Episode 2: The Crystalling Part Two
Episode 2:
The Crystalling Part Two
Shortly after the whole battle at the Crystal Empire landed with King Sombra forced to retreat to avoid imprisonment. By the time he emerged from underground and appeared over the horizon he was long gone from the heroes as far as Princess Cadance and Shining Armor are concerned.
The dark unicorn king himself could only look on at the reconquered kingdom with seething rage as his only other option would have been being thrown behind bars in Tartarus alongside the rest of Scar’s army. Never before he had been so overwhelmed with defeat.
For himself it was so frustrating and humiliating that a group of kids assisted with the prince and princess in taking over his kingdom. In fact he could not believe every day since then it happened, just when he was on the verge of victory just days after conquering the kingdom much like Scar did with the Pride Lands. Ever since then, he’s spent his days on the outside of Equestria and the Pride Lands looking in all while practicing hard on combat and dark magic skills on his own.
Every now and then he would get in contact with Scar who would brief him on the current situation and tell him to stand by from the borders until further notice. That is of course up until the day, Scar summoned him to the Outlands Volcano to inform him that they are planning an attack on the Crystal Empire. And the best part about it is, it’s something that both he and Scar will do themselves since they have the power together to do this very specific job.
By twisting the old saying “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” in Scar and Sombra’s case with the Crystal Empire “When life gives you one more member of the Royal Family to deal with. One with dangerously raw uncontrollable magic at her disposal, use the events around it to play out in their favor.”
And their first step to going on about is braving the growing blizzard in order to tackle the first obstacles to their agenda. Princesses Celestia and Luna accompanied by Kyoga along with her siblings Karabi and Lite, all trying in vain to resist and slow the blizzard’s efforts to pour snow and ice all over the kingdom they are trying to protect.
“Time to take back what’s mine!” Sombra darkly vowed as he and Scar moved to carry out their plan together.
Meanwhile back inside the Crystal Castle...
"Flurry Heart? Where are you? This is your Aunty Twily calling to you!" Twilight called out to the child just when both Shining Armor and Cadance happened to cross paths with her. “Any idea where she went?!”
“I wish we knew, Twilight!” Shining returned rather anxious himself. “We must have searched these hallways five times already.” Twilight looks on like he is telling a joke right now. “Okay, three times actually…I thought the last one was a different one!” He then defended to which got his sister to understand now before placing a hoof on his forehead clearly tired and weary from what is transpiring around them. “But we haven’t found her yet.”
“If we don’t find her soon, she might turn this whole castle upside-down without trying.” Cadance expressed with her maternal instincts kicking in as she tries to hear her infant daughter out hoping she’s nearby.
She then flew on ahead a different direction while the others followed after her. It wasn’t long until she and Pinkie just happened along with Rarity and Fluttershy picked up a very familiar sound up ahead.
“Pinkie?”
“What is it?”
Both Twilight and Shining asked upon finding them.
“It’s her.”
“The baby’s nearby.”
The search ended up leading them down the hallway and down towards the throne room where the sound’s of baby happy babbling and giggling drew them all towards the closed doors.
“She’s in there!” Pinkie reported as she pressed her ear and mane against the door. “I can hear it from a mile away!”
“Wow!” Fluttershy spoke impressed.
closer. hadn't been going on for very long though when Pinkie Pie happened to pick up the sound of something. "Hey, you hear that?" She asked Rarity and Fluttershy.
“It’s her!” Rarity stated as she and the others peaked open the door where they all saw the baby alicorn indeed inside. All while happily flying around like this is her personalized playroom. “Honestly, just how?”
“If anything I know about babies, is that they honestly don’t know any better. As frustrating as she is powerful.” Ono commented. “But even still we need to figure out how to get her without her breaking anything else.”
“I got this!” Bunga quickly assured before anyone can think of something before charging forward and leaping up towards the filly. “Zuka Zama!” He managed to land on the baby’s back who likewise turned and giggled as she continued flying around like she has a riding partner guiding her. “Okay, silly filly. Time to go back to mommy and daddy.” Still seeing the baby is enjoying this gave him an idea as he donned a dark blue with a white stripe styled cowboy hat. “Come on partner, to the bedroom where all of your favorite toys are!” The baby giggled fascinated at the idea before flying on ahead with the honey badger in tow leaving the whole group equally surprised and stunned with what they are seeing, especially Applejack. “Yee-haw!”
“How did she…?” Shining Armor asked his sister and brotherly friend who couldn’t give a certain answer in reply.
“I don’t know.” Kion could only say.
“Much like Pinkie, Bunga is out there when it comes to him and his crazy ideas.” Twilight added with nothing else to say about that.
“And he is certainly taking after her very well.” Applejack added to which Pinkie giggled in response. “No offense.” She quickly added.
“None taken! Now...” She then donned a pink cowboy hat herself before running off after the two. “...let’s round up a wild filly.”
“Hey!” Applejack exclaimed in shock. “That’s ma thing.”
“And my baby!” Cadance exclaimed as she rushed on after them to make sure they don’t play too rough with her child. “So hold on a minute on the lasso’s, you two!”
“Is it me or has everyone in this here castle gone crazier than Granny Smith on a bad day?” Applejack asked everyone.
“Well when you have a loose and powerful newborn filly whose capable of destroying the Crystal Heart flying around, I would have to say yes, Applejack.” Fuli replied somewhat bluntly. “In the meantime, let’s go make sure they got her under control.”
“Let’s.” Shining stated before leading the way in following after them. “Let’s go!”
Back at Sunburst’s house, the conversation between the two ponies continued on. But still with no progress for the better. Sure, Sunburst had invited Spike and Starlight Glimmer in, but on behalf of the Princess of Friendship. He was now currently sitting at his desk where he has his back turned from his books as he and Starlight try to connect with one another and make sense of the purpose of their conversation.
“So what exactly does Princess Twilight want from us when she means by reconnecting with each other? Like trying to find out why we have grown apart from the day we last saw each other?”
“Something like that, yes.” Starlight nodded while trying to mask her current nervousness. “I know it sounds a little crazy, but that’s the angle.”
Sunburst scratched his head in confusion in response. “But how? What angle exactly is it?” Then he innocently inquired. "Would it have something to do with whatever you did ever since I left for magic school, Starlight?"
"Mmm, no. I don’t think so.” She lied still not wanting to tell the truth already. “Nothing important, I’m sure of it, surely you of all ponies with a newfound reputation to uphold would understand, Mr. Big, Important Wizard."
The stallion slowly nodded. "Yup, that's right. Although you could have tried writing to me at any time, you know.”
"I did. You never replied to any of them.” Starlight quickly pointed out rather hurt yet understanding to which had the stallion biting his own lips in regret for saying that. “That being said, what happened to you ever since you went to magic school?
Sunburst gulped a bit in response. "Me?"
"Yes, you. Surely, you have to have some importance here in the Crystal Empire if you’re now a big important wizard. Did anything special happen ever since you moved here?"
Sunburst stuttered nervously as he replied. "No, no, nothing very special.” And with a bit of a chuckle he declared. "I have become a big, important wizard. I just haven’t gotten started at my new job since I had just moved here and needed an adjustment period just to get settled in the comforts of this place. Not to mention I have important and powerful spells to work on before I got started with my new job here.”
"Oh, of course," Starlight nervously chuckled in reply. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to assume that you had already gotten settled in your new life here. Especially when the art of perfection hasn’t been mastered yet.”
And while the two unicorns were talking, Spike was desperately looking over the large and long scroll as he said to himself. "I'm sure there's something on Twilight's list that can help here."
Amazingly enough, the wild west playtime was enough to allow Bunga and Pinkie Pie to guide the calmed down filly back to the royal nursery, much to the relief of everypony else when they eventually grouped up once more.
"Phew! I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun since helping Applejack round up that cattle on her farm. Come to think of it…” He then pondered with another idea in mind. “Maybe it’s time I sign up for the next rodeo that comes to Equestria. And I’ll have Rarity join me.”
Rarity tried to laugh it off before frowning at the idea. “Heh, heh, heh, very funny Bunga, but no.”
Bunga however shook his head as if he wasn’t taking no for an answer on this one. “No, no, Rarity. As I recall from a certain sleepover you shared with Applejack, you were dared to into doing so, and once you’re dared into doing something you have to do it.”
“But that doesn’t count!” Rarity protested. “Besides don’t we have more important things to worry about at this time?! Like figuring out how to save the Crystal Empire and everyone here from freezing to death?!”
“Rarity’s right.” Twilight stated in agreement. “Now’s not the time for petty squabbling and dithering around.” She moved to look out the window to see the ones out there trying to hold the storm off slowly growing weaker and weaker by the second. “Especially when the only lions and ponies who have the time and availability are not going to last long until that storm completely overwhelms them. So…” She turns everyone else ready to delegate of how they are going to approach this going forward. “Lion and Pony Guard, continue keeping an eye on the baby while Shining Armor and Princess Cadance both take a quick nap so they can feel well-rested enough to help out.” She the turned to Kion. “Kion, you stick with them while me and the others head on over to the library to see if there’s something that can help repair the Crystal Heart.” She then turned to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash, can you fly on out there and fetch Starlight and Spike once the parents are ready to take over watching after their foal?”
