Season 1 Episode 2: Friendship is Magic - Part 2
“Princess!” Sunburst exclaimed. He and Ember (plus the other five stallions that insisted on being his friends) had rushed into the Palace’s throne room where Princess Cadance sat on the throne with her bandaged head bowed. Her left wing was in a splint and beige plasters adorned her front legs. A handmaid had just taken off her temporary neck cast.
“No slouching!” warned the handmaid.
Cadance, surprised, opened her eyes and heeded for a moment or so until the mare was gone. Once she was, she started slouching again. Bags formed under her eyes; she must have been exhausted, as her lit up horn was keeping the forcefield around the whole Empire solid.
“I should have done this sooner,” she said guiltily and a little hoarsely, looking up at the six stallions and baby dragon before her, “it was my indolence that caused Sombra’s quick return.”
“Don’t say that!” said Shining Armor nobly, taking a few steps forth. He wore his newly given Crystal Guard armour, all apart from the helmet, which Soarin (who was mid-flight) held. “Your majesty-”
“Please, Shining,” Cadance barely smiled, “call me Cadance.”
Shining’s blanch coat was useless for suppressing his sudden blush (and the girly grin that accompanied it), albeit he tried. “Cadance,” he said, rubbing the back of his head, which caused a couple of chuckles from the others’ (minus Sunburst and Big Mac’s) behalves, “Nopony could have anticipated Sombra’s return. Not even Discord himself could’ve-”
“Oh, but we did,” she said, sighing. “The Empire actually returned three whole moons ago. You see, it is believed that before their extinction, shadow ponies and crystal ponies didn’t get along. Shadow ponies were enamored by the crystals, whereas the crystal ponies feared the darkness that the shadow ponies brought to survive.”
“Why did shadow ponies go extin- oww!” Big McIntosh had elbowed Zephyr Breeze in the side. “What?”
“Nopony talks about that,” clarified the red farmpony adamantly. “’specially the royal-likes.”
“No, it’s quite alright, Big Mac,” came the response from the exhausted alicorn; “Daybreaker’s eternal day was the cause. Shadow ponies need darkness to live and without it... brought their extinction.”
“So, about the Empire?” Ember asked, rather rudely.
Princess Cadance opened her eyes from her drowsiness and yawned, her horn flickering for just a moment. “Huh? Oh. As Sombra is a shadow pony, the darkness that was brought to the land over a thousand moons ago to battle the light in an effort to weigh out the Scales of Harmony returned after Daybreaker’s defeat to corrupt him, feeding off his species’ instinct of crystal-induced greed.” Despite her tiredness, the alicorn had spoken extremely quickly. So much so, that even Cheese was impressed.
“Woah,” he smiled, “that was fast! And... a lot of information! Whoo.”
“My apologies, Princess,” Sunburst frowned, “we’re more than aware of your valiant efforts, but could you please try to slow down... just a little?”
Princess Cadance nodded fairly, her eyes half-lidded. “So,” she said, adjusting her talking speed, “three moons ago, I recruited the same ponies that Sombra did to take down Daybreaker. Two unicorns, two pegasi, and two earth ponies.”
“My sister!” Big McIntosh, Shining Armor, and Zephyr Breeze said proudly, all in unison. “Huh?”
“Yes.” Cadance assented. “Twilight Sparkle, who earned her wings through figuring out how to cast Sombra’s banishment, and her best friends: Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.”
“You mean the Applejack setting up the apple stalls in the town square?” Sunburst was wide eyed, and so was Ember.
“Eeyup!” smiled Big Mac.
“Yes, well,” Cadance gave a petite, momentary smile, “they’re all very humble.”
“You don’t say.” mumbled the orange and white unicorn.
“We used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Sombra. After that, Discord was advised to cover the return of the Crystal Empire up, and with his magic he draped it in an invisible cloak to stop the publicity. He only revealed it now because he-” she paused, gasping, “the Crystal Faire! You stallions have to keep the Faire going to distract the crystal ponies from Sombra’s return!”
“Don’t worry, Princess,” Soarin put Shining Armor’s helmet back on its owner’s head as the unicorn saluted, “we’ll make sure of it.”
Ember and five out of the six stallions ran to the exit. Once they were gone, Sunburst turned his head back to Princess Cadance after taking his first few steps to follow. “Are the Elements of Harmony still with the Six Saviours?”
“When Sombra returned today, he told me that he’s aware of the broken link between them and the Six. After all, he is the one who banded them together, he said. Here.” She used her magic to pass him a receipt.
“The Crystal Library?” Sunburst read after taking the piece of paper in his own golden aura. “The Elements of Harmony? The History of the Crystal Empire?”
Cadance nodded. “I trust you know what you’re supposed to, Sunburst.” The unicorn nodded determinedly in return. “Sombra said that he hid the Elements. Please, find them. Do what you must to ensure their safety.”
“Will do, Princess,” and with that, he departed.
“Gah,” Sunburst walked, his nose stuck in one of the two books he had retrieved from the Crystal Library. “After conversing with an extremely clueless librarian, I finally got them!”
“Got what?” The six other members of Sunburst’s entourage all turned. Soarin had spoken, and he had walked right into Shining Armor’s haunches, which both made the orange unicorn look over the top of his book in surprise.
“Ah!” He jumped back. “You- you guys are everywhere!”
“Weren’t you just talking to... us?” Shining queried.
“No- I- uh, nevermind!”
“So, uh,” Zephyr frowned, “whatcha got there, Cloaky?”
“The History of the Crystal Empire!” Sunburst closed his book to present the cover - leatherbound with a cluster of lavender crystals illustrated - to them in a pose where one foreleg was listed and his eyes closed. “Annnd...” in his magic he presented the other, pulling it out from the saddlebags already full of books under his cloak. “Ta-da!”
“The Elements of Harmony?” Big McIntosh squinted, reading with some hesitation and struggle, over-pronouncing robotically here and there. Sunburst instantly presumed he read very little very rarely. “What in tarnation?”
“What Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends used to defeat Sombra!” Sunburst proclaimed. “Princess Cadance told me to pick them up! She said she ‘trusts I know what to do’.”
“So? What does it say?”
Sunburst cleared his throat. “‘As established by their first ruler, Princess Platinum, the Crystal Faire soon became an annual tradition. The crystal ponies were ecstatic, and the Faire was held every year to renew the spirit of love and unity in the Empire so that they shall be protected from harm’.”
“Well, you can’t spell harmony without any harm!” Cheese Sandwich decreed joyously, throwing his forehooves in the air. “What does the other book say, Strange?”
Sunburst chose to ignore that. “‘It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now-’”
“The Everfree Forest!” exclaimed all but Cheese Sandwich and Ember.
“Where in the who-now?” asked the latter obliviously, one brow quirked.
“How do you guys know what the Everfree Forest is?” Sunburst frowned.
“It’s a horrible forest just on the outskirts of Ponyville,” Zephyr sputtered, biting one of his front hooves nervously. “My sister lives right next to the stuff! It’s positively horrid, Sunshoes! Absolutely vile!” The pegasus had turned his head away and draped his previously lifted forelef over his closed eyes.
“It doesn’t listen to any magic that unicorns use,” added Soarin.
“Or earth ponies!” chimed in Big McIntosh.
“The weather doesn’t work the same there as it does all over Equestria,” Shining Armor added diligently.
“Hm,” Sunburst scanned over the next few pages of the book on the Elements. “..Six elements, but only five are known... This book seriously needs to be updated.” He replaced it back in his saddlebags.
“Back to square one?” asked the other unicorn.
“Back to square one.” he sighed, nodding.
“Well,” Soarin piped up, wearing an uncharacteristic frown, “what about the Crystal Faire? Can’t we at least try to do that for the Princess?”
“We can put it together,” Sunburst said, “word for word! I know that’s what we all came here for, but there’s a few things in here that isn’t quiiite on the list.” The others smiled in turn. “Everything we need to know is in the book!”
“That sounds pretty promising!” Shining smiled, before Princess Cadance on the Palace’s balcony caught his eye. He frowned, the glint-marks in his eyes swelling as he frowned. Cadance looked absolutely exhausted; even though it had just been a mere twenty minutes after their earlier talk, she had worsened direly. “The Princess...”
The others of the herd followed his gaze, and their respective smiles also all dropped. “Then we’ll get started right away!” decreed Sunburst, his glasses sliding down his striped nose. His acquaintances all murmured in confirmation.
From the balcony, Princess Cadance nodded at the young scholar. That small gesture was enough to fill him with enough confidence to smile and readjust his glasses.
“Then let’s go!” The orange unicorn placed Ember on his back. He opened the book again and turned. With the others behind him, he started to canter. “Princess Cadance needs my help,” he sang; “Her magic will not last forever. I think I can do iiiit...”
“But we HAVE to work together!” retorted the others in song.
“We have to get this right,” Cheese Sandwich and Shining Armor started, either side of the orange unicorn.
“Yes, we have to make them see,” Soarin and Zephyr were next, flying above Sunburst’s head.
