Past Actions, Future Consequences

by Rill

Ch. 14 The Crystal Empire

Yawning, Shadow looked up from his book. Across the aisle, Twilight sat on her padded bench, her nose buried in one of the library’s thicker tomes, while next to her, Spike was curled up in a ball, fast asleep. Shaking his head at the sight of the sleeping dragon, Shadow immediately regretted the action as he felt his head swim while a fresh wave of nausea crashed over him. How Spike or anyone for that matter could sleep on a train was beyond the colt. Of all the ways he knew that a pony could travel, trains were the worst as far as he was concerned. They were dirty, loud, noisy machines that traveled way too fast and as if that wasn’t enough, the way the cars swayed from side to side only aggravated the colt’s motion sickness, and trying to take his mind off it by looking out the window didn’t help as it seemed to only make things worse for the disguised alicorn. What he would have given to be back on the Tranquility. Even if sailing was more dangerous than traveling by train, at least there he was able to adapt to the slower rocking and rolling of the ship’s deck. Silently groaning to himself, the colt set his head down on his book, knowing that whatever nausea he felt would pass after a while.

Around him, ponies of all shapes and sizes chatted while the hoof-full of fillies and colts laughed and played, the general noise of the car helping to drown the constant clacking of the wheels outside. Focusing on the sounds around him, Shadow could pick out parts of individual conversations. Here, two oddly dressed stallions were talking about their latest invention, seeming to work on some kind of rhyming pitch that involved singing. On the other side of his bench, the colt could hear a pegasus couple talking quietly, wondering what the Empire was like during the winter and if Princess Cadance was showing yet. What this ‘Princess Cadance’ was supposed to be showing was beyond the colt. Turning away from his eavesdropping as he felt better, the young alicorn opened his saddlebag, pulling out the last piece of Nightmare Night candy, staring at the chocolate and caramel streaked concoction before tossing it into his mouth.

Smiling as he felt the sugar wake him up, the colt turned back to his book. This wasn’t the first time he had read this particular passage, but for some reason it stuck out to him. Maybe it was the obvious pride Summer Breeze had felt for becoming a mother, or maybe it was how that pride quickly turned to worry and fear at what the future held for her and her daughter. When Cheerilee had announced the project, Shadow had found himself conflicted. On one hoof, he had idolized his ancestor for as long as he could remember and being a direct descendent, knew more about her than almost anypony back home, which made the young alicorn confident that his report would be the best. On the other hoof, a few discreet questions had told him that nopony had ever heard of her, which didn’t surprise him. What did surprise him was the fact that everypony seemed to think that the Nightmare War – rebellion, he corrected himself – was a small incident where the rebels were quickly overpowered and subdued. While he didn’t doubt anything he had read, part of Shadow wondered how well his correcting of history would be received by his class. Would they believe him, or would they call him a liar? On top of that, there was also a certain white alicorn in Canterlot for the colt to worry about. While Celestia hadn’t made her anticipated move yet, Shadow knew that she would almost certainly react when she found out about his subject. Distantly, Shadow wondered how the princess would react when she discovered his connection to Summer Breeze.

Sighing, Shadow marked his place in the book before returning it to his saddlebag. It didn’t matter much at that point as far as he was concerned. He was tired of waiting for the almighty Celestia to make her move, to make him disappear when he wasn’t expecting it. What was she waiting for? She had plenty of opportunities when he was stuck in the hospital, yet she hadn’t done a thing. The stress of waiting and wondering was getting on the colt’s nerves. If she wasn’t going to make her move, he’d force her, if only so he could finally stop wondering. Yawning again, Shadow’s mind turned to what lay ahead of them at the end of the line. It had come as something of a surprise when Rainbow Dash recognized the lettering on the book he had loaned her. How could she recognize lettering from a language that had vanished a thousand years earlier? After he had gotten out of the hospital, on a whim, he searched the library for anything related to his ancestral home. To the alicorn’s shock and amazement, he had found dozens of books on the Empire, the topics ranging from learning how to read Crystallic to ‘histories’ of the Empire that seemed to have been written by ponies who made it seem like the Empire was a small sub-kingdom of Equestria. If that was the case, how could it be called an Empire? Worse yet, at school he had heard a number of students mention some place called Whinny Land, which he quickly learned was an ‘amusement park’. Hearing this had left him wondering if the Crystal Empire he had heard about from Twilight and others was something similar, except instead of rides, it was based around a fabled ‘land of crystal ponies’, with a royal couple to complete the illusion.

