Previous Chapters Next
Close
Chapter 1: Scraps1,788 words
Chapter 2: Ponyville2,980 words
Chapter 3: Lesson One4,278 words
Chapter 4: The Project3,533 words
Chapter 5: Differences3,410 words
Chapter 6: Forgiveness6,810 words
Chapter 7: Fracture1,546 words
Chapter 8: Secrets4,817 words
Chapter 9: Family3,786 words
Chapter 10: Don't Say Goodbye4,460 words
Chapter 11: Return3,604 words
Chapter 12: Back in town2,166 words
Chapter 13: Homecoming2,754 words
Chapter 14: Return of the King5,561 words
Chapter 15: Old Friends1,841 words

Chapter 13: Homecoming

Chapter 13

Homecoming

The group of friends along with the Elements boarded the train station and headed off towards the Crystal Empire. Princess Cadence, Shining Armor and Dawn had teleported back to the empire early that morning. Applebloom sat next to the red stallion while Twilight sat across from him. On the long Train ride Applebloom noticed something she hadn’t before about the red stallion.

“Geode! You still don’t have a Cutie Mark.” The other ponies turned their heads towards the crystal stallion’s flank and saw that it was still blank.

“Yeah, so?”

“Why don’t you have one?”

“Like I told you, I don’t care if I’ve got one or not.” He said with a shrug.

“Ah still can’t believe that.” She said in a low tone.

“It doesn’t matter to me anymore.” He said as the train pulled to a stop. The ponies exited the cart and Geode disguised himself in a brown dirt shell. The stallion kept his head low as he traversed through the old streets.

“You okay?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, it’s just been a while since I’ve been here.” He said with a sigh. “I was this age when Sombra took the throne.”

“What? But you were just a colt when I met you.” Twilight said.

“He used an age spell on me to make me younger and weaker so he could experiment on me.” Geode said in a low tone. “Sorry guys, I have to go take care of a few things. I’ll see you at the fair.” Before the ponies could protest he vanished in a flash of red light.

“Where’s he off to?” Scootaloo asked.

“He probably needs some time. This place is probably bringing back some....unpleasant memories.” Twilight said in a worried tone. “C’mon let’s go to the castle.” The lavender mare said with a smile. The group of ponies nodded and made their way through the crowd and towards the massive crystal castle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Geode materialized in an underground tunnel. The walls were glistening with diamonds. The stallion removed his brown disguise and walked down the pathway that laid before him. Geode kept his head low as he came to an opening. Water was dripping from the stalactites attached to the ceiling.

The room was wide and had a single tombstone sticking out of the ground. Behind it was a statue of a crystal pony mare. Geode stopped in front of it and laid down with tears in his eyes.

“Hey mom, I’m back.” He said with a sniffle. “I’m.....I’m sorry.” He said as the words tore at his heart. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to save you, dad or any of them.” The stallion wiped the tears from his eyes only for a new reservoir to burst forward.

“Don’t worry. I won’t fail this time. I will rid this world of Sombra’s influence!” He said as he stood up. “Just wait a bit longer. I’ll be home soon.” He said as he smiled with the tears still flowing from his face.

As the red stallion walked away, a drop of water from a stalactite fell onto the stone statue’s right eye and ran down the side of it’s cheek. Geode walked back through the tunnel into a small hole that spread into another wide room. The red stallion trotted over to a small chest and unlocked the hatch with an old key. A small crystal blue light filled the room as he opened the lid. Geode smiled and levitated the shard over to a work bench. “Now, it ends.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back on the surface the group of ponies made their way into the crystal palace. The five younger ponies’s eye boggled at the spectacle. Twilight was soon greeted by Shining Armor and Dawn.

“Aunt Twilight!” The filly squeaked as she hugged the lavender mare.

“Take it easy Dawn, I saw you yesterday.” She said with a smile. Twilight giggled as she saw some small cut’s on her brother’s face. “Had some trouble this morning?”

“No comment.” Shining said as he rubbed his now beardless chin. “I miss it already.”

“Oh don’t be a foal.” The lavender mare teased. The librarian then approached the pink Alicorn and smiled. The five friends then started to explore the castle. Twilight followed Cadence to a pair of shining doors decorated in jewels. “What’s this room?”

“Ah yes this is the archives of the Crystal Empire.” She said with a smile. Cadence opened the doors to reveal several racks of books. Twilight’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened at the vast collection. “I knew that you’d get a kick out of this place.” She said with a smug grin.

“There....are....no...words.” Twilight said as a young green crystal stallion trotted up to her and the Princess.

“Ah good day to you Princess.” The stallion said with a bow.