“We can save the Crystal Ponies with their historyyy!” The five stallions encouraged, before SHining Armor took The History of the Crystal Empire from Sunburst’s magical hold.
“It says that they liked jousting,” the white unicorn started on his own with rubato, presenting a page with a pony in gleaming armor with a jousting pole on their side.
“They flew a flag of many hues!” exclaimed Zephyr as Shining flipped to the next page, where a purple flag was drawn.
“Made sweets of crystal berries,” Soarin added.
“They had a petting zoo with tiny ewes,” Big McIntosh’s sudden bass was a great shift in tempo.
The red earth pony was followed by all but Ember (who thought that singing was lame), and Sunburst. “Oh, we have to get this right- yes, we have to make them seeee...”
“That I can save the Crystal Ponies with their historyyy!” Sunburst trotted ahead of the herd, who all groaned at his unchanged mindset.
“We have to do this together,” Shining called.
“No, we don’t,” argued the smaller unicorn defiantly, before resuming his canter. Once he realised that the others were following, he started a sprint, which they copied the pace of.
“There was a crystal flugelhorn,” Cheese Sandwich hopping forth merrily, as opposed to running. In his forelegs he showed a page of the book where a trumpet-like object was drawn in flashy blue and purple. “That every pony liked to play! And the Crystal Kingdom anthem, can ya learn it in a day?” the question was directed at Sunburst. “Huh? Huh? Can ya, Sunny? Can ya?”
Even through his annoyance, the unicorn couldn’t help but smile a little. “Oh, we have to get this right-”
The others all smiled, before the six finally sang together. They now stood in a circle, a forehoof each in the air. “Yes, we have to make them see, we can save the Crystal Ponies with their historyyy!”
“It looks amazing,” Sunburst commented, pacing with a smile on his lips as he inspected his surroundings. The decorations had doubled, and a few more stalls had been put up.
The Apple family have taken to picking Crystal Berries especially, and started fixing them into new batches of desserts as opposed to apples. Soarin had strewn balloons around the place, and Zephyr had offered to try his hand at basket weaving. Cheese Sandwich had also keenly set up a flugelhorn display.
“I don’t know how I could have done this all by myself.”
“You’re welcome,” Zephyr said in a singsong voice. Big Mac was much more humble than the other four.
“Just one more check, and I-” as Sunburst prepared to walk away from the group, Soarin asked a question.
“What’s, uh, this thing for, dude? It isn’t even crystal.” He was flying over a chipped and roughly-cut turquoise sculpture of a heart on a podium, pointing at it with one hoof, a quizzical expression drawn on his face.
“The last page of the book stated that the Faire had a heart-shaped ornament as it’s, uh, centre- centipede- err, uh! Centrepiece.” He fixed the position of his glasses. “So I used my magic to cut one out of a turquoise block!”
“Then, I think we’re ready to get this Fair up and running, guys.” Shining Armor smiled. “We did it!”
One the Palace balcony, Princess Cadance with her horn still alight stood with Sunburst and Shining Armor either side of her. To grab hold of the attention of the ponies below, Cheese Sandwich stood next to the double doors and blew on his flugelhorn. A sharp, off-key sound emitted, but it did the trick all the same.
“Hear ye, hear ye,” called the Princess to the crystal subjects below. “I, Princess Cadance, declare at last that the Crystal Faire is finally open!”
Almost immediately, changes in the crystal ponies were seen. They now stood upright and their manes lacked wilt; their colouredbecame vivid, and they all wore smiles on their faces. Seeing this, Shining Armor, Sunburst, and Cheese Sandwich all hoof-bumped.
“Come on in y’all,” Applejack called to the gathering of crystal ponies with Big McIntosh by her side; the two started walking with the small crystal herd behind them: “we got food ’n’ drinks that a’way, and their crystal berry variants over ahhh, that way. Eheh.” She gave a small laugh. “Then, games ’n’ crafts are a’that way, and the Crystal Heart’s that way over by th’ Princess!”
At this, the crystal ponies began a wave of whispers and mutterings. “Did she say... Crystal Heart?” They all smiled and dispersed towards different stalls.
“Hey!” Soarin chased down a pink crystal mare by flight. “Gotta be feeling a bunch of unity and stuff right about now, right?”
She gasped and flinched. “Oh! Um... do they really have the Crystal Heart?”
“Why of course they do!” He grabbed a pie from one of the wagons and licked his lips. “Can’t have a Crystal Faire without a Crystal Heart, right?”
The mare lit up, her eyes twinkling and her mane lifting into a much more kempt style. “Oh! I’m so excited!” She trotted on the spot before rushing off.
At that, Soarin readied to tuck into the pie he held, but Big McIntosh snatched it off of him with a disapproving countenance and shake of his head. “Nnnope!”
“Aww!” the pegasus complained. “Just one? One bite? Pleeease, Big Mac? I’m so hungry, dude!” At that, his stomach gave a sympathetic rumble.
Big Mac looked around, before sighing and handing the pie back to his winged friend. “Fine. Just one.”
“The Crystal Heart, did you say?” an old crystal mare appeared with round, thick spectacles on her nose. She was wilted, with her mane and tail in a bun each, and three balloons in her forehoof. “The whole purpose of the Crystal Faire is to lift the spirits of the crystal ponies, so that the lights within them can power the Crystal Heart, so that the Crystal Empire can be protected!” Her voice had sped up as she had gone along, and her face lit up, and in a white flash her colours were bright and full, with her mane bouncing once again. “I do work at a library!”
“Uhhh...” Soarin and Big Mac shared a look.
Shining Armor passed the old mare to reach his friends. “What was that, ma’am? A-About powering the heart?”
“Ooh!” Soarin grinned. “How’s it goin’, lover-boy? Fallen even more in love with ‘Cadance’ yet?” The way he said her name was all mushy-like.
Shining growled.
“I just can’t believe you found it!” the old librarian beamed. “King Sombra said that he had hidden it away, where we would never see it ever again! I only hope it’ll be just as powerful after all these years! Mm!” she started pottering off towards a stall at the end of the street. “Pie!”
“I know! It’s delicious!” said Soarin, clueless, as he bit into his own.
“Soarin!” exclaimed Big Mac. “You gotta tell Sunburst that the Heart he crafted ain’t the Heart in that darn book of his!”
The pegasus halted. “Oh...” he went rigid, before throwing his pie into the air and swallowing it whole, because dagnabbit, this is a kids’ show with cartoon-logic laced into its plot! “See ya!” That said, be flew off into the direction of the castle.
Participants of the Faire all gasped and jumped out of Soarin’s way as he flew as fast as his wings could take him. He whizzed to the top of the Crystal Palace, snatched the purple flag, and raced to the fake Heart to cover it, knocking over Sunburst (who was engulfed in one of his books) in the process.
“Hey!” Sunburst got up. “What gives, Soarin?”
The pegasus was sweating and wheezing. “Ah! Hah... Sun...burst! Heart... fake!”
The unicorn couldn’t have been less amused. “From the, uh, beginning?”
Soarin nodded, calming down. “I think we may have a problem.”
“Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no!” he nibbled one of his hooves and started to pace. “What? What? No, don’t tell me! What?”
“The Crystal Heart’s real,” gulped the much less frayed blue pegasus, who was still wheezing from his race to get here. “It’s a magic-thingy!”
“Sunburst!” A voice came from the Crystal Palace. It was Princess Cadance.
Sunburst dropped to the floor in panic, scrunching his body up. He was on his front with his forelegs over his head. “Oh no.”
The six stallions had been herded up into the throne room before the Princess, with Sunburst in the front. “Your majesty, I had no idea the Crystal Heart was a relic, I’m so, so sorry! There was a page missing! Princess, I fai-”
“The manestylist’s gone missing!” Cadance interrupted Sunburt’s bow. “She was meant to do my hair for the Faire! But she’s nowhere to be seen!”
“She?” Sunburst shot a look towards Zephyr Breeze, who gulped. “Zeph, I thought you said you were the manestylist!”
“Heh, well I may have told an eensy-weensy little... uh...” Zephyr backed up as the other five all looked at him, all vexed. Sunburst and Shining Armor more so than the others.
“You style manes?” Cadance asked, making the others stop their disapproving gazes, and stepped forth.
“Uh...” he cleared his throat from the high pitch he was using; “I’mjustanameteur!”
His friends (and Sunburst, who was yet to include himself in the friend-group as of yet) all groaned, strengthening Zephyr’s nerves.
“It’s worth a shot,” the Princess rasped, handing him an open book. “Do you think you could do... that?”
“It’s... complicated.” He frowned. “But I can try! For a pony like me, with many talents can-”
“Do you really think now’s the time to put yourself on a throne?” Soarin asked blatantly.
“On a- that’s it!” proclaimed Sunburst.
Princess Cadance jumped, and her horn flickered.
On the border of the Empire, Sombra in his cloud of shadow prepared to barge through the flickering forcefield, but it replenished, and the tip of his blood horn was severed. It sank into the ground with a horrific slide-like audio, like that of a pitched down kazoo’s diminuendo.
“What’s it?” Shining Armor quirked a brow.
