Nightmare Valley
Agate had seen and experienced all kinds of things over the centuries. Life, deaths, joy and sorrow, anger and apathy, and many more besides. All that experience more or less inured her to shock, but seeing the Empire return at last really floored her. It took her a minute to find her voice again, while the ponies around her muttered in surprise.
"Your people are finally back?!" Pine Ponder asked with shock.
"They... They are. They have to be," Agate nodded slowly. "I... Have to go..."
"Wait, please!" A pony from the crowd shouted, grabbing at her. The shout set off a whole wave of similar exclamations, the hubbub spreading through the entire mass of ponies.
Getting yanked back by her tail, Agate gave the offending pony a flat look. She recognized the mare as one of the adventurers from Pine Ponder's group, who at least had the grace to look sheepish for marehandling the spirit in such a way.
"Freezing Point. What are you doing?" Agate asked with a huff.
"Well, um... Please don't just run off by yourself? Could you introduce us to your people before you say goodbye to your family and leave for the spirit realms? Please?" The mare asked with an awkward smile.
"Oh. Right. Uh..." Agate rubbed the side of her head thoughtfully.
"You don't owe us anything, Agate," Inner Fire exclaimed, forcing his way through the gathering crowd. "If anything, we owe you a lot for everything you did for us over the centuries. If you want to go, then go."
Biting her lip, Agate considered what to say, before slowly nodding to herself. Trotting over to Inner Fire, she casually began climbing the chieftain without saying a word, to everyone's confusion. The sight of her on the large stallion's back was odd, and it made everyone go quiet, which was exactly her goal. Clearing her throat, she addressed the crowd.
"What you heard me shout just now was correct. It appears that the time has finally come. The Crystal Empire, the formerly cursed homeland of my people, has finally returned. I am going to go home now. BUT!" She yelled out the moment the mutterings began, heading things off before they turned into shouts. "Over the years, I made many promises to now-departed ponies that I will introduce their children to my people, if the chance ever came. And, as you probably already know, I'm not one to break promises. I promised myself that I will wait until the Empire came back, and here I am, over a thousand years later.
However, my patience is not limitless, either. I have waited for this for over a thousand years. As such, I will offer you a compromise. I will take a small group of ponies with me. Only the swiftest and the most durable ponies will be accepted! You all get until we reach Snowpitt, and then I'll allow one day of resting and celebrating your recent victory in protecting the forest. I know the celebrations will last longer than that, but that is my condition. If you want to come, you will have to cut your rest short, and take to the road once more. All others can make their way to the Empire on their own time, or wait for visitors to come here. I'm sure my people will be eager to meet you as well."
Her proclamation done, she jumped off her impromptu platform, not saying anything else. The chieftain nodded thoughtfully before shouting at the muttering crowd. "Well, what are you standing around for? No one's forced to go, and if you want to rest, then let's get going already. We can sort things out when we're back in Snowpitt!"
They all went back to trotting forward, though the conversations were a lot more excited now, many ponies glancing at Agate. Looking at the spirit curiously, Pine Ponder trotted in silence for a while, until her curiosity finally overpowered her shyness.
"Um, Agate?" She asked the thoughtful spirit.
"Yes? What is it, Pine Ponder?"
"Why don't you just... Fly ahead, like you did when we were travelling to the ritual circle from Snowpitt? You don't have to wait with us until we reach the settlement," She suggested.
"I... Thought about doing that, but then I realized that it could be a mistake," Agate said slowly.
"Why? Didn't you wait a thousand years to see your family? I'd probably be rushing there without even thinking of other ponies..."
"Exactly. I waited a thousand years for it. I meditated, repeated things to myself, all just to keep the image of how my family looked clear and fresh in my mind. And now, I realized... That image is all I have. I still remember what they look like. But I can't remember a single thing I said to them. I don't remember what we talked about last. When I imagined talking to them, I couldn't actually think of anything to say. If I just showed up at their door and proclaimed myself to be their daughter, they'd think that I'm some kind of fraud, especially when I couldn't back it up with anything. I need to spend a few days digging through some really, really old recesses of my memory," Agate explained.
"Oooh. Alright. I'll... Give you your privacy, then," Pine Ponder nodded.
"Thank you."
For the others, the journey was spent with lots of excited chatter. For Agate, it was spent in deep thought. Once they reached Snowpitt, she went straight for her totem, the others respectfully stepping aside. Stopping in front of the huge crystal, she kept sifting through her memories. The totem was a good reference point, in a way, given how slowly it changed over the centuries.
By this point, the actual pole was completely dwarfed by the massive crystal spire that the crystal shell grew into over the years, standing three times as tall as the length of lumber did. Meanwhile, over time, her crystal "garden" actually became overgrown. The clearing was more or less covered in crystals, and she occasionally enlisted ponies to take a few pickaxes and give it a good weeding, before it turned into a completely impassable, spiky mess and blocked all visitors from entering.
