Chapter 86 - Crystal City Conflict
Shining and Cadance stood up and headed towards the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked. All conversation stopped.
Cadance scowled at me. “Our subjects are under attack. We have to—”
“We are all under attack. Everyone at this table will be helping defend the Crystal Empire. You two are not going back alone. Your soldiers are instructed to evacuate your foals and the townsponies, aren’t they?” The royal couple nodded. “Then let’s prepare our response together.”
I turned to my co-ruler. “Twilight, you and the other Elements repelled an invasion from Sombra some years ago, correct? I don’t think our strategy sessions ever discussed what Sombra could have learned from that defeat. If you were him, how would you approach this invasion differently?”
Shining Armor and Cadance didn’t sit down, but within an hour we had a workable strategy in place with contingency plans.
The most powerful combatants would lead the charge: Twilight, Cadance, Shining, and me. Each of us carried a pair of communication plates on the outside of our saddlebags to provide intelligence back to the conference attendees. For my plates, Diadem was responsible for filtering their suggestions and observations. She would inform me as needed.
Behind us would come our bodyguards, then a full squad of twenty red changelings led by their Princess Oralia, the Night Guard Special Task Force, and the griffon squad. The last three would establish aerial superiority and provide reconnaissance. Royal Guardsponies soldiers would arrive after those groups with an emphasis on unicorns and hoof-to-hoof combat experts to subdue mind-controlled ponies without causing permanent damage.
Soon our assembled strike force entered the repurposed Great Hall. The tables had been removed and the room divided into sections. To the left, next to the two operating portals, a few poles were set in the ground with inactivate disks on top. Only two were active. As we watched, a nearby pegasus guardspony with a clipboard called out, “That’s the final soldier guarding CA17. Close it.” Another soldier touched the gateway with a nullstone ring attached to the end of a wooden dowel. The portal pulsed for a couple of seconds then cut out, leaving only one remaining. Through the last window to the Crystal Empire, I could only see a gray expanse. A curious side effect of the gateways removed all sense of depth from the scene on the other side. The portal could be facing a flat gray wall or an opaque cloud of smoke, there was no way to tell.
In the middle of the room, unicorns scanned the recently-arrived crystal ponies while a couple of medical drones examined them for injuries.
“Checking for mind-control magic?” I asked Twilight.
My co-ruler narrowed her eyes, looking critically at the spell being cast before nodding.
On the right side of the room, a few civilians and several Crystal Guardsmen talked to Equestrian soldiers who jotted down notes on clipboards. Gathering usable intelligence, I would imagine. That was confirmed when an earth pony mare galloped up to us.
She snapped off a salute. “Your Highnesses, Major Igneous Strata reporting. The shield around Crystal City is still holding back the shadow demons. Bright light obliterates them but there are always more to take their place.” Pointing to the final remaining open gateway, the mare said, “The Crystal Guard retreated to the castle to provide cover for the last of the escaping citizens. We estimate over two hundred were brainwashed and now fight for Sombra.” She gestured to the poles that stood nearby. “Four emergency escape portals from the city outskirts remain inactivated and intact. Do you want them opened for your deployment?”
I replied, “We considered that in the counsel and decided to concentrate our forces.”
I turned to Shining Armor. “No other portals lead out of the Empire, correct? Sombra has to go through us if he wants to escape.”
The stallion said, “Correct. Although he will try to consolidate his hold on the Empire first.”
Twilight asked, “Lieutenant, are the enslaved ponies wearing a metal helmet with green light emanating from the eye-slits?”
“Around half, Your Highness. The others look normal except for their eyes which glow green.”
I shared a look with Twilight. That was new and troubling. The Sombra we encountered briefly in an alternate history didn’t show that ability.
Cadance said, “Have Shiny Button and Flurry Heart come through the portals?”
Igneous Strata said, “Shiny Button and his nurse arrived an hour ago. He and the rest of the evacuees are in Hurricane Courtyard.” She flipped through the pages on her clipboard. “I don’t think… No, we haven’t seen—”
A changeling drone staggered out of the remaining open portal, grabbing everypony’s attention. She was bleeding from her forehead and chest. I recognized her as Flurry’s nanny, Bright Wing.
Despite having her eyes nearly closed because of the blood, she caught sight of Cadance and Shining while waving off the medical drone who had come over. “Your Highnesses! Flurry Heart wiggled out of my grasp when I got outside! She flew off of the castle grounds but I couldn’t find her!”
I looked over my shoulder. “Is everybody ready?” I received determined looks from Penumbra, Crimson, and the other royal bodyguards. After that were nods from Princess Oralia, Griffon Squad Commander Ragged Beak, General Crushing Blow, and the thestral Colonel Dusky Wings, the last with a pronounced scowl. Sorry, soldier… yet another day operation. Behind them stretched lines of their troops waiting for the order to go.
I looked at Shining. “Lead us through.”
All four of us charged our horns and moved forward. Just as Cadance passed through the portal, I was distracted by a flash to my right. Bright Wing’s eyes opened fully, showing a bright green glow. She was throwing something at the portal that I recognized as a nullstone ring just as it penetrated the magical barrier.
