Chapter 17 Velciet uz Zieleļiel (The Pull North)
A dragon always knows where their hoard lies. ~ Unknown
Twilight stared at the map as her cutiemark spiraled around the Crystal Empire. She should be ecstatic getting a friendship map quest especially after not personally getting one in ten years but the timing was too suspicious. And considering what Šizra did to the elements the last time he may very well have done something to the map or used a glamor spell like Discord had done that one time. If it was a fake a map summons like with Discord before she would just need to find the right spell to dispel it. And if not...
"Well are you going to listen to the map this time?"
Twilight breath hitched before she slowly looked up. A cloaked figure that she knew could only be Šizra was lounging Rainbow Dash style on one of the lateral roots of the chandelier, a pair of glowing red eyes staring straight down at her from within the shadowy hood. She flashed back as the figure suddenly jumped down, slamming hard onto the map. She breathed through her teeth as the map fizzled out for a second at the impact. It still, on occasion, would glitch out from all the damage inflicted on it by Starlight and the last time Šizra smashed onto it.
"Hmm... The Crystal Empire?" Šizra muttered as he wildly gestured with his forelegs.
To Twilight's shock, the map suddenly shifted with the Empire growing in size until only it could be seen on the map, the Crystal Spire comically stabbing through and then rising high above Šizra. She could only stare with a dropped jaw as Šizra stomped around the map's depiction of the Empire. The map can be zoomed in!? What else did she not know?
"I see no black crystals. Good. So," Šizra nodded as he laid down on the map, crossing his forelegs, "that leaves my original question. Are you going to listen to the map this time?"
Twilight narrowed her eyes as she looked up to see her cutiemark still circling high above the Empire. Once again Šizra had done something that she did not know was possible. It brought to mind the debates about Šizra and his role in creating the Elements and thus the tree, castle, and map that occurred both after he 'killed' Cozy Glow and after he fled with Spike. A small part of her, as much as she was loath to admit it, knew there was a small chance that the map's quest was real. Either way she could not ignore his sudden interest with the Crystal Empire. It was one of only a few places that managed to escape the death and destruction Šizra had wrought upon Equestria ten years ago.
She sighed, she really could use the Princesses right now. And not just for their advice for the possible map quest, but for Spike and stopping Šizra imminent rampage. She just hoped that things would go better this time as the last time they faced off Šizra, he, while gravelly injured, nearly killed Celestia before dragonnapping Spike. And while she knew that she had no hope of stopping Šizra on her own, she could not stand by idly and leave his evil unopposed.
"It's not like I have a choice." She finally admitted.
"With an attitude like that no wonder the map has not called you these past ten years."
Twilight couldn't help to let out a stunned, "How..."
"No, I will not-" Šizra began before stopping mid-sentence to stare at something behind Twilight. When she turned to see what got his attention all she saw was Spike idly running a claw around the edge of the map. "Protégé what is it?"
"I..." Spike sighed, his claw pausing for a moment before continuing its tracing, "I'm not sure..."
"Did the pull shift?"
Pull? Twilight wondered. But Spike said nothing else as he pulled his hands away from the map a deep frown beginning to form across his face.
"Spike wha-"
"Stop calling him/me Spike." Šizra and Spike growled in unison.
"You have been told through a geas and Ancient Draconian that he is not Spike." Šizra added, his red eyes glowing brighter. "If you want to continue in your foalish denial do it away from my protégé and I."
He is not your protégé, he is my brother!
Twilight's frown deepened as she stepped off the train and onto the Crystal Empire train platform right behind Spike and Šizra. When she had managed to surreptitiously send a message to Celestia and Luna to warn them of Šizra's return and where he was heading she had hoped for at least some response. But so far nothing. No scroll, the train trip was uneventful, and as she looked around everything so far appeared to be normal, peaceful even. It was as if the Empire didn't know that the worst villain that Equestria ever faced had just stepped off the train.
Where were the large gathering of guards ready to try and intercept them? Not a single nervous pony was trotting quickly away from them. And what few looks she did notice all seemed to be merely unconcerned or friendly. Did Šizra somehow know and intercept her missive? If true, the Empire was in even greater danger than before.
