that with Nightmare Moon when we turned her back to Luna. But the Crystal Heart, it outright shattered Sombra, killing him.”
“The Crystal Heart is the only thing we have that can defeat Sombra, I think he’ll see exorcist spells coming and have defenses for them by now.” Shining Armor cringed and realized that they would have to risk it, even if it meant killing Private.
Great, Sombra may have already forced us to take the worst choice, he thought.
They were interrupted in their conversation by Flash Sentry who entered the throne room with four adult ponies and a filly. Shining Armor looked at the two Princesses before all three went to meet the newly arrived ponies along with Spike.
“Spike, if those are who I think they are, no mention of what the Crystal Heart might do,” Twilight whispered sharply to the dragon who nodded furiously.
“Your highnesses, I’ve brought Private and Barricade’s parents, Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel, along with Private’s roommates, Dew Doe, Foxy Stripes and her daughter Coal,” the guard announced to the royals as he and the others bowed.
“It is good to meet you. I am terribly sorry for what has happened to your sons, rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to rescue them from King Sombra,” Cadance said once the formalities were over.
“Please, your Highness. Mirage Rock stepped forward with an expression of a very frightened and concerned mother. “How did this happen? Why is my baby possessed by that awful monster?”
“We’ll tell you everything we know already,” Princess Cadance said gently and walked over to her, placing a hoof on her back. “We’ll get them both back, safe.”
Twilight glanced over to Coal who had lost a little of her previous confidence when actually in the presence of not just one but two princesses. She shyly hid close to her mother, staring between the two Alicorns in pure wonder.
“Spike, why don’t you take uh… what’s your name again?” Twilight looked at Coal again after glancing at Spike, smiling warmly.
“Uh…ah… Coal… your uh Highness,” Coal whispered when she realized that the princess was addressing her.
“That’s a pretty name. I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle, or just Twilight is fine. As I was saying, why don’t you go with Spike here to the kitchen, I’m sure he can find you some ice cream,” she suggested, in her mind the young girl didn’t need to hear all the details of how Private was possessed.
Spike didn’t need to be told twice to go to the kitchen as it was still high on his mind. He strutted forward and gestured for Coal to follow him with a friendly smile. After looking at her mother for permission, the filly quickly trotted after him.
Twilight turned her attention back to the others, Cadance and Shining Armor were already filling them in on what they had personally witnessed, including Sombra’s explanation on how the whole process had happened. She could see Hard Shovel and Mirage Rock pale up as they heard about the abduction process.
“W-wait you’re telling me that nightmare was real?!” Mirage Rock asked and was shaking, tears were forming in her eyes. “A-and… my baby was there for seven days?”
Hard pulled his wife in a hug but judging from his own expression he wasn’t doing much better than her. Twilight couldn’t help but feel bad for them, who wants to hear that their child had been abducted for seven whole days without them even knowing about it and then brushed the whole thing off as a nightmare?
Foxy and Dew looked more like they just couldn’t believe it, but then they both approached the Unicorn couple to comfort them. Twilight stepped up to her brother who looked like he was feeling just as bad as her about the whole thing.
“You didn’t mention the part where Sombra said he had considered keeping him, right?” she whispered to the white unicorn.
“No.” Shining quickly shook his head. “I didn’t think that would be a good idea.”
“We should make them as comfortable here as possible while we search for them,” Cadance suggested, using her horn she conjured up a bell and rung it. Soon enough a Crystal Pony entered the throne room.
“Emerald Heart, can you have guest rooms prepared for these four and the little filly that came with them? They are to be guests here at the castle while we search for King Sombra and the ponies he abducted,” the princess requested. The Crystal Pony bowed and immediately headed back out.
“That won’t be necessary, your Highness, I’m sure we can find a hotel or something,” Hard Shovel protested but was waved off by the pink Alicorn.
“I insist, it’s the least we can do while we try and rescue your sons,” she assured him and wouldn’t hear any more protests about this.
