Chapter 9
Getting bored of fiddling with the bucket of crystals I brought, both as weapons and a means of keeping myself occupied, I looked out the window of the train at the billowing snow. We were almost there.
Honestly, I was somewhat surprised the train had been fixed this fast. But I suppose I shouldn’t have been, considering the train was a vital means of transportation and the shipping of goods across Equestria. They must have been working around the clock to get it back in working order.
“So… Does Celestia send the six of you on dangerous missions often?” I asked.
“Well, not often. However, we are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. So I suppose it’s only natural for her to send us to deal with whatever’s the matter in the Crystal Empire.” Rarity stated.
“The Elements of Harmony?” I said in a deadpan tone. “And what, exactly, are those?”
“The elements of harmony are six powerful magic artifacts! Each representing a different element of… well… harmony! And friendship. Each of us embodies one of those six elements and thus the artifacts representing each one resonates with each of us, making us their bearers. I bear the Element of Magic. Pinkie Pie is Laughter, Applejack is Honesty, Rainbow Dash is Loyalty, Rarity is Generosity, and Fluttershy is Kindness. If we use them together, we can unleash a powerful force of harmonic magic that can help achieve amazing things!” Twilight explained with a smile.
“Princess Celestia and Luna used to wield them before us. However, when Princess Luna started to become jealous of Celestia and became Nightmare Moon, seeking to overthrow her and thrust the world into eternal night, Princess Celestia had to use them to banish her to the moon for a thousand years. When she returned, the six of us found the elements and were able to use them to purge the evil from her and bring her back to normal! And when Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, broke free after Celestia and Luna sealed him away a thousand years ago, we were able to use the elements to turn him back into a stone statue! We, uh… We had planned to use them when Chrysalis invaded during Cadance and Shining Armor’s wedding, but we couldn’t get to them. It was actually Cadance and Shining Armor who managed to drive them off!”
I listened to Twilight’s explanation silently. When she was done I said, “So… What I’m getting here is, you have a powerful magic weapon that can banish people to the moon, turn them to stone, or Master them… Mind control them.”
“Not mind control. It’s more like there was a malevolent force making Princess Luna evil and the Elements purged that from her.” Twilight corrected me.
“Right. So change that to undoing mind control then… If the Princesses sent you here to take care of this because you can use these artifacts, do you have them? The only one who seems to have brought anything is Rarity. Thank you for letting me borrow one of your scarfs by the way, Rarity. I’m probably going to need it.”
“Of course, darling!” Rarity said with a smile.
“Uh… No, we don’t. The Princesses have them for safekeeping and they didn’t give them to us before we left.” Twilight said.
"Then what was the point of sending you six in the first place? No offense, I just don't get it. They have their Royal Guard. Ponies specifically trained to deal with and eliminate threats. They could have easily just sent a few dozen or even a whole battalion of them. Yet they're sending a bunch of civilians with zero training into a potentially dangerous situation with zero information on what to expect, without guards to protect you, and without these Elements of Harmony which I'm assuming are the only reason you'd be considered for the job in the first place. It doesn't make any sense."
“I’m sure the Princesses must have a really good reason for it…” Fluttershy mumbled.
“Indeed. This was supposed to be a test for Twilight, was it not? So perhaps the Elements would have simplified matters too much.” Rarity suggested.
“Besides, we’re tough enough on our own! You’ll see, we won’t even need the Elements!” Rainbow Dash said confidently.
“Whatever you say…” I stated.
A few minutes later we arrived at the station. I’d already put on the scarf Rarity was letting me borrow. It was a simple white one, since she said it complimented my mane and contrasted well against my carapace.
“Ha! And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves! At least you had the sense to borrow one, Taylor.” Rarity said as we all stepped off the train into the blizzard.
“I didn’t say a word.” Spike commented, carrying some of Rarity’s bags.
Having mercy on the poor struggling dragon, I grabbed some of the things he was carrying with my telekinesis to lighten his load.
“Are you sure you’re okay out here, Spike? I know you dragons have natural fire magic which should keep you relatively warm, but you’re still a reptile. I’m not so sure being out in the cold like this is good for you.” I asked, looking at him.
“I’m fine. Like you said, my fire keeps me warm. Otherwise Twilight wouldn’t have let me come in the first place.” Spike assured me. “Thanks for looking out for me, though. I appreciate it!”
I nodded and followed the others, carrying some of Rarity’s bags and my bucket of un-enchanted crystals.
“Twilight!” A voice called out from the blizzard.
“Shining Armor?” Twilight called back.
A figure started to become visible. It was Shining Armor, wearing specialized protective gear for the snow. “Twili, you made it!” He exclaimed, taking off the protective gear to reveal his face. The two of them ran towards each other and embraced.
Their hug only lasted a second before Shining Armor released her and turned. “We’d better get moving. There are things out here we really don’t want to run into after dark.”
“And yet you don’t need the Elements of Harmony…” I muttered under my breath, too quiet for anyone to hear me.
Fluttershy gulped nervously. “What kind of things?”
“Let’s just say the Empire isn’t the only thing that’s returned.”
“Could you please be a little less vague? I’m willing to help fight, if it comes to that, but I’d like to know what I’m dealing with first.” I requested, getting annoyed by the lack of information.
