> Fallout Equestria: The Lost Empire
>  by CopperTop
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter One: Lonesome Road
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I see a cold wind blowing through
I see days neither fun nor free

“Beautiful” was rarely a word that would ever be used to describe the Wasteland.  One could have walked―cautiously, of course―from one side of the devastated continent to the other and found little more than desolate terrain, horrific beasts, and irradiated hellscapes to greet them; punctuated by the occasional collection of struggling survivors that were often just as likely to try and kill you as those same merciless monsters that prowled the wilds.  The world was a nightmarish reimagining of what had once existed a little more than two centuries previously, and it frequently felt like the Wasteland itself revelled in educating any who entertained notions that it was otherwise.  To underestimate the Wasteland was to invite death...or worse.
Oh, yes, there were indeed worse fates that one could suffer than merely dying.  In her naive youth, the mare would have scoffed at such an idea.  How could anything possibly be less desirable than dying?  That was before she had become intimately familiar with the concepts of what exposure to intense fields of magical radiation and Taint could do to those unfortunates who weren’t paying close enough attention.  Before she had seen mindless remnants of the ponies of the old world wandering aimlessly, without purpose, until they beheld any other living thing and instantly threw themselves at it with reckless abandon.  Those undead abominations that had once been intelligent, thinking, ponies; but were now feral ghouls driven only by insatiable hunger and fury.
The mare would gladly have embraced death as an alternative to becoming one of those.
Yet, for all its horrors and callous disregard for anything approaching civility; there was still beauty to be found in the Wasteland.  In her own humble opinion, at any rate.
At moments, there was a...tranquility to the Wasteland.  In the dead of night, away from the sparse collections of shanties that passed for settlements these days―and when no monsters were stalking you―there were times when a pony could sit perfectly still, look up into the newfound starry sky, and feel...peace.  As little as six months ago, it would have been a different prospect, she supposed.  Back then the sky had been embraced by a perpetual overcast, enforced by the Grand Pegasus Enclave, which had deprived the surface of once mundane aesthetic luxuries like sunlight and stars.
That had changed in recent months.  A refugee from one of the Old World wartime shelters, known as ‘Stables’, had made her way to the surface, taken a look around, and promptly thought to herself: ‘fuck this noise!’ and had done something about it.  There were a few extra little details mixed in there that varied depending on who was telling the story, of course.  Presumably there was even an actual book out there which contained the genuine truth of the matter.  Presumably.
The details hardly mattered to most ponies though.  From the point of view of many, there had been clouds one day, and sky the next.  They could have cared less about the nature or cause of the change; it wasn’t as though everything wrong with the world had been fixed by that singular event.  Radiation continued to persist in most of the Wasteland, and would for many centuries yet to come.  Monsters and bandits still wandered the land in between bastions of safety that only the mad or foolhardy dared to brave.
That thought evoked a quiet chuckle from the mare.  She often wondered which category she fell into.  She supposed that that, too, varied depending on who was doing the telling.  Be it madness or foolishness, she would not be dissuaded from her mission though.
Unfortunately, the realities of life in the Wasteland precluded her from simply focusing exclusively on her own personal objectives.  A mare could not subsist on determination alone.  Clean water, safe food, medical supplies, and ammunition, were all essential to her continued survival; and obtaining them was not something that she could forgo.  Which meant that she had to either scour Old World ruins in the hopes of getting lucky enough to find what she was looking for, or she needed to barter it from ponies who made their livelihood obtaining those very essentials and peddling them to others.
The traveling mare was not an experienced scavenger.  She had not grown up perusing ancient towns and factories.  Her skill at bypassing sealed doors was limited, and her instincts for knowing where the most useful artifacts were located had never been honed the way they had been for those who had made prospecting their life’s work.  Thus, in the interests of time and expedience, she opted to pay others for what she needed.
Of course, this required a source of sufficient liquid capital.  Again, her avenues for securing funding were limited.  Working at a steady and safe vocation was not acceptable, as she refused to allow herself to be delayed by the months, or even years, that it would take to squirrel away a sufficient bankroll to fund the entirety of her expedition.  That left only the unsafe sources of income, which balanced out their associated risk with short timetables and high payouts.
Her sense of moral justice precluded banditry or slaving.  Indeed, she put a stop to such things whenever she happened across them.  A lingering prudish sense of modesty she’d retained from her old life also put her off selling her body, as many a desperate or more free spirited pony was apt to do.
This all conspired to steer the mare towards a single remaining line of work that both her sensibilities and her conscience would permit her to accommodate: bounty hunting.  Of course, even then her selection of jobs was often greatly curtailed.  She was loath to chase after other ponies unless she could be certain of their guilt of serious genuine crimes.  Far too many a less-than-scrupulous pony eagerly placed caps on the heads of their enemies for what she considered to be trivial offenses―if they were even offenses at all.
Monsters, on the other hoof, were almost never a gray area.  The mutated beasties that roamed the world regularly regarded ponies as little more than menu items, and were an imminent threat to both towns and travelers alike.  Disposing of them was a clear cut necessity, and could pay quite handsomely―depending on the nature of the threat.  The more fearsome and lethal the prey, the larger the payout.
The wandering mare frequently accepted such contracts as a means to acquire the financing and supplies that she needed.  She was just a single pony, and didn’t need much in the way of provisions; so taking the easier―and thus lower paying―jobs was barely even a distraction when it came time to stock back up.  Spend thirty minutes destroying a radscorpion nest, collect a couple hundred caps, buy a week’s worth of food and water and a bed for the night, then head off in the morning towards the next town along her chosen route.
She hardly even gave it a second thought.
Though, as the massive paw tipped by four razor-sharp claws the length of her muzzle arced towards her, she was keenly aware that she perhaps needed to exercise a little bit more discretion when it came to picking those ‘easy’ jobs in the future.  A lesser amount of pay usually meant that the danger wasn’t particularly great.  It seemed though, in this specific instance, that it had just meant that the pony posting the contract had been a cheap bastard.
Blue lightning crackled as the lethal paw that was half the size of the mare’s body stopped dead upon the magical barrier just a few scant inches above her head.  The force of the impact caused her to wince away reflexively from the strike, her cyan eyes stealing a quick glance at the dangerous appendage as it lingered atop her protective shield.  When it drew away, it was joined by its partner as the Kodiak reared up on its hind legs in preparation to bring both of its massive clawed limbs down upon the stubborn barrier that had dared to spurn what should have been a singular killing blow.
The unicorn seized the moment and glared at the offending super-sized ursine.  Her horn released a torrent of cyan energy, blasting her attacker in its chest.  The Kodiak roared with such intensity that it set the molars in the back of her jaw wiggling.  Unfortunately, it seemed that it was a bellow born not of pain, per say, but rather indignation that something as puny and pathetic as a mere pony would have thought to lash out and defy its efforts to make a meal of her.  It certainly didn’t seem at all dissuaded from its imminent attack.  
Not confident that her shield spell would be able to withstand the full brunt of a combined assault from the Taint-altered bear, she reasoned that it was time to reevaluate the situation and come up with an alternative to her usual tried-and-true standard of ‘blast the monster with magical death beams until it was dead’.  With a brief moment’s concentration, and a flash of energy, the mare vanished from where she had been standing.  A heartbeat later, she materialized about twenty yards further back, just in time to see the eruption of snow as the massive ursine monster’s paws came crashing down.  The ground trembled with the impact, reverberating up through her own hooves.
There was a moment of confusion on the Kodiak’s face as it closely examined the ground where its target had been standing, followed by cursory inspections of the bottoms of its paws as it sought out the crimson smear that should have been all that was left of the mare that it had just tried to flatten.  The unicorn used these precious moments to float out a collection of scrolls from her bags, briefly scanning their contents as they swirled around her.  In a few seconds, she located the spell that she had been after and swiftly filed away those that had not been chosen.