“Why don’t we go and have something to eat, I’m sure you’re all hungry after a long train ride,” Twilight Sparkle suggested, there were hesitant nods of agreements from non-royal ponies. She and Cadance started to walk out of the throne room with them, but Shining Armor signaled to Flash Sentry to come to him. He waited to speak until everyone else was out.
“Flash I waited with doing this until you came back. I figured with the prowess for investigation you’ve already shown, you would want to head this,” Shining Armor told him. “There are three inns we need guards to go to and ask if they have seen anything. I also need guards to scour the tracks west of the Crystal Empire to find any signs that ponies jumped off the train. We have it pretty much confirmed that they have jumped off the train before reaching any station,” he instructed the guard. Flash had to restrain himself from gasping in amazement.
He actually waited until I came back; I can take part in the search. Wait no, he said I would head it. The guard was almost ready to jump up and down in glee, but instead he sharply nodded and saluted.
“One more thing.” Shining came closer as if he feared somebody would hear him. In a very low voice he continued. “We may have to resort to extreme measures to stop Sombra. We don’t know if the Crystal Heart will simply throw Sombra out of Private, or kill both of them. As much as it pains me to say it, we must focus on stopping Sombra, if the host must perish in that process… that will have to happen.”
“Sir… I’m sure it won’t come to that.” Flash Sentry was shocked to hear this.
“I hope your right, but not a word about this to his family, especially the filly,” Shining said and became very serious now.
Flash Sentry reluctantly nodded in compliance. He knew that as a guard sometimes worse came to worse and someone died when they were doing their duty, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Flash had also grown a bit fond of the filly as he watched her play around in the train until it was time to go to sleep. She had undaunted shared her cutie mark story with him and the Pegasus even knew how fond she was of her uncle, who they actually might have to kill to stop a greater enemy.
“Can I make a request sir?” Flash asked. Shining Armor nodded and gestured for him to continue.
“If it comes to that, which I really hope it won’t, I request to be the one to break the news to them,” he said though deep down he wanted to contest the idea not to tell them anything in the first place, but didn’t feel it was his call to make that decision.
“Of course, but as you said, let’s hope it won’t come to that,” the prince said and deep down dearly wished that would be true.
“So you’ve known Princess Twilight all your life?” Coal asked amazed as she dug into the ice cream in her bowl.
“Uh huh, she hatched me out in fact.” Spike nodded and slurped down his own share of ice cream. They were seated in one corner of the kitchen after having been given the desserts by the staff. The two kids hadn’t bothered going to search for better sitting place, wanting to dig into their treats as soon as possible.
“So you’re Dinky’s sister, huh? Now that I think about it, I have seen you in Ponyville before.” The dragon pointed at her with the spoon and then at the golden heart on her flank. “Except you didn’t have that before.”
“Oh yeah.” Coal glanced at her cutie mark, the excitement of having gained it worn off a little as she worried about her uncle. “I got it few days ago in Los Pegasus, I was helping ponies and got it. It just felt to right, mommy always said I had a great compassion.”
“That’s pretty cool.” Spike nodded. “So you’ll be having a cute-ceañera soon, must be excited for that.”
“Yeah, but not before we get Uncle Private back,” Coal said firmly and gulped down more of her ice cream. Spike noted that she made no mention of her father, who, as far as he knew, was in just as much trouble.
“What about your dad?” he ventured to ask, surely she was a little worried for him. Coal fell really silent at the mention of Barricade. She muttered something he didn’t quite hear. “Uh, sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
“I said I don’t care what happens to him,” the filly said, heavy bitterness in her voice and shocking Spike a bit. Coal sniffed and dried a tear away that threatened to come forth.
“He never comes for visits, I always had to visit him and he never comes to any of the school activities I was in, even when I invited him. Never comes to my birthdays, he would send money and gifts but he never comes,” Coal snorted and started to poke hard at her ice cream with her spoon.
“Then he was really, really bad, he threatened mom, Aunt Dew, Uncle Private, Aunt Derpy and Uncle Time Turner, he was really, really scary. I told mom I never want to see him ever again and she told me I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to,” the filly all but snapped and started to down her ice cream again after poking it into mush.