Rainbow saluted in response. “Can do!”
“Very well, Twily…” Shining yawned. “...I suppose we can rest for a little bit now.”
“Just don’t do anything to wake her up.” Cadance then advised before moving on towards the bedroom alongside her equally tired husband as her eyelids threaten to close as she stood where she stands.
“But wait?” Ono spoke up when he realized something. “What about the crystal ponies? How are we going to evacuate them out of here should the worst case scenario happen?”
“Just leave that to me, Ono.” The lion king assured while distancing himself away from the group. “That is of course once I’m well rested.”
“Okay.” Honestly, Ono felt nervous about all of this, but knowing the family along with the rest of the team, had to place good faith in him.
“It’ll be okay, Ono.” Beshte reassured his friend before turning to Twilight to prove that she can trust them to watch after her while the parents rest up. “And you count on us, Twilight. We’ll make sure nothing happens until then.”
“I certainly hope so.” Ono said to himself as the others head on out of the nursery.
Twilight waited until she knew for sure everything’s all going as planned. From Shining Armor and Princess Cadence taking their much needed nap to making sure the others are watching the now resting baby. It seemed like everything is now under control before making her way on over to the library. All while hoping things will work out like before.
Back at Sunburst’s things still haven’t improved between the two unicorns as Spike is futiely looking over the scroll for something that’ll help smooth things up.
"Come on! Come on!" He said to himself as the scroll had now been unfolded so much that it stretched all the way down to the ground and had even wrapped itself around him. "There's gotta be somethin' in here.”
"I know Princess Twilight was really keen on the two of us rekindling our friendship, but...it's been so long," Sunburst then said. "I doubt she could've anticipated this. And even if she did I don't see how anything on that list could help."
Starlight couldn't help but laugh it off. "I know, right? How silly would that be. After all, it's not like there's some spell or something that could just magically compel us to be friends again."
"Actually, it's funny you should mention that," Sunburst grinned as he lit up his horn, as he levitated several scrolls over to them. "Because there are spells that could do that. Lots of them, actually," He proceeded to list some of them off one by one. "There's: Mistmane's Material Amity, Rockhoof's Rapport, Flash Magnus' Fellow... ship... " Then he cleared his throat. "But I get the feeling a spell isn't what the princess was looking for."
"Yeah, definitely not. Magic can't solve everything." Starlight laughed it off once more albeit more nervously than the last one.
At that moment, Spike happened to spot something down at the very bottom of the scroll and spoke up. "Aha! I knew there was something that could help!" He proceeded to read aloud. "'If all else fails, ask them both to share an embarrassing moment from their past, maybe even something they regret!'”
But after a moment of silence Sunburst nervously commented while adjusting his glasses. "I don't see how that's supposed to help."
Starlight Glimmer nervously agreed before apologizing. "Yeah, I was about to say the same thing! Terribly sorry for wasting your time like this, Sunburst. Spike and I should just get out of your mane. It's pretty obvious this isn't going how Twilight hoped it would, and I'm sure that you still have plenty of important work to do around here."
Sunburst momentarily forgot what Starlight was saying before quickly agreeing. "Oh! Right, yes, of course," He replied with an equally nervous grin. "You know me, very busy. No rest for the wizardly, unfortunately.” He then added. "But it was very good to see you again, Starlight. Even if it was brief and awkward."
"It sure was.” Starlight replied before turning to Spike. "Come on, Spike. Let's go."
Spike groaned before he could get a word out as she used her magic to drag the little dragon away and slammed the door to Sunburst's house shut behind her. Since it was clear that a rekindled friendship wasn’t going to work out, there was no point in trying to force it.
Once outside and away from Sunburst, Starlight released her magical grip on Spike and apologized. "Sorry Spike. But I just couldn’t tell Sunburst about what happened to me ever since he left. If he didn’t want to be my friend now, then he most certainly wouldn't want be friends with me now. And it wouldn’t surprise me if that happened." She then unhappily sighed in defeat. "Besides, he goes on to live his dreams as a big important wizard. And at the same time, I’m pretty much a pony who’s only lucky she’s not in prison right now."
"Come on Starlight, don’t say that!" Spike shook his head at what he sees as crazy talk. "It’s not your fault things didn’t work out the way you had hoped." He then looked down at the scroll. "Especially since I’m the one who said all we needed was this lesson plan." He promptly burned up the scroll, reducing it to ash.
Starlight however counter stated that wasn’t the case. "It's not the list, Spike. Or you. Or Twilight. Or anyone else for that matter. I'm the one that Sunburst doesn't want to be friends with."
Spike scratched his head with a claw in response. "Really? I don't remember him ever saying that."
"He didn't have to say it, Spike. It was pretty clear from the way he was acting he wasn’t interested in rekindling our friendship." Starlight glumly replied.
The little dragon quickly arrested otherwise. "No, there has to be more to it! If what Twilight taught me is that things are not all as they seem. And if she thinks you're worth being friends with him then so do I! You can't give up like this!"
"Oh really?” Starlight returned with an arched brow yet looking on more dully than angrily. “And I suppose you helped somepony even worse before you that makes you think that way?”
“Yes.” Spike firmly replied. “Twilight.”
“What?” Starlight looked on like that’s hard to believe. “What could Twilight have done something worse than taking away everyone’s cutie marks and dictating and depriving an entire village of their true talents with forced lifestyles?”
“Before becoming your teacher, she was convinced into helping Scar conquer the Pride Lands and turning on everyone of our friends and family. She would go on to aid him in his schemes in gradually bringing down the Lion and Pony Guard until it got to the point she nearly killed her own brother when the fight with her reached it’s peak.” Starlight looked on with wide eyes like she was just proven wrong.
“But if that’s true, then why is she still here and as the Princess of Friendship?”
“Because like you, everyone saw her as pony who is deserving of a second chance. Especially since Scar betrayed her when she longer served his purpose, driving her into a depression that sent her into self-exile. Not to mention the fact that the whole mess that led up to it, was something that we were all to blame for.”
“Why do you say that?” She looked on confused and curious.
“Because the one time she counted on us to be there for her, we didn’t stand by her. And it allowed Scar to be quick to take advantage of her when she was left alone.”
“Right…” Starlight now understood what he is referring to with that piece of information added into her calculating equation. “...the big mess and attack at the first Canterlot Wedding that left her scarred.” She then quickly added. “Scar told me all about me it expect for the part of how the others left her behind. And believe or not he doesn’t tell all of the details of what is really happening. And to think had I not turned myself around I’d probably be incinerated by him the very second I saw him inside the volcano again.”
“Yes. It’s very understandable, Starlight. But point being, if Twilight can push forward with seeking friendship towards her former enemies then so can you.” But then he shivered. “Brr. Is it me or is it getting colder than usual here?”
Starlight looked around confused as she saw snow coming down on them quite rapidly. "You’re not the only one Spike. Wait? I thought you said it never gets this snowy and cold here in the Crystal Empire now that the Crystal Heart is here and around?”
“It does and is!” Spike asserted equally confused. “Unless…” Spike’s eyes widen in horror. “Flurry Heart must have broke it when she screamed earlier!We got to get back to the castle and help them!”
“Let’s!”
With that the two charged back to the castle with Spike hopping on Starlight’s back so they find out more of what’s happening and what they can do to help fix things before they get worse.
Back at the Crystal Castle and inside the royal nursery, five mares kept a careful watch over the young alicorn foal while they could only occasionally glance out the nursery window to see the battle going on. A losing battle for the royal sisters along with Kyoga and her siblings even as they tried valiantly to hold back the Frozen North's harsh blizzards with all of their might.
They all concentrated their magical energy, firing off blasts from their horns and paws as much as possible and as fast as they possibly could produce in quick succession. And yet for all of their success of withstanding the storm itself, the clouds kept coming back as fast as they are vanquished.
And what’s worse, the royal alicorn and lion siblings themselves are now coated with snow and ice that clung to their coats. It was now getting to the point they are all shivering as the growing winds and snow grew worse and worse.
“It’s no use!” Karabi shouted while desperately firing up magic to ward off the snow and wind. “It’s too strong to stop with our magic alone!”
“I know!” Lite shouted back at his sister while grunting as he exerted hinself with the power of his magic. “But we got keep this up! Princesses Twilight and Cadance along with Princes Kion and Shining Armor are counting on us to buy them time so they can try to fix the Crystal Heart!”
“I hope you’re right!”
“Of course I’m right!” Lite asserted as he blasted away another stream of snow and wind. “Knowing Twilight she is hard at work finding the right spell that can fix the Crystal Heart!”