“Weaver. I didn’t expect you to come with them.” Shining Armor said, looking at me.
“Well I had three choices. I could have stayed in Ponyville for a few days without food. I could have gone to Canterlot and yelled at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for being so stupid as to send a bunch of untrained civilians to deal with whatever’s going on, without even giving them so much as the most basic information about what the hell they’re getting into. Or I could have come with these six to help keep them safe and avoid causing a political incident. The choice was pretty obvious. So, some information would be nice.” I told him.
“There isn’t a whole lot of time. I’ll explain on the way.” Shining Armor said, turning and walking back into the blizzard.
We all followed him.
As we were walking I took a couple of crystals out of the bucket, enchanted them to emit fire and held them close to myself, partially to help keep myself warm and partially so I’d have a couple pre-enchanted crystals ready in case I needed them. The holes that formed from the enchanting process caused the crystals to whistle in the wind of the blizzard.
“Something keeps trying to get in! We think it’s the unicorn king who originally cursed the place!” Shining Armor shouted back at us.
“But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the Empire! If King Sombra can’t get in, then it must already be protected!” Twilight shouted back.
‘Unless whatever’s keeping him out won’t last forever.’ I thought to myself.
Suddenly we all heard a strange ghostly howling noise.
“AH! That’s one of the things, isn’t it?!” Fluttershy asked, panicking.
“We have to get to the Crystal Empire, now!” Shining Armor exclaimed.
I pulled about half of the crystals out of my bucket and rapidly enchanted each of them, setting them all on fire.
Then a massive shadow-like creature with glowing green and red eyes which seemed to be emitting some kind of purple energy emerged from the ice behind us.
I immediately reacted by pelting the shadow creature with burning crystals at high speeds. Unfortunately, while the creature hissed in either pain or discomfort, my crystals just passed straight through him as if he were little more than a cloud of smoke. So I was dealing with a Breaker with intangibility like Shadow Stalker. Wonderful.
"I'll try to hold it off!" I shouted, flapping my wings and flying up into the air. I'd dropped Rarity's bags and was now focusing entirely on my crystals.
The shadow fired beams of magic at me. I dodged. Most went into the sky but one hit the ground and pitch black crystals sprouted from the ice and snow where the beam hit.
Then shadow billowed out of the way as a beam struck past him.
I didn't even have to look. I sensed Shining Armor's emotions remain in place while everyone else fled. He was staying behind to help me fight.
With my crystals annoying this thing but not doing any serious damage, I cast my Devouring Swarm spell. However this proved completely ineffectual as there was no physical body for my spell to destroy.
I had to stay mobile, flying around the creature to dodge its beams.
"Weaver! Love! King Sombra is repelled by Love based magic!" Shining Armor shouted at me. As soon as he said that, he had to quickly teleport out of the way to avoid being hit by one of King Sombra's beams.
“Great! What do you want me to do about it?!” I shouted back at him.
“I don’t know! You’re the changeling! Can’t you just vomit up some of the love you’ve eaten or something?!” He demanded, blasting the creature with more bolts of presumably love based magic.
“That’s not how this works!” I shouted at him, as another bolt blasted past me, far too close for comfort. “He doesn’t seem to like fire, but the flames don’t seem to be burning him! Any idea why? Gah!” One of the beams shot past me within inches of my face.
“Light! It must be the light of the fire! He’s repelled by love and light! So the light of the fire must be doing more than the actual flames themselves!” Shining Armor shouted. This time, he was unable to react fast enough and was hit by one of Sombra’s beams. Tiny black crystals sprouted from his horn as he was knocked to the ground.
“Light, huh…” I took out several more crystals from my bucket and quickly enchanted them to strobe with very bright flashes of light.
The shadow creature hissed in pain and backed away from the flashing crystals as if they were causing him actual pain.
I quickly enchanted the rest of my crystals to produce as much light as possible for as long as possible and then scattered them in a circle around Sombra who was now very obviously in pain.
With Sombra distracted by the light of my crystals I flew down, grabbed Shining armor, and flew off in the direction of the Crystal Empire while carrying him. “You okay?” I asked, seeing he was still awake.
“I’m fine, but these crystals are preventing me from using my magic.” He told me as we flew.
Looking back, I saw Sombra had already broken my enchanted crystals and was now chasing after us. I fired a few beams of magic at him and tried to pick up the pace, flying as fast as I could towards the Crystal Empire and the barrier surrounding it.
As soon as we were past the barrier, I saw Twilight and flew down towards them. After setting down Shining Armor I landed next to him.
“Oh no, Shining Armor, your horn!”
“I know, Twili…” He responded, raising a hoof to touch the crystals.
We walked forwards through what appeared to be a gate and saw the Crystal Empire in the distance.
“Sparklerific!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily at the sight.
“A city made entirely out of crystals…” I muttered to myself, somewhat awed by the sight.
We walked on foot the rest of the way to the city.
I could sense the emotions of the ponies in the city, within a five block radius of myself, but something was wrong. Instead of the wide diversity of emotions I normally sensed everywhere else, I pretty much only sensed confusion and anxiety. It was genuinely creepy how uniform the emotions were. There were flickerings of other emotions but they were almost completely drowned out by the confusion and anxiety seemingly everyone felt.