The flurry of motion from the floating reams of vellum had attracted the attention of the Kodiak and, with another furious snarl, it charged the unicorn mare with a rate of acceleration that seemed impossible for a beast of such massive bulk.
“My, you’re quick!” the pony exclaimed as she dashed aside at the last moment.
The bear plowed through the snow, sending a sheet of it cascading over the mare.  She shook the ivory powder away, and directed her attention to the scroll that was still floating in front of her while her opponent was still floundering in an attempt to get back up on its feet and try for another attack, “let’s put a stop to that,” she said as she took in the flowing script of the parchment.  The aspects of the desired incantation firmly in mind, the unicorn directed her attention back at the Kodiak, and blasted the ground beneath it with her horn.
Ethereal tendrils burst forth through the snow, manifesting into ghostly links of chain.  Moving with the speed of striking serpents, the conjured bonds encircled the monster, constraining its limbs and bringing it crashing to the ground.  The beast roared with outrage, snapping at the magical bindings and flexing its powerful limbs in an attempt to break them.  The glowing chains strained as they fought to keep the Kodiak contained.
The mare’s eyes widened with concern at the sight.  A pony would have been completely helpless while encapsulated by that spell, and the spectral chains wouldn’t have quavered in the slightest.  She felt herself taking several cautious steps back as she plucked a book from her other satchel, “quick and strong,” she murmured as the pages of the tome flipped past her face under the urging of her horn, “that’s almost cheating…”
There was a second, much louder, roar from the Kodiak, followed by a flash of light and a sound much like shattering glass.  The mare glanced up from her book and hesitated, staring in stunned amazement as the magical chains disintegrated and vanished before her eyes, releasing the monster that she had been counting on them to hold fast until she could find the appropriate magical solution.  The Kodiak was obviously much stronger than anything that the designers of the spell had anticipated would be restrained by it.  Which was profoundly unfortunate for the mare.
She promptly flipped back through the pages of the book she had been pursuing as her needs abruptly changed.  The massive beast was already back on its feet and charging at her again as she found what she was looking for and cast the enchantment.  The book still gripped tight in her telekinetic grasp, the mare bolted beneath the lumbering behemoth.  A flurry of powder shot up in her wake, splattering the Kodiak in the face and bringing it to a startled halt as it shook the obstruction from its eyes and looked around for its prey.
“Yoo hoo,” the unicorn greeted, tapping the beast on its shoulder.  It glanced around in obvious confusion, staring blankly at the unicorn mare who was inexplicably standing calmly on its back.  The book floated nearby, gripped in a cyan aura as it flipped to yet another page.  The unicorn spared a look at the grimoire just as the Kodiak finally decided that it didn’t much care about how the pony had gotten onto its back; simply knowing its location was entirely sufficient.  It reached around with one of its powerful paws to smack her off.
The mare’s horn flashed just as the clawed appendage approached her.  She glared at the offending paw and held up a single hoof.  Much to the Kodiak’s surprise and consternation, the little pony’s outstretched limb somehow proved to be more than sufficient to stop its strike dead.  The sudden loss of momentum from the attack put the monster off balance, and the mare took ready advantage of that.  Reaching out and wrapping the paw in both of her forelegs, she pivoted on her hind hooves and flexed her back.
The Kodiak let out a meek little grunt as it found itself mysteriously airborne.  It was a perfectly legitimate assumption that the multi-ton mutated beast had never before been tossed around by anything at all in the course of its life; much less a pony small enough to have been gobbled up in a single bite.  As such, its brain was at a loss to explain what was happening to it currently, as it was deftly flung over the mare’s shoulder and slammed down onto the ground with enough force to evacuate the air from its lungs.
The unicorn was a little out of breath as well.  These spells had been far more than she had anticipated casting when she had come out here.  For all of her efforts thus far, she hadn’t actually done much more than inconvenience the ursine either.  It was disoriented and winded for the moment, yes, but hardly seriously injured in any way―other than its pride, perhaps.  If this fight went on for much longer at the rate it was, the unicorn was certain that she was going to burn out her horn before she’d dealt with the threat.  Then she would be in real trouble.
She looked over at the groaning Kodiak, seeing that it was already well on its way to recovering from being flipped.  Her mind raced, thinking over her varied yet distressingly limited arsenal of spells.  Unfortunately, she was at a loss to come up with any that would do much more than inconvenience something on the magnitude of this monster.  Her beam attacks only irritated it.  It could break free of any enchantments that she could conjure to restrain it.  The most powerful augmentation enchantments to her speed and strength that she had available to her only seemed to barely place her on par with the Kodiak’s own.
It appeared that heavier artillery would be necessary, the mare realized with a resigned sigh.
The tome of ineffectual spells was slipped back into her saddlebags at the same moment that she used her telekinesis to slide a small jet black object from its compartment on her leather barding near the holster which held a lever-operated shotgun.  She floated the unassuming piece of polished metal out in front of her, briefly taking in the delicate aesthetics of the device.  Despite appearances, however, the weapon was far from fragile.  Indeed, the Kodiak that she was fighting could have stood upon its edge with all of its weight bearing down, and not have bent it in the slightest.
Such was the nature of those enchanted artifacts into which the fractured souls of ponies had been imbued.  A relic recovered from castle ruins in the Everfree Forest, the records in the bombed-out remains of the Manehattan Ministry of Image hub had indicated that the artifact had been intended to be given to Princess Luna as something of a belated coronation gift.  Apparently, it had been modeled after a similar weapon that the alicorn had wielded prior to The Nightmare War.  Obviously the gift had never made it into the hooves of its intended recipient; but it had at least managed to be put to good use since its recovery.
The mare held up the device and her magic depressed a small release built into its side.  Two limbs articulated out from the ornate riser until the object, which had been only about a foot in length while folded up, was nearly as long as she was from nose to tail and locked snugly into place.  Glyphs carved into the sides of the collapsible bow began to glow with silver light.  As they did so, a tendril of white light bridged the two opposing tips of the bow.  To try and physically pull back on that ethereal ‘string’ would have been folly though.  This weapon had not been designed to use conventional arrows, after all.
As the Kodiak finally regained enough of its sensibilities to stand back on its feet, the unicorn withdrew a gemstone from a pouch hanging at her side.  The briolette cut ruby glimmered as it caught the light from the glowing glyphs on the bow.  The mare brought the teardrop shaped precious stone into contact with the ‘bowstring’, and the scarlet bauble instantaneously transformed into a proper arrow, with its barbed head resting upon the riser.  Tendrils of visible energy rose like smoke from the glowing crimson arrowhead.
The large ursine monster glowered at the unicorn mare that continued to stare it down, not grasping the significance of the object floating between them.  Being a creature of a singular instinct, it merely roared another challenge at her, and charged forward.  The mare stood her ground and raised her readied weapon.
With a thought, she released the arrow.  The Kodiak rose up before her, intent clearly visible in its tainted, glowing, amber eyes.  There was a scarlet flash of light that very nearly blinded the unicorn.  Unflinching, she watched as the ursine monster crashed down before her.  Tendrils of gray smoke danced around a blackened charred hole in its back that was big enough for her to stick her head through.  She watched the smoke for several long seconds before finally collapsing the ancient weapon back into its carrying configuration and tucking it back into its compartment.
She drew out a knife and began to saw off one of its ears as proof that the deed had been done.

The mood in the warm little tavern shifted perceptibly when the unicorn mare walked in.  This far away from the ‘beaten path’ that was Old Central Equestria, ponies that weren’t part of a caravan were a rare and curious sight.  Most of the ponies struggling to make their lives in the Wasteland tended to congregate near the larger ruins, like Manehattan, Fillydelphia, Hoofington, and Seaddle, where there was plenty of salvage and supplies to be scavenged.  There weren’t many places like that in the north that would attract ponies.  So when somepony showed up who wasn’t there to trade, it was noticed.