“Now, Twilight!” I yelled as I poured on the speed. My stomach lurched as I cleared the collapsing field. I collided into Cadance’s rear followed immediately by what I presumed Twilight smashing into mine. Any desire to throw up disappeared when I saw a mace descending toward my skull. I jumped forward, blocking the forearm of the attacking pony with my forehoof. A familiar gray mask with green, glowing eye-slits covered the head of my assailant. An attempt to shove them away with magic did nothing. Once again, years of hoof-to-hoof training kicked in. I pushed my attacker onto their heels then spun and bucked. As it crashed through rows of ponies, I saw that all had glowing green eyes but only about half wore masks. That’s when I noticed my vision was obscured by a cloud of grey dust that grew thicker in the distance. I could barely see the bottom of Crystal Castle which couldn’t be more than a mile away. Nullstone dust.
Bucking away another entranced pony, my brain kicked into gear. How had the portal worked with all the nullstone dust in the air? I spared a glance past the portal and got my answer. Beyond the gateway lay a street reaching toward the edge of town. Nothing obscured my view of the houses along the way except hordes of subjugated ponies.
Striking out with my wings and forehooves, I created a small pocket of space. I leaped onto the top of the inactive portal frame and jumped outwards, spreading my wings to glide. A crowd of green-glowing eyes craned their heads to follow me and dozens of hooves reached upward. I fell into their midst just as magic flowed through me again. I crouched and leaped into the air, ignoring the flailing blows from all sides. Unfortunately, several hooves gripped my sides and rear legs so I only got my head, shoulders, and barrel above the crowd. I transformed into Marklestia and used my wings to blow a hurricane-force wind toward my friends who were obscured by the portal. I saw everypony in a ten-foot swath fall onto their backs as the entranced ponies dragged me back to the ground. I tried to spin in place to ward off my attackers but stumbled on a pony wrapped around my legs.
“Ears!”
That was Twilight using the Royal Canterlot Voice. I dutifully clapped my forehooves over mine, my enchanted horseshoes cutting out all sound even as impacts rocked my body.
As one, everypony around me fell to their knees, clutching their heads with both forehooves. Those without helmets collapsed almost immediately, followed a couple of seconds later by our helmeted foes.
After counting slowly to five, I put my forehooves on the ground and struggled free from the pile of ponies covering me like a blanket. I flapped my wings to look over the portal, only to see my friends standing fifty feet to my right, clear of the unconscious horde. Twilight or Cadance must have teleported them there. As I angled my wings to meet them, Shining raised a shield, deflecting a blast of black energy. Forewarned, I raised my shield and looked to the castle. There on a balcony stood a familiar pony — Sombra wore his plate mail and flowing red cloak. He sneered as he pointed his blood-red horn directly at me and fired. I dodged upward but needn’t have bothered. The remnants of the nullstone cloud dissolved his magic well before it got close.
As I landed behind Shining, I saw a nullstone tracking band uncoil on its path toward the unicorn mage. Sombra didn’t try to blast or stop the band. Instead, he teleported away in a burst of dark magic.
The band slowed, stopped, then flew back to Cadance’s outstretched hoof. She said, “Help should be arriving any second from the other four portals.”
Her husband said, “Unless Sombra knew about them and had them destroyed when he sprung this trap.”
I winced. “No one brought another disk with them, did they?”
Everypony frowned and shook their heads. Twilight said, “For the moment, it looks like we are on our own.” Looking down at my two communication plates confirmed what she said. I tried to re-activate my plates and they stubbornly remained opaque. Looking up, I saw my friends having the same lack of success.
I said, “Bright Wing was mind-controlled. She threw a nullstone ring to destabilize the portal.”
Cadance narrowed her eyes. “Then everything she said is suspect, if not an outright lie. Flurry Heart is probably still sleeping in her room.”
I recalled how she awoke only briefly after the battle at the Crystal Hive, returning to slumber in her mother’s hooves rather than caring about the chaos of the combat’s aftermath surrounding her. That foal could sleep through anything.
Shining Armor said, “Twilight, can you teleport all of us to Flurry’s room?” His sister nodded and charged her horn.
“Wait!” Everyone looked at me. “That’s exactly what Sombra would expect. Her nanny has a room attached to Flurry’s bedroom, correct?” I got three nods. “Then let’s go there. It may give us the half-second we need.”
The stallion stared at the castle for a few moments before turning to his left. “You’re right. Everypony face this direction.”
Twilight and I pulled out nullstone tracking bands and crouched.
The purple alicorn counted down, “Three… two… one…”
With the familiar lurch of disorienting magic, all of us appeared in an unfurnished room composed of crystal walls, floor, and ceiling. Directly in front of us, Sombra spun our way and fired a bolt of black magic that Twilight’s hastily raised shield absorbed with an uncanny, bubbling effect. I readied to throw my nullstone band until I noticed that a slumbering Flurry Heart rested against the unicorn’s chest armor, loosely held by a foreleg. If Twilight dropped the shield, I could disable the stallion mage, but not prevent him from harming his captive. The band would only render its wearer unconscious if they were unwise enough to attempt to cast a powerful spell.
Sombra stopped his attack and dark tendrils snaked through the crystal floor under our hooves. Spires of black crystal sprouted rapidly from beneath us.
Bitch, please.