As we were walking, however, I noticed something. Other emotions. They stood out against the crowd like a beacon because of how different they were. If it wasn’t for the eerie uniformity of all the other emotions, I might have never even noticed. Sorrow, compassion, and love.
I didn’t mention it at first, but then I noticed another source of emotions that were exactly the same. Then another. And another. It was different from the uniformity of the citizens. It was as if the same person was in multiple places at once. Then, as we got within five blocks of the castle I sensed numerous sources of the same emotions within.
Since we were going to the castle anyway, I decided I’d investigate this anomaly while we were there.
“It’s gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!” Rarity all but squealed in excitement. She made a few excited noises. “There are no words!”
“Focus, Rarity. We’re here to help Twilight. Not to admire the scenery.” Applejack told the fashionista.
“Eh… I don’t see what the big deal is. Just looks like another old castle to me.” Rainbow Dash commented.
“Ah! Phbt. Kah! ANOTHER OLD…?! Have you lost your mind?! Look at the magn…” Rarity stopped as Rainbow Dash giggled and high fived, or high hoofed, Applejack. “Very funny…”
All of us walked into the Castle and Shining Armor led us to the throne room.
Inside we found a very exhausted looking Princess Cadance, her horn constantly glowing as she maintained some kind of spell.
I sensed one of the anomalous sources of emotion in that very room.
“Cadance!” Twilight called out, trotting ahead.
Cadance perked up, happiness flooding through her, and rushed over to Twilight.
““Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”” Twilight and Cadance repeated, performing what I could only assume was some sort of secret handshake, before devolving into a fit of giggling.
Cadence’s horn flickered as she struggled to maintain the spell she was holding. “One of these days, we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn’t hanging in the balance.” Cadance sighed.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.
“Cadance has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting us. But she hasn’t slept, barely eats! I want to help her but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra.”
“It’s alright, Shining Armor. I’m fine.” Cadance tried to reassure him.
“She’s not fine. She can’t go on like this forever. And if her magic were to fade… Well you saw what’s out there waiting for that to happen.”
“Excuse me for interrupting, but if you’ve known his weakness and can channel love and light into magic this entire time, why haven’t you used it against him?” I asked, stepping forwards.
“Weaver! I didn’t know you were coming too… What do you mean, use it against him?” Cadance asked.
“I mean, why have you wasted all this time maintaining this barrier, exhausting yourself, instead of going out and fighting him? If you can channel love and light into a protective barrier, I don’t see why it couldn’t be channeled more directly into an attack. Isn’t that what you were doing earlier, Shining Armor? Channeling love into an attack? If so, then you could have gone out there and ended this as soon as you arrived. After all, if love and light can hurt him it should be able to kill him too.” I explained.
Shining Armor gave me a disapproving look. “Is violence always your first resort, Weaver? I read the report and talked to those guards ponies after the train crash. I even saw the bodies. I know what you did to those changelings.”
"They were trying to kill me. I defended myself. I haven't been in a real fight with magic before so I misjudged what dividing my Devouring Swarm spell would do. It was a mistake, but one I've learned from. I did what I had to in order to survive and to protect the ponies on the train. Judge me if you want, but it worked. And right now, how many more lives are in danger? Thousands? Millions? Just killing Sombra would have saved you a lot of time and effort, and it would have removed any possibility of him ever hurting anyone again."
"Please, stop. Both of you. Now isn't the time to argue. What I should or shouldn't have done doesn't matter now. I've already been maintaining the barrier. Now I'm too exhausted to go out there and fight him even if I wanted to. The only thing I can do right now is continue maintaining the barrier and I'm not sure how much longer I can keep it up." Cadance said, stepping between me and Shining Armor.
"That's why we're here." Twilight stated.
"Why we're all here." Applejack stated as she and the others approached.
"""Mhm!""" The others all hummed in agreement.
"Well with Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the crystal ponies." Shining Armor informed us.
"Crystal ponies?!" Rarity gasped excitedly. "There are crystal ponies?!" She then looked around and noticed everyone was looking at her. A small flash of embarrassment ran through her. "Em… Ehem… Please, continue."
"I'm not sure there is much information to be gathered from them anyway." I stated.
"What do you mean?" Shining Armor asked.
"I can sense the emotions of everyone around me within a five block radius. So while we were walking to the castle I noticed everyone, and I mean everyone, is feeling confused and anxious. And no, I don't mean in any normal way one might expect people to be whenever a disaster happens. Their emotions are creepily uniform. It's like everyone is in a weird mass fugue state. Like if they were perpetually in a state of waking up from a dream or a nightmare. So I'm pretty sure they're under mind control. So the entire population of the city might be screwed."
"Are you sure? And are you trying to say you think they can't be helped?" Cadance asked.
"I'm positive they're under some sort of mind altering spell, yeah. And yeah, they might be screwed. I don't know how it works here, but on Earth Bet there was a villain called Heartbreaker. He could control the emotions of anyone around him. He used this to enslave a number of celebrities and later heroes that tried to stop him. Worse, his influence was permanent. This wasn't the case for all masters but I'm looking at this pessimistically and am operating under the assumption that whatever Sombra did to them is permanent like Heartbreaker." I explained.