At that moment inside is said alicorn looking visibly frantic and anxious as she is going through the books one by one with rapid skimming succession and is clearly having trouble finding what she needs in order to the job.
Back outside, both alicorn sisters are still putting all of their energy in holding off the storm but just barely. Much like the siblings down on the ground, they are both fighting a losing battle, but are still doing this to ensure that those inside the castle have the time they need to set things straight.
Although they would receive more trouble when they felt dark magic nearby. The two sisters moved around darting eyes at their nearby surroundings wondering who’s nearby, with visible uncertainty and worry.
“Did you hear that?” Luna asked Celestia who seems to be on the same page as her.
“Yes.” Celestia replied grimly. “He’s back.”
It was there Luna realized when she managed to get a feel from where the source can from. “Both of them are here.”
And true to their concerns and deductions, they are both greeted and surrounded by two pairs of eyes accompanied with black cloaks over their heads and covering their faces minus their glowing red and green eyes. Accompanied with sinister chuckling from both enemies looking on at them with their evil eyes as thunder and lightning appeared from their surrondings.
“Scar!”
“Sombra!”
“In the flesh!” Scar’s voice returned darkly and sinisterly as he and Sombra appeared from the shadows much to their shock and horror as they circled around them.
“Did you miss us, ladies.” Sombra added as he relished at the sight and smell of fear. “I sure have.” To back that up he proceeded to zap a cloud with dark magic thus sending a rather big splatter of snow right on the elder alicorn’s face which disoriented her focus from the storm she was just fighting against.
“Sorry to crash the party of what was supposed to be, or couldn’t happen right now, as I see it.” Scar commented as he chuckled then proceeded to do the same with Luna thus disorienting her too. “But we just had to come by to be the guests of honor as we watch the dreaded blizzard from the Frozen North bury every last pony living here alive.”
“And you really think preventing the Crystal Heart from being repaired will help accomplish this despicable goal of yours, Scar?!” Luna inquired with a perplexed frown.
Scar simply smirked in response. “The less you know Luna, the better. And the same can be said to you too, Celestia.”
Celestia could only look on in disbelief while failing to understand the lion’s angle of his current plan this time before locking eyes with her adversaries. “Very well. You both want a fight to the death. Then a fight to the death you shall get.”
“Good luck with that.” Sombra growled as kick started the fight with a blast of magic that Celestia just narrowly missed only succeeding in cutting small shards of her multi-colored etheral mane while doing so as the elder sister flew to the side to avoid the attack.
Celestia then moved to fire off golden beams of magic of her own to counterattack at the evil unicorn king as he swiftly dodged them like lightning much to her own surprise.
“Slow! Sloppy! Sad!” Sombra taunted as he swiftly dodged the last three attacks before using his dark magic to ensnare Celestia’s horn just before she could land another magical attack.
Celestia grunted as she wrestled her horn out of the unicorn’s grasp before resuming her efforts to try to bring him down despite her ongoing and quick fatigue from her recent coma. Mentally she is thinking of all days to have to leap into action it had to be right now.
While this was going on her younger sister Luna engaged in another rematch with Scar and is so far like before holding her own in being able to fight him off to a standstill. Like before the night monarch kept a cool head on par with Scar and is determined to keep him from overpowering her along with forcing her to stand down like the last time they fought not too long ago. But unfortunately for her, Scar still retains the winning edge as he is landing more blows on her not to mention the growing strength of snow and wind is making it harder and harder for her to keep herself on her wings.
Sensing this, Luna moved to work her magic to creating herself cover from the snow so she can disappear and try to catch him off guard. Scar circled himself around as he prepare himself for whatever his opponent is trying to do with locked and mentally ready eyes. Given that Twilight was able to get the drop on him there, he was determined not to let that happen again.
Luna kept circling around for a few good seconds before making her move with a swift sprint and attempted blast to the head. But the blast itself just missed Scar when he just dodged the attack and turned around. And instantly, Scar swiftly hoisted the dark blue alicorn by the horn and slammed her down into the snow. And just like that, their battle was once more over, and Scar had won.
At the same time, Celestia tried to do the same expect for a more face to face with Sombra. But despite her excellence speed and agility for her condition, she was swiftly and effortlessly hoisted around the neck just inches from connecting the attack.
“You know for a pony who’s been able to handle me once before. You’re not really showing yourself as the same pony back then, princess.” He whispered into her ear before proceeding to slam her body and back across several roof tops. The attack proceeded to rip apart the tiles as Sombra then flung the white alicorn into the one of the house’s chimines which cracked and fell apart from the impact.
Celestia barely had time as she is now forced on the defense when Sombra proceeded to attack her with his dark magic now shaped like a sickle blades. She barely managed to defend herself against the first two strikes before finding herself struck by the third strike. One that just cut the very top of her forehead as the very surroundings turned red around them briefly as she fell into the snow in defeat.
Upon landing on the snow she felt sudden fear as hairs stood up in her flowing mane along with a drop of blood dripping down from where King Sombra struck her. She managed to wipe it off before looking on at the unicorn who is relishing in his victory with wide eyes of terror. For a few brief seconds, she saw herself seeing flashbacks of her past. One where Luna was a happier mare, then another where she saw herself and Luna looking over the murials of their accomplishments over both Sombra and Discord, then Sombra himself only the opposite of what she is seeing right in front of her. A handsome and noble stallion with blue eyes and robes with a pure heart…
“What’s the matter?” Sombra’s voice spoke to her to snap her back to reality. “Lives flashing before your eyes?”
Celestia could only look up in fear as she hoisted up in the air by Scar’s magic as he did the same with Luna who could only look on defiantly in the face of death.
“Well you know what they say, you can’t win them all.” Scar remarked to his prey like this is another casual hunt for him. “And now to just float and watch as the rest of the events unfold.”
Back down on the ground, Kyoga and her siblings are struggling even more so without Celestia and Luna’s firepower to back them up and with the blizzard getting worse and worse, they couldn’t spot out and see where the royal sisters have gone off to and what really happened to them.
Sometime later, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor have both received a fair amount of reason and were able to pick up where they left off, allowing the rest of the Lion and Pony Guard to head on over to the library. But when they got there they saw that their studious friend isn’t having a smooth time in there.
Twilight had obviously been hard at work given the many books pulled from the shelves and on the library floors. But despite her quick skimming and scanning of every book she has pulled with her magic since she got here it’s clear that she hasn’t found anything.
“Bridle Buck's Boat Chants, Hayhoof's Intonements, Mystic Maps and Mazes…” Twilight groaned as she tossed said books any without any care. “Is there seriously nothing in here that’ll give us even a clue of how to fix the Crystal Heart?!”
“Twilight…” Kion spoke up in concern.
“...everything okay, darling?” Rarity added to which Twilight just looked on at the more books she had just pulled from the shelves. “Right, sorry.” She quickly apologized upon realizing the answer should have been obvious with what they are seeing.
Twilight sighed as she answered while turning to face her friends while still pulling more books from shelves. “No. I’ve been at this ever since I got here and I still found nothing that’ll help us. I’m not even sure how these are organized.”
“Well never fear, Twilight. Because we now have are hoofs and paws free to help you.” Rarity assured and declared.
“Just tell us where to go and we’ll do it.” Beshte added ready to do his part as much as everyone else.
Twilight smiled and breathed a small sigh of relief in response. "Thanks.” She then moved to give insturctions to the team. “So, while I’m pulled and reading over the books I have here, the rest of you split up and search the library. And by that I mean one per section so we can cover more ground faster since we don’t have much time left. If any of you find something useful and promising, bring it right on over to me. Can I count on you all to do that?”
“Yep.”
“Affirmative.”
“Of course, darling.”
“We’ll try.”
“Yes sir, ma’am, sir.”
“You can on us!”
Applejack, Ono, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Bunga all vowed as they all went ahead and split up across the library so they can get started searching for answers.
“And we’ll fetch Starlight and Spike!” Rainbow vowed as she and Fuli wasted no time in flying on ahead to do so.
“You think they’re all right?” Beshte asked. “They have been gone for a long time.”
“They should be.” Twilight replied feeling very certain about that. “At this point, I’m more concerned about ensuring everyone makes it out of this crisis alive.”
“Even if things don’t work out between her and Sunburst?”
Twilight sighed to confirm it as Beshte, Kion, and Fluttershy stick by her side while pulling aside books from a section nearby Twilight’s. “Yes. I mean I knew it was long shot with all things considered. But she seemed so sure that she was ready for it that I gave her the much needed space for her to decide whether she wanted it or not. And as for taking her under my wing, I really felt a strong connection with her to the point that I had myself thinking that maybe just maybe with the right guidance she could become more than what she was.”
“Because you saw a lot of yourself in Starlight?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight nodded in response as she briefly stopped her search in acknowledgment to that question.