Her bust that was carved into the wood got covered over the years as well, despite her efforts to keep it from getting completely subsumed into the mass. Her old golden necklace that she kept the entire time now hung on one of the smaller spikes that protruded from the main crystal. She made a mental note to remember to take it with her, as it was an invaluable bit of proof that she actually was who she claimed to be, something she wouldn't be able to do if she didn't take living ponies with her.
Finally, she got too tired of raking through her memories of sneaking away from Sombra's mind-controlled minions through the city, and went into her totem to get some sleep. Tomorrow was another day.
❅ ❆ ❅
While the others celebrated, Agate spent her time in quiet contemplation. A few lorekeepers and the like tried to approach her, but she politely sent them away. Once evening came, ponies began gathering near her totem, Agate standing up and looking them up and down. The volunteers had arrived, some of them more suitable than others.
"No, Arctic Ink," Agate shook her head at the filly with a smile.
"Aw, poop. No fair. You were about my age when you came here across the mountains!" She protested.
"Yes, and I was also dead," Agate pointed out.
"She's right, youngling," Inner Fire grinned. "If you try to keep up with a spirit in an endurance match, you'll end up as one yourself."
"You're coming, chieftain?" Agate asked as Arctic Ink slunk away, her parents chuckling and smiling at her from a distance.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. My bones are getting a bit creaky these days. This mission was manageable, but a trek through the mountains is something else. Would you mind if I took some ponies and followed along at a slower pace? You could have a few days to talk to your family before having to deal with introducing us," He suggested.
"That is perfectly fine, yes," Agate nodded.
"In that case, there's probably not all that many ponies who'd be interested in a dead sprint across the mountains, especially after what they all recently went through," He chuckled, nodding and turning around. "I'll let you sort them out."
"Alright," Agate nodded, looking around. "Huh. Pine Ponder?"
"Oh no, I'm not going. I just wanted to thank you and wish you well," The mare shook her head.
"I, however, am interested," Ice Elation stepped forward.
"So am I!" Freezing Point grinned.
"I will accompany you, if you'll allow me," Shatterhoof nodded.
"Northern adventurers. Always a very durable bunch," Agate nodded. "Anyone else?"
"Mountains don't scare me," A tall westerner stallion proclaimed. "Goat Hop of the western mountains at your service, traveler spirit."
"And I'm coming with him," A mare added. "Spring Hoof, ancient one."
"Suppose I should come just so there's at least a single southerner here, huh?" A reddish-brown stallion asked with a chuckle.
"Ah. You are the chieftain's son, aren't you? I don't think we talked much in the past. You're..." Agate trailed off.
"Trailblazer, traveler spirit. And yes, I haven't done much to earn a name for myself yet. There's no way I'm missing this, though," He nodded.
"Alright then. You six will accompany me to the Empire. Some of you, I've only known for the past couple weeks. Others, I just met for the first time. You all seem like serious ponies, though, so I will take your word that you're not going to be slow about it. From what I recall, the journey through the mountains takes approximately two weeks. Get whatever supplies you need, and meet me right here, first thing in the morning tomorrow. If you're not here, I'm leaving without you," Agate explained.
"Understood!" They all nodded, dispersing one by one.
❅ ❆ ❅
The next morning, the adventurers all arrived bright and early, as Agate requested. Looking them up and down, she nodded approvingly, noticing something new on Ice Elation's back. "You were unarmed before. Got an ice spear made for the occasion?"
"No, one of the others that decided not to go lent me theirs. This one owes me a new spear," Ice Elation explained, poking Freezing Point in the side.
"And you'll have it! When I have time! It takes time to prepare for making one, you know! Gathering strength, preparing the right water..." The shamare squirmed.
"Which you can't do while we're on an adventure, of course," Ice Elation noted in a deadpan voice.
"I'm afraid so. Come on, Ice, quit being so grumpy. You're acting like your sister. Aren't you excited?"
"...I am. I am also excited to have a new spear," She deadpanned again, making Freezing Point pout.
"You shouldn't need it during this journey. The southern mountains are quite barren, and my people certainly won't attack you with no reason," Agate reassured them. "Everyone else ready? Shatterhoof, Goat Hop, Spring Hoof, Trailblazer?"
The three stallions and the mare all nodded. Giving them one last long look, Agate nodded as well, leading Ice Elation towards her totem. The adventurer turned towards Agate questioningly.
"Is there some ritual of your people that we must perform before moving out?"
"No. Just carry this for me," Agate pointed towards the necklace.
"Oh. That looks beautiful. And expensive," Ice Elation noted, carefully removing the necklace from the crystal. "Is it magical? Some kind of enchantment to grant us passage to your lands?"
