46 - Imperium Crystállum
Chapter 46 - Imperium Crystállum
All around in the calm edge of the Frozen North, ruined airships lay smoldering in the snow, and ice harpoons grounded in the spot many tanks and mobile megacannons. Soldiers from both pegasii and earth pony armies littered the battlefield to be perfectly preserved for the sisters' morbid curiosity and raiding. Ingrid and Bella were no strangers to death. A few times, they walked on a bounty after his recent murder. In a few cases, they were forced to kill them.
Clones Soldiers or pegasii, the Unicorn Hunters deprived them of whatever they could find in their journey. Bullets, magazines, grenades, first aid kits, and warm pads: they gathered them like they gathered geodes and quartz crystals on the rock farm in buckets, and dumped them all into the back of their truck, which they had just recently switched their round tires for snow tracks. Raiding corpses was a chore, but neither of them lost their lunch at their brutally dismembered state of severed limbs and blown out brains.
"I don't think anypony could have walked away from this battle," said Bella as she trotted to another Clone corpse, "let alone fly away from it. Are you sure Applejack and her gang flew over this hell?"
"The missing serial number matches the one she had stolen," said Ingrid after dumping her contents in into the truck bed. "Even without that information, I know they had survived."
"Is this going to be just like the time we had to track that deserter north of Manehattan?"
"Do you believe in ghosts, Bella?"
"Not really."
"I have heard rumors of ghosts being seen very close to the Crystal Mountains. They say they were the lost souls of a fallen empire."
"What caused them to fall?"
"Supposedly there was a mad tyrant who enslaved all his subjects and killed them before the Great Pony War."
"Sounds like our government."
"Achoo!"
"Gesundheit."
"That wasn't me," said Ingrid.
They heard the sneeze again, and unmistakably it was too high-pitched to be Ingrid's. At the third sneeze, the sisters strapped on their hoof pistols. They stood on their hind legs so that together they would mimic the pace of one pony instead of two, a tactic they perfected time after time on many bounties they had captured.
In sync, they made their way to the source of the noise, their truck. On Ingrid's signal, both she and Bella flipped over the covers of their truck bed, revealing a shivering and sniffling yellow filly tightly nestled between guns and ammo.
"Oh, boulders," Ingrid cursed.
Applejack would have slept a lot more soundly and a lot longer if not the glitter twinkling before her drowsy eyes. The orange pony woke up to a bright day in a large room. The high ceiling and walls were made of ice-like crystals. The bedposts were made of crystal. She could have sworn that the deceptively soft bedsheets and mattress were also made out of crystal. She had to admit, this was the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in thus far.
The Element of Truth was still around her neck. Good. Her bed was between Twilight and Fluttershy's, both of whom were sleeping, although Applejack didn't expect the timid yellow pegasus to snore nosily with her sheets barely covering her naked body and with one hind leg over the edge of her bed. The orange pony entertained the idea of lifting Twilight's sheets to check if she was naked, but immediately relented when she realized it would be both shameful, intrusive, and altogether creepy to commit such an act. Instead, Applejack spent a few minutes hypnotized by the rhythmic undulating motion of Twilight's chest rising up and down with each of her breath. The unicorn slept on her back in the precise middle of the bed with the bedsheets pulled just up to the base of her smooth purple neck. Her bowl-cut bangs distributed evenly across her forehead, and the back of her mane waterfell off towards the right side to create a smooth curve on the pillow.
Applejack eventually realized her dawdling and shook her head vigorously to stay in focus. She needed to figure out where she was and how she got here. The orange pony trotted from window to window making sure she didn't expose herself to any possible outsiders. She almost wished she could round up all he bedsheets to make a rope to climb down, but the surer method of escape was to go through the only door in the room and make sure the coast was clear.
She tiphooved towards the door handle, and then...
"SURPRISE!"
