The Crystal Empire is abuzz with activity for the upcoming Equestrian Games, but not all of the little ponies are happy about this. When their beliefs come into conflict with Equestria's four princesses, friendships will be tested and the nation will face a reckoning.
The opening day of the Equestrian Games was rapidly approaching, and nowhere was this more obvious then the throne room of the pretty-pink-princess-with-a-rather-long-and-fancy-name-who-prefers-to-just-be-called, "Cadance."
The Princess in question was finally putting to use all those years of studying political theory and practice under her adoptive aunt, Princess Celestia of Equestria. While she had originally been reluctant to accept sovereignty of the recently time-locked nation, Cadance had quickly adapted to the flow of things, and with the help of a little love magic here and there to calm tensions, and the full emotional support of her beloved husband, she was now comfortable devoting her energy and time to helping these poor ponies recover from their time beneath Sombra's lash.
As such, Cadance held great anticipation for the upcoming Games, which would mark the full return of the Crystal Empire to the international political stage. She had just finished signing off the permit a bird nest peddler would need to set up a stand during the Games. Who would want to buy a bird nest during a major international sporting event, Cadance wasn't sure, but there was plenty of space available when the stallion submitted his application.
A few minutes after the nest crafter departed, Cadance's secretary nudged open the throne room door. "Your majesty? The next appointment has arrived, but ah, there's a bit of a problem..."
"Just send them in Cherry." Cadance said nonchalantly. While she loved her citizens, they could be a bit over reactive and unnecessarily nervous around royalty. "So this is what Auntie Celestia was talking about..."
Quickly recognizing THAT particular train of thought as leading only to despair, Cadance sought to reorganize her mind by looking down at the paper in front of her and reviewing next petitioner wanted. After scanning the document, Cadance did a double take, scrunching up her face and bringing the offending stationary closer to her muzzle.
The document was a list of requested musicians for the performances, filled with requests collected from within the Empire and the foreign nations competing in the games. Such a document would normally appear before the princess dozens off times, until every contention, scheduling change and last minute suggestion had been accounted for.
Except for the fact she had signed off what she knew was the finalized list about a week ago. It was a well known fact that the Games were too near for the list to be changed.
"Eh hem."
Cadance looked up to discover that her throne room was now full of Crystal Ponies, all of them wearing subdued frowns, with the exception of her secretary, who was quivering in the door frame.
At the head of this crowd was a Crystal stallion, his coat a vibrant ocean blue and mane a subdued ginger, a pair of circular rim glasses perched upon his muzzle. "I apologize for the deception, Mrs. Armor, it was the only means by which myself and my colleagues could achieve a face to face meeting with you." He then removed a neatly stapled stack of papers from his plain gray saddlebag. "Here is the correct document."
Cadance studied the papers intently, wanting answers to this strangeness. About midway through the cover page, her eyes had gone completely wide.
The head stallion cleared his throat, and spoke up in a bold, clear voice, that echoed through the palace halls.
"We have come here today, Mrs. Armor, to demand your abdication from the crystal throne, and the return of the Crystal Empire's sovereignty. We demand the freedom of the Crystal Empire!"
Two hours prior...
"Friends, ponies, lend me your ears! All is not well in our fair Empire!"
These words ring through the cold skyline dominated by the monolithic Crystal Palace. Though the Palace was far less intimidating without the general air of misery and oppression instilled by Sombra, it still maintained a feel of all seeing menace, as fully intended by its creator, who made a point of tearing down any equivalently sized buildings to ensure his point was conveyed.
The origin of this cry is a ramshackle stand on the side of a road several blocks from the palace. Little more then a collection of sturdy boxes glued together into a serviceable platform, it is never the less stable enough to support the speaker: Geode Striker, a stallion with a blue coat, ginger hair and glasses. In the immediate area around the platform, a stallion and mare were handing out fliers to interested pedestrians.
"Though the downfall of Sombra," Striker's use of the name elicited disturbed gasps from those around him. Most Crystal Ponies referred to their former overlord only as "The Dark One", out of a mix of fear and disgust. Anypony that was not motivated to leave quickly became intrigued by this seemingly fearless stallion, and stayed behind to listen. "...was perhaps the greatest moment in our nation's history, our victory has been sullied!"
"Be it through intentional machination or well meaning ignorance, Princess Celestia has denied us the freedom we yearn for! Our current princess is an appointee, who did not even know of our Empire's existence until she was sent to save it!" Striker continued. "Though Cadance and Shinning Armor are well intentioned, they do not understand the needs of the Crystal Empire! They do not know our culture, our history, or our people. Look at these decadent games you all scurry about in preparation for!"