“Yes. Hard to believe but I did. Only it wasn’t until it was almost too late that I decided to appeal to her to see the error of her ways. It’s like I could have saw too it she was thrown in jail. But at the same time it wouldn’t be fair considering that only because she helped me escape from the caldera and her timely reformation saved my friends and family. But she also was going down the same dark path I once took.”
“Sisi Ni Sawa.” Kion commented sounding very understanding of what she is saying. “I get it.”
“To think almost two years ago I had recently became a princess only to use that title to become the Princess of Darkness and now after turning myself around I had become the Princess of Friendship. And since then I’ve made it a vow to ensure everyone who is deserving of friendship is allowed to seek it out. But now I wonder if I have done enough to help Starlight and whether I was better off not letting her seek out that lesson today of all days.”
“Of course you have.” Beshte assured otherwise. “And as for what’s going on around there was absolutely no way of knowing that there was going to be a dangerous snow storm brewing around the Crystal Empire.”
Fluttershy adopting the same stance chimed in with her wisdom. “And if you’re worried about lesson don’t because I’m sure you taught Starlight enough about how to help her seek out forgiveness and reconciliation. Sometimes it takes a little more time for friends to work things out. Much like what we did with you when you left Equestria.”
“Exactly.” Kion agreed. “For somepony starting off as a teacher you’re doing very well, Twilight. You just need to keep having faith in Starlight much like I do when I first started being leader of the Lion Guard.”
Twilight smiled at the encouragement her friends are giving her. “You’re right. Thank you all.” She then said before coming across a book that suddenly caught her attention. She gasped upon seeing the title of said book. “And I think I just found something.” All of her friends gathered around the table to join Twilight as she shares her discovery. “Trotter's Tome of Reliquary.” She then flipped through a few pages before spotting out a spell that further caught her attention. “Spell of Relic Reconstitution. Yes, this is got to be it!”
"Oh, thank goodness!” Ono remarked in relief. “Because I just went through half of the library only to find nothing out of it. Without that book, who knows what we'd do?"
"Hopefully.” Kion commented feeling more hopeful than sure it’ll work.
But just then there came a sudden popping sound, and from none other than the same baby alicorn they'd last seen in the royal nursery not too long ago.
“What the…?” Kion exclaimed in shock upon seeing her flying around giggling and babbling again. “...but you were just sleeping in the nursery!”
“Yeah, how can you still be awake and energetic all over again?!” Bunga exclaimed equally shocked.
“Because the baby’s magical surges are getting more and more powerful!” The baby’s father explained just when he and the mother come rushing inside the library.
“Quick! Stop her!” Cadance exclaimed just when Twilight had to duck to avoid her niece trying to scoop up the book in her tiny hooves in her flying and giggling glee.
“No, no, no!” Twilight stated before entrapping the infant with a bubble of magic. “You cannot have the book! Aunty Twily needs it for a very important job.”
“Don’t worry I got this!” Bunga assured as he quickly pulled another book from the pile and used it draw the baby away from her. “Here, silly filly. You like this?” He showed her a book with baby pictures inside of them to which the baby still inside the magic bubble giggled in delight as she reached out to it. “Well come on get it!” He then proceeded to run off ahead swiftly leaping up the shelves into different aisles in a flash.
The baby giggled before flying after him while still trapped in her magic bubble.
“Wait!” Shining Armor exclaimed upon getting a glance at those pictures. “Those are my baby photos!” He then moved to run after them. “Bunga! Young filly!”
“Quick after them!” Kion exclaimed as the others went on ahead to catch and stop her from wrecking more havoc than she has already caused so far.
Shortly after the chase began, the library doors swung open and in trotted Starlight Glimmer and Spike both accompanied by Rainbow and Fuli. It was there Starlight herself got a chance to see the baby herself, complete with both wings and a horn.
"What in the name of crystal ponies is going on?!" Starlight exclaimed.
While rushing past, Pinkie Pie quickly explained. "Long story short: The new baby's an alicorn and she accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart, so Twilight was looking for a spell to fix it so the Crystal Empire won't turn into a giant wasteland of ice and snow."
"Makes perfect sense.” Fuli commented already used to the craziness that tends to go on around them. “And let me guess, the baby’s running wild again is she?”
“Yep.”
“Posing a threat to something that could useful to save the Crystal Empire?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Amazing.” Rainbow remarked equally thrilled with a deadpan tone. “And it only took the time we went out to fetch Starlight and Spike for that to happen.”
“Right around the time it takes for you to take one of your naps, huh?” Fuli asked with a smirk.
“Yeah...Hey!”
“So, anyways…” Pinkie spoke up spotting the flying uncontrollable fily still on the loose. “...we should probably join in on catching the baby before she somehow destroys the only spell needed to fix the Crystal Heart...like NOW!”
“Right.”
“Let’s.”
The chase went on as the filly proved to be adapt at evading and resisting capture of those who tried. Shining Armor and Kion both tried to run after her so they can catch her, but the baby’s untimely magic allowed her to evade the two when they both came close to catching her. In an attempt to corner her, Behste and Ono both tried to intercept her by blocking off, but the baby was able drag Ono along for the ride like he is a play toy.
“Hapana! Easy on the feathers! I am not a baby toy!”
Then Rarity tried to intercept and catch her by using a butterfly net.
“Gotcha!”
While the baby was caught off guard, she still was able to teleport away at the last second while releasing Ono before doing so.
“Oh! Or not…” Rarity sighed that just had to happen.
“Really? A butterfly net?” Ono commented in disbelief. “It’s a foal not a flying hog monkey!”
Rarity simply shrugged in response. “Desperate times call for desperate measures, darling!”
The two then moved to continue their pursuit of the baby as Bunga tried to hop onto the infant like before, only to wind falling and crashing into a nearby bookshelf so hard he went right through the very books itself leaving his silhouette imprinted on them.
Given of how strong this baby is since she is carrying Pinkie Pie, then Applejack when she tried to lasso the filly up it sure seemed like catching this child is near impossible. At least until both Pinkie and Fuli shared a nod together of knowing what to do when the former let the child go before they split up and climbed up the nearby bookshelves.
Through quick thinking, and careful timed planning, the baby was quickly cornered when Fuli and Pinkie were able to catch her when the former pounced on the right moment to pounce on on the top of opposite bookshelves.
“Gotcha!”
But in the process, the foal had another blast of magic that came off the tip of her horn. One that nearly hit Rarity had she not held up a mirror, then would have hit Shining Armor had he not produced a magic shield, and then Starlight had she not produced a dome to protect herself and Spike. Instead it had the misfortune of hitting the book Twilight had in her possession, blasting a hole straight through the very center of it.
“Oops.”
“Great.” Fuli felt like mentally slapping herself right now. Just when she managed to help catch the baby, she just managed to make things worse without realizing it.
"That spell was the only thing I found in the whole library that was even close to what we needed!” Twilight gasped.
Starlight Glimmer looked on feeling very guilty since it was her magic that redirected it straight into the book itself and inadvertently made things worse for everyone. "I'm so sorry, Twilight!" She sincerely apologized.
The alicorn princess let out a calming sigh as she looked at her student and reassured her otherwise. "It's not your fault, Starlight. None of us were expecting any of this. Not even the baby’s constant and random magical surges.”
"But it was still my magic that last reflected off of the baby’s which went right into the only thing needed to save the Crystal Empire.” Starlight pointed out still not feeling any better. “If only I had did something different to catch it better then none of this would still be happening.”
“Starlight. It’s okay.” Cadance stepped in as she held her infant daughter in her hooves. “There was nothing that could have been done to prevent any of this. For all we know it could have hurt somepony or worse.”
“And what’s done is done so now we just need to figure the next best course of action. That said...” Kion added before turning to Twilight and asked her. “…Twilight. Did you at least get a chance to read that spell you just found in that book?”
"I only read over it once!" Twilight reluctantly and nervously admitted. "I remember every bit of it but just barely.” She quickly pulled out a quill and paper with her magic and quickly wrote it down before she could forget it. “Now I’m not sure if that’s the spell we need to do the job."
Seeing the stressed expression on her sister-in-law’s face had Kion and Cadence immediately stepping in to offer help.
“Maybe it just needs enough magic combined for it to work.” Kion suggested. “I mean I might not be on par with a magical master but I think can at least give enough power to help hold together an ancient relic at this point.”
“Good idea. Once I make sure the baby is safe and sound, I can help out too and at least allow us to time to figure out how to stop this blizzard from taking over.”
Shining Armor then chimed in seriously. "But in the meantime we need to make sure everypony is safe by evacuating the Crystal Empire should the worst case scenario happen while we still can. It’s only a matter of time until the tracks are frozen over to the point there won’t be an escape route for anypony by then."
“Already done.” Simba reported just when he arrived with his fur covered in snow. “All that’s left is making sure everyone is boarding the train so they can all get out of here while they can.”
“Excellent.” Shining spoke surprised and impressed with the lion king himself. “Glad to see you’re on top of things.”