As they slowly made their way towards the Crystal Spire she made out a scattering of mutters mostly of 'great and honorable' or 'brave and glorious' whenever a crystal pony noticed Spike. It warmed her heart to know that even with all that happened the ponies Crystal Empire were still steadfast in their love for Spike. But as they made their way further into the Empire and closer to the Heart the more that warmth was replaced by nervousness. She did see a few guards patrolling but none of them even gave them more then a second's glance.
They were near the statue of Spike holding the Crystal Heart before when they were finally approached. "Is it really you Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious?" A random crystal mare asked Spike, a look of worshipful hope in her eyes.
"Great and Honorable? "Spike snorted before holding his sides as he visibly struggled against laughter, "The Brave and Glorious? Bwpththahaaaaaaahaaa..."
Twilight nearly fell onto her haunches, slack-jawed as Spike laughed over the title given to him by the crystal ponies. The crystal pony mare mouth moved several times as if she was trying to say something else only to shut it a moment later without speaking. Blinking and shaking the mare turned and trotted away without another word.
"Why did that pony refer to Spike in terms right out of a costumed super hero comic?" Spike asked after a few moments, his laughter having faded away.
Twilight was torn between sorrow and anger. Will the depths of Šizra's depravity have no end? Saving the Empire was one Spike's proudest moments, though there was times she wished he would not used that fact to to stroke his ego to not remember was heartbreaking.
"Interesting..." Šizra suddenly muttered.
"Ah, shit..." Spike facepalmed.
Twilight opened her mouth to scold him for cursing but stopped. Šizra was staring down the statue of Spike, his head tilting from one side to the other. Why would he... Then it hit her like a javelin and her blood went as cold as the Frozen North. The Crystal Heart! Twilight felt like cursing along with Spike. Šizra had already destroyed Spike mentally and what better way to stab the metaphorical knife into the heart even further by destroying what was Spike's greatest achievement?
This was bad, very bad, because with the Crystal Heart being the lynchpin of the Empire's defense against the Frozen North if Šizra did something to it thousands of lives would be in immediate mortal danger! And worse still, if Celestia and Luna were truly not here, than they had no hope in excavating the Empire before everypony would freeze to death. She had to find some way of stopping Šizra before...
"Sir, you are free to admire The Crystal Heart, but I must ask you back way at least three hooves."
Twilight head snapped towards the Crystal Heart and nearly collapsed in despair. Šizra had already made his way to the Heart while she stood frozen in fear. As Šizra slowly turned his attention towards the guard that spoke Twilight rushed over preparing her horn as she did. She knew she would not be able to hold out long against Šizra, but as he had yet to summon Leafcutter she might have a chance. If she timed it just right she just might be able bubble the heart and the two guards while shoving them away all before Šizra could react. She would then have to flee in hopes of finding Shining Armor. His shields were, thanks to his special talent, much stronger then hers by several magnitudes and if they worked together maybe they could hold out long enough to...
"I need to speak to your leader." Twilight nearly tripped as she scrambled to a stop in utter disbelief. There was no way that Šizra needed to just speak to Cadance.
"Her royal highness is currently holding an open court for the next two hours."
"Let me me rephrase." Šizra grumbled his eyes rolling. "Your masquerade leader needs to speak to me. Right. Now."
Twilight blinked. Masquerade leader?! What?
"Sir, all Heart guards must wear..."
"Yes, yes, I understand, but I wonder what the citizens will think if they knew what was under that armor."
"Sir, threatening to remove a guard's..."
"Just pass the message along." Šizra growled out, interrupting the guard as he walked away.
Twilight sighed, rubbing a hoof over her face before she rushed to catch up, allowing her horn to dim only a bit. Diseaster was avert this time but she would need to remain ready. To her relief though, just as she managed to reach Spike and Šizra, Shining Armor trotted out of the entrance to the Crystal Spire.
"Shining Armor!" She huffed out in greeting rushing to hug him. (And to give him a quiet warning that she hoped that Šizra would not hear.)