Striker's voice adopted a lower tone, and his next words were delivered in a somber tone, instead of his previous outbursts. "The ponies of this Empire need food and warmth. We need to reclaim the land claimed by the frost and the mines for farmland. The ponies of this Empire need shelters, not stadiums. We need doctors, not athletes." His next words were loaded with anger however. "We need to be rebuilt, not made into a tourist attraction!"
His voice became soft once again. "That is not to say we do not owe Equestria a great debt. Without their help, we may never have defeated Sombra. However, that is a debt we will repay on our terms, as our own ponies, and with a Crystal Pony seated upon OUR crystal throne!"
At this point in Geode Striker's speech, very few listeners remained. Only a hooffull of ponies once present on the street did not regard him as a crazed, ungrateful trouble maker. The few that did remain eagerly added their signatures to the presented petition (which he had been quietly expanding for weeks prior to this event) and joined his march to the Palace.
As the minority mob disappeared down the street to the palace, a pair of pony eyes watch the mob through a window in the distance. The watching pony spoke. "You have made certain Geode Striker will reach the palace uncontested?"
Cadance was at a complete loss as to how she should respond. In all the time she had spent as Princess of the Crystal Empire, everypony had been respecting and helpful. This sudden hostility had taken her completely by surprise. She quickly regained her composure before responding.
"Am I correct in assuming these documents contain your motives for proposing my abdication?"
"They do, Mrs. Armor, as well as the signatures of those who back it." Geode Striker responded. "I also wish to make it clear that I hold no personal grudge against you. While the benevolence you and your husband have shown our Empire is greatly appreciated, we do not believe that entitles you to our throne."
"Well, I'm glad to hear. If that's the case, I'm certain we can work out your problems with a minimum of hard feelings..."
"Do not become over confident, Mrs. Armor, and do not attempt to sate us with petty concession." Geode Strike interjected roughly. "We will only be satisfied by the full independence of our Empire." He then gave an informal nod. "My associates and I will depart now. I'm sure you can locate me if another meeting becomes necessary." And with that, the crowd departed, leaving behind a very troubled princess.
"They want us to what?"
Later that night, in the royal couple's private chambers, Cadance had regaled her husband with her encounter with the separatists. The former Canterlot Captain reacted as you might expect. "Alright, me and the guards will take care of this honey, don't worry about."
"No Shinning, I'm going to resolve this diplomatically." Cadance responded. "I'm not going to throw my little ponies into a dungeon because they overreacted to some legitimate complaints." During her read through of Geode's papers, she came to understand some of his complaints. In particular, his gripes about preparations for the Games super-ceding the necessary reconstruction to raise living quality above that of a literal-slave pen. Now that she understood how some ponies felt, Cadance planned to make an address about how hosting the Games would create a massive surge in the Empire's treasury, which would be funding the numerous reconstruction efforts.
Her reasoning for suggesting the Empire as the Game's host had also been questioned by Princess Celestia, but after explaining her, the princess of the sun praised Cadance for her good thinking, and offered to pull some strings to ensure she got the Games. Cadance refused, wanting to try and win the Games for her people honestly, but had a nagging feeling Celestia would have suggested the Empire even if her desperate efforts to impress the Inspector hadn't succeeded.
"Caddy, this Geode Striker is just some snake trying to get the throne for himself. We should take care of him before this gets out of hoof." Armor retorted.
"We aren't going to arrest anypony over this unless they become violent first. They're just overreacting to some minor problems, just like when Twiley would have her episodes." Cadance put her hoof down. Her face softened though, as she saw a downcast look across her husband's face. Cadance realized her comment regarding her sister-in-law may have been going too far, on top of how she knew her husband hates feeling useless during a crisis. "There is something you could do though." She added, causing Shinning to perk up. "Have the guard conduct a full survey of the population, and find out how widespread this sentiment is."
Now having a purpose in his steps, Shinning Armor trotted over to his wife and placed his hooves on her shoulders, and began to kneed. "We've all had a stressful day honey, lets turn in for the night and relax."
Cadance complied with a low, relaxed groan, and did her best to banish the day's concerns from her mind, vowing to handle the situation tomorrow with a clear, prepared mind. No use worrying herself senseless about it while in bed with her wonderful husband.
Later the next day, Geode Striker and his followers were hosting a meeting over coffee at a corner side coffee shop.
"Cadance is not going to meet our demands, Striker. Our display was a failure." Said one downcast Crystal Pony while tear drops fell into her coffee.
"On the contrary my dear Leaky Sweets, the meeting was a complete success!" Striker replied back. "Cadance is clearly empathic to our needs, and I received word this morning that the guard are out in force, polling the population on how they feel about our demands."