“Well I’ve had some practice before.” Simba replied as he thought nothing of it before leading the way while eyeing the others. “And I’ve had great help back then which I sure could use once again.”
“Come on everypony, let’s go save the crystal ponies!” Applejack declared as she and most of the Guard rushed out to join them.
“Let’s.” Before leaving Shining Armor turned to his wife, sister, and brother-in-law who plan to stay behind to try to fix the heart. “And I’m sure you, Twilight, and Kion will do everything you can to try and fix the Crystal Heart. I'm rooting for you three!" And with that he ran after the Lion and Pony Guard to begin the evacuation process.
Starlight, meanwhile, was looking to Twilight as the alicorn was in the process of writing down and double checking what she could remember about the spell she was going to cast. "I don't suppose there's anything I could do to help you?" She offered, desperate to make up for her earlier mistake.
But Twilight only said in response. "Even with your unusually strong magic, I don't think it would make that much of a difference. I'm just sorry about your lesson."
"It’s okay Twilight, that really doesn't matter now, since Sunburst has already moved on from me," Starlight assured and reluctantly confessed. "I really did try to work things out with him. But it seems the big, important wizard has more important things in life to attend to. All while I’m currently at step one in learning all about friendship."
"Sunburst?” Cadance inquired sounding curious herself. “I don't remember hearing anything about him being a wizard." Cadence commented as she arched eyebrow upward.
“That’s because he just recently moved on from being a student of Princess Celestia’s school and just moved here for reasons unknown.” Twilight explained. “Though I’m not sure what he might know since I haven’t met him myself.”
The princess of love then said seeing potential in him with an idea in mind. "If that’s true then he may know a thing or two about magic. And it might be helpful to have his expertise around if the spell doesn’t work. Starlight, you should bring him here.”
“Of course. Can do.” Starlight obliged feeling more than happy to do so eagerly rushing on out to carry out this task of hers.
"Go with her, Spike," Twilight advised. "Cadence, Kion, and I will try do the best we can from here."
Spike gave a firm salute in response before heading on out after Starlight. "You can count on me as well, Twilight!"
Both Starlight and Spike made their way back to Sunburst’s house though it took a little longer due to the snow that started to stick to the ground along with strong winds blowing all over them. Upon reaching their destination, they wasted no time and immediately banged on the door to get Sunburst’s attention.
Sunburst quickly opened the door to find himself in for a surprise when he was greeted by Starlight and Spike once more, only this time all covered with snow. "Starlight?! Why are you back so soon?! And why is it snowing outside?!" Then he realized. “The Crystal Heart! Is it…?!”
"Yes! It’s destroyed! By Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance’s new baby alicorn!” Starlight confirmed.
Sunburst blinked in surprise. "Really? An baby alicorn?"
Starlight nodded to confirm it’s true. "I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. But the important thing here is that Twilight, Kion, and Princess Cadence, are all going to at least try to fix the Crystal Heart. But Princess Cadence could really use your help too. That is of course you are the big important wizard like you claim to be.”
The stallion slowly nodded as he backed away while stuttering a little. "Um...I’m...Of course I am. What could make you possibly think such a thing?"
"Maybe because you seem rather awkward and nervous to the point you look like you’re hiding something.” Spike pointed out.
“Right…that.” Sunburst proceeded to adjust his glasses as he backed up a bit, bumping into his book shelf. And he hastily set to work on rearranging it to try to make himself very busy studying spells as he turned back to both Starlight and Spike. "You know, I'd like to help. I really would. But it's just..." He briefly paused and bit his lips. "I have so much... important wizard stuff to do around here."
“Huh?” Starlight and Spike could hardly believe what they are hearing as Starlight was quick to insist on him jumping at the call.
"Sunburst, you must to reconsider! The fate of the Crystal Empire is at stake! This is much more important than whatever Whatever kind of work you have, it can't be more important than the fate of an entire empire!"
Spike added. "The entire Royal Family has their paws and hoofs full trying to do their part in stopping this disaster, and it’s still an ongoing problem. We need you!"
Sunburst however still refused to step up to the task. "I’m sorry but I just can’t! I don’t have what it takes to be able to restore an ancient relic! I can’t even come close to doing something like that!"
At that point, Starlight lost her patience as she remarked. "Is that so?” Rather irritated. “I came here for a important and powerful wizard who has what it takes to help out ponies like me when they need the most and you’re telling me you can’t lift a hoof up. Then tell me this, if you’re truly the Sunburst I know then why exactly are you so hesitant to step up to the task. Just what secret are you holding out on that you’re not telling us?!”
In response, Sunburst lost his patience as he blurted out. "Because I’m not really a big important wizard!”
Starlight's mouth dropped open in shock in response to this revelation. "You're what?”
“I'm not a big, important wizard like I wanted and claimed to be, okay. I'm not even a wizard at all! Maybe I had the aspirations to become one but I’m just one of those ponies who never got to realize them to this day."
“You’re not a wizard! But that's your lifelong dream! It’s all you ever talked about ever since the day you earned your cutie mark and went off to magic school and forgot all about me.”
"Yes." Sunburst confessed. "Hard to believe but unfortunately not everyone gets to achieve what we want in life. Sometimes our dreams get crushed before they could even happen, just like with mine."
Starlight shook her head as she moved to console him. "Sunburst, I don't care if you're a wizard or not. I’m just surprised. And the only reason I pressed on this is because I thought you were ignoring me. But really you were just hiding the fact that you weren’t excelling in life like you claimed with your knowledge in magic."
Sunburst returned. "Well, you wanted the truth and you got it. And that’s nothing compared to being the princess of friendship's prized protege? I mean she doesn’t just pick anypony for that!”
"Technically, Starlight's more of a student than a protege. It hasn’t been long since she started." Spike corrected.
The unicorn stallion none of the less continued with a deep sigh. "Reading about magic is one thing, but you don't know what it was like for me at magic school! To know so much and not be able to do any of it to the point you wind up flunking out of school!”
It was there Starlight snapped unable to continue bottling up her true emotions as she teared up and bitterly confessed to her old friend! "Really?! Well you don't know what it was like for me after you left! You were my only friend, Sunburst! And when you never resumed contact with me, I thought I’d never see and hear from you again! I never was able to have another friend in my life after that, and because of it, I started blaming cutie marks!
“What?”
“Yeah! And not only at, even when I did eventually get my own cutie mark I still went on to take over an entire village, stripping everypony of their cutie marks just so I could feel better about myself. Up until Twilight, Kion and their friends showed up and defeated me, exposing my scheme making myself so bitter I became so vengeful to the point I sided with Scar in his quest to conquer the kingdoms of both realms, go back in time to stop them from ever becoming friends, and very nearly helped him succeed in ruining everything for everyone."
Sunburst looked on speechlessly with this confession. “You did what?”
“Yeah, you heard me. And not only that it took Twilight refusing to give up on me so I can see what I was really doing before allowing her to fix the damage I caused even when she didn’t have to do that. So there you have it, I’m just a pony who was willing to work with the most evil and terrifying villain both kingdoms have ever faced all because I couldn’t let go of my hate that kept me stuck on the past. The past that still haunts me to this very day to the point she is now terrified of making new friends out of fear what I’m telling you now.” Finally she calmed herself down and allowed herself to breath.
For a moment Sunburst looked on in frozen shock as he needed time to fully process what his old friend just confessed to before tilting his glasses up when they slid down his muzzle. "Did you really travel through time? That's a very rare and hard to achieve spell that only one pony can do."
Spike adopted a knowing grin as he ribbed Starlight. "I told you he'd be impressed."
"Yes I did. Though having to confess to this was something I hoped I’d keep to myself to the end.," Starlight unhappily sighed while looking at Sunburst. "I know what you must think of me now. That for all of my supposed success right now, I truly don’t deserve this nor to be rekindle our friendship since all I truly accomplished was further spreading the flames of an ongoing war while nearly killing off half of the Royal Family just recently. Something that only callous enemies would stoop to who would resort to inflicting that kind of cruelty on others just get what I wanted in life."
"All this because we never gave each other a chance to say goodbye?"
Starlight could only shake her head again. "No. You’re not to blame for this, Sunburst. This is really my fault. I had the choice to move on and not pursue the path I took. But I did it anyway and now you know what happened back then." She promptly turned around and prepared to depart. "Well, at least we did what Twilight would have wanted of if she were here. Best of luck to wherever your travels takes you.."
But before she could leave, Sunburst reached out his hoof so he could comfort her. "I'm sorry. I didn't know things went that south for you the last time we saw each other along with how much you valued our friendship."
Starlight asked. "You don’t think I’m a pony not worth being friends with? Even after what I did?"
"Of course not. You're not that pony anymore." Sunburst answered. “You clearly want to atone for mistakes and you can do it. You just have to let it go and put the past behind you.” He then moved to apologize himself feeling asked and got a quick shake of the head for an answer. "That said I only wish I had known sooner and tried to reach out to you more than I should have then maybe this all could have been avoided."