"Nothing so fancy, no," Agate smiled. "It's my necklace. One that my father gave to me before we ran, in case we needed to pay for something along the way. Should be proof enough that I am who I am claiming to be. I hope."
"I see. I will take great care of it, then," The mare nodded, carefully slipping it into her saddlebags.
"That is all, then. Let us go."
And that was that. Without another word, Agate turned around, and led them out of her clearing. A few ponies were there to see them off, Inner Fire nodding to his son and Pine Ponder waving to Agate and Ice Elation. Most of the others were still asleep, though, enjoying their rest after the mission and the celebration.
Agate didn't talk much at first, but the questions inevitably started rolling in, and before long, she was talking non-stop, randomly dropping all sorts of details that came up from her memories of the Empire.
"The entire city is shaped like a snowflake, or perhaps more like a ritual circle. Everyone in the Empire can channel magic into the crystal streets, empowering and strengthening it. The central artifact, the Crystal Heart, is the focal point of the whole place...
We have crystal berries there. I don't remember what they taste like, just that they taste very good. Ponies make amazing jam from them, as well as other things...
Yes, the buildings are made from crystal. It's really quite a sight. They might look a bit crude and misshapen to outsiders, since their outsides tend to be somewhat jagged and uneven, but the insides are very nice and cozy...
I wonder what you would think about the crystal faire. It's not entirely unlike snowpony celebrations, but it's also subtly different..."
The first day went by with no issues. They crossed the plains, the river, the forest, and reached the foothills of the southern mountains. Agate would have been fine with stopping there to rest in the past, but now, things were different. Giving her companions a significant look, she began climbing the mountain, the others following with no complaints.
"This is your obstacle," Agate proclaimed once they crossed the mountain pass. "Beyond these mountains lies the Empire."
"This looks entirely manageable," Goat Hop smiled confidently.
"Indeed. No worse than what I dealt with many times in the past already," Ice Elation nodded.
"Good. Then let's get down and set up camp- hmmm," Agate stopped, looking at the glimmering light of the Empire in the distance.
"Something wrong, traveler spirit?" Freezing Point inquired, looking in the same direction with her spirit sight. "Oh my, I think I can see some kind of faint impression myself... The magic must be amazing..."
"Nothing much. Thought I saw a shadow of some kind. Probably just my imagination," Agate shook her head. "Let's get down."
❅ ❆ ❅
The next day began with the usual swiftness that adventurers had. Once you rolled out of whatever shelter you managed to find or build, you needed to eat fast and get moving to stay warm, unless the weather was nice. Which it wasn't. Not that there was a blizzard or anything, but it was still winter. Even if spring was approaching already, they were in the mountains now, which weren't very hospitable.
There wasn't all that much conversation this time around. Agate mostly ran out of things to tell them about the Empire, and the others saved their breaths for moving through the cold terrain. It gave her more time to think and look at the Empire in the distance, which made an unpleasant feeling settle in her gut as she kept seeing some kind of dark blob blotting out the light now and again.
"Your expression looks rather perturbed," Freezing Point eventually pointed out.
"I can't help but feel that something is wrong," Agate said quietly.
"What could be wrong?"
"I'm not sure. The curse has ran out of power, that much is certain. You said yourself that you can see the Empire," Agate shrugged.
"Well, what about that vile spirit that cast the curse in the first place?" The shamare mused.
"He wasn't a spirit... I think. But the Equestrians told me back then that their princesses got rid of him. Crushed his power and... Banished him?"
"Banished? Oh. Oh, ancestors. If he had the power to curse the entirety of your people even as he was losing, do you think...?"
"They might not have had enough power to make sure he never comes back from his banishment? Doubly so when the Empire comes back and is extra vulnerable as the ponies try to understand what happened? Maybe," Agate grit her teeth.
The six adventurers frowned, shooting glances at each other. Eventually, they all quietly nodded, turning to Agate, Ice Elation speaking up. "Go ahead, Agate. We're not going to get lost here just because you're not here to guide us. I'm sure we can make our way south just fine."
"Yes, navigating these mountains really isn't that hard," Goat Hop added.
"Your people might need you. Just go there and take a look at what's happening," Trailblazer urged.
"Right. Okay. Here goes," Agate nodded, feeling uncharacteristically heavy as she sprouted feathers and flapped her wings.
To say that Agate was nervous would have been a massive understatement. There were all sorts of fears crowding her mind, from finding out that those soldiers had actually killed her parents back then and she waited all this time for nothing, to reaching Dream Valley and finding that it was all a mirage, and the Empire still wasn't there.
"Bravery is not the lack of fear," She muttered to herself as she flew.
One mountain. Two mountains. The third, biggest and most massive mountain, one that she needed to circle around. One by one, she flew past the obstacles in her way, Dream Valley opening up before her in all its splendor. Although it was snowing, the blizzard didn't manage to impede her spirit sight. And in the middle...
