The Crystal Empire part 1
Sorry for the wait, I've been pretty busy with school lately and didn't have that much time to write that much and I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can. But in the meantime, enjoy!
About a month has passed since Sonic and co. had returned from serpentia, and we now find the group in ponyville library were a seemingly panicked Twilight is throwing all sorts of things from the shelves with Spike collecting them in a large bag, meanwhile, Sonic and the rest watch in concern.
"No, no, no, no, no... Ugh! I need the Magical Compendium volumes 1 through 36! Where is it?!" Twilight said in a panicked tone as she throws all the books of a shelf before taking out a book that seemed to be the same size as herself and levitated it above Spike before dropping it.
Knowing the book would be too heavy for him, Sonic quickly ran towards Spike and caught the book.
Although he struggled a little, Sonic was able to push the book above himself before placing next to himself, before quickly moving out of the way as it fell over.
"Flash cards! I should make some flash cards!" Twilight exclaimed as she handed Spike two large stacks of paper cards, "Spike, I'm gonna need you to quiz me. On everything. Everything I've ever learned. Ever.... That isn't going to be enough cards."
"Twilight you need to calm down." Spike said as he put the two stacks of cards down, "It's just a test."
Hearing Spike say that last part caused Twilight to stop in her tracks.
'Oh boy. Spike of all the things you could say, why did you say that!?' Sonic thought while having a worried look on his face.
"Just a test? Just a test!? Princess Celestia wants to give me some kind of exam, and you're trying to tell me to calm down because it's just a test?!" Twilight asked sternly as she came up to Spike.
"Uh..." Spike began before putting on a helmet and a suit of pillows before saying in a shaky tone, "Yes?"
Hearing Spike's response caused Twilight to let out a growl and make her horn glow.
Seeing how Twilight responded, Applejack said, "I'd say she took that very well..."
Before she could finish, she and everyone else (except Twilight) found themselves on the outskirts of ponyville thanks to Sonic using chaos control.
Before anyone could ask why he did so, they heard an explosion in the distance, and saw ponyville library fly up into the sky before falling back to the ground.
Surprised at what they just saw, the group slowly turns towards Sonic.
Said hedgehog casually turning his head towards them before saying, "Word of advice, never tell Twilight anything is "just a test" when she's panicking over it."
The group simply nodded in understanding before they were teleported back to the library.
A few hours later, we find Sonic and Twilight making their way through the halls of canterlot castle (with Twilight having a saddlebag full of quills, paper, and books for her test).
As they walked along, Sonic noticed that Twilight seemed nervous and decided to help calm her.
"Come on Twilight, you're the smartest pony I know, you'll ace this test with no problem." Sonic said.
"Thanks for trying to cheer me up Sonic, but with everything I've learned over the years, I just don't know what to expect in this test." Twilight responded.
"Hey, I know my mom well, and I know she wouldn't push you out of your comfort zone unless it was for your own good." Sonic assured her, "Heck, she even asked me to come along."
"Thinking about it, I am curious as to why she did that." Twilight said.
Sonic shrugged before replying, "Probably so that I can give you moral support so that you don't because too stressed during the test."
"I hope you're right." Twilight said as they open the doors to the room Princess Celestia told to meet them.
As they stepped inside, they notice that Princess Celestia was having some sort of conversation with her sister, Princess Luna.
"Aunt Luna? What's she doing here?" Sonic quietly asked Twilight.
"I don't know, but as much as I'd hate to interrupt their conversation, it's best to let Princess Celestia know we're here." Twilight responded before clearing her throat loud enough so that both princesses could hear.
"...Trust me little sister." Princess Celestia said, ending the conversation she was having with Princess Luna.
With that, Princess Luna begins to make her way out of the room before stopping next to Sonic and saying, "It's good to see you again, dear nephew."
"It's good to see you too Aunt Luna." Sonic replied as he gave her a quick hug, before asking, "Is something wrong?"
"It's best to let your mother explain." Princess Luna responded before walking out of the room.
Once Luna left, the duo walk up to Princess Celestia.
"You wanted to see me? To give me a test? I brought my own quills and plenty of paper to show my work." Twilight rambled.
"I'm sure my mom can explain if you can just calm down for a second, Twilight." Sonic said.
"Right, sorry." Twilight apologized.
"As eager as you are Twilight, this is a different type of test." Princess Celestia said before adding, "And I suppose you both are wondering why I asked Sonic to come as well?"
"I only reason I could think of is that you wanted me to give Twilight some moral support or something." Sonic replied.