Feeling the train slowing down, Shadow found himself wondering what Twilight’s brother Shiny was like. Based on what he suspected, the colt figured that the badly named stallion was a thin, lanky pony who managed to finally make his family proud of him by landing the role of the husband of the Crystal Empire’s ruler. Silently, Shadow hoped that ‘Shiny’ was just his stage name, since it was a terrible name, whether in real life or as a supposed crystal pony. The colt snorted as he sat up. Naming a crystal pony ‘Shiny’ was like naming a foal ‘Red’ simply because they had a red coat. Looking out the window for the first time since shortly after leaving Ponyville, the world had changed dramatically. Beyond the heavily frosted window, Shadow couldn’t see a single tree, the ground as flat as a snow covered plate. Turning his head, Shadow could see the locomotive as it rounded a curve in the track. As it disappeared around another curve, the colt could see something tall in the distance, the bright morning light shining off it making it impossible for him to tell what it was.

As his car came around the final curve, Shadow felt his eyes widen at the sight. While their ultimate destination was still a ways off, he could clearly see that whoever had built the place had at least done their research. Rising above the crystal houses was a palace, its facets catching and reflecting the sun’s light. Despite the disgust he felt at the clear exploitation of his heritage, the alicorn had to admit that it looked something like what he had always imagined the Crystal Empire had looked like before its fall. They had even gone so far as to make the train station out of crystal.

Standing as the train came to a halt with a screech, the young alicorn arched his back, feeling his muscles loosen as ponies around him gathered their belongings. Grabbing a scarf from his saddlebag with his magic, the colt quickly strapped the dragon hide bag to his waist. Across the aisle, Twilight was doing the same thing with her bag while nudging Spike with a hoof. Raising his head, the young dragon looked at the activity around the car before sitting up and stretching, his yawn showing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

Waiting a couple minutes for the car to empty, Shadow followed Twilight onto the platform, glad that he had put on the scarf as a wall of snow slammed into them, the cold quickly eating through his coat. As they worked their way through the mass of ponies, the younger alicorn wondered why the weather was so much wilder than in Ponyville. If, for the sake of argument, this was the real Crystal Empire, why didn’t it have its own dedicated weather team to deal with whatever came down from the north? “Shiny!”

“Twiley!”

Shadow’s head jerked up at the sound of the stallion’s voice. Striding toward them was a white stallion with a multi-hued blue mane. What was more, this stallion was the exact opposite of what the colt had expected; the well-conditioned body and muscles taking the alicorn’s expectations and beating them to a pulp. Hanging back, Shadow watched as Twilight embraced her older brother, the stallion returning the affection before turning to Spike, trading hoof bumps with the dragon before giving him an impromptu noogie. From where he stood, the disguised alicorn couldn’t help but smile at the display of sibling love as Spike scrambled off of Twilight to avoid her brother’s hoof. Inside, he could feel something stir. Before he could think about it, Shadow froze as he saw Twilight turn, drawing the older stallion’s attention to him with a sweep of her hoof. Gulping, the colt slowly walked forward, his eyes never leaving ‘Shiny’.

For his part, Shining Armor never lost his smile as the reserved colt approached. “So you’re the colt my sister won’t stop talking about” The prince’s smile grew as he offered Shadow his hoof “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Taking the offered hoof, Shadow half paid attention to Twilight as she introduced them to the other; “Wait” Shadow said as Twilight finished “Your name is Shining Armor?” Seeing the stallion nod, the colt sighed in relief “Oh thank Luna.”

“Let me guess” Shining Armor said as he led them to a waiting sleigh “She never used my real name.”

“Nope.”

Looking around as they started to move, the colt was surprised to see that their ride was being pulled by a pair of armored earth ponies whose coats sparkled in the sunlight, exactly like drawings he had seen at the museum back home. If you have to bluff, don’t be halfhearted about it. Smiling as he remembered Sea Breeze’s advice, Shadow looked around as their sleigh approached the city’s gate. Passing between the two story tall crystal spires, the young alicorn craned his neck back, watching the trio of crystals floating between the two posts bob gently in the wind. The colt felt his jaw drop as their sleigh passed by the outer most houses and entered the city itself. All around them, ponies mingled, some with coats like his and Twilight’s, while many others had coats like the two stallions pulling the sleigh. Is there anything whoever designed this place didn’t think of? Along the city’s streets and in the air above, hundreds of ponies sparkled as they moved; the sun’s light shining off the facets of their coats.