"That report also made clear that the population is overwhelmingly in favor of staying a vassal of Equestria." Another crystal mare, Sun Beam, shot back.
"That, however, can be changed." Geode spoke confidently. "The greatest obstacle has been removed from our course: Cadance will listen to the demands of the people. Our task now is to convince the people to demand independence."
Before the conversation could go any farther, the owner of the coffee shop came stomping over to their table. He places his heavy hoof down on Geode's shoulder. "I think it's about time you troublemaker's get out of my shop."
Geode remained calm. "Certainly, my good stallion. Allow me to pay for our beverages and we will be on our..."
"No. Get out now. Your money is no good here, you dirty bunch of troublemakers!" The shop owner shouted, now rather angry. The shop's other patrons were all starring, many of them with angry faces after recognizing Geode Striker from his public display.
After being tossed into the streets, Sun Beam turned to the group's leader and remarked "So all we gotta do is convince everyone to go against the princess. It'll be a day on the sick house*."
"More ponies support us then you realize Sun Beam, they're just not mentally prepared to question royalty, not after Sombra." Geode responded, his mention of the dark lord giving everyone a shiver. "If we could get somepony of great renown and importance to speak in favor of our cause, the people would have two figure to choose from, and could more confidently assert their true beliefs."
"But who's important enough to match up to a princess?" Leaky brought up. "Nopony. Nopony at all."
"I know who we should get." A voice came up. It was Gleaming Polish, a mare relatively new to the movement. She'd joined Geode during his march the previous day, and tagged along without saying much ever since. "We need to get the pony who fought for our freedom in the first place, the pony who would hate to see that her efforts were wasted. We need the pony with princess prestige."
Their is only one rail line leading to the Crystal Empire, one that had sat unused since its construction a few hundred years ago. For a time after the Crystal Empire's disappearance, the land it had occupied was considered cursed, and no pony dared to trot upon the empty snow. As is common in Equestria however, this was soon forgotten, and sometime after the invention of the train, the vast mineral wealth of the Empire's lands were re-discovered, and overnight hundreds of ponies rushed to the ice, hungry for mineral wealth.
The rail line intended to foster these ponies and their spoils back and forth from this land was but a week completed when Celestia herself declared the land forbidden, not intending the Crystal Ponies to return to a land devoid of livelihood. The ponies, as they always have, requested no explanation from Celestia, and vacated the land without question. The rail line has sat empty since, kept above the snow only by the enchantments placed along the tracks, the kind meant to last.
Such was no longer the case, though, as with the return of the Empire and the upcoming Games, the platform was abuzz with activity. Ponies pushing packages and parcels of products for the upcoming events disgorged from the trains in droves. Few however, boarded the departing trains to leave the land of the ice and snow. Gleaming Polish was one of the few who was, and as such, found herself to be the sole occupier of her chosen train car.
For awhile anyway.
About half an hour into its trip, the train briefly passed through a tunnel, and all the passengers experienced a minute of darkness. When the train left the tunnel and light returned, Gleaming Polish had another pony in the car with her. The pony was seated directly behind her, outside of her sight, but the chill that went down her spine betrayed the mystery pony's presence.
The new pony clearly endeavored to keep out of site, as its garb screamed "I am a suspicious pony up to no good." Its body was covered for nuzzle to hoof in a brown cloak, thick enough to obscure the gender of the wearer. The small amount of hoof that extended beyond the legs were clad in similarly colored boots, padded with the fine shaved fluff of the Crystal Empire's native ewes for soft hooffalls. Even in the off chance one gained a peek beneath the hood, they would have no clue of this pony's identity, for the mystery mare(?) wore a metal mask, with two reflective lenses of light blue crystal.
"Did Striker require much persuasion?" The newcomer asked in a voice clearly distorted by some manner of enchantment cast upon their mask.
"No." Polish responded, unnerved by their sudden appearance but not terrified. "I was the only one of the group without regular employment, so the group unanimously designated me their messenger." Her mood switched to mildly annoyed as she removed a pair of sealed envelopes from her saddlebags. "I've got Coal's instructions safe and sound. I don't need you boys checking up on me."
"New information has come to light, and Coal has fresh instructions." The mystery pony replied, not an ounce of emotion penetrating their cold aura of professionalism. "Twilight Sparkle must arrive in the Crystal Empire with none of her friends, save one. Spike, her dragon assistant, must make this journey with her. She will likely attempt to leave him behind to oversee her library. Persuade her otherwise."