Typically, this resulted in curious glances and hushed musings from those few hardy ponies that were doing their best to eek out a living in the harsh winter terrain.  Hunters, trappers, fishers and the like who had learned over the generations where what little bounty there was to be had in such a place could be found, trading their meager surplus of furs and leather to caravans for weapons and hardware that couldn’t be foraged for.  A lone mare like the pink unicorn that had shown up a few hours ago asking about available work had spurred quite a bit of speculation from the bar’s patrons.
However, it was not a chorus of curious musings which rippled around the occupied tables now as the leather-bound unicorn marched briskly towards the bartender.  Her staccato steps and focused gaze brought a tense silence over the crowd, and an abrupt end to the conversation that the golden colored unicorn stallion who owned this establishment had been having with one of his regulars.  His emerald eyes locked warily onto the approaching mare before recognition blossomed across his features.
“Hey!  You’re back,” an uncertain smile tugged at his features as he watched her, “how’d things go?”
His answer came in the form of a dour glare from the unicorn and a large white ear which was rather unceremoniously flopped down onto the bar.  The barpony stared at the severed piece of ursine anatomy for several long seconds, as if not quite believing what he was seeing.  Then his smile became much more genuine, “Sun and Moon, you actually killed him?!  Hey, guys; this little mare killed Fang!” his horn began to glow as he looked back at the unicorn mare, beaming, “well, you sure earned this,” a small sack of caps floated out and dropped onto the bar top, along with a cleanish looking glass, which was soon filled with scotch that was so watered-down that it was nearly clear, “plus a drink, on the house.”
The unicorn mare slammed her hoof down on the table hard enough to tip over the small shot glass and spill its contents on the polished wooden surface.  The barpony jerked in surprise, staring wide-eyed at the mare.  She could hear several ponies shifting around uncomfortably behind her as every eye was drawn to their exchange.  There was even the faint sound of metal scraping against leather as one or two of those ponies loosened firearms in case things got out of hoof.  Whether or not things indeed escalated to the point of violence was entirely under the control of the barpony, the mare thought acidly, not taking her baby blue eyes off of the golden stallion.
“You better add a zero to that bounty,” the mare growled low in her throat, holding his emerald eyes with a cool sapphire stare.
He balked for a moment, and then managed to recompose himself, looking appropriately indignant, “hey, the agreement was for two hundred caps,” he reminded her sternly, “you can’t just go and change the deal―”
She slammed her hoof on the counter a second time with more force than before, silencing the stallion, “the deal,” she stressed, the word dripping with venom, “was for a yao guai.  That was a fucking Kodiak!” she jabbed her hoof at the ear nearby, “now you’re going to pay me the two thousand caps that a monster like that is worth,” she leaned across the bar, her gaze burrowing into the stallion, “or we’re going to have a problem.”
There was a moment of genuine fear in the stallion’s eyes.  They flickered almost imperceptibly, and then he relaxed, smirking at the mare, “well, if that’s the way you feel about it,” there was a chorus of metallic clicks that echoed around the bar’s interior as just about every one of the patrons drew and readied their weapons.  He reached out and hooked his hoof around the payment, pulling it back towards him, “since the bounty was for a ‘yao guai’, and you didn’t actually kill a yao guai, then you never actually fulfilled the contract, did you?
“Oh, and that’ll be ten caps for the drink,” he nodded his head at the spilled liquid.
The mare cast her gaze briefly around the bar, noting the dozen or so ponies with their weapons pointed at her.  She kept her expression even as she took in every detail, and then looked back at the barpony.  Her words were unexpectedly calm for somepony at the business end of as many gunbarrels as she was, “let me see if I understand this correctly: you’re going to stiff the pony that just took out a Kodiak all on her own?” she cocked a wry smile at the stallion, who was suddenly looking nervous again, “does that seem particularly...wise to you?”
The mare’s horn began to glow and a shotgun slowly levitated out of its sheath.  The brass lever beneath its stock swung out smoothly before slamming back into place, chambering a fresh cartridge.  She calmly floated the weapon in front of her and pointed it at the stallion, whose attention was now acutely focused on the firearm.  His surprise was absolute, as well it should be, given that the pink unicorn mare was still very much the focus of a dozen other firearms being pointed unwaveringly at her head.
In fact, the weapons were so steady in the grasps of their wielders that one might have described those ponies as, ‘statuesque’.  It took a full five seconds for the barpony to come to the realization that he was the only other pony in the room besides the mare who was moving at all.  Every other patron wasn’t so much as twitching an ear, though each set of eyes betrayed their absolute terror as they comprehended their paralysis.
“Okay,” the stallion swallowed, his eyes not leaving the barrel pointed at his face, “let’s not be hasty here.  The truth is that I don’t have that many caps,” he insisted, almost pleading with her, “I don’t think the whole town has that many!
“The best I can do is five hundred, honest!”
The mare believed him.  A small town like this, so far from the bigger cities, and not exactly frequented by traders?  However, the other side of the bit was that the ruby that she had used to deal with that Kodiak had been worth a little bit in excess of five hundred caps all on its own.  Not that she was likely to come by anypony selling gemstones of that quality out here…
Money was just a means to an end anyway.  The mare floated her saddlebags onto the counter, “in that case, I’ll have to settle for goods in lieu of payment, I guess.  I was just going spend every cap of the bounty here anyway,” she shrugged, hoping that the stallion didn’t notice the sweat starting to bead up along her brow.  She was restraining a lot of ponies right now, and holding her shotgun, and manipulating her bags.  If she had to maintain one more simultaneous spell, she was going to stroke out for sure!
“Two weeks worth of food and water,” the mare said in a strained tone that she hoped sounded as though she were angry, and not overtaxed by her magical exertion, “and every healing potion you have back there.  Now.”
The stallion nodded his head vigorously.  His horn glowed and a parade of Cram cans, Fancy Buck Cakes packages, and Sugar Apple Bombs boxes streamed into her open bags, along with a couple dozen bottles of water and several phials of purple medical fluid.  All the while, the unicorn continued to clench her jaw as she struggled to keep her spells going.  If she faltered for even a second…
After what felt to her like an eternity, the barpony had finished stuffing her saddlebags with everything that the pink mare had demanded and waited to see if she was going to make any further demands of the town.  Even if it had been her desire to turn this into a genuine robbery instead of fair compensation for her efforts, she knew that she didn’t have the time.  She donned her bags and calmly holstered her shotgun again, trying her best not to look too relieved to no longer be manipulating them with her horn.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” she said, nodding at the stallion, “now I’m going to be going on my way,” she looked around at all of the unmoving ponies that were pointing their weapons at her, “I encourage all of you to keep this little exchange in mind before you start entertaining any wild ideas about ‘coming after me’, are we clear?” she was met with silence, and so repeated, “are. We.  Clear?” a smattering of grunts replied this time, and she nodded, “good.”
Calmly, and coolly, as though she couldn’t feel her spell about to fizzle out at any given moment, the mare walked leisurely out of the room.  She desperately hoped that none of them noticed her legs quivering, or could see her eyes watering as she maintained the spell for far longer than she ever had in her life.  She could have held one or two ponies still like this for hours.  Even a half dozen would have been doable for thirty minutes or more.  A dozen ponies though, along with their respective weapons?  Even she would never have expected more than a few measly minutes.
She heard the door close behind her and let out a gasping breath, panting with exhaustion as she reached her limit and could no longer maintain the spell.  Inside, she could hear a dozen surprised exclamations and the sound of several ponies falling over as their bodies found themselves required to support their own weight once more without any forewarning.  She desperately hoped that they would all heed her threat and not come after her.
Once outside of the town, the pink unicorn sighed with relief and plunged her head into the snow.  She could hear a faint sizzling sound as her overtaxed horn came into contact with the frozen water particles.