Everyone looked disturbed by this.
"Skitter, what the buck is wrong with your world?" Rainbow Dash asked.
I shrugged. "A giant golden alien god."
Shining Armor shook his head. "Well, generally mind control magic isn't permanent like this 'Heartbreaker's' powers were. Thank harmony for that considering Chrysalis had me mind controlled when she was pretending to be Cadance… So, we can't operate under the assumption they can't be saved. We have to do our best to free them from whatever influence Sombra has over them."
"Great, so that's one more thing we have to deal with then… But that's not the only thing. There's something else." I stated.
"There's more? Seriously?! That's just what we need, more bad news!" Rainbow Dash groaned.
"Actually, I don't know what it is. It could be bad news or it could just be nothing. What I do know is that I sensed something else. Weird sources of emotions. Normally I might not have even noticed, but with everyone under some sort of mind control, it stood out like a sore thumb. It's like there's one person feeling all of those things, but somehow in multiple locations at once. One of those sources of emotions is in this room, right now." I explained.
I walked over to the wall behind the throne and everyone followed me.
I pointed at a spot in the wall. "Right there. In the wall. Either there's an illusion or a hidden panel, because there's something in there."
"Let me take a look." Twilight said, approaching the wall. Her horn glowed. "Oh my… Weaver's right. There's something here! There's a powerful ward right here. Let me see if I can…"
All of us waited as Twilight cast a spell on the wall. She seemed to be struggling for a few moments. However, it didn't take long for whatever ward was in place to fall, revealing a hollow space in the wall.
Looking inside I saw what looked to be the head of a unicorn made entirely out of some sort of black crystal.
Grabbing it with my telekinesis, I pulled it out of the hollow space and looked at it a bit closer.
"The head of some kinda statue?" Applejack asked.
I shook my head and frowned. "It's not a statue. Not unless statues can feel emotions. This thing is alive. Like, actually alive. It's one of the sources of the emotions I'm sensing. I'm guessing the other pieces are the rest of the body. On the train ride you guys mentioned the Elements of Harmony could turn people to stone? Well, I think Sombra must have figured out how to turn people to crystal. The big question is, who is this and why did he turn them to crystal? He obviously didn't want them to come back. Any ideas?"
“Well… It looks like the pictures I’ve seen of Queen Amore. She’s my distant relative and was the ruler of the Crystal Empire before Sombra took over. While I’ve been maintaining the barrier, I’ve read a bit about her, but I couldn’t find anything about what happened to her… To think her head was behind the throne I’ve been sitting on this entire time…” Princess Cadance said, looking at the head.
“If she’s made of crystal, she hasn’t been mastered. She might be able to tell us more than the Crystal Ponies. She’s still alive, so do you think there’s any way we can turn her back to normal? Or would she just fall apart even if we managed to turn her back after piecing her back together?” I asked.
“If we could find all of her pieces, then maybe we could bring her back… Taylor, do you think you can help us find her pieces?” Twilight asked.
“Easily. They’re all radiating emotion, and it stands out pretty clearly against everyone else. But I can’t undo any magic sealing them away.” I told her.
“You can leave that part to me!” Twilight said with a smile.
“Then that’s what all of you need to do. Go find the pieces of Queen Amore and bring them back here. If anyone knows how to protect the Crystal Empire without Cadance’s magic, it’ll be her. And if nothing else, she should at least be able to help by taking shifts with Cadance until we can find a more permanent solution.” Shining Armor stated.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s get going!” Twilight said eagerly.
Setting Queen Amore’s head down next to the throne, I followed Twilight and the others out of the throne room. “There are more pieces here in the castle. Let’s start with those. Follow me.” I told them, walking ahead.
It took a while to learn the castle’s layout and find our way to where all the pieces were hidden, but eventually we managed it. I was all carrying pieces with telekinesis. Once we collected the last piece that was in the castle we brought them all back to the throne room, and tried to put them back together. It was like putting together a puzzle but we eventually figured it out. This left us with Queen Amore’s head, neck, and mane fully intact. However, the rest of her body was still missing.
So we had to go out and collect the rest of the pieces hidden in the city. This took roughly an hour, but once we had all the pieces we brought them back and finished putting Queen Amore back together, only to realize we didn’t have enough pieces. There was a huge chunk missing from her chest and over half of her body was still missing.
“I don’t understand… Taylor, are you sure you didn’t sense any more pieces here in the city?” Twilight asked.
I shook my head. “I didn’t. I searched the entire city from the sky about three times just to make absolutely sure we got all of the pieces. If there were more here, I’d have sensed them. Sombra must have hidden the rest outside of the city somewhere.”
“If they aren’t in the city, then where are they?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“Good question. He probably wanted to make them near impossible to find. So I’m guessing, the frozen wasteland all around the city.” I said grimly. “We might not be able to save her after all.”