“Same to you Tome Cracker.” She said with a nod. “Allow me to introduce my sister in law, Twilight Sparkle.”

“It’s an honor to meet Celestia’s personal protege.” He said with a bow.

“Oh stop.” Twilight said as she rolled her eyes. “Are you the caretaker here?”

“Ye ma’am. I’ve always loved books.” He said with a smile. Cadence grinned and quietly slipped away from the two book worms. Tome and Twilight spent a long while discussing different books that the archives held. As the day neared noon, Twilight had a thought.

“Tome, care to answer a hypothetical question.” She asked in a hope filled voice.

“Hit me.” He said with a smug grin. Twilight giggled and gathered her thoughts.

“What would happen if a pony were to, I don’t know, fuse a spell with the Crystal heart?” She asked in an innocent sounding tone. The green stallion scratched his chin and thought for a moment.

“Well, the spell would be increased ten fold.” Twilight let out a sigh as she found newfound hope in Geode’s plan. “But there is one major drawback.”

“What’s that?”

“You die.”

.........

“I’m sorry. I’m still tired from the train ride. Did you just say that they would die?” She asked hoping that she heard wrong.

“Nope you heard right.”

“What? Why?” She said her voice clearly becoming upset.

“Jeez, take it easy.” Tome said as he collected himself. “If a pony were to fuze their magic with the Crystal Heart it would amplify the magical power enough to rival Celestia’s.” He said in a flat tone. “However, a normal pony body can’t handle that much magic and would undoubtably be destroyed by the raw power that is produced.” Twilight felt a wave of panic wash over her. The lavender mare quickly got to her hooves and galloped towards the fair. Hoping to make it in time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group of friends sat beside Princess Cadence and watched as the jousting matches took place. Sweetie Belle then noticed the large crystals surrounding the top of the stadium.

“Hey Princess Cadence.” The pink Alicorn looked at the white mare with a smile. “What are all those things?” She asked as she pointed to the large crystals.

“Those are called Transmission Crystals.” She said with a smile. “You see, for over the past few years I have sent many of them to several different locations scattered all over Equestria.” The ponies looked at her in surprise. “The main crystal sends out a magical signal that connects all of the other crystals together and transmits whatever it’s seeing to those crystals.”

“So other ponies can see what’s happening?” Pip asked.

“Correct. I’ve even got a few stationed in the Griffin kingdom too.” The Alicorn said with a smile. The singer smiled and looked around to see that the yellow farm mare was gone.

Geode sat in the locker room with his brown disguise still active and was suiting up for the jousting competition. As he leaned against the side of the entrance he saw a familiar yellow farmer looking for him. He smiled and trotted up to her.

“That you Geode?”

“Eeyup.” He said with a smirk. His horn flared and the top half of his disguise crumbled away showing his red face. “What’s up?”

“Ah just wanted to wish ya luck.” The mare said with a smile. Geode smiled and firmly pressed his lips against hers. The mare was lost in passion as she wrapped her front hooves around the stallion’s neck. The mare stepped back and had a bright blush on her face.

“Thank you Applebloom. For everything.” He said with a warm smile. The trumpet sounded, signaling his turn. He quickly donned his disguise and his helmet before taking his position. Twilight burst through the entrance to the stadium and ran up towards her brother and the pink Princess.

“Cadence!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. The guard Captain and Princess looked in confusion as the mare ran up to them looking very tired and out of breath. “You.......have....to.”

“Easy Twilight, deep breaths.” Cadence said with a sigh. Twilight took a moment to collect herself. “Now what’s wrong?”

“No time to explain! You have to stop Geode!” She said in a panic filled tone. The yellow mare then trotted up to her.

“Why’s that? He’s about to joust.” The lavender mare then looked at the yellow farmer who pointed down with her hoof at the brown stallion with the lance secured on his armor. Twilight screamed in fear as the two warriors lances reached each other’s proximity.

Geode focused and purposely missed his target. The opposing stallion’s lance struck the side of his helmet whit flew off his head and landed on the ground with an audible clang. The ponies all let out a gasp as Geode raised his head and smirked.

C’mon, take the bait. He thought as his disguise crumbled away revealing his dark red coat and jet black mane. The group then saw that the Crystal ponies’s eyes started to change from their original color to a dark purple and light neon green. The crowd then roared in anger as three dark shadows leapt from the crowd and surrounded the red stallion.

“You’ve got some balls kid.” One of them said.

“Figured I’d pay old neighborhood a visit.” He said with a smirk. The elderly member then saw the Guard Captain leap out of his seat and make his way through the possessed crowd. He grunted and slammed his hoof on the ground and the arena was cut off from the stands by a massive wall of black crystal.