Thoroughly impressed, the colt frowned as they passed an oversized statue made of pure quartz that looked suspiciously like a familiar young dragon holding a replica of the famed Crystal Heart. Turning to Spike, Shadow instead found himself looking at an empty seat. Before he could feel a sense of panic, the colt spotted as familiar arrow tipped tail sticking out of a blanket next to their luggage “Spike?”

“Did they see me?”

Frowning, the young alicorn turned to look behind them, watching as a pegasus mare used her wings to blow some snow off of the statue. “Not that I can tell” he said, turning around “But why are you hiding.”

“Because the last time I was here, I got mobbed by them.” Spike said as he uncovered himself. “Sure it was fun at first but…” He trailed off, opting instead to stare at the colt sitting before him, much to the colt’s growing discomfort.

“Um, Spike? What are you staring at?”

Ignoring the colt, Spike reached behind him, tapping Twilight on the shoulder, his eyes never leaving Shadow “Hey Twilight? You might want to see this.”

“See what?” Twilight asked; only to find her question answered as soon as she turned around.

Sinking back slightly as two sets of eyes stared at him, which quickly became three as Twilight’s brother turned to look as well, Shadow forced back the growing urge to panic and run. He’d been sitting there since they left the train station; he couldn’t have done anything, right? “What are you guys looking at?”

“Amazing” Twilight breathed, her eyes examining the disguised alicorn “I was not expecting this.”

“Can somepony please tell me what you’re all staring at?!” Shadow asked, all but shouting the question.

“Dude, look at your coat.”

Frowning in confusion at Spike’s suggestion, the distressed colt looked at his leg, his jaw hitting the floor a moment later. Holding his leg out, Shadow slowly turned it, the bright morning light sparkling off the numerous facets. “How did this happen?”

Twilight slowly shook her head as she scanned the confused colt with her magic. “I don’t know. You said you were from the Crystal Empire, but Cadance couldn’t corroborate anything you said.” The older alicorn frowned as an idea slowly formed.

“Why did I change, but you guys didn’t?”

“We didn’t change because we’re not from the Empire.” Twilight eventually responded. “The Empire’s magic must have reacted with something in your genetic structure to change your coat like this. It’s the only explanation.”

“In Equestrian; Twiley?”

“We didn’t change because we’re not Crystal Ponies, genetically speaking. Shadow on the other hoof, must have enough Crystal Pony in his ancestry that the Empire’s magic doesn’t see him as anything other than a citizen of the Empire.”

As Twilight tried to wrap her head around the sudden development, Shadow continued to look himself over. Whipping his head around, he stared at a reflection of himself in a nearby building, a strange, yet familiar crystalline colt staring back at him, a smile threatening to split his face.

It was real.

It was all real!

The Crystal Empire was no longer lost, and he was in it. That was the only explanation Shadow could think of to explain everything around him. This wasn’t a cheap Whinny Land knockoff. It wasn’t even an expensive knockoff. This was the real, honest-to-Luna Crystal Empire! In the back of his mind, part of Shadow thought it was nothing more than an elaborate setup, but the colt quickly squashed the thought. On the street around them, a number of ponies jumped at Shadow’s sudden shout as the colt couldn’t hold himself back, a good number of passersby watching the laughing colt as his sleigh passed by. Settling back down, Shadow couldn’t help but smirk at Twilight as she looked at him, believe me now?

By the time the sleigh reached the center of the city, Shadow had managed to contain his excitement, though the smile on his face made it clear that it was only contained by the narrowest of margins. Looking up from the sunlight shining off his coat, the colt’s jaw dropped as the sleigh approached its destination. For as long as he could remember, Shadow had heard descriptions of the Crystal Palace. Some had said it had been the tallest building in the world. Others had said that its design had made it the Empire’s second crown jewel, the Crystal Heart being the first, and that its beauty had made the rest of the world jealous, which led more than one pony to speculate that that was one of the reasons Celestia waited for so long before responding to Sombra. Shadow could recall the descriptions of the palace from his ancestor’s diary, but everything he had ever imagined paled in comparison to the towering structure before him.