"Maybe, but I'm not one to try to change the past anymore.” Starlight replied finding time travel completely unnecessary. “It’s definitely best this way. Trust me, I know first hoof of what it’s like.”
Sunburst smiled. "That’s true. One small change can have a ripple effect with who knows what kind of consequences it’ll have for everyone else. Something I’m sure Princess Twilight would have said if she were here and be very proud with what we just said and did now.” He then looked out the window. "But with the current circumstances, she really does have her hooves full right now."
"Yes." Starlight agreed. "So unless you know of a spell that will drive back the Frozen North and fix the Crystal Heart, you should evacuate the empire along with everypony else so you all don’t freeze to death. King Simba will be there to guide and lead you to safety."
Suddenly, a light bulb went off inside the stallion's mind as he got an idea of how to fix all of this. "Crystalling...! Of course!" He began to pull out several scrolls with his magic. "I think I know how to help after all! And from the looks of thinks it might seem we have a crystalling to look forward to after all."
Elsewhere back outside...
“I don’t know about you but from the looks of things it might seem we won’t be having a crystalling to look forward to.” Karabi commented alongside the other lion siblings while grunting and working hard in keeping their magic going.
“I’m afraid you’re right about that, Karabi.” Lite returned in agreed while reaching a peak in magical power exerted since they went out fighting the blizzards before looking up the skies for their other sibling. “Just how much longer do we have until then, Kyoga?”
“Not long, but we gotta keep trying with everything we got until then.” She grunted as snow and ice started to stick to her fur. “Twilight and Cadance are counting on us.”
“I know but it’s gotten a lot harder now, you would think Princeses Celestia and Luna would be of more help right now.”
“Come to think of it…” Karabi commented upon hearing their names brought up. “...we haven’t see nor heard from them for a while.”
“Do you think something happened to them?” Lite asked in worry as the trio of siblings begin to see and feel something is very wrong here.
“Maybe…” Kyoga uttered softly before floating up towards the heart and eye of the storm. “...I’ll check it out.”
With that Kyoga flew higher while braving and the fighting the harsher and colder winds and snow blown in her direction while squinting her eyes in an attempt to spot the royal sisters out.
“Celestia! Luna!” She called out in an attempt to hear their voices and close in on their true location. But all she heard at first was nothing more than strong winds accompanied with the dark clouds surrounding her.
After a few minutes of flying and searching even scoping out the entire kingdom, she looked on coming up empty-pawed as she looked around confused, clueless, and worried of where the alicorns are…
“Kyoga!” Celestia’s voice suddenly spoke out to her in alarm.
“Look out!” Luna’s voice chimed in equally alarmed.
Kyoga quickly turned to the direction of where their voices came from but before she could do anything about it, she was suddenly struck down by a blast of dark magic and then found herself constantly thrashed by magic and claws striking her at every angle. After being knocked down to the ground once more she quickly hoisted a shield to allow herself time to recover before seeing who ambushed her. Two very familiar faces. One with red eyes accompanied by a growling expression, and the other with green eyes accompanied with a sinister smirk chuckling at the very sight of her.
“Well, well, well. I should have known you two had something to do with this.” Kyoga remarked with annoyance as she dusted the snow off of her body.
“Yes, you should have, Kyoga.” Scar returned like it’s a casual joke. “Yes you should have.”
“Am I to assume that you caused the baby to scream in fright upon seeing your faces for the very first time?”
“If only that were true then yes. But not this time.” Kyoga looked on unconvinced. “Don’t believe me, ask the others inside the castle yourselves.”
“And what makes you think I’ll be expected to believe your lies this time, Scar?”
“You know…considering I do lie quite well, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that way. But here’s the thing...I’m not a mind reader when it comes to newborn babies. I find the very idea of going after something I don’t even know will do very dangerous and she did it all on her own. And as for why we’re here well, when life gives a never ending winter storm, have your fun in it. Or in your case, have fun getting beaten up and maybe freezing to death while we’re at it. Maybe even conquering this very kingdom as a nice little bonus here today.”
“In your dreams, Scar. Because that is never going to happen. Especially to a pair of evil, corrupted, malicious, vicious, demented, low-life scoundrels like you both. There’s no evil scheme you wouldn’t concoct. No depravity you both wouldn’t commit. You both are none of than a pair of pathetic predators trying to score worthless scraps of meat, commonly known as a…”
ZAP!
Came from King Sombra’s horn to cancel out her force field along with another quick blast to knock her out. “Such vulgar talk.” The unicorn said in disgust before moving to seize control of the defeated lioness. “Where in the name of the Equestria did she learn to talk like that?”
Scar simply shook his head in response. “There’s always a few crude ponies and animals out there.”
“Crude like you, Scar?” Karabi’s voice said to him.
“Surely you have learned vulgar language yourself.” Lite’s voice added as the two siblings made their appearance known to the two villains who have turned their attention towards them. “You know because you’re both bad guys trying to take over the Crystal Empire.”
“Maybe so, or maybe I might have standards in regards to swearing.” Scar returned not even intimidated by the two lions who have half of their energy worn out from fighting the ongoing blizzard.
“Don’t try to deny it. We all know who you are.” Karabi returned not even buying whatever he has to say in response. “Now let Kyoga go!”
“You want her? Then you’re going to have to fight us.”
“Done and done.”
With that Karabi and Lite were quick to unleash their magic on the unicorn and lion to which they both worked to counterattack the attempt by combining their magic to form a powerful shield. Said shield was powerful to the point when they were done pouring all of their magic into that combo attack, the attack itself was rebounded right back at them and ended up blasting them aside deep into the snow. But as luck would have it said attack bought time for Kyoga to regain consciousness as she managed to slip away from both Scar and Sombra’s grasp and give herself another fighting chance.
Kyoga moved to swiftly leap up in flight with magic with her claws bared ready to strike at them. She managed to swipe her claws right through their skin causing her foes to growl in pain when it happened. Just when she landed her siblings having recovered were quick to join by her side.
With their scratched skin easily repaired, the two split up the siblings in order to give each other someone to fight against. Scar moved to attack and tackle Kyoga once more and the two moved to duke it out with their teeth and claws.
The two separated once more before Kyoga managed to swipe Scar on the cheek with her claws. Scar then retaliated by doubling down on his attacks and was able to force the lioness on the defense, giving her zero wiggle room to work with as she is helplessly unable to get another attack off against him.
Meanwhile, Sombra viciously growled as he finds himself facing two lions on his own. Not that he was intimidated that they could work together to defeat him, but for seeing their prolonging resistance at defying him. The two constantly worked together at firing offensive blasts to which the unicorn was able to counter by putting force another magical shield yet was forced backwards a little.
And that was enough for Sombra as he quickly got to work on the offensive against his opponents. He was quick to split his shield in two before drawing a sword composed of dark magic to swing right at them. With both weapons at his disposal he was able to assert his dominance to keep both lions at bay.
Then after letting the siblings give everything they have against him, Sombra then moved to use his sword to scratch the two all across their bodies before delivering a double strike that knocked them both out cold. At the same time, Scar had managed to overwhelm Kyoga by tossing and slamming her head against a nearby rock. With their work done here, the two then set their sights on a huge crowd of ponies all trying to make their way out of the empire via train.
“Okay everyone. Let’s line up single file as we make our way inside the carts.” Simba instructed as the every crystal pony proceeds to do so as the Lion and Pony Guard split up towards the other carts on the trains so they can repeat the process faster.
“That’s right! One at a time! Single file!” Fuli said to the boarding passengers before spotting one trying to break that rule. “I SAID SINGLE FILE!” Said pony was frightened into submission. “Thank you.” She kindly returned like that moment never happened.
At the same time while making sure everyone is obeying the proper evacuation rules, Ono couldn’t help but wonder everyone else is since in his mind they’re supposed to be keeping the blizzard at bay. But at the same time has a hard time making anyone out from the train station due to so much snow falling down from the sky.
“Where are you?” He wondered to himself.
“Hey, Ono!” Fuli’s voice called out to him from down below. “The train’s are almost ready to take off.”
“Yeah, so unless you want to be a frozen duck in the sky, you better get on over where it’s warm inside.” Bunga added.
“Oh, right. Coming.” He called back before joining them down at the station.
“Everything okay, Ono?” Beshte asked in concern.
“Yeah.” Ono looked back up and on towards the blizzard in the open area before further explaining. “Just looking out to see where Celestia, Luna, Kyoga, and her siblings were. We just haven’t seen them since they went out there.”
“That’s weird. Do you think something is wrong?” Beshte asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Hopefully they’re just trying their hardest to fight off the snow so we can all get out of here.” Fluttershy tried to offer her input as the engine for the trains try to start up. But to everyone’s sudden horror, the engines didn’t start due to the increasingly cold temperatures around them made it too cold for them to fully operate. “Or not.”
Rartiy starting to see the sudden stress and panic was the first to chime in. “Not trying to instill fear into everypony’s hearts but I’m going to go on a second limb and say that there something definitely is wrong!”