“Huh? O-Oh,” Sunburst turned his back on the throne, facing the group again. “Nothing yet. Don’t worry. Okay, everypony! I think I have a plan.”
“Wasn’t that just it?” Zephyr Breeze responded.
“No.” The unicorn stepped forward. “Soarin, Big Mac and Cheese Sandwich, do whatever you can to distract the crystal ponies. We’ll call you if we need you.” The three nodded. “Shining and I will look around the Palace for anything that might be out of place.”
Cadance let out a small cry, falling onto her front. Shining helped her up and the magic around her horn stopped its flickering. “I’m fine, Shining Armor.” said the Princess. “But thank you.” She gave a small, weakened smile.
“We have to find the Crystal Heart.” said the white unicorn to Sunburst, vengefully.
“That’s what I’m hoping,” Sunburst nodded, his half-beard jiggling as he did so. “Zephyr, you’re going to do the Princess’ hair.”
The named pegasus’ wings flared out, and he put a front hoof to his chest before gulping. “Let’s just hope I’m better at doing hair than weaving baskets.”
That said, Soarin, Big Mac, and Cheese Sandwich started for the exit. The yellow earth pony smiled. “Don’t worry, Zeph, Boneless’ll be here to keep ya sane! Isn’t that right, Boneless?” He plopped the rubber chicken into Zephyr’s forelegs before departing. “Good luck, guys! You might really need it!”
“Thanks, Cheese,” Sunburst said, now much nervous than what he was before.
“Where’s the, er, spa, Princess? Heh, heh...”
“This way, Zephyr,” Cadance led him out of the throne room.
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Who wants a flugelhorn?” Soarin called.
“I want a flugelhorn!” Cheese Sandwich retorted.
“Who else wants a flugelhorn?”
“I wanna flugelhorn!”
Soarin and Big McIntosh both sighed.
“So,” Shining Armor said, levitating three or four dozen open books and moving them like they were on a conveyor belt, and checking through all of their pages as they went by, “what gives with this whole search around the castle?”
“This is Sombra we’re talking about, right?” Sunburst emerged from checking his ninth aisle thoroughly. The two were in the Palace’s library. It wasn’t as impressive as the one open for the Empire’s public, but it was still as impressive. “The unicorn who banded together six of the most amazing ponies ever to live?”
“Uh-huh, yeah.” Shining nodded passively. “My sister and her friends. How could I not know that?”
“Well,” Sunburst started his tenth aisle as he spoke, raising his voice by a few decibels, “seeing as we know about his strategic thinking, when Soarin asked Zephyr if it was the right time to put himself on a throne, it simply just clicked that Sombra would have been counting on the crystal ponies never even attempting to search for the Heart in the Palace; they would have been too afraid to even try.”
“And what about the Elements?”
“The Heart is a magical artefact of love and light, so surely he would have done the same for the Elements of Harmony,” it sounded more like a question than a statement or theory.
“I hope you’re right, Sunburst,” said the larger unicorn, “it’s the only shot we’ve got.”
A loud crack of lightning came from outside from an invisible force. The two stallions raced to the window to watch in shock and horror as, on the south edge of the Empire as black crystal rose from the ground. As it rose, black, lime, and purple bubbles surrounded it.
“That looks like the magic that Sombra was using!” gasped Sunburst. “I’ve got to tell Princess Cadance! Check on the crystal ponies! I’ll continue the search!”
The orange unicorn raced to the spa (after walking into several rooms that wasn’t where he wished to go) and called for Cadance by her title the second he opened the door. Sunburst froze. Zephyr Breeze was racing around the room at breakneck speeds with his mane loose from his bun. His hair now made earlier’s cleaner variant seem like that of the most well-groomed pony’s in all of Equestria. For whatever’s sake, there were twigs and leaves in his mane. Where had they even come from?
“Uhh,” Sunburst was at a loss for words, “Zephyr? I-Is that you?”
“C’mon!” Shining Armor started pushing Big McIntosh towards the jousting arena with his head up his rump.
“Ah’ though y’all were searchin’ ’round the castle! Ah’-”
“A black crystal appeared at the end of the Empire. Sunburst wants me to distract the crystal ponies with you guys! So, c’mon! We’re going jousting!”
“But ah’-”
“You what? You’re the strongest stallion I know, knight Mac!” All Big Mac could do was gulp.
“I can’t wait to see the Crystal Heart!” a blue crystal mare exclaimed; Cheese Sandwich in response jumped up, and started pushing her away from the covered sculpture. “May I just...”
“No! No! You - uh - can’t! Better save all the energy ya got when you, er, charge... it!” the yellow earth pony gave a nervous laugh, and the mare huffed and walked off.
“Right,” muttered the mare as she left, “have it... your way.”
Cheese sighed and wiped his brow. “Boneless’ll be real proud o’ me.” He said, before pulling out his flugelhorn and accordion. “Better keep these ponies entertained!” With that, he lifted himself to his hind legs and started multitasking with both instruments.
Zephyr Breeze panted as he rushed around the spa room. He lathered water and shampoo into Princess Cadance’s mane before muttering to himself in the third person as he searched for something else.
“Zephyr? Zephyr!” Sunburst exclaimed, entering the room.
“Can’t talk!” came the busied response. “Hair ties! Hair ties! Where are the--”
Sunburst levitated some black hair ties over to the frantic pegasus, who froze and stared at them. “Why, thanks, Sunburst!” He beamed. “This is really helpful!” His bright smile turned into a bitter, stressed scowl as he whacked the hair ties out of the air and onto the crystal floor. “IF I NEEDED HAIR TIES!”
Sunburst frowned, “But you just said-”
Zephyr whipped around to Boneless, who slouched in a white quartz table-chair. “Stop judging me!” He shook the rubber chicken around, as if interrogating him for answers, before sitting him back on the chair. Zephyr turned again, and smiled. “Ah! Here are the hair ties!” He lifted a tray of hair ties that matched the colours of Cadance’s tricolour mane. “Black would just stick out! No professional manestylist would ever, ever use black hair ties on such beautiful hair. Is he crazy or what?” The pegasus turned his head to Boneless, before feigning an incredulous, wheezy laugh. “Get a load of him, huh?”
Zephyr put Cadance’s deep-mane-clean on hold and grabbed a pair of scissors. He shook violently, each tremor a strong sign of his nerves. He cut a part of Princess Cadance’s mane, and then froze. “Oh no,” he squeaked, muffled by the tool between his teeth.
“Ember’s on market duty, Cheese’s looking after the Heart, and Shining and Big Mac are jousting,” Soarin said, entering through the open doorway of the balcony. “The crystal ponies are all watch...ing.” He paused, watching Zephyr’s panic with an agape expression. “What happened here?”
“I think he’s cracked,” said Sunburst in complete honesty. “Well, for a while, now, really.”
“I can’t do this,” Zephyr whimpered, dropping the scissors onto the floor with a loud clunk, “I can’t DO this!”
“Zephyr...” rasped the Princess, but he didn’t seem to have heard her.
“ZEPHYR!” yelled Soarin. The gangly pegasus halted at this, and his friend landed to place a forehoof on one of his high, slumped shoulders. “You got this, buddy.”
“But, I just-”
“If anyone can do it, it’s you. You’re the best manestylist I know!”
“But I flunked out!” Zephyr wailed. “The only thing I’ve ever not given up on was brushin’ my teeth when I got braces!”
Soarin smiled, barely stifling a laugh. “You’re really smart, Zeph!” A small pink hue spread to his cheeks. “And ya have an eye for this sorta thing! Dude, anything you put your mind to you can do!”
“You... really mean it?”
“Yes, Ze,” the blue pegasus’ smile turned a little dopey. “I mean it.”
“What if I fail, Soar? I-I- I already-”
“You won’t! Trust yourself, Ze!”
A determination that wasn’t foreign to Zephyr took hold, only this time, he planned on succeeding, as opposed to simply finding something petty as a reason to give up. He turned towards where Cadance was placed, and picked up the scissors again.
Then, he did something unexpected: he quickly turned his head and cut off his tail.
His long, wavy, creamy-yellow tail.
Soarin and Sunburt’s jaws dropped. They almost unhinged themselves and fell to the ground. Almost. The watched as Zephyr picked up his severed clump of thick, healthy blond hair and dunk it in the soapy water that the alicorn Princess held her head back over.
After drying his detached tail, and then Cadance’s mane, a series of clicks and cuts started (hair of purple, pink, and yellow flew everywhere), until he handed his ‘customer’ a cyan hand mirror. Cadance, albeit her energy had almost diminished entirely, widened her lavender eyes.
Her tricoloured mane was up in a regal beehive-like do (with Zephyr’s thoroughly-cleaned tail used as extensions to the part he had accidentally ruined with a faulty cut), and sapphire and amethyst jewels adorned her hair, popping and contrasting against the other colours well. Atop her hair was a beautiful golden crown.
While Zephyr Breeze wore a prideful expression with his wings opened (“Ta-da!” he had proclaimed in a sing-songy voice), Sunburst, Cadance, and Soarin were in pure awe.