"The Spire! The streets! The buildings, oh, spirits, it's all there! It's really there! Mother! Father!" Agate cried, almost falling out of the sky.
Examining the Empire more closely as she approached, Agate tilted her head a little. The shield looked a little bit different than she remembered, but... It was probably just her imagination, tainted by the thousand years of not seeing it. Flapping her wings, she got closer and closer, before seeing something else that almost made her fall yet again.
A dark mass was stalking the blizzard, occasionally bumping against the shield before recoiling and returning to circling the city, like a scavenger around a dying animal that couldn't wait until it could start tearing into it. Theoretically, it could have been anything. Realistically, there was only one possible candidate.
"Sombra," Agate hissed furiously.
She glanced at the buildings below her again. None of them were corrupted by his dark magic, and the Spire was back to its pristine condition. Sombra was outside of the Empire and his influence had been removed, so the situation didn't look that bad... But it still meant that the city was under siege, which was hardly ideal. As far as Agate was concerned, things would only be ideal once Sombra was dead.
Analyzing the situation, she kept circling high above the city, Sombra doing the same thing below. For all her age and wisdom, Agate was still a spirit, and the amount of things she could actually do was severely limited. She didn't want to play her hoof too early, or without being sure that it was actually going to achieve something.
It went on for several hours without any visible progress being made by Sombra, which made Agate happy. Eventually, though, she saw something odd. A single pony had exited the city, moving southwest for some reason. Following the direction with her eyes, she blinked rapidly, trying to understand what she was seeing. It looked like a whole bunch of ponies were approaching the pony's position from the south, but they were moving very fast.
What could those possibly be? Some kind of reinforcements from Equestria? But then, how were they moving so fast? Were they pegasi in flight? Burning with curiosity, Agate dove forward, swiftly losing altitude and gaining speed, eager to see what was happening down there.
The ponies slowed down and eventually stopped completely some distance from the lone city pony's position, shifting around slightly. Finally getting close enough to see the material world and not just their spirits, Agate boggled at the sight for a few moments before starting to circle the area again, trying to understand what she was seeing.
There was a wooden platform and a small building of some kind, which were easy enough to comprehend. But there was also some kind of massive, elongated, brightly painted, metal contraption with a steaming chimney resting between the platform and the building, and there was a strange path made of wood and continuous metal beams leading up to it.
The sheer amount of metal alone would be worth a fortune in snowpony lands, and that was without even knowing what the thing actually did. It had windows and doors and a chimney, like a house, but also small wheels, like a carriage. A group of seven ponies was exiting from one of the doors, giving more credence to the carriage theory given how fast they were moving just then, though it did nothing to explain how a carriage made of metal, of all things, could possibly move that fast.
While Agate was trying to understand their unusual mode of transport, the pony from the city reached the ponies on the platform. "Twilight!" He called out, getting the attention of both them and Agate. Looking at him, Agate saw that he was a unicorn stallion, one completely unfamiliar to her. One of the ponies from the group, a purple unicorn, galloped up to him to share a hug. They started talking, but Agate couldn't hear them over the blizzard.
Moments later, they moved out, Agate following along. With curiosity, she noticed that the group of arrivals was not made of seven ponies after all, but six ponies and some kind of reptile with a fiery spirit. They all went back towards the Empire, talking the entire time. A few stray words reached Agate's ears, but she couldn't really make out what they were saying. Either way, if they were some kind of military reinforcements, they certainly did not look the part.
Unfortunately, while she was focusing so much on the strange ponies, she completely forgot to keep an eye on Sombra. A strange, trumpeting howl suddenly echoed from somewhere nearby, immediately making Agate jump up and gain more altitude. Her reflexes were rewarded when a dark pillar of smoky magic rose up from the ground, growling like a completely feral beast. Almost immediately, it formed menacing green eyes, chasing after the ponies.
For their part, they increased their pace rapidly, the reptile losing its cargo when the stallion grabbed it with his magic and galloped away. Agate could tell that this chase was not going to last long. The Empire was close, and both the ponies and Sombra were quite fast.
Suddenly turning around, the unicorn stallion calmly trotted towards Sombra, his expression reminding Agate of the many brave hunters and fighters that she knew over the years. Staring down nigh impossible odds and advancing anyway, the stallion knew exactly what would happen to him, and he also knew exactly what would happen to the others that Sombra was chasing if he did not do what he was about to do.
"No," Agate whispered, drawing on all the magic that she could.
The stallion was brave, but not terribly good. He only got one shot off before Sombra jumped him, and it didn't look like he managed to do even the slightest bit of harm to him anyway. Watching with her spirit sight, she saw Sombra beginning to overpower him, dark tendrils digging into the stallion's spirit. Gritting her beak tighter, she focused all of her magic into a single point, diving down straight towards Sombra's face and slicing through him while he was distracted.