I was only proficient at one aspect of earth pony magic, but I could do that one thing very, very well. Concentrating, I made the spires shrink back into the crystal floor and imagined a river of water washing all the dark magic away. The inky darkness in the floor retreated until it stopped perhaps six feet away from the stallion. The black area flowed around and behind him like the wake of a boat. I clenched my jaw. Once again, the strength of my earth pony magic grew weaker the further away it was from my body. For his part, Sombra glared at Twilight and bared his teeth. Fine. If he mistakenly thought this was her doing, that was one more slight advantage for us.
His expression changed into a confident smirk. “Ah, so good of you to come to my summons so promptly. You have a choice, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor. Either—”
I interrupted his monologue. “Ah-ha! It is Twiggy!” I ignored Sombra and turned to Twilight. “I told you it was Twiggy.”
That finally got Sombra to look at me. He fumed and sputtered. “I am Sombra, Dread Lord of the Crystal Empire! How dare you—”
I looked back at the stallion and waved a hoof. “I know who you are. We’ve met before. That’s how you got your nickname.”
Sombra stammered a moment. “You are insane. We have never—”
I tapped the back of my neck. “Your neck armor… crinet, right? Anyway, it’s designed to spread out the impact of blows but that’s it. It doesn’t provide your neck with any torsional reinforcement, especially at the base of your skull. We saw the bottom of your neck impaled and fixed in place, then your head whipped around to face your rear. The sound of the self-styled King of Equestria having his neck broken… well... that’s not the sort of thing you ever forget. Kind of like a dry twig snapping, wouldn’t you say, Twilight?”
“It was the weak connection between the first and second cervical vertebrae. It sounded more like a tree branch, but live wood, not dead.” She shivered. “Please don’t remind me, I still have nightmares.”
“Fine, fine,” I laughed as I turned back to the unicorn. “Anyway, you should surrender now, or do you want history to repeat itself?”
Sombra blinked uncertainly for a moment, then his scowl returned. “Shut up, fool! I am not talking to you. Empress Cadance, you have a choice: your kingdom or your spawn?” His yell woke up Flurry and she looked around. The alicorn filly smiled upon seeing her mother. A tighter squeeze from Sombra ended Flurry’s attempts to reach for Cadance, causing the filly to look up.
Shining and Cadance shared a knowing look. Shining said, “Well, it has finally come to pass.”
Flurry’s mane clip glowed for a moment then winked out. From her spot held next to Sombra’s chest, he could not have noticed.
Cadance smiled at the dark stallion. “Very well, Sombra, you win.”
Cadance and Shining walked cautiously into the room while Sombra backed up to keep us at the same distance. Twilight and I followed close behind.
Sombra smiled. “You will all lower your shields and submit to my will. I do not require your oaths of obedience. I have more reliable methods of ensuring that.”
Flurry’s parents backed up until the four of us were on the far side of the room and we reached the door to the chamber, Twilight’s shield protecting us the whole time. Shining motioned for Twilight and me to go through the open door into the hallway. As he did so, he said to Sombra, “No. You misunderstand.”
The dark unicorn frowned. “What? What do you mean?”
First I, then Twilight backed out of the room. Shining Armor said, “Flurry, you have a new dad now. Bye-bye. You’ll never see old mommy or daddy ever again.” Our friend turned deliberately away from his foal, strode through the door, and out of Flurry’s line of sight.
Flurry Heart lowered her outstretched forelegs. Her smile fell. “Blurble?”
Sombra scoffed and he pulled the foal tighter against his armor. “A trick! You two would never—”
Cadance backed out through the doorway. “Oh, and Flurry Heart? You are a bad filly. Mommy hates you.” She then closed the door, cutting off the bellows of the unicorn stallion. The pink alicorn turned to Twilight. “Outside, now!”
Twilight teleported the four of us to the outskirts of the main courtyard. We stood far enough away from the center to easily see the top of the tower. The Crystal Heart spun perhaps three hundred feet away, directly under the arches that supported the castle. Large piles of lavender fabric lay near the archways, which took me a second to recognize. The curtains that used to cover the area directly under the castle had been torn away and discarded. Now we could see the far side of the courtyard and city past the Crystal Heart.
“Wait for it,” said Shining Armor.
The wail of his foal tore through the air, shattering a nearby crystal statue. Beams of uncontrolled magic sliced through the castle and into the city, cutting through buildings like they were paper.
Sombra teleported to the other side of the courtyard, smoke pouring off his body and part of his mane gone. His cape also appeared to be on fire. Twilight and I threw our tracking suppression bands as one. The stallion raised a dome of clear crystal three-ponies-high and the nullstone strips bounced ineffectually against the surface. Cadance’s horn glowed and the screams of her daughter sharply decreased in volume while the smacks of the bands striking the crystal sounded like they were directly in front of us. Through the slight distortion of the translucent crystal, I saw Sombra look down at his melted chest armor. I heard him mutter, “Damn Tartarus-spawn.” Cadance must have cast a communication spell linking us sonically to an area just outside his protective dome. That allowed us to hear him, and vice versa. I tried to pull his protective rock shield back into the ground but encountered stiff resistance. Once again, I was too far away.
Twilight’s horn glowed brightly and she nodded. Finally, a part of our strategy was going according to plan. My co-ruler maintained a temporal static spell powerful enough to prevent any teleportation within a mile radius. The four of us advanced on the unicorn. He was pinned down and I just needed to get closer to poke a hole in his protective layer of rock which would end the fight.