“Just so that there are no interruptions.” One of them said as they surrounded him.

“Fair enough.” Geode said as he leapt forward and slammed his now rock covered hoof into the stallion’s head. The force sent him crashing back a good thirty feet before he managed to shake off the blow. The stallion on his left then leapt and activated his shadow magic. The shadows encircled him and produced a long dark lance that was going straight for the stallion’s throat.

Geode quickly dodged the attack and made his rock covered hoof collide with the stallion’s face. As he was about to purify the two he heard a familiar scream come from the audience. He looked up into the stands to see the elderly stallion and several other possessed Crystal Ponies holding his friends with blades to their throats.

“Surrender Twerp or you’re gonna have a lot of graves to dig.” The stallion said in a menacing tone. Geode grunted and made the rock around his hooves collapse and the other two Corrupted members trap him in a shadowy bind.

“Don’t listen to them Geode!” Twilight yelled as she struggled.

“Ah so that’s what you’re going by now eh?” The dark stallion snickered. Geode grunted and cursed under his breath as they led him to the center of the arena.

“So what now? Kill me?” Geode asked. The shadow ponies all looked at him in confusion and laughed.

“Kill you? Oh no. We’ve got much bigger plans for you your highness.” Geode’s eyes shrank as he made the connection. The three stallions then pulled out a piece of paper with a seal on it. The three put the seal on the ground and a dark purple wall sprouted out from each creating a triangular prison. The elder then withdrew along jagged crystal shard and rammed it in the red stallion’s chest.

Applebloom and the others all screamed as they saw the shard started t glow. Soon the entire inside of the triangle was filled with darkness. The shadows faded for a moment and one of the members had a nervous look on his face.

“It’s not strong enough!”

“The release the mind control! We need all the power we can get.” The elder barked. The two nodded and their eyes glowed a neon green as they looked at the crowd. Twilight then felt the blade drop from her throat and heard the metallic clangs of the other blades being dropped. She saw the shimmering ponies all shake and grasp their heads in pain. Twilight and the others charged forward towards the battle field.

Inside the shadow filled triangle, the red stallion felt his strength failing. A feeling of peace crept over him as he held the large he had been working on crystal in his hoof.

Mom, I’m coming home. He thought as he lifted the crystal to his lips. He then felt his crystal necklace glow and envelope him in a red aura. What? Was all he could muster before slipping into unconsciousness.

The friends watched in confusion as they saw a bright red light coming from the darkness. Soon a series of bright red magical roped sot out of the darkness and ripped the red stallion from the darkness. The darkness inside the prison was spiraling out of control. Three dark tentacles grabbed the corrupted members and drew them in.

The two younger stallions screamed in agony as they felt their flesh and bones being dissolved by the black aura. The elder accepted his fate and smiled. “Welcome home my lord.” He said before being enveloped by the darkness. The prison fell and a bright flash of light filled the ponies’s eyes. When it was over they all gasped in horror to see a much younger lookingKing Sombra standing before them.

“It’s good to be back.” He sad in a shadow menacing tone. Shining Armor charged with his sword in a magical grip. Sombra snickered and teleported in front of the blue maned guard and slammed his hoof down onto his face. The white stallion’s face hit the dirt and felt his nose broke. “Ah yes, Captain Armor. Your wife has been a huge thorn in my side for a long while now.” He said as he stepped over the injured stallion and made his way over to the injured red Crystal Unicorn who still had the purple spike in his chest.

Geode struggled to stay awake as he saw a pair of jet black hooves standing right in front of him. He grunted in anger as he saw the young dark Unicorn stallion. Sombra smirked and levitated him up so their eyes met. “To think that I’d be reborn through your shadow, Vermillion Garnet.” The stallion groaned in pain as the dark Unicorn twisted the crystal shard deeper into his chest. “Though I suppose that’s why I left you alive. Isn’t that right brother?”

“Buck you.” Sombra cut out the levitation spell and caught the stallion by the neck with his right hoof and started to squeeze. Sombra then felt the red stallion being ripped from his grip. The red stallion then flung into the lavender mare’s hooves and was soon surrounded by the other ponies. Shining got to his hooves and shook off as he teleported beside his sister.

Sombra started to chuckle which soon broke into a cackle. “You have only prolonged the inevitable.” He said before vanishing in a cloud of smoke. The ponies all looked at one another and back at the barely conscious red stallion. Geode’s vision blurred before he slipped into darkness.

Author's Note:

So sorry this took so long.

2,203 views

283

Previous Chapters Next