"Twily! What a surprise! I thought that..." Shining Armor suddenly stopped and tensed up. Twilight pulled back from her hug and saw her brother's stunned face. She looked back to see that Spike was watching them with a lopsided grin. "Spike?!"
Twilight cringed as, like every other time, the use of the name 'Spike' only made Spike angry. His claws twitching ever so slightly as he growled angrily. Twilight sighed as she pulled away from her brother. Things went from bad to worse when Shining Armor then noticed that Šizra was standing next to Spike.
"Guards!" Twilight gulped as Shining shouted, mana building on his horn. A ring of crystal guards quickly formed around them. Was this going to be the moment that she dreaded? "Twily, Spike get away from-"
"Athulēt."
The moment Šizra spoke that word she felt the mana on her horn fade out. Buck... Twilight inwardly cursed when she saw that Shining Armor's and several of the guard's horns also went dark. Worse Spike had unsheathed his swords and was pointing them towards the guards.
"What..."
"He suppressed the movement of mana."
Everypony turned to face to Spike. "What?" He shrugged with a slight smirk seemingly not caring about the glare coming from Šizra. "It's not like its going to matter in two weeks time."
Twilight blinked at the non-sequitur. What's not going to matter in two weeks time? Was that when Šizra going to make his move? Also is he trying to set off Šizra?! Šizra stared at Spike for a moment longer before shaking his head.
"Twily?" Shining questioned, keeping his eyes locked on Šizra.
Twilight's mouth went dry. Once again she felt like she was in a position of no choice. Over and Over Šizra was proving that nothing would stop him. And while she knew before Spike's revelation that 'athulēt' affected magic in ponies in a similar manner to when Tirek (or Starlight for that matter) stole ponies' magic, knowing that 'athulēt' specifically suppressed the movement of mana was not enough. It would still take time and research to find a specific counter.
"Twily?" Shining Armor questioned again.
"Everything's fine." Twilight shakily tried to reassure Shining. "Šizra just needs to speak with Princess Cadance."
She gulped as Shining Armor finally turned his gaze towards her, his frown deepening. He looked at her for a moment longer before finally sighing. "Twily, are you sure?"
Šizra hmphed as he rolled his eyes. "I'm not some barbaric warlord here to murder, rape, and pillage." Oddly turning away from Shining he added, "Stop stalling and take me to your leader."
"Can we just please go inside." Spike whined. "It's fucking cold out here."
Twilight facehoofed at Spike's cursing, although she too was starting to feel a bit chilled and would not be against going inside and relaxing in front of cozy fire with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book. But as long as Šizra was here she knew she could not relax, nopony could.
"Fine." Shining grumbled, signaling to the guard to disperse. "I will have the court cleared so we can talk without causing undue panic among the crystal ponies."
A few of the guards eyed Shining but quickly followed the rest when he nodded. Twilight breathed out heavily as Spike finally sheathed his swords. She had worried for a moment there that the other pony shoe was finally about to drop with Šizra escalating into using deadly force.
Twilight struggled to quell her ever rising panic as they silently made their way up to the throne room. What would be Šizra's true demands? He never just wanted to talk. So what was his real goal, and how many lives would be destroyed for it? She nearly broke down just before they entered the throne room. It was only when she saw Princess Cadance on her throne smiling while speaking to Captain of the Crystal Guard Lancer that she managed to break through her panic.
"Ca-Cadance!" Twilight sputtered out rushing forward. She nearly cried out in relief as Cadance gave her a hug.
"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Twilight sighed as she felt some of the tension leave her body at the completion of her and Cadance's special greeting.
"That is one strange pony courtship ritual." Spike remarked, grinning wildly.
Twilight face heated up as she scrambled away from Cadance sputtering incoherently, unable to get a single word out in denial. Not helping was Shining Armor who was failing at hiding his own laughter behind a shaking hoof. Out of her eye she could even see a slight smirk on Captain Lancer face. Thankfully, the throne room was empty other than them and the doors were mercifully closed so that nopony else could witness her embarrassment. The only one not reacting was Šizra who seemed to not even be paying attention.
"Interesting..." With that word once again coming from Šizra Twilight's embarrassment was forgotten replaced by the sensation of her stomach plummeting.