Spike now recalled what Twilight had told him when they had been on their way to the Crystal Empire. The dragon’s opinion of Barricade didn’t improve much when seeing now how much he had hurt his daughter’s feelings with his stupid convoluted plan.
“Why couldn’t that stupid Sombra possess dad… and leave Uncle Private alone,” Coal whimpered but still tried so hard not to cry.
“Now, do you really think that?” Spike asked carefully but gently and scooted closer to put a supporting arm around the filly. “I mean, if you really, really think about it. Do you really want that to happen to your dad?”
Coal stared down at her nearly empty ice cream bowl. She almost wanted to say yes, but it didn’t feel so right now that she really thought about it.
“Yeah your dad acted pretty stupid, I’ve been told what he did… sort of, but we sometimes do stupid stuff without thinking about it, when you still visited your dad, did you have fun with him?” Spike asked hoping to dig up some positivity in relation to Barricade.
“I suppose…” Coal sighed remembering those times she had visited. “He was always nice to me and he did send me gifts on my birthdays. I just wish he had been more of a dad; Uncle Private has been more my dad than him.”
Spike nodded in understanding, he could definitely understand why she would want her father to be more of a father instead of just a distant relation that occasionally sends gifts. Not that he would mind someone sending him gifts.
“Maybe one day he’ll come around,” the dragon suggested, the filly only responded to that with a shrug.
A shadow fell over them and they glanced up. Flash Sentry stood there smiling, he had just arrived and seen the two busy in one corner of the kitchen. Gently he put a hoof on Coal as he intended to address her.
“Hey, just wanted to let you know that I’m heading out to look for your uncle and I’m going to bring him back to you, I promise,” he told her but refrained from mentioning Barricade, recalling how upsetting that particular topic had been to her.
Coal looked at the guard and then rose up, freeing herself from Spike and Flash Sentry’s hoof. She then proceeded to hug the Pegasus, who raised his brow slightly before returning the embrace.
“Bring dad too,” the filly whispered, surprising Flash a bit. “I don’t like him now… but maybe later.”
“I will,” he promised and hugged the girl a little tighter before letting go. Then he saluted her before leaving the kitchen.
The kids returned to their ice cream. Coal was feeling a little better now and wolfed down what remained of her now soupy treat. The two barely noticed when a Crystal Pony entered the kitchen and began addressing the staff.
“We need breakfast dishes for the Royals, including Princess Twilight Sparkle and her companion plus five guests,” the mare ordered, stomping her hoof on the floor. She then walked straight to the corner where Coal and Spike sat.
“Mr. The Dragon, Miss Coal, I am to take you to the dining parlor, if you would follow me,” she instructed them.
Since both were done with their ice cream, they shrugged and rose up. Spike grabbed their bowls and put them on a nearby table before hurrying after the two ponies who were already heading out of the kitchen entrance.
The dining parlor wasn’t too far away and already seated by the table were the Royal couple, Twilight, Coal’s grandparents, Foxy and Dew. The mare who had escorted the kids, stopped by the entrance allowing the filly and dragon to enter before her, she then followed them inside.
Coal immediately headed to her mother and was seated next to her, Spike went over to Twilight where an empty chair waited for him. The Crystal Pony walked over to where Cadance and Shining Armor sat at the end.
“I have brought the children and the staff is preparing the usual breakfast dishes,” she announced and inclined her head in a bow.
“Thank you, Glow Stone.” Cadance smiled and dismissed the servant, who bowed again before leaving.
“So you got ice cream before breakfast,” Foxy joshed with a grin and nudged her daughter who giggled.
“Ice cream is good breakfast.” Coal nodded smartly causing chuckles around the table.
“So Coal, I heard you just got your cutie mark,” Twilight addressed the filly.
Coal blinked when realizing the princess was addressing her again, but she now found more confidence to nod and then stood up in her chair and did her best to show the golden heart. Feeling little braver, she even proceeded to tell how she acquired it, just like she told Flash Sentry.
“We didn’t even have a chance to stop her, she zipped into the store and was out in minutes with a blanket,” Foxy added in with a shrug. “Then one flash later, she had a cutie mark.”