“But Ze,” Soarin frowned, making the addressed pegasus open his eyes and turn, “your tail!”
“Huh?” he turned, finally looking at the few inches of uneven hair that he had left. “Oh, it’ll grow back!” He gave a nervous chuckle. “Hopefully...” after a moment of hesitation, he replaced the scissors in his mouth and evened out the ends. “What?” he asked, upon noticing the other stallions’ stares. “I better at least make it look good!”
As the two smiled, realisation dawned on Sunburst, and he started writing a scroll immediately. “That’s it!” After a while of writing quickly, he used his magic to teleport it once rolled up. Soarin and Zephyr both frowned.
“What was that for?” queried Soarin.
“The guys’ll meet us in the throne room! Let’s go!” That said, Sunburst led the two out of the room and down the long hall.
Shining Armor and Big McIntosh were clad in matching silver armour and helmets, with identical jousting poles on their sides. The arena’s crowd cheered for the match to begin, adding to Big Mac’s nerves.
The red stallion shook, making his armour clank and rattle, but Shining was determined. The unicorn eyed his opponent with a snort through his nose and a dominating set of rubs on the dirt ground with his forehoof.
Then, Shining Armor charged.
Almost instinctively, Big McIntosh shrieked such a high, girl shriek, that it was almost comically humiliating because it was so unexpected from his usual bassy voice. The earth pony, however muscular he was, huddled to the ground with his large shaven hooves over his helmeted head.
Because of this, his much more bold opponent halted, skidding forward from the sudden downfall in speed and momentum, and he pulled himself back until he was a mere hair’s breadth away from crashing over the fence and onto the cowering stallion.
“And,” despite his holler, Shining sighed, “again!”
The spectators all groaned.
Big Mac gulped and stood, prepared to return to his side of the pen, until Ember began running through the crowd with a rolled up scroll in her claw. “Big Mac! Shining!” She called. “Sunburst needs-”
Simultaneously, the two stallions (Big Mac quicker than Shining Armor) dropped parts of their armour as they ran past her, spinning the baby dragon off her feet. “On it!”
“Gah,” she groaned, eminently dizzy, “I’ll just... hold fort... here then...” she sighed.
The five stallions stood in the throne room, all facing the sixth in a straight line. Sunburst faced his acquaintances, before turning to Shining Armor alone.
“Remember those strange magical orbs that Sombra had around his horn when he summoned those black crystals?” Shining nodded in turn. “Do you think you can recreate them?”
All eyes widened at the orange unicorn’s ask, especially Shining Armor’s.
“Use dark magic? Are you crazy?”
“Please, Shining?” Sunburst really wasn’t one for begging. “It’s the only way!”
There was a second of apprehension; “Alright. Stand back, everypony!” he declared willingly, setting his hooves into a strong stance.
“At the throne,” the smaller unicorn said, fixing the position of his round glasses, “oh, er, uh- if you may.”
Shining shut his eyes tightly and started grunting in strain. There was a moment before agenta encased his horn, twinkling brightly until it soured into a greyish purple, and then black. Soon, the black, tricolour bubbles were replicated for a beam of pure blackness to shoot out at the top crystal.
Almost as an instant reaction, the crystal turned from light lilac to dark grey, and it projected a shadow that got bigger as it furthered away from the throne. The six stallions had all jumped out of the way.
Shining had landed on his rump, with a hoof to his head. His eyes rolled around in their sockets and his head pounded like a drum. Once he shook his head back and forth, normalcy made its return.
“Woah,” exclaimed Soarin in awe, flapping his wings so he was above his friends’ heads. On that note, Shining Armor stood and made his way over. In the shadow cast by the enchanted crystal, a large part of the floor had opened to reveal a long, spiralling staircase. “Duuude! How’d ya learn how to do that?”
“That was a little trick my sister taught me.”
“I figured,” Sunburst grinned, “I’m also not that great at magic.” He admitted under his breath.
“Well,” Cheese broke the silence before there was a chance for there to even be one, “what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” And with that, the six started their way down the old stone staircase, Sunburst and Shining with their horns alight.
Almost breaching halfway down was when things went south. The staircase started to crack and crumble. Shining Armor instinctively grabbed hold of the closed stallion near him and teleported to the steps below, whereas Zephyr Breeze and Soarin both caught themselves by flight.
Cheese and Sunburst both yelled as the staircase continued to crumble.
“Jump!” Soarin ordered.
“Are you crazy?” screamed Sunburst, but Cheese Sandwich smiled and heeded the command. He landed in Zephyr’s outstretched forelegs. The blond pegasus wobbled in the air, but held the earth pony firmly under the armpits to fly him to where Big McIntosh and Shining Armor were.
“See? It’s fun!” Cheese claimed.
“Because you’re crazy! I’m not!”
“Sunburst, dude! You gotta let go! We’ll catch you!” Soarin proclaimed, before he paused, and grinned. “Well, I will. Dunno about Zephyr, though.”
“Wha- but I just- hey!”
“Bro, you’re like limp noodle!”
“Ooh!” Cheese Sandwich waved. “Like Discord!”
Sunburst seemed twice as panicked as before. “Not helping!”
“Sorry, Cloaky!” the blue pegasus shrugged. “Just sayin’ the truth! But,” he frowned, extending his front legs once more; “we will catch you! I promise! And if we don’t, especially me, Zeph gets to hit me in the face at least twice!”
Zephyr lit up. It seemed as though the moment they shared in the Palace’s spa had evaporated from existence. “I like that deal!”
Sunburst screamed, and the stone crumbled more. He clung onto the small amount of rock left, now with his front hooves alone. He kicked his back legs, panicking as he almost lost his grip. “NOT HELPING!”
“Look, Cloaky, y’know I’m only kidding! We’ll catch you! I’m telling the complete, honest truth!”
Sunburst gulped, scrunching his eyes tight after noticing Soarin’s earnest expression. So, he let go. As he fell, he started to shriek until, suddenly, he opened his eyes and silenced to find himself in the forelegs of Soarin and Zephyr as they lowered to the next level of stairs.
The six chatted quietly, mostly thanking the two pegasi of the group for saving their lives. It had been a long trot down, but once the end of the staircase came, they silenced abruptly.
“Where do you think it leads?” the only aflight member of the group, Soarin asked with his virescent eyes wide. The orange unicorn of the group took a few prepared steps forward. “Sunburst?”
In the black, rocky wall rested a simple gothic-shaped dark oak door with a black-iron hoop door handle. On the top point of the obsidian frame was a small, mediocre, bulbous shape that was sleeker than both the wall all around and the door itself. Despite its colour being the same as its surroundings, it somehow stood out. It caught Sunburst’s eye, and his mind started working out some sort of riddle or equation including the obsidian bulb.
Zephyr Breeze extended a hoof to yank on the doorknob.
“No, Zephyr, wait, I-” Sunburst tried to warn, but he was cut short when the door whizzed by him to the other end of the pit.
“Ooh,” Zephyr winced, before Sunburst used his magical aura to pull him gently back by his cropped tail. “Sorry... Sunshoes.”
“It’s called ‘the Fool’s Errand’,” said Sunburst, pushing his glasses up with his hoof, his gaze refixed on the doorframe’s bulb. “A safeholder’s enchantment. Whatever’s behind that door, Sombra doesn’t want us to see.”
Shining Armor took stand by his unicorn friend’s side. Zephyr (cowering, with his front hooves over his head and chin to the dirt) took asylum behind Cheese Sandwich and Big McIntosh, who both looked back at him with briefly wide, green eyes.
“What should we do?” Shining queried.
“See that piece on the top?” The answer came as a question. “I’m led to believe that the way to keep hold on the door is to use the same magic that enchanted it in the first place. And the enchanter would have been-”
“Sombra.” the white stallion cut across. “I’m on it.”
And with that, he started a train of hushed grunts and groans as the magic around his horn turned bitter and black, before inevitably turning into an array of the black, tricolour bubbles that signified dark forces at play. The magic was shot into the door’s rocky bulb, and Shining was simultaneously thrown back onto his haunches.
The other five stared at the ajar door in awe. From inside, whilst Shining Armor rubbed his poorly head with his eyes scrunched closed. He stood the second he opened them, and then winced in agony and shock as he touched his horn with a hoof.
The others looked back, and all stared wide-eyed and agape at the blue-haired unicorn. Looking up at his horn, Shining tried to conduct a simple spell of levitation, but the magenta aura was only allowed half way, before being blocked by the small, black crystals that had formed around the keratin. In short, he had been rendered powerless (or, rather, magicless), and summoning any magic stung.
“Shining, your horn!”
“I-”
Cheese Sandwich slid behind the crowd and prodded at the gap between the door and frame with a hoof, his tongue between his lips, before it swung open fully in its aged hinges, engulfing all present in a blinding white light.
“Well, boys,” said Sunburst wearily, “to the Crystal Heart we go.” That said, the six stallions walked towards the light like a flock of moths to a flame.