“But this doesn’t make any sense!” Rainbow exclaimed as she too wasn’t expecting that to happen as everyone exits the train carts. “The engines shouldn’t be running too cold now.”
“Now come on everyone…” Simba spoke urgently to keep everyone from losing it. “...let’s not all panic just yet...and no, we’re not panicking and running!” He sternly addressed Thurston who just happened to be among the audience.
“Wait! What?!” Fuli exclaimed in shock and annoyance upon spotting him. “What the hay are you doing here!”
“Well I…”
“No! Don’t!” Fuli quickly cut him off mid-sentence. “I don’t want to know!”
“You were here trying to find a perfect grazing grounds for yer herd, huh?” Applejack asked.
“Uh here…”
“No! No!” Fuli interrupted once more. “I don’t want to know!”
“With all joking aside…” Simba continued still serious about the current crisis at hoof. “...we are not going to panic as we figure out the next best course of action. Because last thing we need is to anyone to be living a life of…”
“Fear!”
Over their heads, are two dreaded figures they never hoped to see at the worst possible time.
“You!”
“Scar!”
“Sombra!”
Applejack, Simba, and Rainbow Dash all commented with a mixture of anger and shock as everypony looks like they are about to make yellow and brown snow.
“Hello, Simba. Lion and Pony Guard. Crystal ponies…” He then sighed in annoyance upon spotting the elephant in the room. “...and Thurston.”
Thurston merely smiled with a nervous smile before dropping it as he felt a very uncomfortable urge from behind out of fear upon seeing him.
“Sorry to crash your getaway party…” Scar chuckled specifically since Pinkie didn’t dare to try to unleash her party canon at him out of fear. “...but unfortunately the sole train engine has run cold…” He moved to zap the engine into nothing but smoke that only lasted for a few seconds before the snow dissipated it. “...thus making your one and only escape here cut off until further notice.” He moved to slice the inner mechanisms for the train engine in half to make a literal point about it.
“Just what exactly is the name of game here this time, other than wanting us to freeze to death, Scar?” Applejack bravely demanded.
“I’m sure a smart pony like yourself knows at this point.” Scar merely replied with a dead serious expression.
“Especially when you’re looking at a pony who used to rule over this empire many moons ago.” Sombra added with the same killer expression. “And since none of you ponies wish to serve me, I’ll just do everyone a favor and just see to it that all those who refuse to accept me as their king all perish through this mighty blizzard.”
“That’s a death sentence!” One of the crystal ponies bravely pointed out only to be silenced by the tyrant who simply slapped dark magic over the pony’s mouth.
“Shh! Don’t tell!”
“Not if we have anything to say about it.” Simba defiantly returned ready for a fight even when faced with uneven odds before turning to the Pegasus ponies. “Fluttershy! Rarity! Get everyone out of here! Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, help me hold them off! Go! Go!”
The crystal ponies along with Thurston all fled from the train station under the Pegasus ponies guidance.
“Go ahead! Run for it! Makes it more fun for us!” Scar called after everyone retreating before charging his magic up as he prepares for another fight as those who stayed behind prepare for another stand, win or lose.
As the ponies all run for their lives, Starlight, Sunburst, and Spike all make their way on towards the Crystal Castle. Coincidentally it just so happens everyone retreating just happened to meet them up by chance along with the battered warriors who have just limped their way on over here.
“Celestia!” Sunburst exclaimed upon seeing her.
“Sunburst!” Celestia exclaimed upon seeing him.
“Luna!” Spike exclaimed to her.
“Spike!” Luna exclaimed to him.
“Kyoga! Karabi! Lite!” Spike exclaimed to the both of them.
“Starlight!” Kyoga returned.
“Spike!” Karabi and Lite exclaimed back.
“Thurston!” The zebra himself happily stated before darting away upon receiving collective glares from him.
“What is going on?” Starlight asked.
“Why are you all here?” Spike also asked.
“Why are you all battered and bruised like you just went through a brutal fight?” Sunburst asked.
“Where have you all been?” Rarity worryingly asked.
“Are you all okay?” Fluttershy chimed in.
“We are for the moment.” Luna answered first. “But we’ve come across another hurdle in our attempts to hold of the blizzard.”
“Like what?” Spike asked.
“Both Scar and Sombra.” Celestia answered much to the alarmed shock of everyone present. “They just showed up and attacked us, including Kyoga and her siblings.”
“Wait?! What?! Scar and Sombra are both here?!” Sunburst exclaimed in horror.
“I’m afraid so.” Celestia sadly and honestly answered.
“Oh, no.” Fluttershy whimpered as she is now thinking about those who stayed behind at the train station.
“What is it, Fluttershy?” Spike asked.
“We just saw them! Right after we saw them cut off our only escape route at the train station!”
Rarity added equally worried. “They’re currently fighting and very and highly likely beating down King Simba along with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie right now as we speak.”
“Oh, no.” Celestia spoke grimly with a sense of dread right down her spine before recomposing herself and turning to the lioness. “Kyoga! Can you and your siblings to help ensure the others make it out alive.”
“That we can at least do.” Kyoga assured before leading her two siblings on over to the train station. “Let’s go!”
“But what about the Crystal Heart?” Rarity brought up. “Without it, there’s no way this blizzard can be stopped.”
“Not if Sunburst can help it.” Starlight quickly assured. “Since he has a plan.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
Both Fluttershy and Rarity blinked in surprise.
“That’s right, everyone. I know how to stop this.” Sunburst confidently told everyone.
“Then what are we waiting for?!” Spike asked everyone as the main heroes all rushed inside to find the others along with the broken Crystal Heart while the crowd of crystal ponies all anxiously awaited for something wonderful to happen.
Outside the Crystal Castle, Twilight, Kion, and Cadence were preparing to test the spell to hopefully restore the Crystal Heart. Not one of them could be certain they had the spell down to the exact details though, or that it would even work if cast.
"Well, I think that's everything," Twilight told her sister-in-law as she floated over a hastily written on parchment. "At least to my knowledge."
Princess Cadence nervously replied. "That seems about right to me. But there's only one way to find out for sure.”
“And I hope it works.” Kion commented equally unsure and in agreement with the others. ”Here goes!" He began to light up his horn along with the other two alicorns as they got their magical auras lighting up.
The three alicorns channeled all of their magical energy into the Crystal Heart's shattered remains. Slowly but surely it seemed like they were putting it back together. There were still visible cracks but it was so far working…
...for only a few seconds as the heart didn't hold together for very long as it broke apart again, shards of crystal falling back down to the ground.
Twilight hung her head as she apologized to her fellow princess. "I'm sorry. I don't know what else to try."
"Luckily, a former student of mine has a solution." Princess Celestia herself assured just when she appeared while still battered up accompanying the orange unicorn both Starlight and Spike managed to seek out.
"So you're Sunburst?" Cadence asked. "Starlight says you're a powerful wizard."
Sunburst moved to humbly clarify. "Actually, no. I'm not a wizard. But I do know a thing or two about magic, at least when it comes to theory," He cleared his throat. "I'm not the best at casting spells but I can identify what spells can work best under what circumstances," He proceeded to ask as he examined the shattered bits of the Crystal Heart. "The baby did this?"
Twilight and Cadence nodded as the former explained. "She did. I tried putting it back together with—"
"-The spell of Relic Reconstitution" Sunburst finished as he levitated, crumbled, and tossed it away. "That alone won't do it. The Crystal Heart's been around for millennia. You can't restore a relic like that with just one spell. You have to combine it with something else. Something unique to the relic itself."
Just then Twilight was struck with a breakthrough idea. "The crystalling! Of course!" But then she remembered. "But how can we have it when the order to evacuate everypony was already given."
“I think that’s possible when we still have everypony in attendance.” Rainbow Dash answered just when she and the others joined them. “That along with certain forces of evil are around to make sure of that. And by that we mean both Scar and Sombra are around.”
“Scar and Sombra!” Kion exclaimed in shock. “Here in the Crystal Empire!”
“Yes, I know. Hard to believe. But it’s true.”
“And they just given us a really hard time in fending off them along with the storm itself.” Kyoga further backed up to assert that they are indeed telling the truth. “Not to mention cut off our only escape route before disappearing.”
“Any idea where they went off to?” Kion urgently asked.
“I don’t know. But now that’s not important right now.” She then turned to Sunburst who has a plan to fix all of this. “That said, how do we fix the Crystal Heart before everyone freezes to death?”
The unicorn stallion smiled as he explained. "With the power of the crystalling and combined with the spell of Relic Reconstruction. In addition with a few more much needed spells to add into the mix in light of the... er... circumstances," He floated over a few scrolls with his magic giving one to the baby’s parents and the other to Starlight. "I'll also add in Somnambula's Weather Abjuration to clear away the snow. And a little bit of Fledgling's Forbearance for the parents, so as to curb the little one's power fluctuations.” He tickled the baby who giggled in response. “She'll still get surges occasionally but not as bad as they were when this all started."
