The Drake Six

by JNKing

Episode 43: Crystal Clearing - Part 2

Spike had fought changelings. He had fought a demon king. He had fought griffons, slavers, alternate timeline counterparts of his friends, and an insane time-traveling cultist.

But he had never thought he’d have to fight off living storms before.

Yet, as Twilight explained the situation - how Cadence and Shining Armor’s child was an alicorn, and her unstable magic had just shattered the Crystal Heart - Spike could already see storm clouds blacker than even Night Fire forming on the horizon.

“This far north,” Luna claimed. “The weather has a will of it’s own.”

“And without the Crystal Heart’s magical protection,” Twilight added, “The entire city’s about to become a winter wasteland!”

Lightning flashed from the forming storm clouds, and the thunder rumbled over the entire empire.

Despite the ominous noise, Rainbow Dash flew up with a grin. “I could totally fly up there and bust those puppies! No problem!”

“I wouldn’t advise that, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia noted, before Night Fire flew up, assuming her alicorn Star Wing persona.

“At least not alone,” Star noted, turning to the dragons. “C’mon ladies and gents. We got a storm to stall.”

“Heck yeah,” Jackknife said with a grin, cracking his knuckles before following after Star and Rainbow.

Celestia still looked worried. “You won’t be able to hold back that storm forever.”

“Then find a way to repair the Crystal Heart,” Phoenix replied. “We’ll do what we can to hold it back until then.” She looked to Sunburst and Starlight with a grin. “Now’s your chance, guys.”

Sunburst gulped. “C-Chance?”

“Chance to do what?” Starlight asked.

Phoenix pointed to Twilight and the Crystal Heart, which Diamondback was trying in vain to put back together. “Help Twilight figure out a spell to restore the Crystal Heart, and work together as you do so. You’ll be surprised the effects teamwork can have on friends.”

“B-But…” Starlight looked up at her horn. “I don’t have my magic! How am I supposed to help?”

Phoenix acted so fast, Spike’s heart jumped into his throat. Withdrawing the gem containing Starlight’s magic, she inserted it into the magic suppressing ring around her horn. Starlight’s cutie mark blazed to life on her flank.

“Now you do,” Phoenix said. “Now get to it!”

“And…” Spike tried to add in, but Phoenix snatched him and Swift before tearing after Jackknife, Rainbow and Star Wing.

And the storm that awaited them.

##

Spike was surprised at how well they did at first. Rainbow Dash dodged through the lightning like a pro, bashing the storm clouds and forcing them back, ripping away black chunks and stomping on them to get rid of icy rain.

Controlling the water in the ice, Jackknife threw the icy shards of rain back into the storm clouds, willing them back as his muscles bulged under his scales.

Swift began flapping his wings, creating a tempest of wind that matched the storm’s and kept it at bay.

And Star Wing cleared away clouds by the dozen with several white beams from her horn.

“How are we supposed to help?” Spike asked.

Phoenix answered by unleashing a blast of fire. It was surprisingly small - though given her scars, it was likely that she hadn’t had to use fire in a while - but the fire managed to cut through the ice and melt some of the clouds into more rain - rain that Jackknife was able to use to strengthen himself.

Getting the idea, Spike breathed in and started blasting fire at the storm as well.

For a short time, Spike started to hope that they were keeping the storm at bay.

Yet, the thought of Starlight having her magic back still kept his heart beating far faster than it should have been.

“Phoenix, are you sure it was a good idea to leave Starlight with her magic?” he asked as he blasted one cloud out of the way.

Phoenix shot a fireball at another cloud and dodged a blast of lightning. “She’d have to be a crazy kind of stupid to try anything now. And she didn’t strike me as the type.”

“Considering she’s manipulated entire hordes of ponies and griffons in the past,” Spike said. “I’m not exactly comforted.”

“Guys!” Jackknife barked. “Less talking, more shooting!”

The two yelped and went back to fighting the storm.

But this time, the storm was starting to fight back. Brutal yellow javelins of lightning shot from the clouds, nearly frying Rainbow Dash into a rotisserie pegasus before Swift knocked her out of the way.

Phoenix growled and stalked forward.

“Phoenix, what are you doing?” Spike yelled.