“Ow,” she hissed, keeping her horn buried in the snow, “I’m going to have a migraine tomorrow for sure…” she muttered to herself.  There’d been no help for it though.  According to what had passed for a ‘map’ of the area, this was supposed to be the last settlement she was going to pass through.  Nor was there going to be anywhere for her to scavenge supplies from until she got to her destination.  If she hadn’t topped off on supplies here, she wouldn’t have had enough to make the trip.
Getting back was still a gamble though.  She was counting on being able to find food and water once she got there, but the truth was that she didn’t even know if ‘there’ was even still, well, there.
“Everypony told you this was a stupid idea,” she said as she raised her head once more and stared northward.  Her friends hadn’t said it quite that bluntly, of course.  It had been far more obliquely implied that maybe it was a better idea for her to remain in Seaddle.  The temptation to do just that had been strong, there was no denying that.
At no moment had that temptation been stronger than right now.  Up to this point, things had been largely academic, in a way.  She’d been free to turn back at any moment, or even make a life for herself in one of the many more robust settlements in the Wasteland.  Tenpony Tower and the remnants of the Ministry of Arcane Science, which had rebranded itself  into the Twilight Society, had been especially tantalizing―if a little presumptuously named.  The ponies there had practically begged her to stay when they learned who she was.  Her first-hoof knowledge of their heritage would have been invaluable to their efforts.
“If this doesn’t work out then...maybe,” had been her answer at the time.
Turning around and going back to Manehattan would be so easy right now.
The unicorn floated out two sheets of paper.  One of them was an ancient atlas of Equestria-That-Was.  It was actually a little too ancient for her purposes, dating well back to somewhere in the late 700’s post Nightmare Moon.  Princess Luna hadn’t yet returned, among other things, and while her goal wasn’t pinpointed on that map, she still had a fair idea of where it was supposed to be.
The second piece of paper was a moderately current map of the Wasteland.  By comparing the two, she had been able to approximate her progress.  Assuming that the Wasteland map’s scale was reliable―and she had since learned that it was tenuous, at best―she should reach her destination in...ten days.  That would put her at the extreme range permissible by her provisions.  If it wasn’t exactly where she thought it was supposed to be, she’d be able to spare one, maybe two, days of looking around before having to turn back, lest she run out of food and water in the middle of nowhere.
Given how thoroughly she had just burned her bridges with this hamlet, the mare wasn’t sure she’d get a second chance any time soon if this didn’t pan out.
All of that was predicated on the theory that her goal even still existed anyway.  So many places had been wiped out on the last day of The Great War...
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “just a little faith,” she whispered to herself, “have a little faith.”
Resolved to see her quest through to its conclusion, the pink unicorn got back up on her hooves and resumed her journey north.

The Wasteland didn’t feel beautiful anymore, the unicorn decided by the seventh day.  The perpetual overcast had resumed, but not because the Enclave had seen fit to renege on the treaty forced upon them by the actions of the Lightbringer and seal up the sky once more.  She concluded that the simple fact was that pegasi didn’t actually live this far north.  What she was experiencing right now wasn’t the result of too much control being exerted over the skies, but rather no control at all.
Thick, dark clouds extended as far as the eye could see in every direction.  Even at the peak of what should have been ‘daylight hours’, the world was dim.  At night it was so intensely dark that even the illumination that she conjured forth with her horn felt like it was being smothered by the blackness.  Not that there was all that much to illuminate anyway.  There were no rocks, or trees, or...anything.  It was just a flat expanse of ice and snow that didn’t seem to have an end.
Every night, she felt compelled to turn back, but by the time morning arrived again, she had resolved to go ‘just a little bit further…’.  In a few more days, her food situation would force her back despite her resolve, but that day had not come yet.
“What possessed anypony to settle in a place like this anyway,” she muttered to herself as she pressed through the latest snowstorm to manifest, “give me The Baah-Hamas or Barnbados any day,” not that she was sure either of those long ago favored winter time vacation destinations even existed anymore.  Perhaps if this trip didn’t pan out like she’d hoped, she could try and see if they’d survived, “if I’m going to be wandering around in the middle of nowhere looking for ancient cities, it might as well be someplace warm…”
The wind flared up at the thought, as though just to accentuate her point.  She flinched away briefly from the snow whipping past her face, and found herself feeling beset by additional doubts about her quest.  This storm had been raging for hours, and it was showing no signs of abating any time soon.  She could try and make camp and wait it out...but that would cut into the already scarce time she had afforded herself to search for the Empire.  It was just some wind and snow anyway.  When compared to the things that she had faced down since awakening in the Wasteland, what was a little weather?
Again she felt herself being violently buffeted by a chilling gust more potent than the last one that nearly tipped her over.
“A storm with a sense of dramatic timing,” the mare seethed through her gritted teeth as she pressed onward, “great,” she glared defiantly upward, “I suppose you’re just waiting for me to say: ‘at least it can’t get any worse’?”
In spite of her expectations to the contrary, there was not an answering bluster this time.  The pink unicorn grunted and continued trudging along through the snow.  She’d only advanced a few more paces before something caught her eye through the billowing snowfall.  Initially, she wasn’t even certain that she had actually seen it.  At first glance, she had taken it to be another pony, which confounded her quite superbly.
After a few tentative shouts without a response though, the mare rethought her initial assumption.  Not only had they not replied, they hadn’t moved either.  She crept cautiously closer.  As she did, her visibility through the storm improved somewhat, and she concluded that whatever she was seeing was far too tall and much too slim to be a pony.  It was also holding impossibly still.
A statue of some sort perhaps?
That notion filled the mare with some measure of hope.  If it was a statue, then that meant that somepony had built it, and nopony built statues out in the middle of absolutely nowhere.  That meant that was close to somewhere, and the only ‘somewhere’ that was supposed to exist out here was the Crystal Empire!  While she was still pretty sure that she couldn’t have reached the Empire proper, there was every possibility that she’d stumbled upon one of their smaller satellite colonies or even a military outpost of some sort.
The mare charged forward, encouraged by the sight, and hoping that as she got closer to it she would catch glimpses of whatever other structures had surely been built around it.  Any sort of shelter would be quite welcome, if only briefly while she attempted to regain her bearings.
Her pace faltered though when she got nearer, and was finally able to get a good look at the ‘statue’ without the falling snow obstructing things too much.  It was certainly...equine, in shape; but none would ever mistake it for a pony up close.  The gaunt contours made it seem almost like a skeleton, and she was of the notion that its white color wasn’t a result of being covered in snow.  Indeed, what was perhaps most off-putting of all about what the unicorn was looking at was that it wasn’t covered in snow.
The unicorn mare had a copious accumulation of powder on her own backside, and that was in spite of her perpetual movement through the storm.  Whatever this thing was should have been half buried by now.  What was even more worrisome was that, even looking at it now, it didn’t appear that the snow that was falling at this very moment was even coming into contact with it.  The billowing flakes just seemed to pass right through, like it wasn’t even there.
I must be hallucinating, the mare reasoned; though she could have wished that she was a bit more confident of that hypothesis.  Not that it would have been a good thing that she was seeing visions of spectral equines.  Certainly that was a sign of something far more seriously wrong with either her health or psychological well-being than merely being a little cold and wet from the snow.
Ponies wandering through deserts see mirages.  This place is a lot like a desert, she thought to herself, glancing around at the barren wintry Wasteland, I must be seeing whatever it is that snow-mirages are called…
Barely audible beneath the howling wind of the storm was the distinct rattling of a throaty growl.  She swallowed in an effort to quell the lump of fear that had formed in her throat.
Mirages don’t make sounds...do they?