“And you are you sure this will work?” Karabi asked feeling the need to be completely sure.
“Absolutely! With magical assistance from everyone here…” He gestured to all of the alicorns, along with Starlight, Shining Armor and himself. "...this will definitely work, ninety nine percent."
“Okay.” Lite remarked satisfied with that. “Works for me.”
After quickly glancing to his wife and seeing her nod with approval as she handed him their baby, Shining agreed as he presented his daughter to him. "I was planning to have Twilight be the crystaller, but since she's going to be busy..."
Sunburst bowed his head. "-I'd be honored to take her place."
"Then what are we waiting for?!" Twilight eagerly declared.
"Let's get save the empire while we still can!” Starlight also declared in the same tone.
And so the crystalling for the new baby officially began. All four alicorns along with Kion, Shining Armor and Starlight Glimmer all concentrated their combined magical energies on the Crystal Heart long enough for Sunburst to do his part in the Crystalling.
Sunburst began to read over the scrolls again, casting the spell on each one by one before he could see the purity crystal chosen by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence sparkle with shimmering light. When it was time to do his part he gently gathered the baby alicorn before carrying her out to the crowd as he proclaimed with great pride. "Citizens! May I present the newest member of the Crystal Empire!"
The crowd cheered and gave off several oohs and aahs when they saw the baby. And it wasn't long before all of that love was channeled into the purity crystal that now glowed brighter than ever! Sunburst promptly took it and ran back to the Crystal Heart, inserting the shard into the relic and watching as it joined with the others.
And that did the trick, since the Crystal Heart was now restored to its full, glowing glory. And with its magic newly refreshed it bathed the entire empire in a dazzling, almost blinding light! Its magic promptly washed over everypony, giving them all crystallized coats. Including Simba, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Kyoga, Karabi, Lite, who all just arrived in time to witness this remarkable event. From the looks of things they came out of their previous battle with nothing more than a few bruises and cuts endured from both Scar and Sombra who have both vanished by the time the Crystal Heart did it’s work.
"Best crystalling ever!" A crystal pony in the crowd proclaimed.
Starlight then spoke to Sunburst looking very proud for coming through for them. "For a pony who isn’t great at magic, you did pretty well.”
“Very impressive is more like it, considering that it was just recently I got my new alicorn powers.” Kion added equally amazed himself.
“Quite so.” Princess Celestia also agreed equally proud of Sunburst too. “For you certainly demonstrated quite a gift for it. You may just be more of a wizard than you thought."
Sunburst just smiled. He'd never felt this bright and confident in himself before, and it was a nice feeling to experience. Having his childhood friend by his side only helped realize what he is truly capable of along with making his new purpose more special and meaningful. It was everything he'd ever dreamed of all while mentally wondering how to tell his parents the next time he sees them.
With the Crystal Heart up and running the blizzards had subsided and the snow melted, things returned to normal. And as a result the trains could now run properly. The main group had arrived at the train station, not so they could leave just yet, but to greet two passengers they are expecting. Said passengers were a pair of unicorns that Twilight, Spike, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence all recognized. Night Light and Twilight Velvet, Twilight and Shining’s parents.
The stallion had a sort of gray-blue coat, a dark blue mane and tail that curled on the right side, amber eyes and a cutie mark depicting two crescent moons: A big yellow one and a smaller white one. And the mare had a light gray coat that nearly looks white at first glance, a mane and tail the same light gray color with purple locks running side by side along it (with the mane curling and the tail cut short), light blue eyes and a cutie mark depicting three purple stars.
"Sorry we’re late." Night Light apologized. "We tried our hardest to get here as soon as we can. You would not believe the crazy weather that delayed our train. It came out of nowhere."
Twilight Velvet then smiled as she saw her granddaughter for the first time. "But it was all worth it to see this adorable little angel," She then cooed. "Come to your grandmare."
The baby just cooed back. Then, suddenly she twitched and shut her eyes to which Twilight, Kion and her friends all ducked for cover, anticipating another powerful magic blast. But all that happened was the baby alicorn let out a tiny sneeze. That made Twilight and the others wipe the sweat from their brows and sigh in relief glad that Sunburst’s spell quelled her uncontrollable surges of magic.
Shining Armor smiled seeing this. "We have Sunburst to thank for that. And we'll definitely have more of his help going forward in the future."
Princess Cadence nodded. "I hope he takes his new responsibilities seriously. After all it’s more than just dealing with spells and changing diapers we’re going to be paying him with.”
Velvet then inquired as she took her granddaughter into her hooves. "Cadence, darling. Does the baby have a name yet or are we gonna spend our entire visit just calling her “the baby”?"
"She does." Cadence answered. "We were thinking, Flurry Heart."
Shining then joined his wife in explaining. "In honor of this very special crystalling. A very fitting name as part of the Sparkle family tradition."
Twilight smiled and cooed. "I think it’s lovely." She promptly kissed her newly named niece on the forehead. "Just don’t go getting yourself into too much trouble. Okay?" Flurry just babbled and cooed in response as if she says “Yes.” to the best of her ability. And considering she is a baby there is only so much one can expect from her.
“I hope you mean it.” Kion added. “And she’s only telling you this is because she loves you.”
“And…” Twilight prompted as both she and the baby looked on with that eager smile.
“And because Uncle Kion wishes the same to you too, Flurry Heart.” Kion finished.
The baby babbled as she floated over to hug him too to which the young lion kindly reciprocated the gesture in return.
A short time later after bonding with the whole Sparkle Family, it was time for the Lion and Pony Guard along with to Starlight to head back to Ponyville. But before Starlight did, she was surprised to receive a tap on the hoof and find Sunburst here to see her off. "So...you really still want to be friends with me even after learning what I did? And who I associated and affiliated myself with?"
Sunburst nodded. "Of course. After all, it wouldn’t be fair considering that I too was hiding a secret and trying to pass it off as the truth." He then offered. "You can stay here with me if you want? I’m sure I can make arrangements so that we can see each other as much as we can here."
Starlight smiled as she politely declined the offer. "Thank you Sunburst, but Twilight gave me my big break for being willing to give me a second chance in life where nopony else would've if she were in her hoofs. So I'm gonna stick with learning friendship under her wing for now." She then looked to Sunburst with uncertainty as she pleaded with him. "Just, promise me you'll stay in touch and that includes when I try to write to you."
"That I can promise!" Sunburst agreed. "It might not be easy with my new responsiblites here in the Crystal Empire, but I' promise you that I’ll do a much better job at replying at each and every one of your letters going forward." Then he and Starlight shared a big hug, before he watched her board the train that was to take her back to Ponyville. "Best of luck, Starlight!" He called as the train departed from the station.
"Best of luck to you too, Sunburst!" Starlight Glimmer called back as the train disappeared over the horizon.
From afar, Scar and Sombra looked on at the heroes from afar, with the former looking on as if the results that had happened today were exactly as how he thought it would turn out.
“So predictable.” Scar commented as Sombra looked on rather frustrated that the Empire is still standing in both Shining Armor and Cadance’s hooves.
“And if only we weren’t dealing with a new member of the Royal Family then I would once again be king here.”
“Yes, yes, I know this is aggravating for you. But I’m sure you understand why we did what we did here.”
“Yes, yes, of course. To test the baby’s true potential along with striking fear into everyone’s hearts, send a verbal message to their saviors, and use this to fully prepare ourselves as this war goes on.”
“Exactly.” Scar nodded with a smile of approval for his understanding. “After all, much like I did before with the hyenas and jackals back in the Pride Lands, the next attack is the one that counts, and that’s where you’ll get your chance to get what you want in life. To become king.”
“Very well, Scar.” Sombra said as he agreed to bid his time to wait for the right moment. “Until then I will take your word on this. But I will desire what I am promised.”
“And you’ll get it indeed, Sombra. Now we know what we’re up against we can start making plans for your eventual takeover and what you most truly desire.” He then looked on back in the Pride Lands and Equestria’s direction. “In the meantime, there is the matter of keeping the fellow citizens back home on their toes as the inevitable for them comes too.” He then works his magic to make himself along with Sombra disappear in a cloud of fiery smoke before anyone can spot them from the horizon.
The two then reappear inside the Outlands Volcano where two important leaders are there waiting for them. One that is a lion, and the other a changeling.
“And with the Royal Family growing more powerful alongside the Lion and Pony Guard, action will need to taken against them soon.” Scar then said to the two. “Action that’ll require your full cooperation together going forward. I hope you both will be ready by then.”
Both Zira and Chrysalis smirked as they put their paw and hoof down to vow to their master that they’ll make sure of it.
“Yes, Scar.”
“We’ll be ready by then.”
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I don’t remember one of them having red glowing eyes
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That’s Sombra himself.
11844739
I thought his eyes glow green
You made a Puss in Boots 2 reference, how nice.