The door burst open from the outside. Applejack shrieked, causing Twilight and Fluttershy to awaken and jump out of their bed. Immediately the three grouped close together with magic katana drawn, horn glowing, and Butterfly Stars hovering and deployed. The three ponies were ready to take on whoever came through the door, but instead they faced a pink Naked Pie and a sparkling white unicorn filly with a two-toned pink and light purple mane. The two "intruders" fell and rolled on the floor rolling in laughter, and eventually both Applejack and Fluttershy recalled their Elements into their golden necklace forms. No longer they were frightened, but they did feel a twinge of anger at the practical joke done at their expense.
"What a riot!" laughed the filly.
"I know!" said Pinkie. "I almost swore that one of them peed in sheets. Hoof-bump!"
"Pink, what in tarnation is goin' on?" Applejack asked. "And why are we naked?"
"Good question. Sweetie Belle, why are we naked?"
The unicorn filly was about to answer, but she and Pinkie Pie stepped aside as sparkling jewel trotted into the room. The white unicorn mare poised herself before all to admire, and she lifted her manicured hoof to bounce her dark purple mane whilst blinking her blue eye shadow. Three diamond gems that made up her Destiny Glyph sparkled along with glittering white coat.
Behind her was Spike, a slave to love. The white mare's beauty hypnotized the baby dragon to carry a beautifully adorned crystal box almost twice his size.
"I took the liberty of asking the royal tailors to revitalize your poor clothes," she said. "Not only you will get them back, they will have much better wind resistance and be ten times more fabulous. And Sweetie Belle, you know it's not nice to frighten our guests like this."
"Sorry, sis."
"No, no. You mustn't address me in such familiarity in front of strangers or in public. It's either Princess Rarity, Lady Rarity, or Diamond Princess."
"But we're not strangers," said Pinkie Pie. "Sweetie Belle and I became friends, and by extension, you're our friend, Rares."
"Yeah, sis," said Sweetie Belle. "Can't we drop all these stupid royal etiquette?"
"All right," said Rarity. "Our esteemed guests, er, friends, must be too tired to adapt to our culture anyhow. Still, I, Diamond Princess Rarity must formally welcome all of you to the Crystal Empire. I'm sure you met my rambunctious little sister, Princess Sweetie Belle."
"Crystal Empire?" asked Twilight. "You mean, the Crystal Empire?"
"My, is our kingdom's reputation that feared?"
"The Crystal Empire is a legend," said Applejack. "Everypony says it vanished overnight during the Great Pony War."
"War? I have heard the outside world was a dangerous place, but there is actually war out there?"
"You mean you ponies don't know what's goin' on?"
"It's hard to get news where there is a never-ending blizzard outside and a magical barrier surrounding our kingdom. War is a topic that we don't like to discuss, but enough about that. You must come down to our banquet hall where I have our royal cooks prepared the best feast for our friends."
"Ooh, so I can have my third helping?" Pinkie asked.
"Why, of course, darling. I'll even throw in a fourth just for you. Now everypony, shall we?"
"Pardon me, Diamond Princess," said Applejack as she wiggled herself out from between Twilight and Fluttershy, "but do you think you can lend us some clothes?"
"Clothes?" Rarity asked with an eyebrow raised. "This isn't a formal dinner, but if you insist, I shall send over my one of my ladies in waiting with a rack of my finest. Come along Sweetie Belle."
"Okay, Rarity," said the white filly. "Pinkie Pie, you gotta tell me more about Rock Prison and its mines."
"Of course! Did I tell you the time that Applejack and I…"
Rarity led Sweetie Belle and a bouncing Pinkie Pie away, and Spike grunted as he raised the giant crystal box as he chased the white unicorn mare like a happy dog. Applejack was now given a chance to peek outside, and the hallways were just the same: crystal, grand, and immense. If she woke up in the guest room, there were probably more adjacent to this one and across the wide hall.