"Graaah!"
The scream didn't even remotely sound like that of a pony's. It was bestial, twisted beyond recognition. Agate remembered her worries of forgetting how to talk or think if she spent too long of a time sleeping. It seemed that Sombra actually had that problem, all of the noises he made sounding more like a crazed, rabid animal rather than a thinking creature. And yet, despite all that, he still single-mindedly sought only the enslavement of her people. He truly was evil to the core.
The stallion immediately rolled away, jumping towards the shield. Agate was happy to see that his survival instincts still worked, though she hoped that she didn't just make things worse. She was able to see some kind of dark material around his horn, and she didn't forget Sombra's ability to enslave ponies. Then again, maybe he was now too insane to actually remember how to do that?
"Insolent... Bird....?"
Or perhaps he wasn't completely insane. Flapping and gaining altitude again, Agate circled around, and looked at Sombra. For his part, the shadow demon only seemed confused. It was quite clear that her attack was little more than a surprise sting to him, though he still tried to find his assailant. Amusingly, he seemed to have dismissed Agate as the potential source of the attack, turning his gaze away from her and looking around.
That worked just fine for Agate. Gaining more altitude, she kept watching Sombra, until he finally gave up and resumed bashing his head against the shield. She was really, really tempted to fly down and give a kick to his incorporeal butt, but that attack used up just about all of her magic reserves. Weighing her options, she decided to take one last look at the Empire, before returning to her companions.
Phasing through the shield, Agate smiled inside at the sight of the untainted and Sombra-free city. The group that she saw before were entering the Spire, so perhaps they were some kind of important ponies (and reptile) after all. Circling around the Spire one more time, she flew north once more.
It wasn't hard to find the ponies in the expanse of the snowy mountains. Landing in front of them, Agate flickered as she turned back into a pony, having trouble even maintaining her form. Freezing Point immediately reached towards her with her hooves, Agate waving her off.
"Don't bother. Save your strength. I'll be going back to my totem," Agate whispered.
"What happened?!" Shatterhoof shouted angrily.
"Freezing Point's hunch was right. Sombra, the demon, is back, and he's laying siege to the Empire. They're holding out for now, but I don't know if they can win or not," Agate explained quietly, their eyes going wide in alarm. "And don't bother galloping. You're still week's of travel away from the Empire."
"We will still go there as fast as we can. We will reinforce your people, Agate, or help them break free once more should we arrive too late," Trailblazer pledged.
"You have my spear," Ice Elation nodded.
"And my magic," Freezing point added.
"And my hooves!" Shatterhoof stomped.
"Thank you. Right now, though, I must return to my totem and replenish my strength. Keep moving towards the Empire. I might not come back for several days, or perhaps even longer. Spirits watch over you all," Agate nodded, collapsing into the form of a small bird and speeding away.
As always, going towards her totem was easier than travelling outwards. Using the pull, she yanked herself inside the totem almost instantly, her mind getting scrambled a bit from the sudden shift. Recollecting herself, she immediately got to work. Usually, she would have taken the time to just sleep and recover, but not this time. No, she needed power, and she was not in a waiting mood.
Humming to herself, Agate began a reaction in her totem. As she had taught hundreds of snowponies, the thing with crystals was, they were amazing stores of magic. However, by themselves, they couldn't do specific things - if you charged one up, it would just glow until the magic ran out, which was what they were used for back in the day. If you managed to figure out how to use the stored up magic in a ritual, or to power a ward or some such, you could get quite an extra kick out of your magic.
For Agate, the situation with her totem was even better. The magics inside it bound her very spirit to it, completely and irrevocably, until it was destroyed. On the surface, it seemed like some kind of terrible binding, but in reality, it was more like a length of rope thrown to a pony that was getting swept away by a river. She didn't want to get swept away yet, and she appreciated the rope very much. It restored her sight, gave her strength, and a place to rest.
And when the craftponies accidentally planted the seeds of what would become the crystalline totem that it eventually turned into, they had no idea what was going to happen. The sheer size of the crystal meant that it could hold tremendous amounts of power - the only downside being that it was all but useless if Agate moved sufficiently far away from it. But if she were to draw it into herself first...
It started slowly, Agate's gentle humming sending faint, completely unnoticeable vibrations through the crystal. As she kept it up, though, it began to resonate, the other crystals in the clearing vibrating as well. Bit by bit, it grew louder, and louder, and louder. And louder. Before long, the whole place was shaking, the weaker crystals in the clearing cracking and breaking to pieces.
*HUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM*
Stepping out of her totem, Agate bathed in the roiling energy. Disrupting the usually placid flow, she drank it all into herself, her form growing larger and brighter, while her totem dimmed, arcs of energy jumping between the points and into the spirit. Her eyes sparkling and her teeth turning sharper, the furious spirit's form became more indistinct, various features appearing and disappearing. Fangs and claws of a floewolf, proceeding to turn into the claws of a predatory avian, with teeth resembling that of a shark.