The unicorn started trembling slightly, and she was pretty sure that it had nothing to do with the freezing temperatures.  Her eyes still locked on the ivory hopefully-a-hallucination, the pink mare decided that her best course of action at the moment was to back away slowly from whatever this thing was until it was out of sight and then try to go another way.  However, when she tried to move, she discovered that her hooves refused to budge.
No...that wasn’t it, the mare quickly realized.  It wasn’t that they refused to move out of any sense of fear-induced paralysis, her legs physically couldn’t move!  She stole a glance down and, to her horror, she saw that her fetlocks had somehow become encased in ice.  Even more terrifying a realization was to see that the ice was spreading up her legs before her very eyes!
Somehow she managed to only just barely quell the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her sensibilities and focused her mind enough to conjure a spell.  Tight cyan beams of light lashed out from her horn in rapid succession at the encroaching ice.  Wherever she struck it, the ice cracked and shattered, spraying frozen shards in every direction.  Yet, somehow, it wasn’t enough.  The impossibly quickly materializing ice was spreading with terrifying speed, regrowing over the places she blasted faster than she could remove it.
The unicorn frantically increased the intensity of her blasts, even though she knew that she would risk injuring herself if any of her beams wandered too close to her flesh.  The way that she saw it, a few mild burns were much preferred over being encased in a solid block of ice!
Her magical strikes began shearing off larger chunks than before, and yet it still didn’t seem to be sufficient to stem its spread.  That panicked lump in her throat returned with a vengeance as the ice encroached up past her shoulders and sought to seal in her torso.  She ratcheted up the intensity even further, slicing away at the ice that was creeping up around her ribcage.  She cried out more than once as her blasts pierced completely through and scoured her own flesh; only for the ice that she had removed to return even thicker than before and further up along her body.
“Why are you doing this?!” she screamed at the alabaster visage standing before her even as her horn lashed out at the icy sheets climbing her neck.  She couldn’t even cant her head to get a better angle for her beams anymore.  Without the ability to fight back its progress, the ice simply flowed up around the trapped unicorn mare, thickening itself along her sides and neck.
Her horrified eyes locked onto the lanky equine form in front of her.  Even if she wanted to look away, her entire body was frozen in place.  She could even now feel the first tendrils of the dauntless ice creeping up around her cheeks and over her mane, “what are you?!” she received no reply, save for the continued low chattering growl which was undeniably emanating from the mysterious figure.
“Stop!  Please!” her pleas for mercy went unheeded, eliciting no reaction at all from her assailant.  If that was even what it could be called.  It still hadn’t so much as twitched since she’d laid her eyes on it.  Her ears briefly filled with the crackling of ice before all sound was abruptly muffled entirely.  She could feel it creeping down her forehead, joining with the ice engulfing her cheeks.
“PLEASE!”
Then she was unable to say anything else at all.  Every part of her body had become entombed in frozen translucent crystal.  The pink mare reached new levels of terror that she had never before experienced as she comprehended her imminent doom.  She couldn’t move, couldn’t scream, couldn’t even breath!  She’d be dead in minutes if she couldn’t figure something out.
Teleport, you idiot! Fucking TELEPORT NOW! She screamed within the confines of her own mind.  Yet, even as she formed the thought, she knew that she would never actually be able to cast the spell.  She was too afraid, too panicked, too doomed!  Too many questions scurried through her mind like lemmings, making any attempt at clear and coherent thought a futile effort.  What was that thing?  What did it want?  Why was it doing this?  How was it doing this?!  Every time she even attempted to devote her attention to casting a teleportation spell, the unicorn’s mind circled back around to those same pervasive questions.
I’m going to die, the mare realized, her thoughts finally deciding to rally around a singular, less than helpful, thought, I’m going to die, right here, right now, her oxygen starved lungs began to burn now, pleading with her to take a breath; but there was none to take.  The burning grew more intense, and darkness started nibbling at the edges of her vision,  I’m going to die without ever finding out what happened to him…
Lightning flashed in the dark clouds above as the blizzard continued to rage around her.
...No, she realized, almost as an afterthought; that wasn’t lightning, and it hadn’t been coming from the clouds.  Just barely perceptible through her cloudy vision, the dying mare saw the as yet unwavering ivory figure...flinch, ever so slightly.  There was another flash.  This time, it recoiled much more perceptibly.  Its head pivoted sharply, the faintly glowing blue pinpricks of light in it eye sockets looking away from the frozen unicorn.  There was a third flash, and this time the light seemed to crash over the creature like a physical wave, staggering it.  Its jaws opened, stretching far wider than should have been possible for any equine, and it emitted a piercing screech that she heard quite clearly even through the nearly foot thick ice sheet that had surrounded her ears.
When the fourth and final flash of light hit the creature, the mare felt it too.  For her, it was the barest of tremors. while the monster that had entombed her was shattered into a thousand tiny flakes of snow, blowing away into the aether with the raging winds.  It was dead and gone.  Of course, in less than a minute, she would be too.  At least she had been permitted to see it vanquished by...something, before her own life ended.
As though on cue, the Pony of Death appeared.  He was here to take her away to the afterlife.  A desiccated corpse of a pony dressed in black rags and a tattered crimson cloak was standing before her now, where her killer had stood mere moments ago.  A white ghost, replaced by this black wraith.  Slung at his side was a tarnished silver scabbard from which a brass sword hilt was visible.  Odd, the mare found herself thinking, as she had been certain that Death was supposed to wield a scythe with which to reap the souls of the departed.  That had certainly been the description that every common folk tale had contained.
Though, she supposed, it was probably unreasonable to assume that those stories had gotten every detail right.  After all, if only ponies who had died were the ones who saw Death, then who exactly was it that was supposed to have delivered those descriptions of his disposition?
Pale blue orbs of faint light peered up at her from beneath the faded scarlet cowl of his cloak, framed by mummified flesh.  He was a horrific sight, the mare thought to herself, just what the pony who claimed the souls of the dead was supposed to look like, she decided, whatever other details those stories might have overlooked.
Death closed his eyes and leaned his head forward, touching his horn gently against her icy sarcophagus.  It started the glow faintly just as darkness finally overwhelmed her vision.
He’s taking my soul, she realized with her final thought…
Then her world shattered into pieces.
No, that was wrong.  It wasn’t the world that had shattered, it was the ice!
The mare gasped loudly as her lungs sensed that there was no longer any obstruction and took in a breath so deep that she was certain that the effort was going to inflate her with so much air that she would float away like a unicorn shaped balloon.  That did not actually happen, of course, despite any feelings to the contrary, but the effort was certainly far more than her body appreciated and the mare immediately transitioned from the single desperate inhalation into a fit of hacking coughs.  Her lungs had clearly resented their recent mistreatment, and it felt like they were now trying to secede from the rest of her body in protest as they sucked in every cubic millimeter of air that they could get between hacking fits.  
She gasped and coughed for what surely must have been a full two minutes.  Eventually the fit subsided and the mare was able to breath normally once again, but she still felt quite drained by the whole experience.  She was alive though.  It was almost impossible to imagine, but she had somehow survived…
...Which begged the question of why Death was still hanging around, staring down at her.
“Can you stand?” Death rasped at her in a voice that sounded like his vocal cords were made out of two sheets of coarse sandpaper being rubbed together.
She blinked up at the walking corpse that was tasked with escorting the souls of dead ponies to the afterlife.  Was...was this what being dead felt like?  Had she not survived after all?
The cowled stallion glanced around through the snowstorm, his pale gaze searching, “it’ll come back soon, and it’ll have friends,” Death looked back at the pink mare, “I can’t chase away more than a couple of them, so if you can stand, now’s the time.”
The mare blinked again, her oxygen starved brain starting to tie a few more synapses together in an effort to help her make sense of what was happening, “I’m not dead, am I?”
Death cracked a smile and let out a chuckle that sounded more like cough than any variation of a laugh, “hardly,” he scoffed, “shit, you’re more alive than I am,” he reached out a rag-bound hoof, his expression looking more serious, “we need to go.  Now.”