As their ride came to a stop under the palace, the colt watched in fascination as a pair of guards trotted up, coming to attention as they held the sleigh’s door. Smiling, Shining Armor returned the guards’ salutes as Twilight and Spike got out. Tilting his head, Shadow eyed the two guards. He had seen a couple samples of Imperial armor at the museum back home, but they had lacked the shining, almost crystalline, quality of the armor these two stallions were wearing. On top of that, the coats of the two guards were the exact same shade of purple, which only added to the colt’s confusion.

Hearing his name, the young alicorn hopped down from the sleigh, quickly checking his saddlebag’s strap before trotting to where Twilight and Spike were waiting. Following the older stallion, the colt’s neck quickly grew sore as he looked around. Only half paying attention to Twilight’s conversation with her brother, Shadow’s eyes roamed over the white crystal walls of the hall, his mind ignoring the two guards behind him as it noted the perfect facets of the crystals that grew out of the walls. Wrapped up as he was, it took the colt a few minutes to realize that they had yet to pass a window, yet the hall was lit like there was an open window every few feet. Before he could start to ponder what kind of spells had to be at work, Shadow felt a claw gently tap his shoulder. Looking to his left, the young alicorn caught Spike’s tilted head before nodding his thanks and turning to follow the young dragon into a room that the colt had nearly walked past.

Stepping into the room, it wasn’t the food covering the table that had the colt’s full attention. Neither was it the spectacular view of the city the room’s expansive windows allowed or the smell of pancakes and syrup. Instead, Shadow found himself hesitating at the sight of a pink alicorn as large as Shining Armor doing a rather strange dance with a comparatively smaller Twilight. Watching from where he stood, it was obvious that the two older alicorns knew each other quite well. Watching the strange greeting come to an end with a shake of the alicorns’ back ends, Shadow felt his muscles tighten as the pink alicorn spotted him, a gentle smile on her face as she stood back up to her full height. “Hello.”

“Hello” The young colt replied a couple seconds later. Not sure what he was supposed to do, Shadow felt a rush of relief as Twilight chose that moment to introduce the two alicorns to each other. Despite his reservations about alicorns, the young orphan found himself quickly warming up to Princess Cadance. Somehow, she seemed to sense his nervousness and, instead of approaching him, kept her distance, allowing him to get used to her. It was a gesture that wasn’t lost on the young alicorn.

Keeping the gentle smile on her face, Cadance gestured to the waiting table. Taking one of the padded chairs for himself, Shadow sighed in relief as he sat. Despite his burns having healed months earlier and the return of his coat, the colt still found it slightly painful to sit on something that wasn’t padded.

“So, what do you think of the Crystal Empire?”

Glancing up from his small stack of pancakes, the lone colt looked up at Princess Cadance as she used her magic to cut her food, while her attention was on him. “I grew up hearing about the Empire,” Shadow replied, before taking a bite and swallowing, “but what I’ve seen so far is more than I ever dreamed of.” His answer seemed to please the larger alicorn. Examining his food, Shadow found himself frowning slightly at the small pile of berries left on the top pancake. If he had seen them back home he would have assumed they were poisonous, but having tried them, he found himself pleasantly surprised by their taste as well as the slight crunch they made when he bit down on them. As he was thinking about how he wanted to finish off his pancakes, the colt felt his ears perk up; his head following a moment later as something Twilight said caught his attention. While he hadn’t been paying much attention, that had all changed when Twilight mentioned an agreement between the Empire and Equestria. Why would Celestia want a trade agreement with the Empire if it was part of Equestria? Thoroughly confused, the colt looked up at Princess Cadance, who smiled at the young alicorn’s sudden attention.

Cadance couldn’t help but laugh at Shadow’s innocent question. “The Crystal Empire is an independent nation, just like it was a thousand years ago.” The alicorn took a sip from her glass as she continued, “I remember a few Canterlot nobles proposing to annex the Empire, but Aunt Celestia shot down that idea rather quickly.”

“Aunt Celestia?”

“If anything else, it’s more of a title. It’s like how Shiny and Spike are brothers, even though they aren’t related.”

Seeing the disguised alicorn nod, the princess smiled. While she would have liked to ask him some questions, Cadance decided to keep a tight leash on her curiosity. The reports she had gotten from her aunts, as well as Twilight made it abundantly clear that it took time for the young colt to warm up to another pony, and if she pushed, she could end up damaging the progress that had been made so far. Besides, Cadance thought as she refilled her glass of juice, there will be plenty of time to talk to Twilight about him at the spa.