Noticing her lack of control, Agate clamped down on her anger, stabilizing herself once more into an equine form. She was still massive, though, which she only realized after what appeared to be some kind of small foal entered the clearing, only for her to recognize him as Inner Fire. The stallion gaped at her, and the devastation that she wrought to her clearing. The crystals were shattered, the totem was sparkling and crackling as it slowly cooled down, small cracks marring its surface. And Agate was standing in the middle of it all, looking mightily ticked off.
"Ancient one! What happened?!" He yelled up at her.
"Sombra," Agate growled. "The monster that enslaved my people is trying to do the same thing yet again. I am sorry, I have no time to talk. Be well, chieftain."
Without another word, Agate hugged herself, spreading her forelegs as wings a moment later. Giving a mighty flap, she blasted away from the clearing, with one, simple destination: south. Towards Dream Valley, the Empire, and the monster that was plaguing it.
❅ ❆ ❅
Agate didn't bother stopping by the group of adventurers this time. No, her entire attention was focused on retaining as much magic as she could, so that she could unleash it all towards one, specific target. Flapping her wings and narrowing her eyes, she bore down on the Empire with a thousand years of pent up grudge against the tyrant.
Once she was in sight of the Empire, she quickly took stock of the situation, which did not look very good. The entire shield around the Empire was surrounded by dark clouds and was flickering furiously, on the verge of giving out completely. She was tempted to scream out a challenge or something of the sort, but she was disciplined enough not to waste her energy and give herself away like that.
Instead, she focused her magic on her claws and dove, the same way she saw hundreds of predatory birds dive towards their prey over the years. Tearing through Sombra's shadowy form once more, she immediately flew away, gaining altitude and aiming for another pass.
"GRAAAAAARH!"
Unfortunately, it seemed that the effort put into breaking the shield somehow didn't make Sombra tired at all. In fact, his roar of outrage sounded even more powerful this time. Reforming himself, the shadow tyrant looked around again, though he neglected to look upwards. Using the opportunity, Agate dove once more, slamming into him and flattening him into a smoky puddle. Even if she wasn't hurting him much, punching him in the face was immensely satisfying.
Taking a moment to look around before taking off again, Agate saw the likely source of extra power. While the shield was active, Sombra's dark crystals were already spreading inside of it, somehow. The normal crystals inside were slowly getting overtaken by his dark magic, the power in them doubtless answering to the evil unicorn. Assuming that he managed to somehow punch a hole in the shield, Agate flapped away, trying to think of a way to cause more damage.
Sombra tried to capture her this time, but it did not work for him. She was too fast and nimble, and her own power sliced through his. It did not come without a cost, though. With each pass, Agate's reserves diminished, while Sombra was, at best, remaining the same, at worst - growing stronger anyway, if a bit slower due to Agate's distractions.
Agate kept thinking about a better way to do this, but unfortunately, even her ancient wisdom did not present any solutions to this problem. As Sombra roared once more, she tried to focus her magic into as small of an area as possible, her overly large avian form shrinking down into something that more closely resembled her usual bird forms, though she glowed far brighter than normal.
"What... Creature..." Sombra hissed, the glow not going unnoticed.
"Die," Agate whispered quietly, diving at him again.
He growled as she hurt him again, but this was clearly a losing battle. She was trying to overpower him, and in the brute force department, he clearly had the upper hoof. And, as many various hunters told her over the years, trying to one-up a creature where they were the strongest was not how you fought foes if you wanted to win. You did not go to wrestle a bear. You did not dive into the water to fight an akhlut. You did not get into hoof-to-hoof combat range with a yeti. You did not go against a pack of wolves alone. You did not fight a floewolf in an open plain, with no obstacles to dive behind.
Briefly disengaging, Agate dove through the shield to see what was happening inside. Looking around, she saw a large number of ponies gathering around the base of the Spire. Winging her way over and landing on a nearby roof, she saw a couple of the foreign ponies talking to the gathered crowd.
One of them was doing some kind of performance, though it didn't seem to be going all that well for her. Losing her balance, the flugelhorns she was juggling fell on her head, while the ball she was standing on bounced off a cloth covering that was draped over...
"That's not the Crystal Heart," A confused stallion said, when some kind of cheap knockoff fell from under the cover.
"But then... What's casting the shield?" Agate thought in confusion.
"Well, of course it's not. The real one is... On its way!" The two foreigners spoke over each other, looking rather unconvinced of their own words.
Agate was old, and she could see when a foal was lying. Adults were harder, but over the years, she got pretty good at reading them, too. And those two? Probably couldn't lie to a foal. They clearly didn't have the Heart, but they were still stalling for time, for... Some reason. Were they trying to find it? If Sombra stole it the last time and they banished him, but haven't managed to find it themselves yet...