Cadance demanded, “How did you return, Sombra? Who restored you and made you their thrall?”
The unicorn’s head shot up and he snarled. “I am a slave to no one!”
Shining said, “Who is helping you? Who brought you back from the brink of death?”
Our progress stopped when a powerful wail created shock waves in the air, shattering the Crystal Heart.
Shining glared at Sombra. “You idiot! You mentally defective fool! Now the endless winter will swallow the entire Empire! Because of you!”
I yelled, “At least we get to watch you freeze to death alongside us!” We started forward again.
Sombra shuffled on his hooves, his face indecisive.
Another of Flurry’s screams pierced the air. Looking up, I could just see the top of the castle over the bending arch that sheltered the central courtyard of the castle. A beam of magic from Flurry’s horn cleaved free the topmost portion of the spire. It began its slow fall toward the far end of the courtyard. All four of us stopped and layered our shields concentrically around our group. Looking ahead, a black portal appeared behind Sombra and he stepped through. We got a quick glimpse of a cave through the gateway before the portal shrunk and disappeared. We kept up our shields, knowing the shrapnel was going to be tremendous. I looked at the broken shards of the Crystal Heart and my eyes went wide. I remembered Starlight telling me in detail how she and Sunburst had reassembled and healed the powerful artifact. If the pieces got scattered by the broken shards of the tower or got mixed in…
I dropped my shield and reformed it around the Crystal Heart’s remains just as the castle’s spire hit the ground and exploded. Sombra’s protective dome popped as the tower’s fragments swept it away like a bamboo shack in a tidal wave. I grit my teeth as the shield strained and cracked even as I poured in as much magic as I could. Finally, it shattered. I grabbed my head, trying to ride out the migraine caused by magical feedback. I felt a comforting wing on my withers as I drew in sharp breaths. At last, I recovered enough to look up. Debris surrounded the center of the courtyard but the broken remains of the Crystal Heart had not been swept away.
Shining Armor said, “Twilight, our enemy could be observing us.”
Twilight lifted her head and the lavender glow of her magic filled the air. Following her gaze, I saw a spot high overhead flash black twice then return to show the normal sky. I doubted my friend would cease casting her interfering magic anytime soon.
Shining turned to face me. “That was quick thinking. You good?” With a wince, I nodded in the affirmative, earning me a clop on the shoulder. “Cadance and I will calm down Flurry. You two find a way to bring back Sunburst, Starlight, our citizens, lots of powerful unicorns, and even more troops.” With a flash, Cadance teleported the two of them away.
Twilight asked, “Can you fly?”
I spread my wings and checked my ability to channel magic into them. “No, not yet.” Lavender filled my vision as Twilight’s magic lifted me off the ground.
She said, “Let’s see if they’re already here.”
We rose into the sky, both of us within Twilight’s protective shield, which was nice. I didn’t want to be cut in half by one of the foal’s stray blasts. Suddenly, the wailing and hornbeams cut off.
My friend angled her wings downward. Griffons, changelings, and batponies rose into the air from one of the suburban areas of the city. Twilight and I alighted in front of the ground forces galloping our way.
As the troops came to a stop, I recognized General Crushing Blow, Crimson Boulder, and Penumbra leading the group. Dusky Wings, Princess Oralia, and Ragged Beak landed beside them.
Twilight pointed to a spot near the castle. “Sombra has retreated. There are between 220 and 230 unconscious ponies at the edge of the courtyard, both with and without helmets. Each of them was under Sombra’s control. They all have broken eardrums. Do not awaken them until they have been healed and their mind-control neutralized. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Your Highness!” chorused everybeing in front of us. The flyers took off while Crushing Blow gave orders to different squads.
Penumbra had been using the time to look me up and down. She growled out, “From your bruises, I’d say you’ve been putting yourself in mortal danger without your bodyguards… again.”
I snorted. “Would I do that?”
She showed me her fangs. “I am so going to kick your rump all the way to next Tuesday for abandoning us.”
I snorted. “I love you too, Penny.” Then I got serious. “You get to wait until after the situation is under control.” The batpony nodded.
Time to change the subject. “I take it the remaining four portals didn’t work?”
Crimson said, “Exactly. As your intelligence predicted, it seems Sombra can issue commands to all his troops simultaneously. The four corresponding portal disks in the Empire were destroyed at the same time your portal collapsed. We polled all the evacuated citizens to find out if any other daggerscale portal disks remained in the Crystal City. Sunburst remembered he had one in a desk drawer in his study. There was a delay while a pegasus used the portal connection to the Castle of Friendship to retrieve its counterpart.”
Penumbra waved her hoof to get our attention. “Normally, trying to open a daggerscale portal in an enclosed space gives you an immediate fail. Starlight Glimmer overloaded the portal when it opened. That destroyed the desk but gave us enough time to throw four more portal disks through the gateway before it failed. Rinse and repeat until we got a weighted pole through that stayed upright and stable. Knock out some walls and windows and we had a serviceable egress point.”
I winced along with Twilight. We’d have to make it up to Sunburst later. Unfortunately, his retreat of scholarly pursuits got caught up in a war zone. Sometimes, the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the one.