“No! We can’t give up now! We’re so close! We need to find the rest of the pieces!” Twilight insisted. She started pacing as she thought to herself. “But we can’t just go out and wander the Frozen North aimlessly. We need leads… Sombra kept these pieces in the city. He kept her head behind his throne. In that case the other pieces have to be relatively close by too…”
“Um… Khepri…? You said it felt like Queen Amore was in multiple places at once, right?” Fluttershy asked nervously.
“I did, and it does.” I nodded, though while I didn’t show it I internally frowned at being called Khepri. It wasn’t Fluttershy’s fault though. She didn’t know I hated that name, so I couldn’t blame her.
“Well… If all of her pieces feel connected… Um… maybe they are? Uh… I… m-maybe they’re linked somehow? If that’s the case… w-why can’t you or Twilight use one of her pieces to follow the connection and find the rest of her pieces?” Fluttershy inquired.
Twilight seemed too lost in thought to hear this, for better or worse.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had to do anything like that before… Let me try something.” I took a loose shard that didn’t seem to connect to any of the other pieces we’d collected.
Closing my eyes I tried to focus on the emotions it was emitting. Trying to feel for anything connecting it to the other pieces we’d collected. It took a lot of concentration and focus but eventually I managed to notice something. I don’t know if it was just because of my relationship with insects, but my brain interpreted it as something like the strands of a spiderweb but made of emotion. Individually they were so faint they were incredibly difficult to see let alone notice unless you were looking at it in the right “light” or were looking incredibly hard for them. The only reason I’d noticed anything at all was because there were so many strands of the web so close together right now, making it more noticeable. Now Knowing what to look for, I had to search very hard but I was able to notice other individual strands leading off in different directions. I wasn’t able to feel where they led, only the general directions they were going in.
“I think I can lead us to the rest of the pieces.” I announced.
Twilight stopped and looked at me. “You can?!”
"Fluttershy had a good idea. The pieces are all magically linked in some way. It seems to be why all the pieces are emitting emotion instead of just her head. It's difficult, but if I try hard enough I can vaguely sense the connections as very tiny and faint threads of emotion. It takes a lot of effort and concentration, but I think I can guide us to where the rest are hidden. Though I'll need to take a piece so I don't lose track of the strands. This piece should work. It's small enough to carry easily and we can't connect it to anything yet." I explained.
“Fluttershy, you’re a genius!” Twilight exclaimed, rushing over to Fluttershy and grabbing her by the face.
“I… I am…?” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Yes! That was a brilliant idea!” She released Fluttershy and turned to face everyone. “Now that Taylor knows what to look for, we actually have a way of finding the rest of the pieces! So, let’s go!” Twilight insisted.
I put my hoof on Twilight’s back. “Hold on. We have to make some preparations first. These pieces aren’t in the city. That means we’re going to have to leave the barrier to find them. And as soon as we do, we’ll have Sombra bearing down on us. Not to mention it’s getting darker and thus colder. So if we don’t want anyone to be caught by Sombra or get hypothermia, we’re going to need some equipment.”
“Oh… Right… Good point…” Twilight said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof. “Ehem… Alright, let’s go get the equipment we need, then we can go.”
While Twilight’s friends were getting the snow gear we’d need, Twilight and I gathered and enchanted a number of very bright crystals to repel Sombra. I also gathered up a couple bags of crystals we hadn’t enchanted so Twilight and I could turn them into flashers to drive him back as needed since the crystals we were wearing would only prevent him from getting close to us physically. They wouldn’t stop him from shooting at us with his crystal magic.
I would have pre-enchanted the flashers and set them to go off with some mechanism so everyone could have been armed with them, but that would have taken time we didn’t have. Thus we opted for the next best thing. We tied some crystals to sticks like torches and enchanted them to be painfully bright. Enchanting them to be so bright and last as long as we needed them to be took about an hour, we had to wear eye protection the entire time, and it was a bit taxing on both me and Twilight since it took a lot of magical energy, but it was still faster than trying to make more complex devices. When we were done, we simply wrapped the ridiculously bright crystals in a heat resistant fabric so they wouldn’t risk blinding anyone until they were needed, while not risking them burning the fabric or setting it on fire due to the sheer amount of light they were putting out.. Each of the girls had at least one of these ‘torches’ each, in case they needed to fend off Sombra. Especially if they were accidentally separated from the group for whatever reason.
We were all standing at the edge of the barrier, wearing our snow equipment. Each of us had brightly glowing crystals tied to our legs, around our bodies, and hanging from our necks. It was by far the best personal protection we could get at the moment. I also had the piece of Queen Amore I’d be using to track the other pieces tied around my neck like a necklace, and both Twilight and I were carrying saddle bags full of unenchanted crystals.
“Is everypony ready? Once we step out there, we’re not turning back until we’ve found the last of Queen Amore’s pieces. Or until tomorrow morning. Whichever comes first. We can’t wait any longer than that. Cadance won’t last.” Twilight asked.
“We’re ready! Let’s go get those pieces and save the Crystal Empire!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
“Yeah, let’s do this! We’ve all got our lights. This time Sombra will be the one running away from us!” Rainbow Dash said confidently.
“If something goes wrong, run back here. I’ll hold him off to buy time for you all to get away again.” I said, staring out at the frozen wasteland beyond the barrier.