“Diamondback had a scroll,” Phoenix said, as a burst of lightning struck dangerously close to her. “It called lightning ‘the cold fire.’ Maybe… just maybe…”

Another bolt of lightning curled out from the clouds. Yanking Jackknife out of the way, Phoenix punched the lightning bolt.

Her entire body lit up in yellow, and for a split second, Spike dared to hope she was actually holding the lightning at bay.

But then, just as the lightning shot back into the clouds, Phoenix was flung off her feet, skidding back to Spike’s side, her right arm blackened and several of her scars reopened.

“Phi!” Star and Spike shrieked, racing to her side.

Phoenix coughed, her eyes opening. “Did it…” she mumbled. “Did it work?”

The group looked up as the storm continued to bear down on them.

Phoenix groaned. “It didn’t did it?”

“Well, it did give us an idea,” Rainbow insisted, flying to another cloud and striking it. Lightning shot into the storm, hitting another lightning bolt and producing an explosion.

However, the explosion didn’t seem to deter the storm. And worse, even as the others raced back to the front line, Spike saw the storm starting to spread to the sides. Surrounding the Crystal Empire in shadowy storm clouds.

“The storm’s flanking us!” Spike yelled.

Star saw what he was talking about. She turned to the others. “Rainbow, to the right. I’ll take the left!”

“What about us!?” Swift asked.

“Just keep holding it back as best you can!” Star said, already flying off to the side to try and contain the clouds.

“And what about us?” Spike asked, indicating Phoenix, who tried to get up, but stumbled and fell back down, the lightning having taken too much out of her.

“Get her back to the Empire,” Jackknife barked, as he and Swift started to back up, their attempts at controlling the storm faltering without Rainbow and Star.

Spike didn’t want to leave Jackknife, but with Phoenix out of it, he had little choice.

Spike fired one last fireball at the storm before pulling Phoenix up and dragging her away from the battle zone.

##

As Spike dragged Phoenix to the castle, he saw Sunburst and Starlight facing each other.

“I know it’s hard for you to understand,” Sunburst was saying desperately. “But not all of us end up achieving greatness!”

“Why wouldn’t I understand that?” Starlight was arguing.

“Seriously?” Sunburst demanded. “You’re the protege of the Princess of Friendship! I don’t think she picks just any pony for that.”

“Technically,” Spike huffed under Phoenix’s weight. “She’s more on parole than a protege.”

It was a sign of how stressed out Sunburst was that he didn’t even notice how bad Phoenix looked. “Whatever,” he said, giving Starlight a look of regret. “I’m sorry, but I’m not the big important wizard you were expecting.” He looked back at the castle. “I can’t fix that relic! I don’t know anything about saving an empire!”

Starlight looked flabbergasted. “But… you always knew so much about magic…”

Sunburst shook his head. “Reading about magic is one thing. You don’t know what it was like at magic school! To know so much and not be able to do any of it.”

Anger traced Starlight’s features. “Well, you don’t know what it was like to be left behind!” As she spoke, everything else fell out in a rush. “And then getting so bitter that you steal the cutie marks from an entire village and then get defeated by Twilight and her friends, so you travel through time to get back at them, but they beat you again and teach you about friendship, and you’re so terrified ponies will find out what you did so then they’ll hate you and want you dead!”

For a moment, there was silence, broken up only by the sound of thunder from the storm around them.

Finally, Sunburst - his eyes wide in shock and awe - spoke:

“You traveled through time?”

Phoenix coughed out a laugh. “Impressive, isn’t it?”

Sunburst lowered his head. “I’m sorry we lost touch. I should’ve reached out. I was just… I was so nervous that you’d think I was dumb, but… I could’ve helped you. I could’ve…”

“There are a lot of ‘could’ve’s for both of us,” Starlight noted. “But let’s just say for now, that I know what it’s like to have something you’re not proud of.”

The two gazed at each other, with a greater understanding, before both of them blinked and looked to a still battered Phoenix.

“Oh my goodness!” Starlight stammered. “Here we are talking about friendship and… what happened?!”