The mare nodded absently and took the offered hoof, registering the sensation of grabbing onto a dried out date as she allowed herself to be pulled up onto legs that were still a little uncertain.  Death’s eyes passed briefly up and down her frame, “can you run?”
“Maybe just a trot first?” she said, noting the slight tremble in her voice that matched the one in her joints.
He glanced around once more and then nodded, “better than nothing,” his tone suggested that he wasn’t entirely convinced of that, “follow me,” he turned and trotted off through the snow, the pink unicorn following in his wake on her unsteady legs.
“What was that thing?” the pink mare asked, sparing a look over her shoulder.
“A wendigo,” came the tart reply.
She balked, nearly tripping over her own hooves as she gaped at Death, “a wendigo?  Those are just old mare’s tales!” she protested, “they’re made up to scare foals into behaving.”
“And do you remember what wendigos did in those ‘old mare’s tales’?” the desiccated stallion asked sarcastically as he peered back at the mare.
“They…” the unicorn mare’s voice caught briefly before she continued in a slightly more subdued tone, “brought eternal winter,” her eyes tracked the billowing snow, “and froze ponies in ice,” the parallels were not lost on her.
“I’m sure you’re right,” Death shrugged, “it’s probably just a coincidence, and that wasn’t actually a wendigo.  You weren’t actually encased in a block of solid ice from which there was no escape; and this isn’t actually an unnatural blizzard that never ends.”
“But where did it come from?” she protested, “wendigos haven’t been seen in Equestria for over a thousand years!” 
“It probably came from the same place they did that first time,” he said, “though I don’t ever remember those old stories saying exactly where that place was.”
That was certainly true enough, she thought.  When you were talking about legends that were multiple millennia old, details on a lot of plot points were hard to come by.  More so when those legends were supposed to have just been made up in order to teach young foals valuable life lessons.  Even running through every variation of the First Hearth’s Warming Tale that she’d ever heard, the mare couldn’t recall any version which discussed where the wendigos had come from, or even where it was that they had been banished to.  It had always sufficed for the narrative that they had been the source of the misery being suffered by the tribes of old, drawn by their growing hostile feelings towards one another, and that they had disappeared in the face of the newfound friendship kindled by certain members of those tribes.
“Where are we going anyway?” she asked, discovering that their brisk trot had done wonders to help her body recover from its previously oxygen deprived state.  Her heightened respiratory rate had undone most of the harm that she’d suffered.  The pink mare increased her speed to a respectable canter, which the withered stallion matched easily.
Death looked over at her, that amused little smirk on his lips, “where else?  The Crystal Empire, of course!”
Had she really been that close?  She peered ahead, but she couldn’t hardly make out all that much through the falling and swirling flakes of snow.  The storm had reduced visibility to mere tens of yards.  Frankly, the mare had to wonder how it was possible that he could have any notion about which way they were even heading.
“How much further until we’re there?”
Her question was greeted by another round of his coughing laughter, and that was all the reply that she received, much to her chagrin.  The pink mare was about to repeat her inquiry with a little more forcefulness when she thought she spied something through the churning snow.  She cast her gaze in that direction and her jaw went slack as she beheld a grand crystalline arch, half buried in the snow.  Before she could remark on it, she saw more shapes taking form through the storm.
They were no longer running through a barren snowy field, the unicorn realized; they were on a street!  To either side were buildings constructed of polished stone, and nearly consumed by the falling snow.  Though, as they progressed, she noticed that the depth of the snow was decreasing.  More than that, the blizzard itself seemed to be abating as well.  Though, as she cast her eyes back the way that they had come, the mare quickly realized that this was not because the weather was truly shifting.  Behind them, wind continued to howl just as fiercely as it had been, and the snow fell in thick sheets.
Ahead of them, it was a completely different story.  With every step they took, the air around them cleared more and more.  In as little as a quarter mile, she was even able to see the sky again.  An inexplicable circle of clear blue, which allowed sunlight to shine down through it.  As she spied what that light was hitting, her canter slowed once more to a listless trot.
The scene played some amount of havoc with her mind.  It was all at once both familiar and alien to her.  She had been standing in this city as little as a year ago, as far as her internal sense of time was concerned.  Yet, even in this remote place, there was that look of age and neglect that coated the whole of the Wasteland.  Perhaps the dilapidation of this place wasn’t quite as objectively bad here as it had been in most of the cities that she had traveled through during her trek, but this was different.
The mare had known this place, intimately.  She had walked these streets for years, living with the ponies here.  It was easy for her, intellectually, to accept that places like Manehattan and Seaddle looked like absolute shit as a result of the balefire bombs ravaging them; she’d never known what they looked like up close and in detail before then anyway.  This though...she had known this place.  Seeing it like this...it hurt her in a way that beholding the devastation of no other city had.
Yet, she knew that it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.
The castle’s faceted spires still stood, reaching high into the heavens.  While they might have been inundated with snow, all of the buildings around her were largely intact.  Unlike so many other places in the Equestrian Wasteland, there was little sign that zebra missiles had devastated this place as they had the rest of the pony nation.  That revelation certainly raised a few questions in the pink mare’s mind, but they were secondary concerns.
What truly mattered though was, “...I’ve made it.”
Death glanced over, cocking a brow at her breathless statement.  The snow continued to ebb as they slowed all of the way to a walking pace, and then it finally vanished completely.  The biting cold of the winter weather was gone as well, replaced by a comfortable warmth that seemed so out of place in such a distant northern location.  She looked behind her once more, her eyes tracing over the snow which had stopped so abruptly.
As though sensing her question, the desiccated stallion supplied an answer, “remnants of an ancient magic,” he said, gesturing at the snow, “the storms don’t touch the castle, and the wendigos don’t dare approach either.”
“Why not?” she didn’t take her eyes off the curiously smooth ring of snow that encapsulated the center of the ancient city.  As best she could estimate, it formed a perfect ring around the castle about half a mile in radius.
“Like I said: ancient magic,” Death repeated.  He then directed his gaze to the central structure and bellowed with far more volume than she would have thought him capable of with his gruff voice, “hey, everypony!  We’ve got company!”
Before she could ask the stallion who he was talking to, she spied movement within the castle’s windows.  Scattered heads poked out, peering down at them.  She counted a couple dozen, but suspected that there were likely quite a few more who were not visible.
“Master Archie, you’re back,” a baritone voice caught the mare’s attention, and she glanced down at the base of the castle where a few ponies were approaching them from.  The speaker was an older opal stallion, flanked by a pair of mares who looked to be around his same age.  One was a dusty garnet color, the other a pale topaz.  Preceding them was a fourth younger looking pony adorned in very ornate ceremonial armor and bearing the banner of the Crystal Empire upon a pike mounted to their barding.  All four stopped before them, the opal crystal pony glancing at her, “who’s your friend?”
“Actually,” Death...er, ‘Master Archie’ said, glancing at her with his pale blue eyes, “we hadn’t gotten that far yet.  Sort of had a ‘thing’ to deal with when I found her,” there was a rumbling chuckle in his throat, “everypony calls me Archie,” he pointed a hoof at her chest and then moved it to each of the other three ponies in turn, “these are Agate, Jasper, and Citrine.  They’re in charge around here,” that last comment earned the mummified stallion a few abashed looks from the other ponies.
“It’s nice to meet all of you,” the unicorn mare said, nodding her head to each in turn, “and you can’t imagine how much it means to me to find out that there are still ponies here,” and crystal ponies at that, she noted; though they were not nearly as lustrous as she remembered, “my name, is Starlight Glimmer,” she cocked a wry smile, “I, um...used to live around here, actually.”
As was to be expected, that revelation drew some rather surprised looks from all five of the ponies, prompting a nervous chuckle from the unicorn.  Trying not to sound too awkward, she broadened her smile into a grin and waved, “heh...I’m home!”