“If something goes wrong, I’ll teleport all of us away. Including you, Taylor.” Twilight told me.
“That works too.” I told her, walking towards the barrier. Closing my eyes, I tried my best to focus on one of the strands of emotion and followed it.
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I don't see anything wrong with Amore becoming an Alicorn. It's like you said, redeeming someone like Sombra and helping him with his Umbrum status would be worthy of ascension. Though if this did happen i think it shouldn't be an instantaneous fix. Something like this would take time, but time heals all wounds as they say.
Alicorn amora lets goooooooooo
Alicorn Amore I can go either way.
As for redeeming Sombra, that could be interesting. I've only seen one other story that went that route, so it's lightly trodden ground.
11745020
I agree with the stranger
Is Taylor Hebert the only character from Worm that’s going to appear in this story? Also, Worm is a 100% complete story, right? There aren’t any sequels or spinoffs or anything like that?
Honestly it would be interesting seeing how Sombra and weaver would interact, because they are both similar and different in interesting ways.
11745079
At this time I think Taylor is going to be the only character from Worm. Though people on Space Battles seem to be expressing interest in other characters being introduced at some point. Specifically some of Taylor's old friends. So while I don't think I'll be implementing more characters, considering the interest being expressed on Space Battles I might ask to see if people are interested in me introducing more characters from Worm at a more appropriate moment in the story. If people really want me to, I might. If not, then I won't. Though if I do, they won't have their old powers since their shard wouldn't come with them.
(I'm hardline about that. No matter what, there will be absolutely no Shard powers in this story except in flashbacks. The only powers in this story will be magic from the MLP universe and how said magic interacts with the characters.)
There is a sequel to Worm, actually. It's called Ward. It's not about Taylor, though. It's about a character from Worm named Victoria Dallon, her hero names are "Glory Girl" in Worm and later "Antares" in Ward. Feelings about Ward are mixed due to a few of Wildbow's writing decisions which I won't spoil here, but it should still be of the same overall quality as Worm. So if you're interested in reading a continuation of the Parahumans universe, Ward should be worth reading.
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I'm not saying that it's impossible to add more characters from Worm and have it work. But I've never seen extra characters being 'dropped in' in a situation like this work without the groundwork being laid very early, like, in the first 2-3 chapters. I'd say adding more Worm characters would be a risky decision that should only be taken if you are very confident that you know exactly what the new characters' role(s) will be in the story and believe they are necessary for the story you want to tell.
In other news, I very much enjoyed the chapter, although the dialogue was a bit stiff. Retrieving and restoring the shattered Queen is something that I've never seen done before and totally blindsided me, but it's so logical in hindsight that I'm surprised I've never seen anything like it done before. I wasn't too worried, but I'm glad to see we won't just be rehashing the same old tired plotlines that have been done a thousand times before. It'll be interesting to see how Queen Amore's presence changes things.
Weaver seems to have more brains than anyone else in the room.
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It's mainly a combination of her having more experience than the Mane 6 and being a lot more jaded. So she's already familiar with dealing with big threats and is willing to take steps the others aren't. Namely, lethal force.
I don't think I've seen both an Amore resurrection, alicornification, and Sombra redemption rolled into one. Far as I'm concerned, Go for it, if that's the way you're led.
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Yes but shining is a soldier and should understand the power of information. Knowledge is powerful thing in the world considering if we didn't have that we wouldn't be where we are today. And cadence as leader should understand this too. I hope weaver yells at Celestia after this because this isn't very nice to do others.
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To be fair, he actually did try to tell them what was going on while they were walking back to the Empire. He just didn't have a whole lot of time to do it because it was getting dark and Sombra showed up. Can't blame him for that. You can blame him for being vague initially but at least he tried to clarify more after that.
Cadance was exhausted and neither she nor Shining Armor seemed to know much more beyond "Hey that big scary shadow monster outside? That's King Sombra. He's incorporeal and is repelled by love and light." I'm guessing they weren't told much else either.
Celestia, on the other hand, had absolutely no excuse. A "test" isn't a valid reason for not giving Twilight even the most basic information about what she and her friends were getting into. She said she doesn't know much about the Crystal Empire which is fair. But she would have at least known about the Umbrum and she would have known about the Crystal Heart too. She could have, at the very least, given Twilight a couple hints so she'd be better prepared to protect herself and her friends rather than just throwing her directly into the deep end.
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seconding
the butterflies such a change would cause are sure to be interesting
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Yeah and she seems to have done the same thing to cadence and shining armor. They can't be good leaders if they have a harder time taking care of their people because someone isn't speaking up when they could.
I enjoy the idea of a Sombra redemption/Amore resurrection thing. But maybe have Sombra decide to follow Taylor instead. They'd be a better match. Plus Taylor can sympathize with the things Sombra was driven to do. And if Radiant Hope shows up? Also cool.
Eh, I like redemption arcs, let the shady one be redeemed I say (not Sophia, the other shady one)
Queen amore is cumming back!
That’s unexpected, but a good one nonetheless.
At the end of the mission:
Weaver: Ok, so my spells and methods are bad but you just blowed up that guy into pieces, and everypony is cool with it?
Twilight: Oh, but we didn't blow him up.