Since there was no other pony to be seen or any security cameras, the orange pony shuttered the diamond-studded doors and gathered Twilight and Fluttershy into a huddle.
"Unicorn," said Fluttershy.
"Unicorn," Applejack repeated. "I thought there were only unicorns in your home, Twi."
"I thought so too," said Twilight. "But those unicorns are different. They look... crystally."
"So we're in the Crystal Empire," said Fluttershy. She immediately leapt up and took a short flight towards one of the larger windows situated next to her bed. Likewise, her two friends took up positions by the other two windows, and they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Not too long ago, they were in the middle of a raging blizzard that threatened to bury and freeze them. Here, the weather was perfectly clear. This was by no means a modern civilization, but mares beheld a beautiful utopia seen only on books and television. There were no asphalt to host the noxious exhaust of cars and trucks. No airships polluting the sky with their black contrails. All the buildings appeared to be carved or hollowed by hoof or whatever magic was present in this empire.
Most of the ponies were of the earth variety, and they too had the crystalline coats like their Diamond Princess and her little sister. Many of them trotted the colorfully clear streets in frank nudity and without shame, and such frankness allowed Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy to quickly overcome their initial culture shock. No pegasii flew about, and so far nopony became apprehensive of Fluttershy's appearance arrival. Her still being in this room was proof that this was a tolerant society.
"Esteemed guests," spoke a pony. "My name is North Star, Lady Rarity's Lady in Waiting." She arrived into the room pushing a crystal clothes rack with her magic. Yet this fuchsia pink unicorn with the purple mane did not have the crystallization as the others.
"Lady Rarity has sent me over with finest clothes from her own personal collection," continued North Star. "I shall fetch more should none of these satisfy."
"Oh my," said Fluttershy as she gently browsed through them with the tip of her hoof. "These look pretty."
"And delicate," added Twilight.
"Don't y'all have anything that's, well, y'know, plain and easy to move in?" Applejack asked.
"Plain?" said North Star. "Lady Rarity would not want her esteemed guests to be dressed in such a manner. Clothes are a luxury that only royalty could afford in great numbers."
"But you're wearing some, Miss North Star," said Fluttershy, "and it looks pretty on you."
"This? It's just a hand-me-down Lady Rarity had given to me on my birthday. It's nothing special."
That's more special than the dresses Posey wears, thought Applejack. The orange pony could see why Gaea often taught in schools the greedy excesses of royalty, notably the unicorn kingdom the earth ponies razed almost a thousand years ago in present-day Gaeaopolis. The lavish themselves and their servants with extravagant clothing for the sole purpose of making themselves appear slightly powerful and appealing to their peers while it served no purpose of their true political talents. Yet Applejack didn't any sense of condescending attitudes from the royalty they had just met. However they ended up here, Applejack and her friends were rescued, and in due respect they must oblige and thank Princess Rarity for her hospitality by attending supper.
"Hey gals!" Pinkie cried. "You gotta come down quick! They're gonna run out of crystal corn cakes! It's crystaliscious! Whoa!"
Naked Pie bounced and tripped on, of all things, hairline crack on the floor. With the rest of the floor so smooth, Pinkie Pie slid from across the hallway until her snout rammed hard into North Star's hindquarters. This resulted in North Star to fall forward and accidentally topple over the clothes rack.
North Star's face contorted from all the strange sensations she was experiencing due to Pinkie Pie struggling to breathe, and having the pink earth pony sway her snout left and right in the unicorn's butt made things even more awkward. The final act involved Pinkie squeezing North Star's flanks so hard that, against all space-time dimensional reasoning, sounded like a loud honk that Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy heard with crystal clarity.
North Star couldn't take the utter embarrassment any more. Her face turned beat red. She shrieked, and immediately she ran off whimpering. The mares could still hear her, even when she ran to the floor below.
"That was most comfortable pillow I buried my face in," said Pinkie, "and strangely enough, the noisiest. What's everypony looking at?"