> Chapter Two: Far Harbor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The future should be filled with magic
Dreams and wishes brought to life

“This is...amazing,” Starlight said breathlessly as she stood on one of the upper balconies, staring out across the capital city of the now-defunct Crystal Empire, “I never imagined that there would still be ponies living here.”
Perhaps that was an odd assumption to have made about this place, she realized.  After all, it wasn’t like there hadn’t been ponies living in every other corner of the Wasteland that she’d been to.  Though, her expectations had waned significantly after many months of having her questions about the state of the Crystal Empire being met with a response along the lines of, ‘the Crystal Whose-Ah-What?’  Combined with the ever dwindling size of the settlements that she passed through, and she had just started to assume that nothing this far north had survived the war.
The withered stallion, who turned out to be just the Wasteland’s run-of-the-mill civilized ghoul―and not actually the spectral incarnation of Death―named ‘Archie’ standing next to her followed the mare’s gaze, scanning the buildings with her.  He nodded his head, “they’re tough, these crystal ponies; I’ve always admired that about them.
“When you learn about their history, and everything they’ve endured...suddenly it’s not much of a wonder that something like the end of the world didn’t phase them much.”
“You can say that again,” Starlight agreed, her eyes still focused on how intact the buildings looked, “except for the snow, this place looks great.”
“...yeah,” she caught the somber note in the withered stallion’s voice; more subdued than he tended to sound.  What she had noticed since her arrival here was that the ghoul’s whole mood shifted whenever the subject of the state of the city came up.
She supposed that this was understandable.  Like most ghouls that Starlight had met, Archie was a survivor of the war between the ponies and zebras.  He would have known the city during its prime, just as she had.  However, unlike herself, who had essentially left one day while it looked resplendent and then returned a subjectively short while later to find that everything had ‘suddenly’ gone to pot; Archie had spent his unnaturally long life watching it slowly fall apart before his eyes, and there hadn’t been anything that he could do to stop it from happening.
“It won’t last though,” Archie continued with a remorseful sigh, “eventually everypony here will be dead and gone.”
“What?  Why?”
The withered ghoul gestured at the snow blanketing the much of the city, “it gets closer every year.  Back before the war, the whole Empire was protected by powerful magic―”
“You’re talking about the Crystal Heart, aren’t you?” Starlight asked, receiving an approving nod from the stallion.
“That’s right.  The Heart sustained a veil of magic over all of Equestria that helped to keep the whole nation safe and protected; and kept the Empire perpetually warm and pleasant despite the natural inclinations of this region’s climate.”
The unicorn mare snorted, recalling all of the devastation that she’d seen as a result of the final days of the war that had consumed the entire world, “so much for that…”
Archie nodded, a sad smile on his lips, “well, it worked for a while, even during the war, but it’s failure was inevitable.”
“How’s that?”
“The Heart drew its power from the ponies that lived here,” the ancient stallion explained, “their joy and hope for the future fueled the magic within it.  The more pure those emotions, the more powerful the enchantment that protected Equestria from harm.
“As the war dragged on…” he shrugged, “well, it’s hard to feel very hopeful when every day the radio talks about another zebra attack, and the newspapers publish another list of the dead and missing.  Then you hear about the dragons joining up with the zebras, the griffons hiring on as mercenaries to fight ponies, the Littlehorn Massacre…
“The joy turns into worry, and hope into despair.  Over time, the magic became tainted by those negative feelings, and the Heart grew too weak to protect Equestria the way it had been,” the stallion turned away from the balcony and headed back into the palace chambers that served as his home.  Starlight followed behind him, “as the enchantment started to weaken, the zebra attacks became more successful, which lead to more casualties, and that led to more worry…”
“A magical feedback loop,” the pink mare said, nodding, “a self-perpetuating cycle that kept things deteriorating until…”
“...until the bombs fell,” Archie finished.
Starlight glanced back outside, looking a little confused, “but everything looks so...intact here, compared to the rest of Equestria.  If the Empire was so integral to Equestria’s defense, then why would the zebras leave it alone?”
“The Princess and the Heart saved us,” he said, his tone sounding even more somber than it had been, “the Empire was targeted just like every other part of Equestria.  Dozens of missiles were launched at the city.  Princess Cadance took the Crystal Heart and flew up to stop them,” the stallion winced at the memory, “she...succeeded.  But at the cost of her own life.
“The missiles were deflected into the surrounding countryside, encircling the city in balefire; but all of the crystal ponies within survived.”
“What about Shining Armor?” Starlight asked, recalling that Twilight Sparkle’s brother had married the Empire’s ruler and served as both its Prince Consort and the nominal commanding general of its military forces.
Archie shrugged, “he was devastated by the loss of his wife, and the news that Canterlot, where the rest of his family lived, had been struck by poison gas that killed everypony there, including the Royal Sisters.  His wife, parents, and sister had all died within a period of five minutes.  He...wasn’t the same after that.
“He took his own life a month later.”
“Oh.  I’m sorry to hear that,” she had not known the Prince personally.  Her own husband, Sunburst, had worked in the Imperial Court and interacted with the royal couple on a much more frequent basis though.  He would have been impacted greatly by the loss…
...Assuming that he had even survived that long himself.
Starlight bit her lip, afraid of what the answer to her next question might be.  Though she had already been putting it off for far too long, given that answering it was the whole reason that she had come up here in the first place, “Archie?  Did you work in the castle?”
“I did...I think,” the ghoul said, frowning slightly, “my memories about my life back then are...fragmented.  Ghouls don’t often retain perfect recollections of their lives from the time of the war.  I’m pretty sure I must have, though.  There’s a picture of me on the wall over there,” he pointed a hoof at one wall of the room.
The pink unicorn mare trotted over to get a closer look at the indicated image and found herself looking at some sort of ceremony that featured the Imperial Couple.  They were flanked by a quartet of other ponies: two unicorns and two crystal ponies.  A banner above the group of six ponies identified the ceremony as being the ‘Dedication of the Imperial Academy of Arcana’.
“I...I remember hearing about this,” Starlight gasped as she looked at the image.  Her eyes locked onto a unicorn stallion with a bit of chin scruff that she had only grudgingly permitted him to retain on the grounds that it ‘befitted his station’, as he had put it.  He was grinning like a fool, and there was good reason for that.  This was the day that Sunburst had been bestowed the title of ‘Imperial Archmage’ and appointed to run the Empire’s first magic academy.
A fragile little smile spread across the mare’s lips.  He’d told her that he had been so surprised when his name was selected.  Starlight had been shocked to hear that, since she’d always thought of him as being a prodigy with magic―he had even been invited to Celestia’s school!  In the end, it turned out that he’d just been a medium-sized fish in the really tiny pond that was their backwoods town.  She reached out and gently stroked the likeness of the blaze-faced stallion.  In the end, what he had lacked in actual skill, he had more than made up for in knowledge.  By the time he’d left Canterlot, Sunburst could recite the incantation for every spell there was in the Royal Library from memory.
“Those that can’t do, teach,” went the old adage; and so Sunburst was approached to lead the fledgling academy and educate a new generation in the art of magic.  A position that, in her own admittedly heavily biased opinion, her husband had quite excelled in.
Moreso once she’d arrived to assist him, she thought to herself.  A smile touched the corners of her mouth.  Memories of a hundred different dinners together that Sunburst had spent rambling on about his day at the academy as she listened patiently all blended together in her head.  He’d been very happy there; and she’d been happy that he was happy.
The mare was silent for a moment while she studied the picture.  If this image was proof that Archie had worked in the castle, then did that mean…?  Starlight felt a lump growing in her throat as she turned to look back at the stallion, a burning question on her lips that she was terrified to hear the answer to.