General Crushing Blow turned back to face me, a sizeable contingent of troops awaiting our orders. “I recommend we get Your Highnesses to safety.”
The first wisps of snow blew across my vision, reminding me that we weren’t out of the woods yet. I said, “No. The Crystal Heart has shattered and we need to repair it.”
My co-ruler said, “General, send someone back to get Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer. Tell them what happened and have them brought here along with all the refugees. Also, we’ll need a foal for the Crystalling Ceremony. Doesn’t matter whose.”
That sparked a memory and I turned to face Twilight. “Wasn’t Rarity involved in some way?”
“Oh! You’re right. She identified the purest diamond seed crystal.” She turned to the General. “Bring the Element of Generosity as well.”
The towering mare only needed to look up at a hovering pegasus stallion who saluted and took off at high speed the way the troops had come.
By the time we galloped back into the Crystal Palace courtyard, Cadance was tossing a giggling Flurry Heart in the air and catching her. “Who’s a good filly who set that mean old stallion on fire? You are!” Her daughter squealed in delight as her mother’s magic caught her right-side-up then upside-down. I made a mental note to discuss parenting styles with the Alicorn of Love at a later date.
Shining Armor looked over the troops. “Soldiers! Clear the rubble away from the central courtyard but do not disturb the crystal shards at the center.”
Twilight and I walked up to the remains of the Crystal Heart. I had recovered enough of my magic to levitate a few pieces in the air. “3D puzzle?”
She smiled. “Exactly! With your help, I estimate it will take half the time to solve, so about twelve minutes!”
It took a bit over thirty. Having two ponies trying to sort pieces according to different rules made it worse than just a single pony working alone. I wish I could claim that the extra time lined up perfectly with all the other ingredients for the ceremony arriving, but the fact of the matter was that I delayed the start of the Crystalling by at least five minutes. Twilight grumbled to herself as she took her place next to Starlight Glimmer in the ring of unicorns surrounding the center of the courtyard. The purple alicorn levitated the reconstituted artifact between the crystal spires that sat above and below the Crystal Heart. I moved quickly out of the circle to avoid their magic beams that focused on the symbol of the Crystal Empire. I heard a ringing sound as the hairline fractures slowly began to shrink.
Trixie came up and hoofed Gemini onto my back, currently a unicorn filly. That gave me a wonderful reason to ignore Twilight, who continued to glare and scowl at me even as she poured magic into the Crystal Heart.
My wife said, “Because we were so rudely deprived of the chance of experiencing the Crystalling when we visited, Trixie decided this was the perfect time to right that wrong.” She tousled the mane of our foal, who smiled back with their eyes closed. They were very happy just snuggling next to either parent in their cocoon of thick blankets.
I kissed my wife then trotted to a raised platform under the nearest archway. The remaining Elements of Harmony, Sunburst, Cadance, and Shining Armor waited for us there. I positioned myself in front of the rulers of the Crystal Empire, blinking away the snow that blew directly into my face. Should have turned around when I had the chance. Too late now.
Cadance and Shining Armor crossed their horns and a golden glow appeared above me. Gemini floated off my back and into the center of the field. They shifted into pegasus colt form and spread their wings, tossing away the blankets. Our foal giggled because the effect was tickling them.
Wait. How did I know that?
Then I noticed that my hooves were no longer on the crystal floor. I was being sucked up into the golden aura as well.
Trixie snorted and lit her horn, dragging me down to the ground and out of the way. “A poor time to upstage our foal, Dowser.”
We trotted next to Rarity who held a spike-shaped diamond out toward Sunburst. For his part, the stallion’s expression was blank and he had the ‘million-mile stare’ on his face. Poor guy. He must have come in through the portal in the remains of his house. I’d have to tell Cadance later that Sunburst needed her counseling services for his case of shellshock.
Trixie jabbed him in the barrel with a horseshoe, making him stumble. “Take the stage. You’re up.”
Sunburst blinked a few times, rubbing his side. Rarity moved the diamond closer to his face and arched an eyebrow.
“What? Oh, yes! Of course!”
He took the offered gem and trotted to the edge of the platform. After taking a deep breath, Sunburst held out a hoof as his voice carried out over the assembled crystal ponies. “Citizens! Today, Equestria and her allies came to your defense, repelling the ancient threat of Sombra and restoring peace to our realm! Now, we strengthen the bonds between our kingdoms! May I present to you the newest citizen of the Crystal Empire, Prince—”
“Ohhhhh!” gasped the crowd.
Sunburst stopped with a frown then looked over his shoulder, blinking at our foal, now a happily giggling unicorn filly.
He faced the crowd with a renewed smile. “Princess—”
“Ahhhhh!” exclaimed the citizens.
Another glance. The unicorn’s voice dropped a bit in volume. “Prince—”
“Ohhhh!”
“Ahhhh!”
“Ohhhh!”
“Ahhhh!”
Sunburst’s eye twitched a bit. “The first foal of Princess Trixie Lulamoon and Prince Mark Wells… Gemini!”
“YAYYYYYYY!”
After the cheers and hoof stomping died out, the closest citizen bowed her head. She placed one forehoof well in front of them and lifted the other in supplication. One by one, other citizens joined her. As they did so, a pale blue light emanated from the ground beneath them. As more and more crystal ponies did the same, the effect spread faster and faster across the ground until the courtyard and every street glowed intensely.