"Well my reason was so that I can inform you both that the Crystal Empire has returned." Princess Celestia said.
"The Crystal Empire?" Sonic asked.
"I'm sorry, I-I thought I'd studied. Ooh. I don't think there's anything in any of my books th–" Twilight began before being stopped by Princess Celestia yet again.
"There wouldn't be. Few remember it ever existed at all. Even my knowledge of the empire is limited. But what I do know is that it contains a powerful magic." Princess Celestia explained as she placed Pink crystal on the ground in front of them.
Once it was in the ground, Princess Celestia then put some of her magic into the crystal, causing it to create a three-dimensional model of what Sonic and Twilight guessed was the Crystal Empire.
"One thousand years ago, King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as night, took over the Crystal Empire."
They then see the model begin to darken as dark crystals formed on several areas of the model. Once the darkness reached the top of the tower that was in the middle of the model, a unicorn head (who Twilight and Sonic presumed was King Sombra) appeared.
The duo then saw several ponies chained together that were forced to march as King Sombra laughed above it all. That was, until Princess Celestia and Princess Luna appeared and shot a beam at the king, causing him to scream loudly.
"He was ultimately overthrown, turned to shadow, and banished to the ice of the arctic north. But not before he was able to put a curse upon the empire. A curse that caused it to vanish into thin air."
"Some king that guy was." Sonic said before saying, "Hey mom if you don't mind me asking, why is the Crystal Empire so important? Well, aside from all the innocent ponies within it that is."
"Well Sonic, if the Empire is filled with hope and love, those things are reflected across all of Equestria." Princess Celestia explained as she fired a beam of her magic at the crystal, causing it to form a rainbow around the entire room.
"But if hatred and fear take hold..." Princess Celestia continued before a dark black, purple, and green aura formed in her eyes as she shot a beam of dark magic at the crystal.
Once the dark magic made contact with the crystal, said crystal dimmed and was overtaken by black, before it created a shadow that moved towards Sonic and Twilight.
Once it was in front of them, a large mound of black crystal formed, before spreading around the duo. Not too long after, Princess Celestia shot a beam that destroyed the crystals.
"Which is why I need both of your help finding a way to protect it."
"You want me to help protect an entire empire?!" Twilight asked in shock.
"Hang on Twilight, she said "both of our help", so that means I'll be helping you along the way." Sonic said as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"He's right, as I said, it's a different kind of test. But one I'm certain you will pass." Princess Celestia said.
After thinking about it for a moment, Twilight said, "How do we start?"
"You'll both begin by joining Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire." Princess Celestia responded.
"Cadence and Shining Armor are there?" Sonic asked as they began to walk out of the room.
"That's right, and your Ponyville friends will join you there as well. I have every confidence you both will succeed. And when you do Twilight, I'll know you are ready to move on to the next level of your studies." Princess Celestia replied.
"But what if we fail?" Twilight asked.
"You won't." Princess Celestia simply responded.
"But what if-" Twilight began again before being cut off by Sonic.
"Twilight, calm down! You'll be having me and girls to help you." Sonic reassured her.
"That may be the case, but Twilight, in the end, it must be you and you alone who ultimately assists Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in doing what needs to be done to protect the Empire. Do you understand?" Princess Celestia asked.
"Yes Princess." Twilight responded.
"Then go. There is no time lose." Princess Celestia said before walking back into the room and closing the door behind herself.
A few minutes later, Sonic and Twilight arrive at the train station where Spike and the others were waiting for them.
"Twilight!" Spike exclaimed as he and the others walked up to the duo.
"Did ya pass?" Applejack asked.
"Are we gonna celebrate your awesomeness with Princess Celestia?" Pinkie asked.
"Not quite." Twilight responded, "We're all going to the Crystal Empire."
"Crystal, what?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"We'll explain on the way," Sonic said, "for now let's hop into the train, we're going to the frozen north."
"... and that's why we're going to the frozen north." Twilight said as she and Sonic had just finished explaining everything to the others.
"That sure does sound serious." Fluttershy said.
"I'll say, but I can't believe Twilight has to be the one to ultimately help out in the end." Rainbow Dash said.
"It might sound tough, but I'm sure Twilight will be able to pull out in the end." Sonic said.
'Let's just hope that I can.' Twilight nervously thought to herself.
Soon the friendship express came to a halt, allowing the group to exit to the snowy area.
Lucky, Rarity had packed several scarves and hand given one for everyone (except for Sonic since he insisted that he was used to being in cold places due to passing through the frozen north himself a few times before).