“Oh, nothing major,” Phoenix insisted, trying to push herself off of Spike and nearly face planting into the ground. “That storm’s just, uh…”

Spike looked over as the storm continued to roll over the Empire. Celestia and Luna had joined Star and Rainbow in trying to hold back the storm, but they were only slowing the storm’s progress, not stopping it.

“It’s gonna box us in pretty quick,” Spike reported. “So unless you guys have some sort of last minute method for fixing the Crystal Heart so the baby can have her Crystalling, we’re gonna need to consider getting out of here.”

Sunburst looked down in guilt… before his eyes widened. “Wait a minute… the Crystalling was supposed to happen. Of course!”

He shot for the castle. Starlight and Phoenix exchanged surprised glances before they and Spike raced after him.

##

In the castle, Cadence, Diamondback and Twilight had managed to reform the Heart. But they had barely managed to step back and admire their work before the Heart began to shatter again. Twilight tried to keep it together with her magic, but her magic proved to be the only thing keeping the Heart together.

“My spells aren’t working,” Twilight bemoaned. “I don’t know what else to do!”

Sunburst ran in. “I think I do. But we need to get the Crystalling underway.”

Swift flew in at that moment, dragging a frozen solid Jackknife.

“Well, do it fast,” Spike said. “We can’t hold back the storm anymore.”

With the black clouds surging overhead, the ponies brought both the Heart and the newborn foal to the front of the castle. Though fear shined in the eyes of the crowd, it was chased away by awe as the Crystalling began.

“Citizens,” Sunburst declared. “May I present the newest member of the Crystal Empire!”

As the light and love from the citizens made the Crystal Heart glow, Spike and his friends chanced another scared look at the black clouds rolling overhead.

Star Wing and Rainbow Dash rushed in.

“We can’t stop it any…” Star tried to say, only to cut herself off as the baby and the Crystal Heart glowed with power.

With a burst of magic light, the Crystal Heart was restored, and a brilliant burst of magic light chased away the storm and left everyone with shimmering crystalline coats.

“Um… never mind,” Star noted. “Crisis averted, huh, Dash?”

Dash managed a nod, before tumbling out of the sky, utterly exhausted.

“Y’know what?” Star noted. “That’s a brilliant idea, Dash.” She then tumbled out of the sky in exhaustion as well.
##

As the group prepared to return home, Starlight and Sunburst had one last conversation with each other.

As the two hugged happily, Twilight watched on with a ponderous expression.

“You okay, Twilight?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know, Spike,” Twilight admitted. “I feel like… I have a lot to learn about being a teacher. Or a warden or… whatever I am to Starlight.”

“What are you talking about?” Phoenix asked. “The lesson went perfectly. Those two got over their pasts and rekindled their friendship.”

“No thanks to me,” Twilight admitted. “I know a lot happened. I just wish I could’ve given her the attention she deserves.”

Phoenix hummed, rolling her healing arm. “Well, she definitely needed some guidance, but giving her the space to make her own decisions also worked out pretty well.”

Spike chuckled. “That’s ironically how Celestia taught Twilight.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You know… I never thought about that. But… I guess it’s true.”

Spike pat her shoulder. “Maybe you’ll be a better teacher than you know.”

Leaving her to her thoughts, Spike walked over to join the his dragon friends. Yet, as he did so, he noticed Swift staring out the window intently.

“Swift?” he asked. “You good brother?”

“I…” Swift shook his head. “I thought I saw… a changeling.” He pointed. “Fluttering behind that snow bank.”

Spike ran over to join him, but he saw nothing in the snow.

“You sure?” Spike asked.

“I think,” Swift said. “I just…” he shuddered before looking to Spike. “You don’t think that Chrysalis might be coming back, do you?”

That thought brought Spike’s heart rate up again. He sighed. “Just when I thought I could relax.”

“Sorry, buddy,” Swift said. “But maybe… Starlight’s not the one we need to worry about right now.”

He looked back out at the snowbank and Spike found himself following his gaze, fearing the day when the Crystal Empire would be swarmed with changelings like how Canterlot had been.

Comments

[Comickook]

REALLY liked the work going into the characterizations, dialogue, action (against the storm) , general wrap-up and future chapter set-up in all the right places. REALLY loved the teamwork against that storm as well as trusting Starlight to wield her magic again until the crisis was resolved (as well as the points that Starlight didn't seem the type to be stupid enough to pull something underhoofed in this particular situation). And that, of course, is not including the stuff from the actual episode, which was also really good.