The light faded, and Sunburst found himself in Canterlot Castle’s throne room. He cantered forward cautiously, confusion written on his face. “But... I don’t understand, that should’ve-”
A tutting noise echoed around the place. “Sunburst, Sunburst, Sunburst...”
The orange and white unicorn looked around. “What? Who’s there? How do you know my-”
“Name?” A figure in the stationary stained glass windows was moving. It was a creature of several different animals, completed with a scraggly white goatee and bushy eyebrows to match. It was a familiar voice, one that was aged like a fine red wine, and mature like cheese. Two things that went well together, in both senses. “What kind of teacher wouldn’t know his own disciple’s name?”
As the small black-outlined illustration expertly slithered to the next pane, Sunburst’s eyes went circular. “Lord Discord? I-”
“Succumbed to rebellion and disregarded my one order? My one expectation of you?” Again, Discord’s voice, just as wine and cheese as before, cut across Sunburst’s dialogue. This time, he was snappier, bitter like a lemon. Lemon didn’t exactly match wine and cheese very well.
“But I-”
“Fluttershy never warned me this would have happened,” he hissed, migrating to the next pane, taking the place of his own story’s retelling, where he had taken over Equestria by rule of chaos. The window pictured Discord at the top, body horizontal, with ponies depicted as marionettes in his control. “You made a liar out of my royal advisor!”
With each word, his voice was becoming much more sour, angrier, snappier. It made Sunburst take a few steps back, holding up a turned-inwards forehoof. His ears flattened to his head in fear as he started stammering, attempting to accumulate a coherent string of words in an effort to either own up to his elusive mistake or to excuse himself.
“Do you know what that means..?”
“No! I- gah- I-I-”
The real Discord sprung out of the window frame towards the terrified pony, a scowl smearing his long face as his slit crimson pupils glowing like hot, fiery coals. He hissed and growled all at once. “Exile!”
Sunburst jumped in fright, before dropping to the ground cowardly and pleading with all his shaky might. “No! Your lord, please, I- I- you can’t! I’ll try again! I’ll do better, I’ll-”
“Pathetic.”
Soarin flew through the blue, cloud-filled sky, a frown on his face. He looked around in hopes of finding his friends. “Hey, guys?” He called, before a mist of sorts surrounded him. “Sunburst? Zeph? Cheeeese? I- OOF!”
Soarin had gone head-first into a cliff and, losing his muscle-control through shock, slid down the rocky terrain of the cliffside with many grunts and exclamations of pain. He landed on his back once reaching the grassy ground (albeit he had landed in a patch of thick mud), and his eyes opened as the mist cleared. A figure was shadowed by the sun, so Soarin sat up and held his head with his back legs splayed.
He finally met the stranger’s face. She was a pegasus, like him, but was a much more vivid blue - like the sky itself - with an unkept mane and tail both coloured with every colour of the rainbow. Her eyes, a moderate raspberry, glowered at him with pure disdain and hatred.
Soarin, however, lit up, jumping to his hooves instantly. “Hey, I recognise you! You’re Rainbow Dash, saviour of Equestria, leader of the Wonderbolts! Wow, I never expected to meet you so soon, you’re at least, like, twenty-percent cooler than anypony else in all of History! Aw, man! I just can’t believe I--”
Rainbow Dash had remained unmoving, and untouched by his words. She remained stony and resentful, scowling and glaring at him with all she had. “You will never be a Wonderbolt.”
Soarin’s mood dropped. “W-What do you mean? It- It’s been my dream ever since I was a colt! You can’t just-”
“A true Wonderbolt would have seen that cliff. This was your test, and you failed.”
“But you can’t just-”
“Yes I can,” Rainbow Dash flicked him with her tail as she turned, her head high prestigiously, “it’s like you said. I’m the leader of the Wonderbolts, you’re just a fan. I’m, like, a thousand-percent cooler than you’ll ever be! Loser!” She kicked some dirt at him with her hind hooves before marching off.
Soarin growled, furrowing his brows, before following after her.
Zephyr Breeze opened his eyes and rubbed his head. In a chair a few feet ahead of him was Cadance, with her hair down. Her horn wasn’t alight anymore, and she seemed as fresh as a daisy. Was it all over? Had Sombra been defeated?
“Zephyr,” the Princess smiled, “are you here to do my mane again?”
“Again?” the pegasus repeated. “But didn’t I just...”
“You did such a good job yesterday,” she said kindly, “I thought I’d let you do it again before the royal summit this afternoon.”
“So...” Zephyr trailed, before grinning elatedly, “I’m like your personal manestylist?”
“If you do as well today as you did yesterday, yes,” Cadance assented.
“Aw, yeah! Wait ’til the guys hear about this!” He eagerly picked up a pair of scissors. “’Kay, tho holdw thtill...”
The first cut he made went disastrously wrong. Zephyr reeled back in horror; he had been sure that the hair was in the right place for him to cut perfectly. The Princess had shifted in her seat ever so slightly, but that shouldn’t have made a misplaced cut this bad.
Cadance gasped too and faced him, now on her hoofs, with her wings open threateningly. “You... failed.” She growled. “I knew I should have never trusted a failure like you!”
“I’m sorry, your majesty! I didn’t mean to-”
“Silence!” Princess Cadance thundered. “You fool! Don’t you have any idea of what you have done?”
Zephyr gulped, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.
“Y’ain’t no apple, Big Mac!” an old mare’s voice echoed in the darkness.
The named red stallion opened his emerald eyes. He looked around. Where was he? Lost, it seemed. He was floating in an empty black space, and he didn’t like it. Where were the buildings, the nature... the ponies? He was alone, in a dark void, with no one to talk to.
“Yer a coward, ya hear!” the same voice from before exclaimed.
“..Granny?” Big Mac’s deep voice was contrasting, but his accent was indifferent to the mare’s own. “Granny, ’s that you?”
“Ah’ bothered tah greet ’im!” another mare said, and almost simultaneously two large faces appeared in the dark, staring down on him condescendingly. One was green and wrinkled, with eyes as orange as the other’s coat. They were both recognised by Big McIntosh instantly: his grandmother Granny Smith, and his sister Applejack. “Ya talk so little that ya shouldn’t even bother to talk at all!”
“Applejack saved Equestria? An’ what’d you do? Nothin’! Nothin’ at all!”
“Ya just stayed at home, doin’ nothin’!”
Big Mac reeled back. “Ah’ was lookin’ after the farm!”
“Suuuure, an’ ah was crowned the youngest in allll o’ Equestria!” proclaimed the green head sardonically, her amber eyes callous.
“Coward!” Applejack thundered, and just like that Big Mac felt like he was falling back-first.
“Vermin!”
“Slacker!”
“Weak!”
Their voices echoed through the abyss until they merged into one. They continued to shout insults into Big Mac’s head, even when he shut his eyes tight to stop a few tears. The falling stopped, and the scarlet stallion opened his green eyes to find himself in the pane of a stained glass window. He was frozen, unable to move anything but his eyes.
Big McIntosh’s pane of coloured glass was still in the void, afloat in fact, and he heard the reverb hoofsteps all around him. It made him feel dizzy, if anything.
Applejack approached her brother from behind, before she turned, muttered a quick “Yer no apple” and bucked him with her hindlegs. With a sharp, loud smash, the glass, unsurprisingly, smashed, taking Big McIntosh with it.
Before he knew it, Big Mac was himself again, but this time on a purple checkered floor. Has he escaped the void? Just like that? The stallion lifted his head, before taking note of his surroundings. His fancy surroundings. He was in a castle. A home of royals. And there, through the large doorway (that was of similar shape to the door that had brought them here) was Canterlot’s throne room. He was in the stained-window corridor.
And there, inside the throne room, was a shaking Sunburst with a more-than-angry Discord hovering over him.
A sad pony, one that was pink with a darker pink mane and tail, sat at a lone bench in a park. She moped, her colours seeming almost grey, like her emotion. Her eyes, both sad and blue, were shimmering with tears in the sunlight. Her head was on its side against the bench table, her cheek smudged against the coarse wood.
Cheese Sandwich approached her. “What’s a fine gal like you doin’ here all alone? What’s wrong?” His smile, bright and happy, turned into a small, sympathetic frown.
The mare mumbled.
“Ya don’t want to talk? Well that’s fine! How’s about Ol’ Weird Cheese here played ya a song?” He whipped out his accordion in a matter of nanoseconds. “Oh, When I was a little colt and the sun was going down… the darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown..! I'd hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw, but Grampa Gouda said that wasn't the way, to deal with it at all!”
“Please don’t,” said the pink mare, blowing a strand of flat pink mane away from her eyes. “You’re not making me happy at all.”
Cheese Sandwich, agape, dropped to his haunches the second she said this, his music coming to a sudden halt. “I’m not making you happy? Not…” he gasped. “This is the worst, possible thing!”
“You can’t even use magic anymore,” a purple alicorn stood in front of Shining Armor. She huffed through her nose, clearly angry. “What kind of Sparkle are you?”
“Twilight, I’m sorry! I’ll do better, I-”
“You’ll never be as great as me,” she snapped, “everypony thinks so. Even mom and dad.”