Furtively glancing around, Agate sighed. Obviously, no Heart appeared anywhere in her vision, and she didn't have even the faintest idea of where to look. All she could hope for was that the ponies that were looking for it would actually come through. It looked like there really was only one thing she could do. Flapping her wings, she took off, aiming for Sombra again.
"Brute force and stalling for time it is, then," She thought, diving at the shadowy form.
They danced that dance for some time. Agate would dive at him, and Sombra would get furious at the sudden pain, gnashing and wailing at the insolent spirit while she sped away. He tried to swat her and chase her down again, but once he saw that she was too fast, he gave up and went back to destroying the shield. Afterwards, no matter what she tried, he would not wander far from the shield's edge, always returning to working his dark magic on it with a growl. Eventually, her power was all but gone, and she could do nothing but circle in the air and watch.
"Come on... Someone has to do something..." Agate whispered once the shield broke down completely, Sombra surging forward with a victorious growl.
"My crystal slavessss..." He hissed, making Agate cry out in anger.
She dived at him one last time, though it was all in vain. Her ethereal form simply bounced off of him, Sombra not even noticing her attack this time. Her vision swimming, Agate fell into a house nearby, her thoughts muddled. Shaking her head, she reformed her blurry form, noticing that everything grew much larger for some reason.
Looking at her reflection on a crystal wall, she saw that she was back in the same body she was in a thousand years ago - one of a lost and scared filly, helpless against the shadow monster that stole her home from her. Sighing, Agate hung her head, despondently looking through the window as the Empire was once more covered by Sombra's dark crystals from top to bottom.
"Ag... ate?" Someone softly called from behind her, making the spirit whirl around in surprise.
"Who..? You look familiar..." Agate trailed off, looking at a filly that was hiding under her bed.
"You... You don't remember me? It's me, Agate. Sugarberry. Your... Friend?" The filly spoke slowly, her eyes wide. "Why are you transparent? Are you some dark magic illusion here to scare me?"
"Sugar... Sugarberry..." Agate spoke just as slowly, as the familiar name bounced around in her head. "No, Sugary, I'm not an illusion. I'm a ghost," She smiled wanly, using an old nickname for her friend.
"G-g-g-ghost?!" The filly squeaked, shrinking down even further.
"Sorry, Sugary," The spirit shrugged. "I am. I'm not a mean ghost, though, I promise. But I can see that you're very scared right now. I'll leave. I suppose I need to leave the Empire anyway. Think about what to tell the tribes in regards to bringing their warriors and shamares here."
Before the confused filly could say anything, Agate casually jumped out of the second-story window, landing in the street. She shot one last angry look towards Sombra, who was standing on a large spike of dark crystal and growling at a curious pink pega- no, flying uni- no, alicorn, who was carrying a glowing piece of crystal in her magical grip.
"Is that the Crystal Heart?!"
Agate got her answer when the dull crystal road under her hooves began to shine, power coursing through the Empire's veins once more. It pulsed and rushed towards the middle, the Crystal Hear beginning to glow with the combined magic of the Empire's citizens. Then, it rushed outwards once again, in a wave of magic that made Agate grin so wide, her face almost split in half.
"NO! NOOOOOOOOOO!" Sombra roared, but it was too late. The Heart's power flowed into him, but it did not empower him. Cracks began to appear on his body, and moments later, he was blown to smithereens.
There was a lot of noise. Yells, the hum of magic, angry roars, the sound of a monster exploding, and so on. While the place Agate landed in was mostly abandoned, the hubbub probably still was the only reason no one heard Agate's shouts as she screamed her joy out into the heavens.
"BURN, ABOMINATION! BURNNN!!! AHAHAHAHAHAH!"
When all the noise abated a few moments later, a little crystal filly carefully poked her muzzle outside from the second story window to look around, but the street was deserted. There were no ponies, living or dead, anywhere in sight.
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I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE!
I'M FUCKING SHAKING! I'VE BEEN SO EXCITED FOR THIS!
11854600
No regrets?
11854669
Nah, feels good to put this out so fast. Makes up for the previous times where I wasn't able to update for months.
11854678
👌Nice
Question...I might just be remembering wrong, but nopony can touch a spirit, can they? I wouldn't think Freezing Point could, even as a shamare.
11854722
Nope, shamares can especially. You might recall Tundersnow wrestling with a floewolf's spirit back in the spirit war using her hooves, before she beat the tar out of it with a magical club. Specially enchanted weapons are usually needed to affect a spirit, but ponies still can touch them, though applying more than a light touch would just make your limbs pass through, unless you're a shamare that's knowledgeable enough.
I feel... very disappointed. This was basically a canon repeat.