Sunburst lowered the gem until it touched the floor. The light blue glow drained into the diamond until no more remained in the ground. With the glowing gem in hoof, the stallion ran back to the ring of unicorns surrounding the Crystal Heart. After pushing himself through, he touched the diamond to the gleaming artifact, causing it to let out alternating flashes of lavender and blue light. The unicorns stopped their flow of magic as the Crystal Heart spun faster and faster. With one more pulse of light, the glow disappeared, showing a single piece of unblemished crystal.
Suddenly, a bright wave of blue light exploded outward. I covered my eyes for a moment and when I uncovered them, all the ponies in front of me shone with the translucent, faceted glory I had seen once before.
I turned to look at Penumbra, who frowned at her extended wings. The effect didn’t appear to be her favorite thing in the world. I smirked. “Golly, Miss Penumbra. What an improvement! You almost look cute and cuddly now!”
Her glare shifted to me and she pulled her spear from its holder. “There’s an experiment I’ve been wanting to try on see-through ponies. Hold still.”
My wife moved in front of me. “Most perceptive of you, Lieutenant. The Great and Powerful Trixie had the same idea. You are in charge of Gemini. Come along, Dowser.”
Dutifully, I trotted after Trixie, leaving a gaping Penny behind us. My wife said, “Pinkie will ensure everypony will be celebrating for some time.” Her grin turned a bit more salacious. “Since our last visit to this city, Trixie has had… some ideas and brought the necessary supplies. Our friends won’t miss us for an hour.”
My brain was trying to catch up. “An hour?”
Trixie shrugged. “Or so.”
The next afternoon found Crispberry sprawled on my chair in the Canterlot Castle Great Hall, forcing me to stand. “It’s a good thing that somepony was smart enough to throw a time-stop spell on Bright Wing. If they hadn’t, we wouldn’t know anything!”
Moon Dancer had the decency to look a bit embarrassed for her fellow researcher. The Southern Wastes Hive drone didn’t have any such problem, waving his forehooves for emphasis while he propped his rear hooves on the table.
Crispberry continued after lifting his goggles, showing off his yellow compound eyes. “Every single helmet and control block in the Crystal Empire shorted out, probably when Sombra skedaddled. No magic residue, no spell signatures, no clues as to how his magic or devices work. Nothing!”
King Thorax held up a hoof. “Sorry. What’s a control block?”
The drone tossed a small rectangular item my way, which I caught automatically. It appeared to be made of porcelain with metal inscribed etchings on one side.
Moon Dancer said, “All ponies without helmets and most of those with helmets had one of these attached at the base of the skull. They are hidden by an invisibility charm when active. We determined how they take control of the host by overriding the higher cognitive functions. Sombra passes his voice orders via an encrypted transmission. The good news is that we know how to block it. That way, any entranced pony has to be close enough to hear the new commands. The bad news is that commands can be given that are only acted out later, as we saw with Bright Wing. Also, Sombra almost certainly won’t use the same encryption key again. We can’t give overriding orders on that same magical frequency. Unless we can capture a new control block, reverse engineer the new encryption key, then transmit it. That would take ten hours on average.”
I turned over the innocuous object in my hooves. I said, “How well did our countermeasures work?”
Crispberry barked out a laugh. “You mean how badly did they not work? Crystal Empire soldiers and the few citizens with training to resist mind control report they were incapacitated by the control blocks. While they struggled against that, another pony dropped a helmet on them and – BAM! – instant convert to the worship of thousand-year-old ponies that by all rights should be dead.”
The silence in the room was total. Every pony guard shifted their eyes to glare at Crispberry. To my surprise, that seemed to get through to the otherwise socially inept drone. Either that or he tasted the emotion of unfiltered hostility directed his way from all sides. He pulled his hooves off the table and folded his ears back. “Uhhh… no offense intended. Wasn’t talking about, you know, Celestia or Luna.”
I sighed. Here we go again. “So given what we have learned, what are new ideas on how to counteract our foes: Sombra, Tirek, Cozy Glow, the Storm King, and Grogar. Let’s go, everyone. The crazier the ideas, the better.”
This time, the discussion did not stop after dinnertime and continued late into the night.
# # #
When it came to earth pony magic, I had proved to be pretty much a one-trick alicorn. That had to change. While Crimson Boulder was an excellent teacher of unarmed combat, he was not a specialist in all the types of magic that earth ponies were capable of, especially the more subtle ones. While you might think that the ability to grow things fast was hardly a battle tactic, the alicorn challenge by Twilight years back had shown how devastating one plant could be with enough power behind it. Nevertheless, while power was not an issue, control was. Therefore, I was now being taught by the Element Bearer of Honesty on how to harvest apples.
I can already imagine people scoffing at that, but have they ever seen how the Apple Family does it? They buck the trees! I mean, how the hell do you expect that to work? Except that it does. The trees tremble and the ripe apples not only fall, they almost invariably land safely in the baskets arrayed under the tree. That is control. And that is what I lacked in spades. I had been remarkably good at getting them to fall on my head though and it was getting somewhat bruised and not a little juicy. The harder I tried, the worse it seemed to get. It got to the point that apples were falling off the trees even as I approached them!