“No, they-” Shining took a step back, “they don’t-”
“Think that you’re a failure?” Twilight flared out her wings and stood upright proudly. “Oh, they do, Shining! Look at me! I’m an alicorn, now, a princess. The Princess of Magic!”
“No!” Shining stomped his hoof, eyes stinging. “My sister loves me! She wouldn’t do this! You’re not Twily!”
A smirk made its way to the impostor’s lips. “Wouldn’t she?”
A light yellow pegasus with teal eyes and a pink mane stood next to a white unicorn with fashionably styled purple hair. They both snickered at Zephyr’s guilty, fear stricken expression.
“What kind of manestylist can’t even do a simple cut?” asked the unicorn mare through her own amusement.
“I know,” agreed the pegasus, “I can’t even look at him! He’s such a failure!”
“Fluttershy?” Zephyr turned. “What- What’re you doing here? My- My own sister! I can’t even begin to believe-”
“How much of a failure you are?” Fluttershy gave a malicious grin. “Neither can I.”
“Failure! Failure! Failure!” The three mares all started to chant.
Zephyr, in turn, bit his bottom lip to stifle a sob. “Yeah? Well... I don’t need you guys! The Breeze needs to-” he choked, “-flow on his own terms! Without this petty... manestyling nonsense! It’s messin’ up my flow, y-you know?”
“Ooh, look!” the unicorn pointed a manicured hoof at the stallion, adopting baby-talk. “The widdle woser’s cwying! Somebody give him a piddy mewal!”
“Big baby!” Fluttershy jeered.
“I thought you were kind, sis,” said Zephyr, “I thought you were- heeey! I thought you were kind.” He came to a realisation, before looking around and giving a single, wet sniff. “I gotta tell the others!”
With that, Zephyr raced to the throne room, Cadance, Rarity, and Fluttershy’s mocking ringing in his head. His ears flattened in a failed effort to keep it all out. The pegasus flew straight down the stairway, head first, before crash-landing in front of the enchanted door. It was ajar, and the white glow kept the pit alight.
Zephyr went through the door, and the flash of light soon vanished when the stallion found himself amongst his friends again. They all stared at the open door, in a trance of sorts with their eyes identical to Sombra’s, with red irises and green whites with purple smoke billowing at the outer-corners. The doorway led to a rock wall, that was all. It was a decoy!
“Rainbow Dash, ma’am! I’m sorry, I-” Soarin began, before a white light overtook him. He rubbed his head, his green eyes opening to find Zephyr looking worriedly at him. “Z...Zeph?”
“Thank goodness! That door had us all in some sort of stupor! Quick, Soar, help me wake the others!”
“I can make you greater than anypony in all of Equestria, Shining,” said the Twilight doppelgänger, “then your family will really be proud. All you have to do is choose me over your pesky friends.”
Shining Armor turned his head, averting his gaze. He paused, as if he was thinking over his options. “I’ll never betray my friends just for some power!”
Twilight hissed, and soon a blinding light overtook them both.
“Sunburst!” Big McIntosh ran over to his unicorn friend and helped him up. “Are y’all oka-”
“You dare help this fiend?” bellowed Lord Discord. “He deliberately disobeyed me! His one order!”
“Ah’m sure he di’n’t mean tah,” said Big Mac. “He can easily try again. All ya need t’ do is show a li’l kindness!”
Discord growled. “After he avoided my order to make some friends?”
A white light engulfed them. “He’s got one right here.”
“Ugh, my head,” groaned Cheese Sandwich. The four stallions had a similar response to Soarin beforehand, and all rubbed their heads and grumbled as they sat up.
“I’m sorry, everypony,” said Sunburst guiltily, “I thought that would take us to the Heart.”
“You couldn’t have known, Sunburst,” said Shining Armor, shifting closer to the sullen orange unicorn.
“Nope!” Big McIntosh nodded, closing the door with a large hoof.
“I couldn’t make the greatest party pony of all time laugh!” Cheese Sandwich exclaimed, joining the two unicorns and throwing his front legs up to emphasise his point. “I never felt more defeated in my entire life!”
“Not helping, Cheese,” retorted Shining.
Sunburst took a deep breath and used his magic to readjust his glasses. “No, it- it’s fine. It was an enchantment to show us our biggest fears. Discord exiled me for disobeying an order.”
“The Princess called me a failure!” Zephyr Breeze admitted. “Even my sister and her friend were there.”
“That’s ridiculous! You’re an amazing manestylist, Zeph!” Soarin said. “The leader of the Wonderbolts told me I was a loser!”
“Now that’s ridiculous! You’re, like, the coolest stallion I know, Soarin!” said the yellow earth pony of the group.
“You’ve been wanting to join them for years,” Zephyr’s eyes had widened, getting closer to the slowly-forming huddle.
“I know! It was horrible!”
“My sister made me choose between power,” Shining spoke up, “and my friends.”
“What did you choose?” asked Sunburst, looking up at the other unicorn.
“I chose you guys.”
“Mah’ family kicked me out,” stated Big Mac, inching closer to the cluster, like the others before him had done, “fer not being a real Apple.”
“Guys!” proclaimed Cheese. “I think we found the most ridiculous! Big Mac’s a pony, duh!”
Everypony present laughed at Cheese Sandwich’s silly joke. Had Sunburst truly gone against Discord’s word now that he had friends right here with him? Sunburst, who was in the centre of the huddle, conducted a spell subconsciously, a flaxen light wisping from his horn unlike any magic ever seen before.
The golden stream hit the doorframe’s bulbous topper, and a multicoloured light, differing greatly from plain white or black, filled the room. The light filled the room with an anti-clockwise pinwheel of yellow, red, purple, blue and green. Then, the door opened all on its own.
“Guys?” exclaimed Zephyr unsurely. “The door!”
The group all opened their eyes to find the white light filling the pit once again, and (once again), they went through together. This time however, together they remained. The scene was set as a white void with a never-ending crystal tower with white quartz stairs twisting around it going all the way up. The complete opposite of the pit they were just in.
“A staircase? Again?” Zephyr groaned. “I don’t think I can handle anymore near-death experiences!”
“So are we, Zeph,” Soarin patted his friend on the shoulder. “So are we.”
And on that note, the six trekked the staircase one after the other.
“What if this...” Zephyr grunted as he struggled to climb the step before him. He was a whole level of stairs below the others, with Soarin aflight above his head to make sure he made it, “is just more of Sombra’s magic? I mean, the guy can make doorways leading to your greatest fear, why not a staircase that leads on forever.”
“You can fly, y’know!” exclaimed the blue pegasus of the group.
Zephyr turned his head to his now-open wings and fluttered them. Then, he smiled as he joined Soarin in the air. “Oh, yeeeaah..!”
The other five rolled their eyes before the two pegasi of the group joined the rest. Sunburst used his magic to readjust his glasses.
“You know,” said the orange unicorn, “perhaps Zephyr’s right.”
“Hey, where’d Cheese go?” asked Shining Armor.
“Whee-hee-hee!” Looking up, the group found an upside down Cheese sliding on the smooth underneath of the lengthy spiralling staircase with childish entertainment on his face.
Everypony was gobsmacked. “Cheese!” said Soarin. “How’re you doing that!”
“You just have to look on the more sillier side of things!” he said as he whizzed underneath them.
Shrugging, Soarin planted himself on the underneath of the next level of steps and, sure enough, he too was defying gravity enough to use it as a slide. Shining followed, and then Big Mac, then Zephyr, and then, finally, an apprehensive Sunburst.
“Crystals...”
Ponies screamed and ran to the centre of the Empire, trying desperately to get away from the flickering forcefield. Ember gulped, following the herd to hide the fake Crystal Heart from view.
The forcefield was present and shiny blue one minute, and then flickered to reveal the cloud of shadow and orange sky and blizzard the next. It was terrifying, and the black crystals looming at the edges of the Empire didn’t help, not even a smidge.
“The Crystal Heart!” exclaimed a wilted crystal mare. “We need it! Now!”
The statue was knocked over and slid to the hoofs of the herd. Ember winced as they stared at her judgingly. “This isn’t the Crystal Heart,” said a yellow stallion.
“Of course it isn’t!” Ember laughed nervously. “It... It’s... being polished!”
“The Crystal Heart...” growled Sombra.
The makeshift slide came to an abrupt stop, and the six stallions crashed into an enormous pile on top of one another, bringing an unsteady end to their roarous laughter. Groaning and mumbling, they eventually got their bearings and found themselves face-to-face with a bright blue crystal in the shape of a heart.
“Woah...” the stallions were in awe, until the floor went black and the Crystal Heart dropped to the floor and smashed.
The six gasped and clambered off of each other to inspect the scattering of a billion tiny, crystal pieces. Sombra’s cackle was heard echoing all across the Empire. “Discord’s gonna exile me for sure...” Sunburst muttered, being the closest to the crystal shards.
“Now everypony’s gonna think I’m a failure,” complained Zephyr.
“I’m never, ever gonna get into the Wonderbolts!”
“Twily’s gonna be so ashamed!”