"Um, I'm gonna pick that dress over there," said a red-faced Applejack.
So the ponies quickly selected their clothes, and Pinkie Pie joined in because she thought it would be fun. It was hard to dress down or dress plain, and the clothes suffered no damage when the rack toppled over. Fluttershy selected a green, one-piece dress that emphasized nature. Pinkie Pie selected something blue and pink that was studded with round gems that looked to her like candy. She even attempted to eat one of them, and somehow was successful at it. She even claimed it tasted good.
Applejack, on the other hand, selected a brown and red suit that made it look like she commanded authority, and it was the only one that made her remotely masculine. Twilight selected an indigo dress lined with gothic white lace that made her look magically elegant, like mare from a bygone age of class. The considerate unicorn looked at herself in the mirror, and had decided right then in there to tie her mane into two pigtails. This wasn't the mare Applejack wasn't used to seeing, but she couldn't stop staring at her. She was still Twilight, bookish and yet pretty all the same.
"Wow, Twi," said Applejack. "You look pretty."
"You don't look half bad yourself," Twilight said.
"Shucks, I think I picked the worst dress. I don't even think it matches my dad's hat."
"I think it's a nice addition. Oh, your mane is messy. Let me help you brush it."
"Nah, it's all right sugarcube. I can do it myself."
"I insist."
The orange pony resigned herself, and as she sat on the stool, she could not stop shaking internally. It shouldn't be any different from any other pony brushing her mane and tail. Her mother brushed her. Her grandmother brushed her. Heck, even Twilight brushed her once during the early parts of their journey, and even Spike did the same complete with a back massage. She began to think of things she never thought whenever her friends brushed her hair, like the soft touch of their hooves bristling her hairs, and their soft blows of their breath titillating the back of her neck.
"Applejack."
I could sit like this forever.
"Applejack."
"Huh, what?"
"We're ready to go," said Twilight.
"Don't fall asleep, AJ," said Pinkie Pie. "Or you'll miss out in all the crystal cola."
The four mares followed Pinkie Pie down to a grand banquet hall guarded by a mix of earth ponies and unicorns. It had a high ceiling that hoisted into the air three hanging crystal chandeliers that it looked either carved from one piece of mineral block or naturally grown. Long tapestries decorated the wall with the finest crystal silk, but all show the flag and the symbol of the Crystal Empire in the form of a stylized snowflake. Even though the long glass table could seat almost a hundred, if not more, presently only Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and the love struck Spike sat close to the farthest end where a fireplace burned a flame not from wood, but from green crystals. On top of that, the entire table was filled food that, while appearing hard and crystal-like, was surprisingly edible.
Pinkie Gourmand immediately started gathering filled platters balanced on her nose from one end as she and her friends headed over to where the Diamond Princess was sitting. The pegasus, the orange earth pony, and the unicorn resisted salivating at the selection as they took their seats. During that time, Pinkie Pie had somehow eaten all the plates she took from the end, and already a train of mareservants arrived to serve up more.
"Oh, those dresses look fabulous on you!" Rarity commented. "Of course, I designed them myself. Well, I mostly stitched the overall structure. Or you could say that I was the one who made them. Oh, and you don't have to be so formal in front of my sister and me. I'm sure that you four must be hungry from your harrowing journey."
Even if they wanted to gorge themselves in reckless abandon, they were too embarrassed by the sight of their pink friend making a mess on her plate, table, and on dress that cost who knew how much. As such, the three ponies decided to eat at a normal pace in spite of their growling stomachs.
"Now darlings," said Rarity, "I must apologize that the King will be late in joining us for supper. In the meantime, I must inquire as to where all of you came from. Let's start with you, the pretty one. Fluttershy, is it?"
The pegasus cleared her nervous throat with a glass of water. "Um, I came from a place called the Everfree Forest."
"I have heard legends of there being river serpents with fabulous manes and fabulous mustaches in the southern forests. Have you seen one?"