Weaver: What??
Rarity: Darling, we just dispelled him.
Weaver: ... You know what? F*ck you!
My vote's towards unicorn Amore and "redeemed" Sombra. Alicoronated Amore would just be Cadance+, but as the craftier, less powerful, and morally greyer advisor with a closet full of skeletons and a secrecy obsession?
And the Sombra bit comes with the caveat that "redeeming" shouldn't change the underlying character. Convincing Weaver to see a guy with a sinister ability betrayed by authority who went *hard* into ends justify the means?
Another potential quibble is if they have Amore, even partially, why is Cadance in charge? Right of conquest never sat right with me...
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i vote the same as you do
I vote for alicorn Amore and redeemed Sombra.
I want to see the interactions between her and Cadance. How would ancestor and descendant treat each other?
Excellent chapter. And Taylor getting a better grasp on her abilities is brilliant as she's unlike everyone else there and showing them what they never knew about a reoccurring enemy race.
think Taylor has always known that violence doesn't have to be the answer. She's just had the misfortune of a very public event where she has to defend herself and everyone scared of how effective she was at the violence.
Taylor understood things like territories and leadership that she would WANT diplomacy to succeed, and Queen Amore (Alicorn or not) successfully subjugating and turning King Sombra into an ally would definitely be something Taylor would respect and help in, especially if Sombra is corrupted by something definitively evil.
This has been a good chapter, but a major criticism I have is that on too many occasions we are not made aware of Taylor's state of mind. You called Taylor "Jaded." This is how we should read her when someone argues with her about her way of acting (like in this case with Shining Armor)? She is so Jaded that when someone challenges her ways of thinking and acting (which for her is logical and practical), she does not get upset or frustrated with this cartoon rhetoric (is she familiar with family-oriented cartoons like MLP?) , she responds mechanically, with unreadable humor? She is clearly upset by how Celestia runs things, but I feels that sometimes the reader is not shown her humor beyond these low-key comments.
As for reforming Sombra... I am all for reforming villians, but let me ask you a question... do you think you can pull it off in a meaningfull way and with out this take center stage from Weaver's story?
Usually when one seeks to redeem the villains, that becomes the main story, not a side plot. And I think that of all the villains, Sombra is the most difficult (and therefore the one that would require a lot of work) to redeem, because, unlike the members of the Legion of Doom, we were never shown that he had any redeemable quality. For all intents and purposes, he was an irredeemable monster.
You mention the comics, Queen Amore, turning her into an alicorn and that's fine. But that will mean that you will have to work extra to bring any information from the comics to the readers.
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As far as I'm aware, the main reason Cadance is in charge is because everyone thought Amore was dead or they couldn't save her. In this story, she will be saved. So Cadance's claim to the throne will be in question.
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Fair criticisms. For her not getting upset, she tries to explain things calmly and logically when she can. Plus she's already had to deal with differences of methodology. Her adjustment from being a villain to joining the Wards is an example of that. She had to change her entire way of fighting for PR. So when Shining Armor asks her if violence is always her first resort, her mind would automatically go back to her days in the Wards where she had to use butterflies and non-dangerous bugs.
To put this more into perspective, she started her career avoiding killing as much as possible and focusing on non-lethal incapacitation. Then she had to kill Coil to save Dinah and ended up killing Alexandria and Tagg. Then she was forced into the Wards and was told how to use her powers and not to kill unless a villain explicitly had a kill order. Eventually Jack Slash and the apocalypse happened and her opinions on the use of lethal force loosened. Then she was thrust into MLP where she was transformed and told Queen Chrysalis wanted to kill her and that she would have no choice but to essentially go to war against her if she wanted to survive. In her mind wars are inherently lethal. Every war throughout human history has been fought by soldiers killing their enemies. So she would naturally conclude from there that she was going to have no choice but to do the same because that's what war is in her mind. But she was always a super-hero/villain, not a soldier until Gold Morning came. So she wouldn't be against non-lethal methods, she just thinks she doesn't have a choice because its a war.
So I really don't see her getting particularly upset when her way of thinking is questioned. Not as much as other people might. At least in regards to the war with Chrysalis and her handling of dangerous situations anyway. Annoyed, probably but not upset or defensive. She probably should be more annoyed by the cartoon rhetoric though, I'll give you that.
As for humor, I think the big problem there is she's not trying to be humorous. She's taking everything incredibly seriously and is still incredibly closed off. So you're right, she doesn't really show her humor. If she actually trusted anyone or had someone she genuinely considered a friend she would probably show a bit more humor but she doesn't have that. Plus she's stuck in a world of pastel ponies and magic, has Chrysalis looming over her along with the prospect of becoming a mother and her kids being in danger, and she's preparing to start a third war between the Griffons over the Idol of Boreas which she's also going to have to try to stop shortly after starting it. Plus there's the trauma of Khepri and the Slaughterhouse Nine-thousand. So she has a lot on her plate and a lot to cope with, and from what I remember of Worm, she doesn't cope with stuff with humor or anything like that. She copes by throwing herself into her work or into more dangerous situations to try and be productive.
If it was Alec, Aisha, or Lisa in her place there would absolutely be a lot more attempts at humor. But she's not them.