"That would be the dragon everypony saw on Princess Cadance's back after Sombra was destroyed, I assume? Unless the new princess has accumulated a harem of dragon boys and I wasn't informed of." Gleaming Polish chuckled at her own joke, but her mirth was dampened by the cold aura radiated by her visitor, and she quickly piped down. In a more reserved tone, she asked, "So, why is he so important?"
"He is critical to Coal's plan. That is all you need to know."
A few seconds later, the train entered another tunnel, and when light returned to the train car, Gleaming Polish was alone again. She took a moment to review her new instructions, then settled down for the rest of the trip.
It was yet another slow day in the Ponyville library, so Twilight decided she and Spike should spend the time re-shelving the entire collection literature. Twilight's telekinetic tallying of some tomes was interrupted by a hammering knock on the door, causing the books to come tumbling down on the hapless assistant.
Who should greet Equestria's newest princess but an odd pony in a brown cloak?
"May I enter your abode, princess?" The mare asked in a hushed tone.
Twilight was not sure what to make of the situation. "Why, certainly. Also, you can just call me Twilight."
The mare trotted indoors. "I apologize for my odd clothing prin... Twilight. I did not wish to attract attention." The pony discarded her cloak, revealing the sparkling form of Gleaming Polish. "I bear grave news from the Crystal Empire."
"A crystal pony!" Spike and Twi gasped simultaneously. "What's happened? Is Cadance in Problem? Is Shiny is trouble? Are they both in trouble? Has the Empire melted? Is a meteor on a collision course? Is..."
Twilight continued to rattle off increasingly improbable disasters as Gleaming Polish struggled to maintain a pleasant expression. Spike merely leaned against a wall. "Don't worry, she'll stop to breathe sooner or later."
Finally, when Twilight was gasping for breath, Polish cut in before she could continue. "I am not privy to the full details of Princess Cadance's motives, but there is no apparent catastrophy in progress. She does, however, request that you depart as soon as possible."
"Alright, let me just round up the girls and we can catch the next train out. Spike, I need you to stay here and keep the library in shape..."
"Actually, Princess Cadance has requested his presence as well. She said that his actions during the defeat of Sombra make him critical in resolving the current difficulty." Polish cut in.
"Uh, alright then. You and Spike head over to the station, I'll round up the girls." As Twilight rushed out the door, Spike was facepalming.
"And she forgets to pack. As usual."
"I'll give your stuff Spike." Polish offered.
Spike's face brightened up with that. "Really? Thanks miss... I don't think we got your name."
"I am Gleaming Polish, Spike, and its no trouble." She replied as the two climbed up the stairs.
Once the packing was done, Polish loaded the bags onto her back and the two set off for the train station. "Oh man, I can't wait to finally go back to the Crystal Empire!" Spike exclaimed.
"Trust me, there are plenty of ponies who can't wait for you to be there."
Shortly before Gleaming Polish arrived at Twilight's door, Rainbow Dash was out practicing tricks near the Ghastly Gorge. Shortly after pulling off the Aerial Ace, a beginner level trick used to warm up, she caught sight of distant mare hanging precariously from the rocky cliffs. Rainbow rushed in to help, grabbing the mare and flying her to safety before he grip had even begun to loosen.
"Oh, thank you so much for saving me!" The mare swooned.
"Ah, don't mention it. Everypony's safe while RD is around. She set the would have been victim down and got a closer look at her. "Hey, you're a Crystal..."
Her next words were cut off by a stiff punch to the gut, the pony's weighted horseshoes, painted to blend in with her coat, knocking the wind out of the pro flier. The mare then threw a hoof down on Rainbow's shoulder, knocking the surprised pony down and vaulting her attacker over her. With Rainbow's face in the dirt, and her attacker's hind hooves planted firmly on her own back legs, the prismatic maned pony felt a jolt of pain crack down her back, followed by a numbness in her wing.
Rainbow Dash attempted to fire up her wings to rocket away, but her wings wouldn't respond to her commands. Her decades of practice fine tuning her physique suddenly failed her, as her efforts to activate her wings was met with only a dull ache.
Rainbow's focus on her wings was broken by a new, frightening site. Her eyes widened as masked, cloaked ponies from seemingly nowhere advanced on her...
Several minutes later, Rainbow lay beaten and bruised before the crowd of ponies, but her inner fire refused to go out, she limply swung her forehooves out at her attackers, too blinded by the blood in her eyes to see the attacks were useless.
One of her attackers removed a black, fractured crystal from his saddlebags and placed it against Rainbow's forehead. It began to glow with a soft light as the cracks filled in and Rainbow's eye rolled back in her head. The pony pocketed the now flawless crystal and turned to his comrades. "Damage the environment to replicate a crash, then return to the train. She will be discovered shortly."