"Well, no. They were driven out by, um…"
Fluttershy trailed off, but Applejack and Twilight knew that she didn't want to say anything about the aggressive nation of Gaea that would ruin Rarity's excitement.
"What a shame," said Rarity. "And what about you, Lady Applejack?"
"I come from Gaea," replied the orange pony. "It's a large and diverse country stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the edge of Horned Range. So basically, Gaea rules about three-quarters of the continent. Except for this Empire, of course."
"Rarity, do you think our guests can take me to see the ocean?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Sweetie Belle, you mustn't make such demands to our guests," said Rarity.
"The ocean ain't an exiting place anyway," said Applejack. "There's just a lot of boats, annoying seagulls, whales, and a lot of crabs."
"Crabs!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "I really want to go the ocean now."
"Perhaps another time," said Rarity. "As for you, fellow unicorn, you wouldn't happen to be related to the legendary First Unicorn, Twilight?"
"Well, I am a part of the Twilight Clan, so yes," replied Twilight.
"Then it is an honor that you grace with your presence, Twilight Sparkle. Do you come from Gaea as well?"
"Actually, I hail from Unicornia."
"Unicornia? The Holy Land? How is it holding up? Are the castles are still beautiful as the legends say they are?"
Whether she was a unique case due to her royal blood or not, Twilight was also hesitant to tell her everything about the truth of the outside world. In Twilight's Unicornia, the Chieftains had lectured time and time again about the brutish surface world governed by bigoted earth ponies. At least in the castle, Rarity and her sister held ignorant views of the world outside the Crystal Empire that they painted in a positive if not unrealistic light. The excited smiles from the Diamond Princess and Sweetie Belle pressured Twilight to feel guilty about telling the truth.
"Um, it's as beautiful as the books say they are," Twilight lied.
"What do you say, Sweetie Belle?" asked Rarity. "A holiday in Unicornia?"
"Here I thought you didn't want me to make demands," said Sweetie Belle. "But if we're going, then we have to stop by the ocean and see the whales."
"Agreed, provided that our new friends will take us there. Of course, they can rest as long as they like in our castle before they're ready."
"Sure, we'll take you," Twilight lied again.
"But we will have to get Father's permission."
"Why don't we ask him right now?" asked Sweetie Bell. "He's here."
After the sounds of approaching hoofsteps, one of the towering crystal doors by Rarity obeyed the commands of two posted unicorn guards and opened. Arriving in standard royal regalia of a silver crown and red cloak was the most fearsome unicorn, if not the most fearsome pony Applejack and her friends ever beheld. A dark gray coat, long locks of black, red eyes, and a curved horn were but a few of his instruments of rule, and one by one he glared fiercely at the frightened guests of honor.
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Somehow I am believing you missed the romance tag xD It would atleast fit with AJ/Twi and Twi/Sunny
King Sombra is gonna mess you up! Although maybe not if every pony is all crystally.
This oughta be interesting. Especially when Rarity finds out the truth...
This is absolutely fantastic! I love this story!!
You added SOMBRA? Holy Celestia ! Things can't get more epic, though I wonder if he is evil or just misunderstood in this universe
So sombra in this fic too?... Makes me wonder, will he be good by comparison, or still evil.
I'm still waiting for Chrysalis to show up and take back her changelings from Posey.
"My babies!"
cdn.meme.am/instances2/500x/798831.jpg
4977011 Do you forget that Posey is likely Chryssy.
Did not expect Rarity to be a CE pony much less related to SOMBRA!
Holy shit, sombra! That.. I was not expecting. That is unendingly cool! On another note, considering that Applebloom was with Posey and sweetie belle is with Rarity, I'm guessing that Scootaloo will be a princess of the pegasi kingdom. It'd be cool if that was the case.
BURN BURN THE EMPIRE TO THE GROUND THERE'S NO SAVING IT
No No myself, lieing will not save them.