“Now look what ya done! You up and skeered them,” Applejack scolded me.
“I’m trying to persuade them like you told me, not terrify them!” I complained.
“Mah family has been bucking apples fer decades and even a foal can do better’n that. Try again.”
I scowled and glared at my latest target. I sized it up, turned around, pictured what I was trying to achieve to focus my magic, and then gave the trunk a hard buck. With a mighty crack, a large branch broke off and brained me. As I lay there waiting for the world to stop spinning, Applejack walked over, shaking her head.
“Ah should have known better. These trees have a bone ta pick with you.”
“Wh… what do you mean?” I asked dizzily.
“Ah just remembered – this is the orchard ya done tore up durin’ yer flight lessons. Seems they’ve been holdin’ a grudge.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said as I struggled to my hooves.
“Nope. Best thing ya can do is ta say yer sorry.”
“Buh?”
I spent the next three hours hugging, apologizing, and helping grow every last tree in that orchard. Who knew that trees held grievances? When I tried to hurry things along, Applejack told me that wasn’t good enough.
“Think like ya was a tree,” she said.
I made sure to spend a full minute talking to each one.
When I reached the final apple tree in the last row, I asked, “Am I done now?”
“Ya sure are!”
I sighed with relief.
“Ya can start with the South Orchard tomorrow.”
# # #
One of the best things about married life is curling up in bed with Trixie after a hard day. We liked to spoon and, some nights, she showed off her role as lead mare and protector by being the big spoon. Most times though, I was the one who had his legs wrapped in embracement of my wife, my wing spread over both of us. She felt loved and I felt that all was right with the world, even if the leg underneath my spouse sometimes went to sleep. Totally worth it. We both slept well and soundly like this most nights. Not tonight though.
I was awoken by noises in the room. It sounded like flapping but not quite like Gemini’s wings. Then I heard scurrying. Were there vermin in the room? I let go of Trixie and rolled over, lighting my horn with a gentle glow. The first thing I saw was a white face with big eyes, nose to nose with me.
“GAH! What the buck?!”
I lurched back, bumping hard into Trixie. Between the shout and the physical abuse, my wife woke up, grumbling.
“Why are you disturbing Trixie’s beauty sleep, Pugmark Cowbells?”
I recognized the culprit now. It was Tiberius, the opossum pet that had belonged to Luna. Nowadays, he was much like a house cat – demanding the nearest pony feed him and then ignoring everypony for the rest of the day. No one bothered to do anything more for the opossum but at least he seemed to be housebroken. Given that, I decided to ignore him for now. It was Trixie who spotted the source of the other noise that had disturbed my slumber.
“Philomena?”
The phoenix was perched on the bedpost and she was quickly joined by Tiberius. Unlike the possum, Philomena had left the castle soon after the Royal Sisters disappearance and had not been seen again. Now the two pets stared at the large full-length oval mirror up against the wall. I no longer needed to illuminate the room with my horn because the mirror was now glowing and rapidly getting brighter.
Trixie and I leaped out of bed. While she headed over to Gemini’s crib to pick up our foal, I stumbled (darn leg fell asleep again!) over to the trigger for the emergency evacuation spell. One tap and the wards around our room would drop and we would be teleported away to a safe destination. Twilight had set that up for us so I was confident enough in its efficacy to allow whatever was happening to continue without scramming immediately.
As streamers of light grew to blinding proportions, a silhouette blocked some of the radiance and something seemed to step through the mirror, much like one of the portals we used. Another silhouette quickly followed the first. The light died down enough for me to get a good look at our visitors. I gasped in shock and my hoof dropped away from the trigger.
Two alicorns dressed in samurai-style armor complete with banners glared about themselves. They wore demon-visage masks that hung from chains around their necks. Both had polearms raised and ready to use, although that did not seem to deter the two pets. Philomena flew over to land on the white alicorn’s helmet. She spread her wings and cawed happily. Tiberius scurried up the armor of the dark blue one and hung by the tail from the crescent moon adorning her helmet. I’d never met either of them but I knew who they were instantly.
“Celestia? Luna? You’re back!”
# # # # # # # # #
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To quote my father. "Hell's out for noon and no recess"
Lol, finally xD
Celestia and Luna are obviously expecting trouble when they came through. Understandable, as they found themselves cut off from their dimension and have probably been traveling dimension to dimension, looking for another gateway home. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought someone had conquered Equestria and that they would need to fight a usurper when they returned.
If so, things might not go well in the next few minutes for Mark and Trixie.
The excrement is impacting the rotary oscillator at high velocities now...
Next question: Are the visitors the 'real' Celestia and Luna, the ones that belong there? We shall see soon enough!
Excellent chapter, Goldfur!
And for those who wishes to how the art was created....
Trixie appears to be rubbing off on him.
Pets always seem to go straight back to their owners after being away for a long time. So if that isn’t a giveaway to them being the original Celestia and Luna I don’t know what is.
Called it!
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Luna: "This dost look the same to you, Sister?"
"
Celestia; "*sigh* No, not at all. Come, let's be on our wa---"
Mark: "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Well, I didn't expect that. But now I'm half expecting them to take a good, long look at how the three are keeping things up, decide they're doing a good enough job and have a century (or two) long vacation.