REALLY looking forward to more of this.

[JNKing]

11751374
Happy you're enjoying.

I'll be quite eager to show how trusting Starlight with her magic will develop, especially if I go forward with her eventually using said magic to brainwash the Mane Six.

Let's just say that particular action is not going to go over well with the dragons, especially when they start exploring what will turn out to be Thorax along with a possible return of other villains outside of just Chrysalis.

I'm really excited to share more of that soon.

Thank you as always for reading. 👍

[Comickook]

11751554
Hopefully, she doesn't resort to the mind control stuff (as you pointed out, the dragons would be pretty upset with that). Of course, they could use the gem to drain her power back now that the emergency requiring the temporary restoration of that power has been taken care of (since that was an emergency rather than her proving she can be trusted) but give her back her power little by little with each good deed (but not enough to do magical mind control) until the Season 6 finale.

And speaking of good deeds, during this version of Dungeons and Discords, Spike can ask Discord how he's doing on his good deeds in order to earn his power back with Discord admitting "You know, helping out the animals around Fluttershy's cottage, occasionally lending the Crusaders a helping claw in a few of their projects - I should make the 100 good deeds mark within a month." Of course, he DOES get make that mark helping save Fluttershy, the Princesses and the Mane Six in the Season 6 finale.

And, if you do include "No Second Prances", Spike can point out to Twilight that "Compared to how Starlight used to be, Trixie was a saint. At least most of Trixie's worst stuff were under the influence of a mind-altering mystic artifact and, even then, her stuff didn't get anywhere near as bad as Starlight's worst stuff. I'm actually more worried about Starlight having a bad influence on Trixie than I am Trixie having a bad influence on Starlight." with Twilight acknowledging Spike's point.

And, before I forget, Happy Thanksgiving/Harvest and Hugs Day in advance.

[JNKing]

11751652
That's what I was thinking of doing: they let her have some of her magic back since they feel she can be trusted with them, only for her to then do the mind spell, leading to them confiscating her power again, leaving her forced to think on her hooves when the changelings attack.

Both the ideas with Discord and Trixie are really good, and I'm going to definitely keep them in mind when their episodes come up.

Happy thanksgiving and Harvest and Hugs Day to you as well. 👍

[Comickook]

11751654

Thanks very much.

And, yeah, I could see that point. Of course, Discord would know how that feels in this universe (concerning the "having to think on his feet" stuff). The upside would be that Thorax would have a good chance to explain Chrysalis's anti-magic security before they even made it to her territory, allowing the rescue party more time to make their plans before actually going in.

And, yeah, for this version of "Dungeons and Discord", Discord (at 80 good deeds at this point in time [due to the aforementioned helping out around Fluttershy's cottage and assisting the Crusaders on some of their projects] - will be at 99 in the season 6 finale [later 100, 101 and 102 during the Season 6 finale {with 101 and 102 being capturing Chrysalis and upgrading Tartarus's security respectively}]) will have already played a few games of this with Mac with Mac and Discord inviting Spike to join in a game and unwind, only to find out Spike has more experience with the game than first suspected due to his adopted older brother being a gaming nerd.

[JNKing]

11751692
Awesome ideas.

Thanks for sharing.

[AstralFlare42]

11751654
What if the brainwashing is an accident?

[JNKing]

11751851
Hmm.... how do you mean?

[AstralFlare42]

11751860
Like she finds it on a piece of paper. After picking it up with her magic, she decides not to use it, but it still activates due to the paper being enchanted to activate what ever is written on it due to the caster's thoughts and uses their magic. It could also be a scroll that Chrysalis was wanting to use, but accidentally gets dropped.

[JNKing]

11751912
media.tenor.com/TRvrgvRXadYAAAAC/mlp-twilight.gif

That could actually work; especially if it's something Chrysalis was going to use, and if Starlight initially doesn't want to use it, only to let her stress and fear at failing at friendship cause it...

Yeah, I think there's potential in that plot thread. It'll still be a couple of weeks before I reach that chapter, but it's a good idea.

Thanks for sharing. 👍