“She’s always been a compassionate little girl, always willing to share and be nice to others,” Hard Shovel chimed in with a small smile. Coal blushed a little at the compliment and sat back down properly in her seat.
Twilight nodded with a smile of her own, she did note that Mirage was rather silent and only gave a halfhearted grin at the current discussion, Dew Doe as well. Foxy and Hard Shovel seemed to be ones trying to keep the humor up in the current situation.
“Having a talent in compassion is not bad, it opens up so many possibilities. I have a friend whose talent is communicating and caring for animals, maybe you have a future now in caring for ponies or doing other work to help the less fortunate, there are so many options to express your compassion.” Twilight figured she might as well keep the discussion on Coal and her newly acquired cutie mark, help distract the others from the current situation while they ate breakfast. Though it would probably be more accurate to call it brunch by this time.
“Maybe you have met her since you visit Ponyville to meet your sister, Dinky. Her name is Fluttershy.” She saw recognition in the filly’s eyes.
“Ooh, ooh, yes. Dinky, Tootsie and I met her in the park once, she was helping ducks with their ducklings. She gave us bread to feed them, she was really nice,” Coal told her.
“I remember that, wasn’t that also the day the three of you decided to ‘paint’ Dinky and Tootsie’s bedroom?” Foxy asked and grinned when her daughter gave her a glare.
“It was Tootsie’s idea,” the filly grumbled and folded her forelegs. There was more snickering around the table at the antics of the girl.
“I do recall Derpy bemoaning something about Dinky and her sisters when she was delivering mail,” Twilight mentioned grinning a little bit.
Servants interrupted the conversation as they came in with the breakfast or brunch. There were waffles, toasts and varied selection of toppings, fruit juice and water selection and there was also a big stack of pancakes and a pitcher of syrup. Spike had no qualms diving right into the food and had to be reprimanded a little by Twilight to show some proper behavior at the table.
Twilight shook her head at the dragon’s antics before helping herself to some of the breakfast items. She decided to go with some toast and a waffle. As she ate she noticed that Dew Doe was staring at the pancakes, lost in thought.
“Something wrong?” the princess asked her, rousing the Pegasus from her stupor.
“Hm? What? No, nothing it’s just…” Dew looked at the pancakes again. “Private loves pancakes.”
“Ah.” Twilight glanced over to her brother and sister-in-law who had also noticed the tone of voice Dew spoke in.
“Excuse me.” Dew Doe rose from the table and hurriedly left the dining parlor.
“Of… course?” Cadance barely had time to respond before the Pegasus was gone.
“I’ll go talk with her.” Foxy stood up and glanced at Coal. “You stay with your grandparents.”
Princess Cadance nodded and watched as the maroon pony left the dining parlor after her sister. There was a bit awkward silence now by the table, Twilight wondered if she had said something wrong, Shining Armor glanced at the older Unicorn couple. Hard Shovel finally spoke up.
“I am not going to be the one to confirm anything, but Dew Doe seem to be rather infatuated with our boy Private and we suspect he is in love with her as well. However, they seem to be having this ‘we are totally not in love with each other, just like each other’s company,’ thing going on,” he explained to the royals.
“Private always has a problem expressing himself. Dew doesn’t seem to want to push him into anything and contents herself with giving him attention, though in some cases it’s whether he likes to have attention or not, he at least appears to tolerate her more than he would tolerate other ponies violating his personal space,” Hard Shovel concluded and poured Coal some juice.
The royal ponies nodded in understanding. Shining Armor was though starting to develop a headache, now it wasn’t just a friend, son and an uncle but possible lover as well that might just be killed. He dearly hoped the Crystal Heart would work as Twilight originally figured it would and just separate Sombra from Private. What worried him the most though was that the dark king could force them to make an awful choice to ensure that Barricade came out of this alive.
If it must be done, I’ll be the one to do it, he thought and returned to his food.
End Chapter 13
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Glow Stone is actually a really good name for a Crystal pony!
9622724
Thanks, I've really tried keeping the Crystal Pony names one way or another crystal or gem related one way or another, or at least somewhat rock related.