And no, they won't tell what it why they were doing until the end of it
...I don't believe you. After the last couple of times where it was just a dream or some other thing, I choose to withhold my belief until it has been proven concretely and without a shadow of a doubt that these are the original, native Celestia and Luna and that it is NOT a dream.
If they ARE the real deal, though, I'm certainly looking forward to how the next bit plays out.
NANI?!
I am really hoping they are teal this time. That part of the plot was basically Finding Nemo extended by an order of magnitude... Or two.
I swear to Faust and All Chakats if you are pulling a TMNT 3 time travel reference Goldy I will be sooooooo bucking pissed!
About bloody time...
Well, at least they were someplace civilized.
Neighpon has tea ceremony, after all.
Celesta and Luna have been in Naypon it seems
Oh shit.
So, have the prinsesses been 'enacting' Shogun Total War?
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I don't think they have much to worry about.
Other than as several have joked, Celestia and Luna going "Dang, wrong dimension, again."
Most likely the two Alicorns are going to find the whole thing rather precious.
I'm looking forward to the conversation.
"So Trixie, where did you find a male Alicorn?"
"Erm, in another dimension."
"We should've thought of that dear sister."
is this our universe Luna and celestia or alternate again?
And on that note, who's ready for Ghost of Tsushima?
I'm beating these are fakes. But the pet thing did give if some real ground to stand on. Let's see what happens in the next chapter that we have to wait months for because the author is an evil mastermind who thrives off the suffering of their readers.
For the first time in a long time I'm actually looking forward to the next chapter of this story.
I swear somehow Mark passed on Celestia's genes to Gemnini for that trolling is so her. oh. Celestia, Luna, you're back........
WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?
pics.awwmemes.com/implied-facehoof-for-when-something-is-so-feathering-derped-a-51075618.png
I would make a reference to the Know Trees from the D&D cartoon series, if one was available.
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Either way, it would be hilarious!
I can imagine Sunburst going back and saying something to the effect of
Sombra got hold of Marks smartphone? I mean, ceramic glass slab covered with markings running complex encryption?.. Oh, wait, how many smart phones actually run even half assed never mind decent crypto by default?
As for the end?
Its time.
for Samurai Jack-Jack.
I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!
MORE PLEASE!
The question they should be asking now is not "where have you been?" its to affirm that these are in fact the real Celestia and Luna from this dimension. The pets could quite easily have been brain zapped the same as the crystal ponies or ported in early from whatever reality these two potential versions of the alicorn sisters came from.
One would hope with them connecting with so many alternate versions of Equestria that they would have considered creating some form of litmus test for any alicorns showing up to be sure they got the right versions coming home and not an evil version escaping their own reality looking to set themselves up in their reality because the void left by their counterparts not being present. Sort of how Rick and Morty will move realities if things go bad for them.
This will be interesting. With their armor, they may or may not be the Celestia and Luna of this dimension, since it doesn't seem to match the decor. Then again, they could have acquired it where they were. Either way, wrong dimension or not, they will be useful. If they are the ones from this dimension, things are going to get good once every bad guy's butt has been kicked.
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Mark would have recognized a smartphone... though I honestly hadn’t thought about the parallels until you pointed it out.
So if Sombra DID own a smartphone, what shows or movies would be on his favorites list?
Why!!! A cliffhanger in the best part!
Accidental POV shift there.
Great chapter.
I. Have. SO. MANY. QUESTIONS!!!
Oh shogun armor... No idea how to even start predicting that one...
Well well well, they have returned, or have they? there's still the question of the two mares who were spying on Mark and Penumbra.
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Oops. Fixed.
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I really hope that it was the first point that you addressed, and not the second.
Never would have thought the mirror in their own room would have turned out to be a portal mirror.
If they have returned then things are worse than we imagined, after all this time... But it makes you wonder what was slightly less-bad than the current situation that they needed to abscond for a few years. 🤔
Keep going! ;)
you are evil for this cliffhanger but i loved it and cant wait for more
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I'm gonna guess that it wasn't a portal mirror originally.
It just took Sunbutt a couple years to lock on to the right dimension and remember where she left a mirror of suitable size to anchor the spell... and figure out where it got moved to! And then figure out why somepony would dare rearrange her rooms while she was gone?!?!
The nerve!
Gonna be a long week and a half to two weeks. Those two have some 'splainin' to do!
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Viper Pony wrote a spin-off chapter as part of his The Great And Powerful Centaur story.
Well I'll be damned. They made it. Now to ask 3 important questions.
Where did they go, why did they go, and are they the same ones from that dimension.
And a followup question, what happened when they were gone.
Now I realize the plan is to make Flurry cry to defeat Sombra, but...
Uh huh, sure you aren't
Well someone has a sense of humor
Neat, now let's see how much of a fuss they are gonna raise of the changes Equestria has gone through
I think that should be Sunburst.
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Eep! You're right. Fixed.
Its been years yet... What is a decate to a imortality blessed being? Welcome back Sunbutt & Moonbutt!
This chapter was all over the place
On one hoof yeah sisters but on the other sombra was very disappointing
this reminded me of a silly short story:
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/356092/the-horrifically-horrible-kidnapping-of-princess-flurry-heart