As for Sombra's redemption, from a Doyalist perspective it would serve one main purpose narratively. Showing Taylor that death and violence aren't as necessary as she currently thinks. That villains here in this universe aren't always completely irredeemable and can change. That things here might not be quite as bad as they are in her world. The impact wouldn't be so immediately profound as I make it sound with that description, but it would be a start on that path for her. It would be a means of striking a balance between the tones of Worm and My Little Pony. We already had Taylor kill a bunch of changelings and she's prepping to kill a bunch of Griffons. Sombra's redemption would be a sort of narrative counter balance to that. And most of it would take place over the course of a chapter or two while the rest of his journey would take place mostly off screen with some mentions here and there and some occasional appearances by him. Unless he was sent to Ponyville as an ambassador to her hive or he had some other reason to stick around her anyway, at which point it would very much be a side plot. It would not completely over ride the rest of the story since he would not be the main focus and Taylor would have her own things to worry about and deal with.
(Spoilers for the comics ahead. Anyone who cares, you have been warned)
And his personality would be closer to his personality in the comics, not the show. And in the comics we have an actual reason for why he is the way he is and qualities that aren't just "generic Saturday morning cartoon villain" like he's portrayed in Season 9. He became evil because ever since he was a colt, every year during the Crystal Fair he would be in a state of horrific agony and he had no idea why. Year after year it was torture for him, he actually nearly died at one point, and he never knew why. Queen Amore knew the reason all along but didn't tell him and didn't try to help him, as far as he was aware. (She was trying to protect him by keeping him in the dark about his true nature and even tried to redeem him just before being turned to Crystal.)
So when he found out the truth, that he's an Umbrum, he felt hurt, betrayed, bitter, and incredibly angry. Plus, when he looked into the Crystal Heart and saw his destiny, all he saw was himself as a shadowy monster and learning the truth about what he was made him feel resigned to that fate. Thinking he could never be anything more. So he also gained a sense of self loathing, viewing himself as an irredeemable monster because of how he was born and the "fact" that it was his destiny to be such.
In the comics he is eventually redeemed by his childhood friend due to their friendship. For Queen Amore it would be a lot more difficult because he resents her for never telling him the truth and, from his perspective, never trying to help him. Thus the reason why redeeming him would be a challenge worthy of ascension, plus a few other plot points I have in mind.
And I'm confident in my ability to include information from the comics.
That said, I'm not attached to Amore becoming an Alicorn. But most people seem to want Sombra's redemption so I'm going to give that part my best shot.
Nay for redeemed Sombra for me. Personally I just don't care for the idea and think he's too far gone.
Hrm, I'll have to see it before I decide as currently all of that happening sounds rather contrived. I can see her making another attempt and failing only to repel him and later meet up with up with Hope and the two of them together guiding him back to the light. However, I won't say never before seeing it. Even without Alicorning, just having Amore around would be another leader in her camp who could help keep Weaver on the brighter side of grey.
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I fully support NO more Worm/Ward characters appearing. Everytime you bring in more of them it further dilutes the story and opens the door for yet more coming through. Currently the excuse is that Harmony itself felt like Taylor deserved a chance at a happy ending and pulled her in (despite her basically being a force of Chaos) While there are a couple others I could see it dragging in, every time it happens it further dilutes the importance of the singular event. The only justification I could ever see for another Parahuman series character showing up would be a lie/illusion like Sombra's nightmare traps convincing Tay that her dad's here.
If you bring back Queen Amore remember that she's been gone a thousand years. Like Luna, she'll be using "Ye Olde Speak" then. So will Sombra.
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Redeemed Sombra eh? The only fic I read where that happened was when Screwball, SI Discord's daughter, used her powers to separate the evil umbrum side of him from his pony side. That's the only way that's gonna happen. So, unless Twilight has a "separate-good-side-from-it's-evil-side" spell I don't see that happening. Also Sombra was so far gone in the cartoon he had a very limited vocabulary.
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After this adventure is over, I really want to see Taylor verbally tear into Celestia like "Parting Words" Twilight did.
I'm rather enjoying this story and i wish you a good day/night as i eagerly await further updates
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Respectfully, I was not "complaining" and last I checked we are in fact allowed to voice our thoughts, opinions and suggestions here, preferably in an at least vaguely polite manner, which I did.
I don't think it's your place to try to police the comments section.
Maybe when night is not in dire need
The Minimum is Taylor Herbert To give the lashing she has or tell to Twilight how gently to tell it .
Celestia Deserve it
Sombra is borderline ghost properties to a point.
I have in er desire for anyone to change to better person.
but it's your story
will check comments later
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I would Put Celestia under Bullet Hell as she put anougher stunt to get me out of Apathy.
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The Diarchs have their skeletons in the closet allready
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if Sombra Joins Her , he Should be great Ally and advisor , Possible extra teacher for magic .
Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie could help
,better the rest of them as as many people as possible would be better than selected few .
Chaviar is actually nice , at least try a tiny bit on the tongue
Some Snails well prepared is Fine.
Frog legs is not Different from Chicken wing
Shrimp is like cheap Lobster . it's tasty ,
just a tiny bite to try it and than decide