Smiling as he felt the sun heat up his coat, Shadow paused to stretch as he and Shining Armor stood at the base of the palace. Unable to get over how his coat sparkled, the colt fell into a steady pace as the older stallion led them, without a guard escort, toward the city. As they walked, Shadow couldn’t help but constantly sneak glances at Shining Armor. He reminded the colt of a much more open Brick Wall. Back home, he had learned how to tell when a pony wasn’t being sincere, especially when it came to whoever they were with, but he couldn’t see any of the typical signs with Shining Armor. At first, when he had volunteered to be the colt’s guide, Shadow had assumed it wasn’t just because he wanted to let his sister and Cadance have time alone together, but now that he watched the stallion, Shadow found himself rethinking his assumption, hoping that he had been wrong. From what he could tell, Twilight’s brother wasn’t a pony to hide his motives, which the colt found refreshing. “Why do the guards salute you? I thought they only did that with anypony that outranked them?”

“Because I do” Shining Armor replied as he waved back at a couple crystal ponies. “Not only am I technically a Prince, I’m also the head of the Imperial Guard.” Shadow couldn’t help but whistle in amazement. “Of course, I got plenty of practice when I was Captain of the Royal Guard.” The whistle on Shadow’s lips died at the stallions off-hoof comment. He was Captain of Celestia’s Royal Guard?! Great the stunned colt thought. This could get interesting.

While he had initially been suspicious whenever anypony in Ponyville mentioned the Crystal Empire, the colt had realized during breakfast that, since the Crystal Empire was real, he could fill in a number of holes in his project. Shining Armor for his part had been more than happy to lead the colt to the library that dominated an entire city block. Turning a corner, Shadow was surprised at how he found himself surprised at the size of the famed library. Despite Hearth’s Warming Eve being the next day, there was a steady stream of ponies; both crystal and non, coming and going from the library’s entrance, more than a few stopping to rub a talon of one of the griffon statues that guarded the front doors. Following his guide, the colt felt his jaw hit the ground as they walked into the building. As far as he could see, books lined every wall of the library’s interior, the shelves going from the ground floor to the ceiling, which had to be at least fifty feet overhead, while numerous bookcases stood in neat rows along the library’s main floor. Above them, Shadow could see dozens of pegasi floating overhead, some searching for books while others returned books to their shelves.

“You remind me of Twilight.” Shining said as he led the stunned colt off to the side. “She told me that when she first saw this place, she nearly passed out.”

“Somehow I don’t doubt that.” Shadow whispered as his mind slowly caught up with reality.

“So… where to first?”

Earning a laugh from the former Royal Guard Captain as he shook his head, Shadow looked around before trotting over to a map of the library that somepony had posted on a support column. “First I need to find a pre-fall map of the Empire” the young alicorn said as he looked over the map. “Then I need a directory with names and addresses, along with guard records, birth records, cutie mark records…”

April 4^th

Dear sweet Luna I wasn’t prepared for that. With everything mom told me, with everything the other mothers in here told me, I thought I was prepared. How wrong I was, Diary. I am no stranger to pain my friend. From getting so beaten up during training that I just wanted to curl up and my coat practically turning black and blue from all the bruises, to having a spear put through my shoulder while fighting for my home, I thought I knew pain and that I could handle it.

How wrong I was.

I would rather spend a full day and night going hoof to hoof with Drill Sergeant Rough House or fight the whole Equestrian Army while armed with nothing but a butter knife, than go through that kind of pain again. But Fates know that, without my Umber, I’ll never have to. Despite all of the pain and the screaming, Sweet Luna the screaming, it was all worth it. I know this because all I have to do is look down at the little sleeping bundle of brown fur next to me.

That’s right Diary; I’m a mom!

Please forgive me for the tear stains, Diary. Something got in my eye again. For her part, mom is still practically bouncing off the walls of our cell. Honestly, I swear she’s worse than a mother hen sometimes, but as annoying as her attention can be, do not think that I don’t appreciate it.

Sorry for the new tear stain; my daughter just yawned and something got in my eye again. Stupid dust. I decided to name my daughter Burnt Sienna, partly after her coat but mostly after her father, who she’ll never know, thanks to that bitch Celestia.