When she looked to see what had gotten his attention this time she saw Šizra staring at Captain Lancer. The Captain, in turn, was glaring back at Šizra, his horn brightly lit. Oh no. Lancer may be nearly as strong as Shining Armor but Twilight knew that meant nothing against an opponent like Šizra. Šizra had managed to stop both herself and Shining Armor with a single word. And she knew that Lancer was one to not hold back when angered and he looked angry. And worse still, she doubted that he would let a 'little' thing like the loss of his mana stop him.
"I can clearly see you are not hers, and last I knew, hers were the only ones anywhere near these lands."
'Her?' Twilight inwardly wondered, her concern momentarily gone as she attempted to parse out Šizra's strange statement. At first, she thought was that the 'her' was a slight against Princess Celestia, but the entirety of his statement gave her pause to that hypothesis. Who was the her he was referring to? And why did it sound as if Šizra was implying that Lancer wasn't native? Because, even though unicorn crystal ponies were rare thanks to Sombra's purges, they were still native to the Crystal Empire.
"Hey, don't look at me." Spike said, waving Twilight off when she glanced at him hoping that maybe he knew what Šizra was on about. "I need Index to help me understand him, remember?"
"Also," Šizra continued as if Spike hadn't said anything, "when I said I wanted to see your leader I did not mean the rulers of the Crystal Empire."
Twilight started to chew on her lip as Captain Lancer's only response was to silently narrow his eyes further. She started to taste copper as Šizra suddenly pointed a claw at Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in turn.
"Why am I detecting only fear from you two and not confusion?"
Maybe because you are the worst villain Equestria has ever faced. Twilight thought, switching from chewing her lip to gritting her teeth as Šizra shifted his focus back and forth between Princess Cadance and Shining Armor several times before returning his gaze to Captain Lancer.
Suddenly Šizra's eyes went wide as he said. "They know. Don't they?"
Twilight didn't think her heart could take anymore as she felt her blood once again freeze in her veins. Whatever Šizra had figured out could only mean disaster for the Crystal Empire. She would need to stop Šizra from speaking the word athulēt else they had no chance. Not that they ever seemed to have a chance. Every time they faced off against him he managed to, almost without effort, emerge victorious. But he had to have a weakness. Everypony and everything had at least one. She just could not stand to once again be unable to stop him from causing so much death and destruction.
But before she could enact anything an unknown voice spoke nearly causing her to jump in surprise. "Stand down captain."
When she turned around her jaw nearly dropped as standing behind them was an unremarkable light blue grey crystal earth stallion with a turquoise mane band. What could a crystal earth pony do against Šizra?! Also, why did the pony seem so familiar to her?
Wait, how did an crystal earth pony enter the Crystal Spire throne room without anypony noticing!?
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Changelings
11646944
I keep forgetting how much of a mary sue this character is but at the same time its like kinda established that he is a god at this point.
Now i cant remember if we hated it or loved it but the story remains interesting
11647254 If Sizra is a 'god' then what makes his parents or his people who are dead? Luckily we are finally at a point where I can FINALLY use him as the POV with bit more impunity
The guy is a 'god' of spoilers after all 
...
I am glad that I am able to keep the story interesting because do you have any idea how hard it is to make a 'mary sue story' interesting!?
11647367
Yes, I do have an idea of how to make a Marey Sue story interesting! Its been difficult for 2 books going on 3
SO KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND BE THE BEST AT IT BECAUSE YOU ARE DOING GREAT!!!
11647485 Oh no... I already did something like that once. (See the Keeper Trilogy) By chance are you referring to the Dragon Lord series of yours? (Although it could be the dark shine vs... hard to tell)
11647602
Yeah Dragon lord series is a big time marey sue though less god like
I'm gonna be honest... I'm not sure if I enjoy this story. I keep reading and haven't found any glaring issues that outright makes me want to stop reading.
But there's a lot of things that make it hard for me to want to keep reading. Most of it is the obfuscating nature of the main character in this story... There are a number of his problems that could be helped by explaining why he is doing what he's doing, rather than doing something crazy and just not caring about whether or not he's doing the right thing. Telling Celestia that he can't let anyone else use the evil sword because if someone else used it the entirety of equestria would be dusted like cozy glow might have at least given her a reason to calm down and perhaps make things go a bit smoother.