11854735
So it was. And my original idea didn't even involve her meeting Sombra at all, only arriving too late and missing the whole thing completely, later complaining to her family that she wanted to punch Sombra in the face.
When I started reading your story, I thought it would end badly for Agate. For example, Sombra will kill her somehow. I'm happy because this don't happen!
I really enjoyed this chapter, i really hope agate will get to meet her parents again.
I have also really enjoyed this story, its been a unique experince and am excited to see how it continues.
I wonder how long Agate will stick around. I still think it would be cool for her to get a new body somehow. Thundersnow being reincarnated leaves the door for possibility open.
11854887
Agate might stick around for a bit. I get the feeling in this setting, the afterlife is reincarnation. Maybe after some rest period in the spirit world. Or maybe like the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Either way, like with Thundersnow, reincarnated Agate both is and isn't Agate
I know the story will likely conclude soon, but this next part I very much look forward to. The swapping of stories, meeting of cultures, etc. It will all be very interesting.
11854746
I mean, thanks for clarifying but still a let-down.
11854944
I already established that the snowponies live quite a distance away from the Empire, so it wasn't hard to guess that they wouldn't be able to interfere in any way when the entire thing seemed to take less than a week in canon (Guard shows up to inform Celestia - Celestia sends Cadence and Shining Armor - Celestia sends Twilight after them - boom, Empire is saved.)
Rewriting canon was never a part of this story's goal, and when you're tweaking canon, in my opinion, you either go big or go home. Changing it up just a little when the end outcome is the same seems pointless, and there was no real way to justify some kind of months-long guerilla war against Sombra where snowponies ride in to save the day without rewriting the entire history of Equestria in another 400k word length story.
Which, again, was not my intention. My intention was to write the snowponies into the world. This was always a "foreign cultures meet up" story, not a "superheroes team up and beat the crap out of a villain" story. Sombra? Yes, important to Agate. To the story? He's a background event that spurred the meeting with the snowponies and their reconnection with the rest of their distant kin. An afterthought, given everything else that happened in the story. Nothing more, nothing less. As
11854935
Said, THIS is where the fun begins. Not Sombra's defeat, no. The climax of the story is the eventual meeting of the snowponies and the Crystal Empire/Equestria, not Agate stomping Sombra in front of the entire Empire.
Aside from the rather silly reference I too was expecting something to change from Canon. Let's be honest, in Canon, The Crystal Empire is a day trip from Ponyville, while Canterlot can either be a few hours or overnight. I am a world-building nerd, so I always enjoy when writers expand or explain stuff like this. I'm not saying you had to massively rewrite Equestria from the ground up, but maybe Freezing Point could have gasped in horror when Sombra's fel aura brushed against her spirit sight or something along those lines, the Snow pones don't have to "save the day" but copy/pasting canon is "aw man".
Just to be clear this is NOT an attack on you or your work.
I look forward to the fireworks of meeting one's long dead daughter's ghost is almost certainly going to set off. Not to mention all the changes in the world given the 1000 and however many years between Agate's old life and now.
Trains, Canterlot, NMM, and the ever curious Twilight and Co. Twilight meeting a whole new tribe AND an honest to Celestia Spirit (one that's not trying to kill her anyway) is rife with adorkable shenanigan material.
Ooh, and Pinkie being sad about Agate's young death and trying to celebrate 1000+ missed birthdays Faust have mercy on poor Agate
That's got to be some grade A catharsis she is feeling.
Yes! Finally the return of Sombra! I’ve been looking forward to this for so long (has it been years yet?).
11854962
Ah, I see exactly what you mean. While it certainly would have felt very cathartic to have Agate go absolutely ham on Sombra with spirit magic stuff, that is not and has not ever been the flow of this story.
This is a tale of the snow ponies, of an entirely new culture built into the Equestrian world. We have followed Agate as she discovered and navigated a foreign way of life, and now we are almost to the true climax of such a story; that very same, no-longer-quite-so-foreign culture meeting what we already knew and loved.
Honestly, I cannot wait to see how Agate proceeds with introducing herself to the Equestrians and reuniting with the Crystalians. Her role as interpreter for the snowponies will be quite a fun storyline as well.
With all that being said, I do believe this story has now earned its place in the top five greatest stories I have ever read on this site! And just so you know, I have read thousands of works here on FIMfiction. If you are interested in the other four, they are in my public bookshelf “Legendary”, which I have attempted to link.
Truly an amazing piece of work. Thank you so much!
huh, discord vibes (since he is the Spirit of chaos)
Woah, just holy hell that was awesome. Been waiting to see this for a good while and you didn't disappoint. Agate stalled for time, remaining a background pony, yet still believably contributing to events.
And I felt relief when she punched Sombra in theface. Shows how good you are at this when a person can really get engaged like that.
11864730
Duality of man. Some people liked it, some didn't. Glad you enjoyed it either way.