I miss him, Diary. Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night, the pathetic excuse for a pillow I have being completely soaked. I thought I knew pain, but what I thought I knew was nothing compared to what I feel every time I look at my daughter. Every time I do, I see her father; I see his smile turn to horror right before he tackles me, pushing me to safety before taking the spear that was meant for me. I can still feel him go limp in my legs, still hear his final breath, never knowing that he was going to be a father, the one thing he wanted most in this world. As I watch our daughter sleep, I can see him so clearly in her, in her voice, her coat. Hay, she even yawns like him, but she seems to have my eyes, though hopefully not my personality.

When I went into labor, I was fortunate to have Night Wing and Silver Star in my cell. Between Night Wing’s experience as a midwife and Silver Star’s magic – plus my personal threats of bloody retribution – they were more than enough to keep that mule of a royal doctor or the guards from trying anything. Right now, they’re back in their cells, having only been allowed to join me when I needed them.

I used to not worry about the future much, figuring that everything would work out in the end. Now I can’t help but worry. What if Celestia and her guards come for Sienna? What if they never let us out, leaving her to rot here with us as punishment for our ‘crimes’? I don’t know Diary, but I suppose worrying won’t help much, since I’m not in any kind of position to do anything. Right now, my daughter is sleeping soundly and I think I’ll follow her example. Luna knows I could use the rest.

Shining Armor yawned as he looked up from the book Shadow had given him. Across the table, the colt in question had apparently picked up a couple of Twilight’s less savory habits, if the slowly growing book fort around him was any indication. It had taken the two nearly an hour to find half of what Shadow had wanted, and multiple trips to bring everything they found to a table that Precious Tome, the library’s head, had been happy to set aside for them. Seeing that his research could take a while, the colt had loaned his older companion the school copy of the diary that Twilight had mentioned. This had surprised the stallion since, if his sister’s letters were any indication, Shadow would only do so with somepony he trusted, which was something since Twilight had yet to read it. The former Royal Guard Captain looked across the library at Precious Tome as the older mare organized a cart of returned books. While Twiley had expressed her doubts about what she knew about the book; Shining found himself more accepting of what was inside. How could whoever wrote this get so much about the Empire right if they had never been there, though there were a few things that had left the prince with questions.

The first was what had happened to the royal family when Sombra had taken over. While the author had made it quite clear what that bastard had done during his take over, the only mention of the royal family the author had made was that Sombra had ‘publicly dealt with them’. The stallion found himself hoping it wasn’t true, since if it was, it would explain why he and Cadance had never heard of their predecessors. The second issue that he had was where the bodies Sombra had left behind were buried. The book only said that they had been buried in a mass grave, but Shining found himself wanting to know where that grave was, if for no other reason than to try and get a memorial erected there.

Stretching a leg behind his head to loosen it, the stallion smiled as his young companion yawned, closing the book in front of him before levitating it onto a nearby pile “Anything else?”

Yawning again, Shadow shook his head as he looked at the mid-afternoon light streaming through the library’s ceiling. “No. I think I’ve found everything I can here, though there are a few places in the city I need to check out” the young alicorn looked at the pile of books with a mixture of scorn and annoyance, “though that might have to wait.”

“Don’t worry about putting those away” Shining said as he stood, feeling the life rush back into his legs “I talked to the head librarian and she said she’d clean up after us.”

Shadow looked at the stacks of books around him again, his annoyance being replaced with relief, though the scorn remained. Before he had been banned from the library, it had been all but beaten into him and the rest of the class that if you took a book off a shelf, you damned well put it back where you found it. Sighing, the colt stood, rolling up his notes before placing them in the replacement saddlebag Rarity had made for him. He had brought it along to the library while his original bag lay under a couple shield spells back in his room at the palace. Looking over everything one last time, the colt followed Twilight’s brother out of the library, only stopping to bow in respect and thanks to the library’s head.

Outside, the number of ponies out on the street had only increased, leaving the two with less room to move, eventually forcing Shadow to follow directly behind Shining Armor. “Why don’t you have a couple guards with you?” Shadow asked as the two stepped onto a side street. “I’d think that would make traveling easier.”

“Most ponies would think that, but it usually doesn’t.” Shining said as he sat next to Shadow while the colt studied a map. “It would draw too much attention to us and would actually slow everypony down.” The stallion watched as the colt traced their path from the library to where they currently sat “Where to now?”