Not too long after exiting the train, the group heard someone exclaim, "Twily!"
When they turned towards the voice, they saw Shining Armor running towards them.
"Shining Armor!" Twilight called before sharing an embrace with him.
"Glad to see you all made it." Shining Armor said, "But as much as I'd like to catch up with you guys, we better get going before it gets dark."
"Why's that?" Sonic asked.
"Let's just say they Crystal Empire isn't the only thing that came back." Shining Armor responded before guiding the group through the snow.
"Something keeps trying to get in! We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place." Shining Armor began to explain.
"King Sombra?" Sonic asked.
"But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the empire! If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected." Twilight said.
"SeeIng the circumstances, I think what see meant by that is to find a way to protect it WITHOUT having to worry about King Sombra possibly taking the empire back." Sonic said.
Not too long after Sonic said that, the group heard a howl coming from behind themselves.
"W-W-What was that!?" Fluttershy asked as she began shaking.
Fluttershy's question was soon answered when a large black cloud appeared behind the group. Upon closer look, the group saw the cloud had eyes that had a dark aura on the corners (who Twilight and Sonic recognized as King Sombra's).
"RUUUUN!!!" Sonic exclaimed before he and the group began to run away from the cloud.
Unfortunately, Sombra wouldn't let them get away easily as he began to chase them and began to closing in on them.
Seeing this, Sonic took out one of the chaos emeralds before exclaiming, "Chaos control!", causing the dark king to suddenly stop.
"I managed to freeze him in his tracks, but we only have a few seconds before he'll be on our tails again." Sonic said to the group.
Nodding, the group begin increase their pace before spotting a blue light up ahead.
Knowing that was where they needed to go, the group quickly run towards it before passing through it.
Once they were through, the group came to a stop so that they can get a breather.
"Is everyone okay?" Twilight asked.
"It was close, but I'm sure we would of made it either way, right Shining Armor?" asked but got no response.
"Shining?" Sonic said as he saw that said stallion was nowhere to be seen.
Before anyone could question what happened, Shining Armor suddenly came through before falling to the ground.
"Shining, your horn!" Twilight explained as she saw that Shining Armor's horn was covered in black crystals.
Seeing this, Shining Armor tried to use one of his spells but found that the crystals prevented him from doing so.
"Looks like you won't be able to use your magic for a while." Sonic said as he walked up to Shining Armor, "I'd try to see if I can remove those crystals, but I don't want to risk blasting your horn off."
"How exactly would that happen?" Shining Armor asked.
"By using a chaos spear." Sonic simply answered.
"...Yeah, I would prefer to have my horn the way it is rather than having it possibly blown off." Shining Armor said as he covered his horn with his hooves.
"Wow! Sparkleriffic!" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed.
When everyone turned to see what Pinkie was talking about, they turned around before becoming freezing in amazement when they saw the Crystal Empire's castle in all it's glory.
"It's gorgeous!" Rarity suddenly exclaimed. "Absolutely gorgeous! There are no words!"
"Although it is quite the sight, we need to get going if we plan on getting rid of King Sombra for good." Sonic said before he began making his way towards the castle.
Not wanting to be left behind, the rest of the group quickly followed.
Not too long later in the castle, the group enters the throne room where they find Princess Cadence slumped on the thrown as her horn was glowing cyan.
"Cadence!" Twilight exclaimed happily as she ran towards the throne.
"Twilight!" Cadence exclaimed back as she hopped off the throne.
Once the they were in front of each other, Twilight and Cadence sang their chant as they did the gestures that came with it.
'Those two.' Sonic thought as he mentally rolled his eyes walking up and saying, "It's good to see you again Cadence."
"It's good to see you too Sonic." Cadence said as she gave said hedgehog a quick embrace.
"One of these days the three of us need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance." Cadence happily said before letting out what sounded like an exhausted sigh.
"Are you alright cuz?" Sonic asked as he and Twilight looked at Cadence with worried expressions.
"Cadance has putting all her strength into keeping a barrier going." Shining Armor explained, "She hasn't been able to sleep or eat much for the last few days. I'm trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies."
'Crystal ponies!' Rarity thought happily to herself.
"It's fine Shining, I'm okay." Cadence insisted.
"It's not fine." Shining countered. Cadence can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade... Well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen."
"Maybe I can help." Sonic spoke up as he took out a chaos emerald, "A little chaos rejuvenation should make Cadence as good as new again."
