"Princess Flurry Heart, Destroyer of Worlds!"

by Fluttercheer

Chapter 25: The Monsters

Inside the Crystal Empire, the two rulers who had fallen in disgrace with their subjects, fled to their castle. They barely made it back inside its safe gates before the mob arrived.

Outside of the Crystal Empire, however, Flurry Heart did not know about any of these things. And if she would have known, it would have convinced her even more that her decision had been the right one.

Surrounded by the raging winds of snow, Flurry Heart stood still, trying to find her way. Her wings were tucked away under a thick, grey winter coat, that protected the thin, fragile limbs from freezing in the cold, and her hooves were covered in woolen socks and snow boots. She was wearing a scarf and on her head, a winter hat, made of wool as well, was sitting, warming her ears. Through a hole in it, her horn stuck out. It was surrounded by her yellow aura, because in front of her, she was hovering a map.

Flurry Heart squinted her eyes as she let them wander over the parchment. It was a map of the northern reaches of Equestria and what lied beyond. And the top part of the map showed her destination, in big, bold letters:

YAKYAKISTAN

It was a place Flurry Heart had barely heard about. But it was enough to know that it was not populated by ponies, that it was located north of her home and that a gigantic wall of ice separated it from the empire she lived in. Or used to live in, she corrected her thoughts immediately, as she had no intent of staying there any longer. Yakyakistan, however, was ideal for the young alicorn. It was far away, hard to reach and no one knew her there. It was also a safe bet that her parents would not expect her to go there or that she could even reach it on her own. If she made it to this land, she was safe from everything that happened. And, most importantly, there was no Crystal Heart she could destroy to accidentally spell doom over the place she lived in. For Flurry Heart, it was a clear case:

The Crystal Empire would be better off without her.

And, so she hoped, she would find peace from her memories and her past in the quiet lands of Yakyakistan.

The constant snowflakes that swirled around her made it hard to read the map, even though she used a light spell. But she was confident to know into which direction she had to go.

“I just need to follow those rocks,” she whispered, shivering from the cold. She let her hoof glide over the oddly-shaped rocks that were marked on the map. They were arranged in a straight line and, according to the map, so close together that the next rock could be seen as dark silhouette in the distance, at least.

Flurry Heart looked ahead again, to the rock she stood in front of. She looked back at the picture on the map, then to the rock again. As she was sure they matched up perfectly, she furled the map with her magic and hovered it to the big saddlebags on her back. She opened them and let the map disappear inside.

Facing the rock again, she went to the other side of it, then checked the distance. The snow kept falling in thick flakes, but she was able to see the contours of the next rock in line. Tightening the scarf around her neck, she eyed the rock with determination, then she began to make her way towards it.

While trudging through the snow, her mind was empty. Despite what happened, she did not think about the trail of events that had brought her here. Flurry Heart was only focused on her goal; leaving the Crystal Empire and forgetting everything. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as an especially cold gust of wind was cutting into her face, but kept trudging. As she had reached the second rock, she put a hoof on it and inspected it.

Its shape vaguely remembered on a crow, just as the map had said. Flurry Heart nodded. “Two down,” she thought. She moved around it, locked her eyes on the next dark silhouette and continued her path.

Trotting through all the snow was not easy and she did not feel completely rested up from the stressful day before. There were twenty-four rocks she had to reach, until she would be able to see the massive wall in the near distance, the wall with stairs leading up on it, behind which lied Yakyakistan. But it were her pure despair and the hope of finding peace in a new life that kept the filly going, even as her legs began to hurt.

As she had passed five more of the rocks, not without occasionally looking at the map and reminding herself on their shapes, Flurry Heart suddenly stopped in her tracks after half of the way to rock number eight. She looked around her, eyes opened wide in anxiety. Her ears were moving around under her hat, while she closely listened to the howling of the wind. They did not detect anything of interest anymore now, but just a second ago, she could have sworn to have heard hoofsteps approaching her. But now it was silent again, except for the neverending wind. Had it just been the ice cracking around her? It was the best explanation, as nopony that lived in the Crystal Empire ever desired to come out here. And she knew of ice caves under the ground from a book. Deep, cold caves, with walls of ice so pure that a pony could see itself in them.

Flurry Heart shuddered. She started to trot again and increased her pace, afraid of the ground suddenly giving in under her and letting her fall into one of those caves. The risk of this happening and of being trapped in such a cave forever was all too real.

After half an hour of following the lined-up rocks that served as natural waymarkers, she had reached three more of them by now, the wind around Flurry Heart seemed to form words. She had still heard what sounded like hoofsteps in the past thirty minutes, but having chalked them off to the natural sounds the ice and snow made, she did not pay attention anymore. What she heard right now, though, was downright scary.