“If that address list was right” Shadow tapped an area circled on the map “Then it should be a couple blocks that way” the colt finished, looking down the street. Letting him take the lead, Shining Armor followed Shadow as the colt wove his way through the crowds of ponies around them. Within a couple minutes, the two turned onto a quiet street, the houses a mix of pink and blue crystal. “Fifty-nine… sixty-three… sixty-five…” Shadow muttered to nopony in particular as he read the house numbers. If he was right, then his ancestor’s house should be “there.”

Halfway down the street, the colt and stallion stopped, a pile of blackened and half melted rock lying where house number seventy-one should have stood. Staring at the wreckage, Shadow slowly sat down. While this hadn’t been mentioned in his ancestor’s diary, he wasn’t surprised at what Sombra had had done to the house. If anything, he probably should have expected him to make such a move, since Summer Breeze painted the former Prince as a pony with a delicate ego who didn’t take failure and rejection well.

“Who lived here?” Shining asked as Shadow slowly stood.

“My ancestor” Shadow replied as he walked through the snow covering the front yard.

“What happened?”

“If I had to guess, Sombra had the place destroyed after she fled the Empire.”

“Why?”

Shadow blew the snow off a collapsed section of roof with a quick spell. “He had a thing for her, but she didn’t feel the same way.” Peering at a melted portion of the roof, Shadow ran his hoof over the smooth stone, a smile slowly growing on his face. Ignoring Shining Armor for a moment, he dusted off a broken section of wall, finding a similar melt pattern. “How strong are you?” The colt asked as an idea formed in his head.

“Why?”

“I need your help moving this” The colt patted the piece of roof he had cleared off first “Because if I’m right, this is where my ancestor’s bedroom was, and Sombra’s goons tried to burn the place after leveling it.”

Shining Armor thought about Shadow’s request. While his order of events looked right, the stallion wasn’t sure what the colt hoped to find. Figuring that it probably wouldn’t hurt, the prince ignited his horn, joining his magic with Shadow’s to lift the multi-ton slab of crystal before setting it aside. Before he could stop him, Shadow jumped into the opening, nimbly avoiding numerous jagged edges. Shining Armor nearly yelped as the young colt crawled halfway into a gap between two broken walls. Igniting his horn in case he had to pull the colt out, the prince sighed in relief as the young alicorn backed out of the hole a few minutes later, his horn glowing. The reason why quickly became apparent as a small wooden box slowly floated out of the hole, safe in Shadow’s grip. Smiling like he had just won the lottery, the colt made his way out of the rubble, gently setting his prize next to the older stallion “Find something?”

“Yup” Shadow replied, grinning like an idiot. Gently lifting the box’s lid with a hoof, the colt’s smile threatened to split his face as the figure of a dancing, dress-wearing mare rose from inside. As the lid opened, both ponies heard a small click from inside the box, the dancing mare starting to turn to an off-tune melody a moment later.

“A music box?”

“Yup” Shadow replied as he watched the yellow and blue mare slowly spin. “I was right. If they had set the place on fire first, this wouldn’t have survived. They must have tried to melt the place afterward, but couldn’t.” If that’s the case, then… Shadow looked behind him. Across the street, another house stood abandoned, the blackened scorch marks rising from the windows making it clear why. “They hit her house first; then went after the one across the street.”

“Who lived there?”

“Her coltfriend.”

Shining armor paused as he watched Shadow examine his find. The stallion still knew almost nothing about the Empire’s former dictator, even after living there ever since it reappeared. What little he did know painted the dark stallion as a psychopathic tyrant who favored punishments that far outweighed the crime. On top of that, when asked, no pony would say anything about the dictator, as if the mere mention of him might bring the bastard back, even though the prince had been one of the ponies to confirm the dark unicorn’s death. Frowning, Twilight’s brother watched as his young companion wrapped the music box in one shield after another. Who could be so important to Sombra that he’d go through the trouble of destroying two homes? Slowly, the stallion felt the puzzle piece fall into place, his jaw slowly dropping in the process. Summer Breeze is Shadow’s ancestor! Closing his mouth, the older unicorn’s mind started to fill in the other pieces of the puzzle that was Shadow as the colt placed his find in an empty saddlebag. I’ll have to check with Cadance, but this would explain more than a few things.