The whole plot about "Where are the adult dragons?" seemed to come completely out of left field, though since I didn't watch the series after a bit of Season 5, it could just be that something happened in the show that I'm not overly aware of... but it still doesn't explain why Ember turned against Equestria, why Spike grew as big as he did, or why Sizra has the time limit that he now has.
Even the little plot point about Spike not wanting people to call him Spike could be remedied by telling them to call him something different, like... dude, they only know you as Spike so they're all going to keep calling you that unless you actively give them something else to call you. So it feels like he's making the problem bigger than it should be. Even if he can't give them his real name, giving them a name like how he calls Sizra the Hermit Sage would still work, heck, the ponies still call Sizra by that name and he doesn't get mad about it.
I would like to continue reading this story though, so I find myself very curious as to how the whole thing will play out from here.
11649009 Oh boy... first of all thumbs up on the great comment. You are are very perceptive which is going to make it a bit difficult to respond without spoiling planned plot points... but I will give it a go. I have blocked mild "spoilerish" answers behind the spoil tag just in case...
And you hit one of Sizra's major character flaws... he doesn't trust anyone especially ponies. Although there is way more going on with that sword...
Having said that I have held back using Sizra as a POV because it would reveal too much before I laid the ground work that I needed... That has ended. So even if he continues to obfuscate what he is saying to other characters it should no longer be the case for the readers... most of the time...
"Where are the adult dragons?" is AU worldbuilding and has no correlation to show or comic... that being said an aspect of your question is season 8 so I will give the you the cliff notes as it relates to "Where are the adult dragons?" and why Ember turned against Equestria
So Tirek tries to steal all the magic of the equestrians in season 4 gets stopped and placed back into Tartarus. Flash forward and Cozy Glow pen pals with Tirek and uses artifacts along with the roots of the tree of Harmony under Twilight's school to steal all the magic in Equestria over three days and nearly manages to seal said magic away before being stop by students from Twilights school.
Now take stole all the magic... + "Where are the adult dragons?" + why Ember turned against Equestria and combine that with Sizra's response to when Celestia figures out the answer in CH 10 (edited down to save space):
As for for the other two questions:
why Spike grew as big as he did, Okay I am not sure if I should respond to that fully in a comment as parts of it runs head on into spoiler territory... But what I can say that what happened to Spike was a mechanic of dragon biology/magic. Though I did give a hint to part of what happened during the confrontation between Twilight and Sizra in Chapter 15
or why Sizra has the time limit that he now has. This question is being answered through the next 3 chapters
You are correct. Spike not wanting people to call him Spike could be remedied by telling them to call him something different This issue is Not-Spike has not yet figured out a "name" to be called yet.
I would like to continue reading this story though, so I find myself very curious as to how the whole thing will play out from here. Please do and always feel free to comment or ask questions on anything anytime it helps me a lot especially with my love for drowning my stories in chekhov's guns which sometimes can be a bit too camouflaged...
okay I think I have addressed everything... let me know if i missed anything or need to give more clarification. Thanks again for taking the time to read and give a thoughtful comment. (wish i could do more then one thumbs up...)
11649273
You've answered very adequately and I am continuing to keep this on my list of stories I look forward to updates about. I figured you had some plan in mind so I don't want you to be giving away spoilers. I appreciate the reply.
11649745
Oh I usually have a plan and avoid giving away real spoilers... but I have had in the past had a comment make me go oh carp fish and I had to shift my story a bit because me forgotee somethin' or there be plot hole here or me dum dum me poorly explain big important thingy...
Chapter 17
excavating the Empire
evacuating? I hope; maybe the plan is to dig in before everything freezes over.
Diseaster was avert
Disaster was averted
11649009
Yeah! What he said!
11669899
Homophones we meet again...
Yeah.. well... like I said Sizra has some trust issues among other things...
Also I was beginning to wonder if you were going to comment before I got finished with the next chapter... (its close to completion at 3k written there is just about 500 more words to go...)