“I’ll never be able to make anyone laugh after this ever again!”
“I ain’t no Apple anymore!”
“How are we gonna spread light and joy to the Crystal Empire? We can’t just leave them like this! There has to be another way!” declared Shining Armor.
“Honestly, dude,” Soarin lowered himself to the floor glumly, “I don’t think there is...”
“Now, y’all, we can’t just give up.” Cheese Sandwich said adamantly.
“Nope!” agreed Big McIntosh.
Then, Cheese lowered his voice to a mere whisper. “Look at Sunburst.” He nodded over to the orange unicorn, who now sat before the broken head with his head low.
“What do you mean ‘look at Sunburst’?” Zephyr said. “You’re the happy one! Go cheer him up!”
“I would if I could! But this... this isn’t-”
“What about the Elements of Harmony?” asked Soarin, and to this, one of Sunburst’s ears turned. “Surely we can-”
“Soar, look around!” Zephyr cut across, throwing his forehooves up in the air to define his point. “Do you see any Elements of-”
Sunburst turned his head to the group. “Shining?” he asked meekly. “What was that you said before?”
“We can’t just leave them?” answered the white unicorn dubiously.
“Yes,” he sighed, “and about...”
“Spreading light and joy? I said there has to be another way!”
“All ya need t’ do is show a li’l kindness!” Big McIntosh was looking at his sitting friend with the gentlest, most empathetic look he could have given.
“You just have to look on the sillier side of things!” Sunburst looked over at Cheese Sandwich’s smile.
“I chose you guys.” Shining Armor was standing proud. Here he was, his crystalised horn proof that he had chosen his friends over power.
Zephyr Breeze turned his head quickly and cut off his tail. His long, yellow tail. The orange unicorn looked over at Zephyr Breeze’s now-missing tail. He had cut it off willingly for Princess Cadance with no expectation of payment back.
“I’m telling the complete, honest truth!” The image of Soarin catching Sunburst came to mind. He had in fact been telling the truth, Sunburst still alive proved that notion.
“I’m not that great at magic.” His own words ran through his mind, but then the image of that golden trail leaving his horn and projecting into the door followed. He had been thinking about how he hadn’t truly gone against Lord Discord’s order in that moment in time, whilst being surrounded by the five stallions that had stuck with him through this entire journey.
“I trust you know what you’re supposed to do, Sunburst.”
A twinkle shone in Sunburst’s eyes, and he gasped before using his magic to remove his cloak and fill it with the shards of crystal. “I think I know where the Elements of Harmony are!”
As lighting cracked and buildings turned into Sombra’s signature black and grey, the six raced down the steps, towards the throne room. There, they met Princess Cadance on the balcony.
“Stop. We know what to do now, your highness.” said Shining.
With a groan, Cadance collapsed, and the blue flickering stopped. “Shining..? Sunburst?”
“Ponies of the Crystal Empire!” Sunburst shouted. “Behold, the Crystal Heart!” Using his cape as a sheet, he flung the shards down below. The civilians gasped.
“Uh, don’t worry your pretty little crystal heads!” exclaimed Cheese Sandwich worriedly.
“Foals,” Sombra cackled, proclaiming, “my reign shall last forever!”
The crystal ponies below all exclaimed and fell to the ground in fear, hooves over their heads.
“To fix the Heart, all- a-all...” Sunburst stammered as he saw Sombra’s head etch closer and closer from the south side of the Empire, his cloud of shadow now surrounding the whole area. Then, he noticed his friends looking back at him encouragingly, and his eyes shone in turn. As Sombra began another cackle, Sunburst stood much more determined. “We have the Elements of Harmony, Sombra! Right here.”
“What?” hissed the shadow pony bitterly, eyes narrowing.
A golden glow illuminated Sunburst's horn, and soon trailed towards the group of ponies behind him. “You knew that Princess Cadance would take your word, wouldn’t you, Sombra? You never hid the elements to begin with.”
Sombra snarled.
“The Crystal Heart is powered by love and light,” said Sunburst, dragging his speech out for longer, “but by crushing the spirits of the crystal ponies, you knew it would never work.”
The six stallions were now swallowed in a semi-transparent golden light, and were all levitated a few feet above the balcony. Each of their manes and tails waved simultaneously in an illusory wind of sorts, and over the Empire a portal briefly flashed into existence. It was a bright white, and in the blink of an eye it was gone. Out of it floated several grey shards each with their own coloured glow.
“We may not have the Elements, but the Spirits of Harmony are right here!” Sunburst grinned, eliciting a hiss from the agitated shadow unicorn. “Soarin,” a set of five grey shards orbited around the blue-haired pegasus; “who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the Spirit of Honesty!”
Soarin, who was at first taken aback by the purple-glowing shards of crystal circling him, soon wore his new position (and title) with pride.
“Big Mac, who stood up against the scariest thing ever to cross the land of Equestria-”
Discord, who watched from afar sat high in the air far away from the scene with a striped box of popcorn, rolled his eyes at this. “Scariest? Please. Perhaps the most handsomest, but I wouldn’t say the scariest.” He poofed a hand mirror into his eagle claw and peered into it. “Pfft, he’s just intimidated.”
Sunburst hadn’t stopped talking, “-with his ardent determination, represents the Spirit of Kindness!”
Down below, the orange earth pony mare known as Applejack held her hat to her chest with a proud grin, liquid pride meeting her eyes. Her bright green eyes met Big McIntosh’s - who was orbited by green-glowing grey shards - filling him up with glory and pride in return (although Applejack was the most proud out of the two).
“Cheese Sandwich, who banished all doubt by showing us how to look on the sillier side of things, represents the Spirit of Laughter!”
A set of shards glowing a cobalt each started a race around the eager earth pony.
“Zephyr Breeze, who sacrificed something of his own to gift to another,” said Sunburst, straining for a way to word that without explaining his friend’s desperate frenzy, “represents the Spirit of Generosity!”
The set of red-lit crystals surrounded Zephyr.
“And finally, Shining Armor, who could not abandon his friends for his own heart’s desires, represents the Spirit of Loyalty!”
The group of magenta-themed crystals orbited the white unicorn.
“The Spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge that you threw at us! And the sixth? I felt it the very moment I realised how happy I was to find my friends still by my side, even when we all thought we would return empty-hoofed. When I realised how much they cared, that they were my friends, I found a spark ignite inside of me! Do you know what also spreads love and light, Sombra? Friendship!”
And with that, a six-coloured streak of light emitted from the floating herd the second the final set of crystals circled Sunburst, and in a flash of white, the Crystal Heart was mended - whole again - and started spinning in its place. Sombra’s eyes widened as he yelled in defiance as the power of the Heart and Elements worked together against him.
The white light that engulfed all around was blinding, and even spectator Discord - who sat, reclined, in a floating red armchair and wore two-toned 3D glasses on his snout and held a box of popcorn - covered his eyes in surprise.
Through the blinding wave of magic, the sets of crystals each formed a golden necklace with the centrepiece made out of pure crystal, each shaped and coloured differently to the others. Soarin’s was a yellow lightning bolt; Big Mac’s was a green apple to match his cutie mark; Cheese Sandwich’s was a dark orange bread slice; Zephyr’s was a purple feather, and Shining Armor’s was a six-point magenta star.
Sunburst, on the other hand, received a crown. At its apex sat a blue crystal streaked with a lighter shade, much like his own cloak. It - much like the others’ - resembled his cutie mark, being a circular body with rays forming half a circle by protruding from the side.
“Nooooo!” Sombra proclaimed as the rainbow emitting from the six friends enveloped him.
Once the light diminished after emitting from Sunburst’s eyes, the six found themselves on the ground below, laid on their fronts. They groaned as they awoke - the number of times this had happened was now shocking.
“My head,” said Soarin, rubbing one of his temples with his hoof.
“Everypony okay?” asked Shining Armor in return.
“Oh, thank goodness, guys!” Zephyr Breeze and Big Mac stood. The pegasus’s eyes were glued to his newly-formed tail, and one of his forehooves rested on his chest.
“Why, ain’t that lovely, Zeph?” said Big McIntosh rhetorically, meaning the necklace around his winged friend’s neck.
“Aw,” the teal pony swished his tail joyously, “I’m never parting with you again, buddy!”
“Well, ah’ was on about that there neckpiece,” said the broad earth stallion, “looks just like yer cutie mark, there, dun-it?”
Zephyr was agape as his eyes trailed to the necklace, and then his cutie mark. “Well so does yours, Mackster!” He pulled his friend close.
On that note, the six all eyed their necklaces after standing.
“Ooh, mine! Mine’s a sandwich!”
“Oh yeah! Mine’s so awesome.”
“Wow!”
“Ooh!”
“Oh man!”
“Look at Sunburt’s,” said Cheese Sandwich suddenly, pointing a hoof at his orange unicorn friend’s crown. “Ooh! Ooh! Pretty. And here we are thinking that the Element of Friendship was just a myth!”
“Yet Sunburst is representing it,” down from the balcony Princess Cadence glided. She landed on all four hooves gracefully, with her wings opened. “I’m proud of you, Sunburst. You figured it out!”