The wind was whispering, there was no doubt about it. It was nopony that had come searching for her, that was as much as she could tell. No matter how hard she listened, she could never hear her name. Actually, she had to admit, she could not make out any words at all. There was a constant whispering around her, like fast-spoken words, too fast to understand a single one of them. And somehow, the voices producing the whispering seemed to whimper, like they were suffering from something.

The young princess gulped and she felt her heart getting constricted. In her rising panic, the filly began to talk to herself.

“There can't be ghosts out here.....” she said in a shivering voice. But that's how the whispering sounded, like ghosts. Or, at least how Flurry Heart imagined the sounds ghosts make. She reared up and, standing on her hindlegs now, covered her ears with her forehooves, trying to drown out the sound. Somehow, it was futile though, the sounds still found their way into her ears. “Please go away,” she whimpered. She had always found the imagination of meeting a ghost exciting, but now, it just frightened her.

Another sound of hoofsteps in the snow let Flurry Heart jump and she turned around swiftly. It had been louder this time. Was somepony really following her?

“I-Is anypony here?” she shouted into the distance.

No answer came. But the wind also began to howl louder in the same moment, if somepony did answer, it would have been impossible for her to hear it. Still frozen in fear, Flurry Heart went over the possibilities of who her pursuer, if it existed, that is, could be.

Maybe it was Sharp Pitch. They could have sent him to search for her. Or her dad himself. She knew how much he loved her, he would not hesitate to face the snowstorms that could happen here to find her. Her heart stung for a moment.

The possibility of Austere Knowledge chasing after her – or any of the enemies she now had in the empire without a doubt – to enact revenge on her or to simply remove her from this world, was entering her mind as well. Pondering this thought, she swayed slightly, definitely a symptom of the fear she felt right now. She searched the landscape in the distance behind her with her eyes, trying to find any other signs of being chased.

At first, she could not see anything. Then a shape peeled itself out of the snowy winds. It was a dark, imposing, towering figure of a pony. Flurry Heart sucked in the cold air in a gasp of shock, her chest trembling.

In fear, she closed her eyes, only to open them again almost immediately, as her sense of danger reminded her what a bad idea that was right now. In front of her, the familiar picture of the snow falling appeared and she could see the outline of the last rock she had passed. The pony she had seen was gone, though. And while this should have calmed down the little alicorn, it instead made her breaking out in panic completely. A pony appearing in the distance, then suddenly disappearing again after just one second was fitting right into the picture she had of ghosts.

Flurry Heart turned around on her hooves and galloped into the opposite direction in a mad tempo, eyes constantly fixated on the next rock. As she was right in front of it, she did a leap and landed on its top. Feeling more safe, she turned around again to look into the direction she had come from. The outline of the last rock was harder to see now, but this was the only thing of interest she could spot.

Flurry Heart chuckled nervously, while relief spread out in her. It had just been her imagination, she began to realize. “Don't be so stupid,” she scolded herself. “There is nopony here, only you. You are just nervous, Flurry Heart, get a grip!” The sharp words she addressed herself with gave her new courage. And, as she only noticed now, the whimpering whispers had stopped as well. Her own silliness almost made her laugh.

Flurry Heart reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a sandwich. It was time for a short break. Biting into it, she shuddered. It was cold from getting carried around outside this whole time and the tomatoes on it hurt on her teeth. As she had finished the sandwich, she pulled out a bottle of water. It was even colder than the sandwich and, what concerned Flurry Heart the most, small pieces of ice were floating in the bottle. Hastily, she did a few gulps, then stashed the bottle in her saddlebags again and jumped off the rock on the other side.

There were thirteen more rocks left and Flurry Heart had no idea how far it would be to the capital of Yakyakistan once she had made it beyond the wall. All she knew was she had to hurry now, if she didn't want to die of thirst.

Flurry Heart sat herself into motion again, faster now. She could still hear hoofsteps that weren't her own, but now she knew what they were; her own, agitated mind and nothing else. She did not pay attention anymore, not even as the whispers suddenly returned, in a louder volume this time. Tears were suddenly trickling out of her eyes, only to become ice crystals that stung on her cheeks a second later, and she found herself whimpering, without being able to control it. But she continued moving forward bravely, now being aware that it was only her mind that wanted to scare her.

As she had arrived at the twelfth rock, she trudged right past it, eyes already fixated on the next one, as she suddenly noticed a red glow between the snowflakes, just a little bit to her left. It looked warm and inviting and it gave Flurry Heart a thought. Apparently, over there was a heat source of some sort. She could go there and melt the ice in her water bottles! It was the perfect opportunity to buy herself some time, so, Flurry Heart nodded decisively and approached the red light.

Slowly, the glow became more intense, until she could see a red crystal sticking vertically out of the ground. Several smaller crystals of the same color were attached at its bottom, sticking out in a slightly different angle. There were still frozen tears stinging on her cheeks as her eyes continued crying. But having found a warm place, she knew they would melt soon, too. As she was only a few steps away from the crystal, she could hear a voice again, loud and clear this time.