"Thanks for the offer Sonic, but really, I'm fine." Cadence said.
"Cadence, we all know you won't be able to keep that Spell up forever." Sonic countered, "If you were to pass out from exhaustion, it would allow Sombra to enter the city, putting all of equestria in danger."
"I know Sonic, but really I'm fine!" Cadence insisted, "Tell you what, if I fell like I won't be able to keep the barrier up much longer, I'll come straight to you so you can replenish my strength, deal."
After hesitating for a moment, Sonic agreed, "But don't push yourself too much until then."
"I promise." Cadence replied.
"Going back to the crystal ponies, we believe that one of them knows how we could protect the empire without having to use Cadance's magic." Shining Armor said.
"A research paper!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed.
"Huh?" Shining Armor said as he turned towards Twilight.
"That must be part of my test, to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you!" Twilight exclaimed happily, "This is gonna be great! I love research papers!"
"Uh Twilight, I don't think that's-" Sonic began to say before being cut off.
"Don't worry, big brother. I am really good at this sort of thing." Twilight said.
"If you think that could help, then by all means, do it." Shining Armor said.
"Way ahead of you Shining!" Twilight said as she began making her way out of the throne room, "Come on everyone, we got work to do!"
'Why do I even bother trying to speak up sometimes?' Sonic thought to himself as he and the rest of the group quickly followed Twilight.
For the next hour, the group had been going asking any crystal pony they see for any useful information, but every crystal pony they interviewed claimed they don't remember anything before King Sombra's rule and that they didn't want to remember.
After coming up empty, the everyone regrouped at the base of the castle, where Applejack revealed that one of the crystal ponies she interviewed mentioned a library.
Knowing they could get some information there, the group heads to the library in hopes of getting the information they needed.
After an awkward talk with the librarian, they group search the library before Twilight found a book called "History of the Crystal Empire."
After reading the book explaining something called the Crystal Faire and bringing it up to Shining Armor and Cadence, the group began to make preparations for the festival.
Once everything was set, Twilight called all of the crystal ponies to attend and watched as the crystal ponies began changing from their glum selves.
Deciding to keep an eye on things, Sonic made his way through the faire while making acquaintances with the crystal ponies.
"Boy, this faire is going off without a hitch." Sonic said to himself as he got some funnel cake, "Although I am curious as to why it's so important for a crystal heart to be the center piece of the festival."
"Did you say, crystal heart?" An elderly voice asked.
When Sonic turned towards see who spoke, he saw the librarian walking up to him.
"Indeed I did mam, why do you ask?" Sonic asked.
"I just can't believe you found it." The librarian exclaimed, "King Sombra said he'd hidden it away where we would never see it again! I only hope it will still be as powerful after all these years!"
"Uh, care to explain what you mean by that?" Sonic nervously said.
"Why of course, you see ,the whole purpose of the Crystal Faire is to lift the spirits of the crystal ponies, so the light within them can power the crystal heart, so that the empire can be protected!" The librarian explained before noticing the funnel cake, "Mm, funnel cake!"
"Good to know." Sonic nervously said before teleporting to the balcony where Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadence stood.
As soon as he appeared, Sonic quickly covered the crystal heart Twilight made with a drape.
"Why did you do that?" Twilight asked.
"We've got a problem!" Sonic simply said before he began to explain.
"I didn't know it was an actual relic! The book didn't mention anything about the crystal ponies powering the heart!" Twilight exclaimed as she looked through the book before finding the issue.
"There was a page missing! How did I not notice?!"
"It's not your fault Twilight." Cadence said.
"She's right Twilight, as long as we can find the real crystal heart before any of the crystal ponies notice, we should be fine." Sonic reassured her.
As Sonic was talking, he, Twilight, and Shining Armor didn't notice that Cadence began loosing her balance until she fell into Shining Armor's forehooves.
"Cadence!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I'm on it!" Sonic said as he took out one of the chaos emeralds.
Before he could replenish Cadence, Sonic, Twilight, and Shining Armor heard a howl as they saw the barrier go out.
Once the barrier was down, the trio saw Sombra appear before said king began to make his way towards the empire from all sides.
"Not good!" Sonic said as he watched the Dark King close in.
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all I can say is welcome back man.
8745906
Thanks.
8745931
no prob dude.
Yes!!! Ur back, awesome!!!!
THIS CHAPTER WAS AMAZINGGGGGGGG *dies*
Finally my fav story is backk!!! It was sad that this chap ended
because you're Sonic