“But- But what about Sombra?” Sunburst asked.
Cadance simply grinned. “Why not see for yourself?” She turned her head to the east of the Empire.
The six stallions were led by Princess Cadance across the Empire to where a dark grey stallion with wispy black hair laid on his side next to the protective shield. His iron armor and crown were strewn around him.
“Uh... Ki- King Sombra?” Sunburst stepped past Princess Cadance and pushed his glasses up his striped nose with a hoof.
The stallion, Sombra, opened his eyes with a short gasp. While they were perfectly pony-like, his irises were as red as the tip of his curved horn. At last, he stood, and bowed his head with watering eyes.
“I- I’m sorry,” Sombra said solemnly, his voice raspy. “I’m so, so sorry...”
Princess Cadance took a few steps forward. She met Sombra’s gaze after lifting his head slightly with her golden-clad hoof. She smiled: “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you like this, Sombra.”
Sombra only pulled away, and turned his head in shame. She engulfed him in an embrace of pale pink and dark grey, using her purple-tipped wings as extra forelimbs.
“I think it’s best if we put this behind us,” she continued. “Tell me: will you accept friendship into your heart once again?”
“I’ll try,” Sombra straightened himself, but kept his head bowed. “By Discord, I’ll try.”
“Hey, do ya know what this calls for?” Cheese Sandwich bounced up and exclaimed. “A paaarty!”
The Crystal Faire raged on like it never had before. Streets bustled with many natives and tourists, and stalls were always busy. The Crystal Heart shone brightly on its podium, and every single pony was in awe whenever they caught sight.
Everypony was having fun, apart from one.
Sunburst sat on the sidelines, alone at a café table, with a great frown on his face. He sighed, and then used his magic to readjust his glasses. He should really go to have them refitted.
There was a snap of almost-blinding white, and a serpentine-like creature coiled around the orange unicorn with a satisfied smirk. “Why so glum, Sunset? Baby dragon got your tongue? Or, perhaps it was a Draconequus? Really, who can tell?”
A wet, pink muscle was pinched between the first finger and thumb of Discord’s eagle claw, and Sunburst found his mouth feeling awfully empty. His white forehooves raced to his muzzle and he held his mouth to stifle a horrified scream.
Discord rolled his eyes and sighed like a nuisance foal being told it was bedtime. “Oh, you ponies are all the same. All work and no play makes Discord a dull pony,” he recited. “Really.” He then scoffed, and stuffed his claw into Sunburst’s horrified maw, roughly fixing his tongue back into place at the back of his throat. “No, wait, that’s upside down... ah, there!”
Sunburst awkwardly wiggled his tongue against his teeth to make sure everything was right.
“Now,” Discord said, in a way that made the unicorn stallion flinch, “what seems to be the matter, Glumburst?” He used a painfully mocking tone to address him.
“W-Well-” Sunburst stammered, his nerves taking hold of him, “-i-it’s just that, well, after learning how great it was making friends, I have to leave.”
Discord groaned loudly, and unwound himself from around Sunburst to slither his way next to the seat opposite him. He didn’t sit himself down in it, though. “I knew it would come to this. As much as it pains me to let you go, Sunblast,” dramatically, the Lord of Chaos placed an arm over his face and draped himself backwards, but soon returned to his previous position; “it’s only fair I free you from your educational confines so that you join the real world!”
Sunburst gasped. “A-Are you really saying what I think you’re saying?”
Discord only sighed at first. “Yes, Sunburst, but I’m pretty sure I’ll live.”
“Oh, thank you!” Overcome by delight, Sunburst hugged the slender torso of the mighty ruler of Equestria before trotting off to join his friends in the crowd.
Discord was taken aback. “I- well- of course...”
“Isn’t that great?” Zephyr asked, having overheard most of the conversation like the rest of the group. “Now we can all siesta!” He made a to-and-fro gesture with his head and hoof.
Sunburst grinned into his own hoof. “Why else would I ask to stay for?”
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11261034
Rats. I was hoping to see an Evil Thorax since you did some character swaps but oh well, its your story.
11261070
Sockiepuppetry on DeviantArt does a good evil Thorax (based on the Mirror Universe from the comics). They also do incredible art, which is always a bonus.
Hope you’re still interested in the story, though.
Interesting story, I wished I had noticed it sooner. I do like the idea that it was the Crystal Empire that survived and prospered and not Equestria, making the crystal ponies a lot more numerous then then in cannon. the fusion of the pilot episode and the season three premier was interesting and the challenges weren't haft bad. With Discord being taking on the teacher role instead of Celestia and not ruling Equestria is interesting, and I would seriously wonder what was his approach in trying to 'teach' Sunburst about 'studies' 'ethics' or 'magic' with the track record he has in cannon. But most of all why of all ponies would he had picked bookish nerd like Sunburst out of all of them to 'deserve' his 'special' from him other then enjoying making his suffer. What sort of twisted teacher student dynamic could they possibly have to have any respect for one another With Discord more hooves on approach on 'teaching' and Sunburst interest on theory, I mean I could guess that Sunburst might have been the least scared of Discord when he was more interested in his sheer wealth of knowledge in history and magic that the lord of Chaos had and know and was willing to put up with his antics and know more about magic then most ponies alive and might have compensated for his really weak magic in his studies at whatever magic school he was at in this world. I wonder why Discord didn't try to find a way to boost Sunburst's magic in some way. I wonder why amber is so young in those story, did Dragon Lord Troch give up her egg to discord or something on a deal years before and good have hatch much later then in cannon, could the revers be true for spike? I do like that Mane 6 are still the element bearers of sorts, but see far older and have passed their age of discovery and wonder and probably somewhat. I wonder what got Shining armor stuck as a regular guard instead of a captain, is it because he never caught the eye of Candance and wasn't promoted through nepotism. What could be Sombra's story in all of this, could he be Cadance's brother too. I do like how you managed to rehabilitated Zephyr Breeze in the story in not being so useless and actually have a sort of useful role in making the unconscious Cadance still look presentable and put his panic attacks more in the for front as his main struggle to overcome.
Writing wise I think it's your work is interesting, but you seem to have trouble showing the characters head space in showing their inner thoughts or add some back story for context through the narrator, I would say that's the only thing really missing in your writing. I would also like to add that the light humor was also a lot of fun keep it up,
11261918
I believe that Ember and Spike are the only age swap I did. I really did try to only swap roles, and not ages or personalities, but it only made sense with Ember being a baby dragon and Spike an adult (teen? Eh, however old Ember actually is in canon).
Sombra and Cadance aren’t related, because canonically they are not. Sombra is an umbrum(?)/shadow pony, like in the comics. Cadance is not. I just added some additional lore. Maybe he’s, like, in an uncle role to her, like canon Celestia is (as an aunt)?
As for the head space thing, when writing this (it was a while ago, and I’m sure my writing techniques have improved, or so I’ve been told), I tried keeping it “in show logic”. The show doesn’t have a narrator. It has cartoonish qualities. We have to guess the character’s feelings by actions, expressions, tones, and the like.
Before deciding to publish this (as when I wrote this, I was unsure whether the format would go against the site rules), I wrote a story that was narration-heavy, and is kind of a spoiler to this actual AU book. I actually liked how it turned out, and you can kinda tell I went for a “fanfic of my fanfic” approach with the narration in comparison to BaM.
11261932
Thanks for replying, I get what you mean dude, you want to keep things as visual easy as possible for the story, but a little more insight or hints wouldn't hurt the flow of the story for a little more context, and immerse ourselves into the character even add an extra layers of silliness to it. And writing isn't bound by the same rules as visual medias and you have a lot more leeway in how you structure your story, and you don't need to make constant flashbacks either.
Like you can add more suggestive elements to their back story: 'Sunburst remembered the last time his teacher and mentor did a 'surprise party' for him, it was a desperate fight for his life, and barely survived the experience with his rump intact.'
you can also add the narrator's 'impressing' or 'suggestively 'of what his happening clueing us in how the characters tones and expression; "really..." Sunburst drawled skeptically, seemingly doubting the pegasus' reliability.
'Desperately trying to avoid the subject of the degree of his magical prowess, an obvious sour issue for him'
As for my idea of Sombra and Cadance of being siblings, he could have been adopted or raided together in that manner in this time line, even if they aren't related; but then again it's your story and I won't harp on the issue any further form this point onward, it was just meant as an idea. Heck they might had been behooved for a thousand years bud decided to put it off for as long as possible because they didn't loved each other that way; but you can use it as a way to stir up Shining armor wanting to prevent the wedding to finally come and get him to get the romance between him and Cadance together at the end of Season 2.
11261956
Thanks for the ideas. I don’t really want to spoil too much of the AU in the comments, but if you want to check out the (very) rough concepts I have for the episodes, I left a link in the long description to the original idea, so to speak.
Equestria Girls (Boys) just fucks hard with the season two finale, so to make it work I’ll just pretend like EqG never existed.
I’ve probably said this before but, I blame Flash Sentry.