“Why are you crying, little one?” the voice asked. It sounded caring and there was a melodic ringing in the voice that had something soothing, almost hypnotic. Flurry Heart felt immediately better as she heard it. Yet, it still confused her.

“Is the crystal talking?” she thought to herself. It seemed absurd, a crystal couldn't talk! “Who is there?” she asked, shaking off the silly thought. “Where are you?”

“I'm right in front of you, little filly,” the voice answered.

Now Flurry Heart could hear where it came from too. It was the crystal! She gasped in surprise. “How can a crystal talk?” she muttered in confusion. She stepped closer and moved a hoof over its surface. It felt warm indeed.

“I am not a crystal,” the voice said. “I only speak through it.” Suddenly, the voice sounded sad. Then it began to whimper. It was a whimpering that Flurry Heart knew.

Flurry Heart flattened her ears and gave the crystal a sympathetic look. “I heard you whimpering before. Why are you sad?”

“Because of my son. He has betrayed me.” The whimpers turned into longstretched, painful wails.

“What has he done to you?” Flurry Heart asked, feeling reminded on herself in a strange way. Grief appeared on her face.

“I had a task for him, to help me and my people, but he has abandoned us!”

Whoever was talking to her exactly, Flurry Heart felt that the mother was suffering. It moved her and it was like there was a bond forming between the two of them.

“Maybe I can help you,” she offered, still looking sad. “What do you need help with?”

“My people and me are trapped under your city.” The wailing continued.

“Did your son trap you under it?” Flurry Heart asked, her voice full of sympathy.

“No,” the voice replied. “He was the one who should have freed us, but he joined the crystal ponies. It was Princess Amore who trapped us here. The princess that ruled over the Crystal Empire in ancient times, long before your family did.”

Flurry Heart knew this name, she had heard about her in one of her history lessons. What surprised her now, though, was that the voice seemed to know her. She stared at the crystal, puzzled. “How do you know about my family?”

“We are able to see what happens on the surface. Your name is Flurry Heart. I know you have problems too.” Now it was the voice that expressed sympathy for Flurry Heart.

The little princess felt a sharp pain cutting through her heart and she looked down at the ground, new tears leaving her eyes. They weren't freezing anymore, because of the crystal's warmth. She sniffed and let her tears run freely.

“Do not cry, my filly. I can help you. We can help each other.”

Flurry Heart looked up again, choking and rubbing over her left eye. “H-How should I help you?” she whimpered. “Everypony in the Crystal Empire h-hates me now, they won't believe me when I t-tell them about y-you.”

“They don't need to believe you. As long as you want to help us, this will be enough. There is only one thing you need to do for us, then we are free. We have power and we can use it to solve your problems.”

There was nothing Flurry Heart was longing for more, that the problems she suddenly had to face got solved and that her life would become normal again. She nodded, still sniffing and rubbing her eyes.

“Okay,” she said. “W-What do you need?”

“We know what you can do, Flurry Heart. The Crystal Heart is the reason why we can't be on the surface. It hurts us. If you destroy it, we can finally live in the Crystal Empire again.”

Flurry Heart's pupils shrunk and she gasped out in shock. The young alicorn could not believe what she just heard. She launched into a reply, but before she could answer, a dark-purple ray of magic shot over her head and hit the red crystal right in the center. Flurry Heart could hear a loud, agitated scream. Fissures cracked across its surface, then the glow dissipated and the crystal burst into shards.

The magical shockwave blew Flurry Heart off her hooves and she hit the snow meters away from where the crystal stood. She groaned and tried to get up, but found herself being forced to sink to the ground again. Her whole body was hurting, especially her head.

Flurry Heart was dizzy from the sudden impact and felt her consciousness slipping away. Her last perceptions were that she heard the familiar hoofsteps again and that she saw a towering black pony appearing in her now hazy vision. Flurry Heart saw its hooves stopping right before her head, then it became dark for her.

Comments

[HunterBrony101]

The umbrums.

[Fluttercheer]

8080723

And we have our first comment and the candidate knew the right answer! 100 points to the alicorn stallion in the front row!

[HunterBrony101]

8081285

[Magthere]

8081285

SO the question now is were the Umbrum's influencing things prior to this or are they exploiting an opportunity presented to them...

Either way best brace ourselves.

Winter is coming.

[Fluttercheer]

8081350

Winter is coming.

And fear will come with it.

[KyleeTheShinyStealer]

THE UMBRUMS! ITS THE CRYSTAL THINGY FROM THE COMICS! AND SOMBRA!!!!

[Azure Sandora]

*comes back after looking up what the hell an umbrum is*

Oh... oh no...

Oh God no...

[StarryPenName]

The umbra, and possibly Sombra? Seeing as he seems to be using dark magic? idk