Archie stepped up beside her, looking at the picture.  Wrapped in his magical cyan aura was a jeweled medallion that hung around his neck, previously hidden by the confines of the linen wraps that had once been rather regal looking robes.  Recognition dawned on the mare and she looked back at the image.  The other unicorn stallion in the photo, who was sitting stoically beside the alicorn princess and her consort, was wearing an identical medallion.  A news clipping was nearby, recounting the event:
In a ceremony today, Her Imperial Majesty, Princess Cadance, joined by her husband, Prince Shining Armor, and Prime Minister Archibald Magnate, opened the Empire’s first institution dedicated to the study and development of magic, The Imperial Academy of Arcana.  While, historically, the Empire has not had a strong magical tradition, Her Imperial Majesty seeks to usher in a new era of cooperation and understanding between crystal ponies and the other pony breeds that inhabit the rest of Equestria.
Thus, She has created the position of ‘Archmage’ within the Imperial Court to act as the curator of the academy, and appointed as its first title holder the unicorn stallion, Sunburst…
Starlight looked between the photo and the withered ghoul standing next to her, “you’re the Prime Minister?” another pony that she knew only by reputation and title.  Though she had technically lived in the Empire during the later years of the war, she had worked at various Ministry of Arcane Science facilities throughout Equestria.  Sunburst had lived and worked in the Empire much longer than she had.
He nodded, “ponies around here mostly just call me ‘Archie’ though.  I’m not one for titles anymore.”
“So, you knew this stallion, right?” Starlight poked excitedly at the picture of her husband, “Sunburst?  You worked with him?”
The stallion frowned as he studied the picture more closely, his brows furrowed in thought as he looked at it closely, “I recognize the name…”
“Do you remember what happened to him?  Did he survive the attack?” she was trying not to sound as desperate as she actually felt, but it was very difficult considering how close she was to finally getting the answer to the question that had burned within her since the day she’d woken up in that bunker.
“I...I don’t know,” he admitted reluctantly, “the city didn’t suffer any significant damage from the attack, so I’m sure that he must have; but I don’t recall any specific details about most of the members of the Court.
“If he didn’t commit suicide, I’m sure he lived for a good while,” Archie offered mekely.
Starlight’s blood ran cold when she heard the former option.  Surely Sunburst wouldn’t have…
...Would he?  Shining Armor had not been able to cope with the loss of his entire family in one fell swoop.  Meanwhile, she and Moonbeam had been sealed away in an underground facility with no means of being contacted by anypony on the surface in order to establish who had lived and who had died.  In fact, she wasn’t even supposed to have been in that facility at the time the bombs fell.  Had she kept to her original itinerary, she’d have been in Manehattan...which had been devastated by balefire.
Sunburst might have understandably assumed that she was dead when he received no word from her, and he’d never have been able to find out what happened to their daughter either.
He might have…
No!  The mare shook her head resolutely, she had not come all this way to entertain wild speculation and guesses.  She’d been doing that off and on ever since she woke up!  She had come to the Crystal Empire because, of any other place in the Wasteland, it was here that she would be able to find genuine answers.  Somewhere there was a record of what had happened to her husband.  Maybe it ultimately didn’t matter if he’d taken his own life, or died half a century later, feeble and gray.  Dead was dead, after all.
But she had to know.
“Is there a...graveyard?” she asked hesitantly, looking up at the stallion, “one where the ponies from that far back would have been buried when they died?” if a date was written on the headstone, that might give her an indication of the fate that he’d met.  At least she would be able to say her long overdue ‘goodbye’ somewhere fitting.
“There is,” the withered pony confirmed.  His expression was unsure, “but it’s on the outskirts of the city,” he warned, “out in the storm.”
“I have to go there,” Starlight insisted, “I have to know.  You don’t have to come with me; just point me in the right direction.”
Archie rolled his cloudy blue eyes and frowned at the mare, “do you really think I saved your life just to let you go out and get yourself killed all over again?
“Besides, there’s more than just wendigos out there,” he added in a much grimmer tone.
“Like what?”
He let out a short, dry laugh, “rogue automated defenses, for one thing,” those did seem to be a staple of the Wasteland, Starlight had to admit, “and feral ghouls, of course.  Sort of, anyway,” he elaborated at the questioning look flashed by the pink mare, “the bombs may not have hit the city directly, but the radiation eventually crept in around the outskirts.  It didn’t affect crystal ponies the same way it did Equestrian ponies.  They’re...warped, dark things.
“We call them ‘umbra ponies’.  They’re...resilient to most weapons.”
“I’m not exactly delicate,” the unicorn mare smirked, “I made it all the way up here on my own, after all,” though she had almost died right on the metaphorical doorstep of the Empire.  In her defense though, she had not anticipated facing off against monsters that had only ever existed in some of the oldest legends recorded by ponykind.  It was hard to plan for fighting what she had thought, up until then, were merely fictional creatures.
“I suppose that’s true,” the stallion acknowledged, cocking a smile at her, “but I feel that I had best come with you all the same.  Agate would never forgive me if I let something happen to the first visitor this city’s had in over two centuries,” he stepped over to a wardrobe and retrieved his tattered red cloak.  The same one being worn by his pre-ghoul self in the photo, though much the worse for wear after centuries of use.
Then he took out the sword that Starlight recalled seeing when he’d rescued her.  The brass hilt was dull and the leather grip looked to be as ratty as the ghoul’s own flesh.  The silver scabbard was stained mostly black with tarnish.  The pink mare half expected the blade to be a rusty mess when he drew it for a cursory inspection.  However, that proved to be the furthest thing from true that she could imagine.  The blade turned out not to have been steel, as she had expected.  Indeed, it wasn’t forged from any metal that she knew of at all.
It was crystal.
Archie caught her surprised expression and chuckled in amusement as he withdrew the whole of the weapon with his magic and presented it to her, “unusual, isn’t it?  Diamond-forged.  Not many ponies in Equestria have ever seen a sword like this.
“Funny thing is: these blades, as well as dimoand-forged spears, were once standard issue for Equestrian soldiers.  That was back during the Crystal War, after King Sombra took control.  These blades were the only things that pierced the enchantments protecting his Black Knights.  Now they’re the only thing that puts umbra ponies down for good.  Well,” he added with a shrug, “that and a big enough explosion.  All the grenades got used up a long time ago though.”
He sheathed the weapon and buckled the scabbard around his torso beneath his cloak, “fortunately, Princess Cadance had a few dozen of them brought up here from Canterlot in case Sombra came back...again,” there was one of his coughing laughs, “I guess when you have to kill somepony twice, you make plans to have to do it a third time; because damn if that isn’t one stubborn son of a mule.”
“Does that mean that I get one too?”
“Afraid not,” the stallion said regretfully, “this sword’s one of three that have managed to survive this long.  They’re tough, but not indestructible.  The other two are carried by Marshal Jasper and Lieutenant Peridot.  The umbra don’t often come this close to the castle.  It’s magic tends to keep them away.  But, in the last few years, it has waned considerably.”
“Isn’t there something that can be done to restore the old enchantments that used to protect this place?” Starlight asked as they made their way downstairs towards the castle’s main entrance, “where’s the Crystal Heart?”
“Shattered to dust,” the stallion told her, “destroyed in the effort to protect the city,” the unicorn mare was stunned to silence at the news.  She would never have guessed that anything like that could have happened to such an iconic artifact of the Crystal Empire, “only the echoes of its magic linger, absorbed by the crystal walls of the castle itself over the decades since its return.  But without the Heart to renew it, that magic has finally faded to almost nothing.
“When it finally dies out completely, the wendigos will come for us.  As will the umbra.  Then the snow will bury our corpses.”
“Why not leave then?” she asked, “I can show you the way to Manehattan.  Things are getting better there.  The Lightbringer opened the sky back up.  Hoofington’s finally a decent place for ponies to live.  Even the Neighvada Valley is looking better.  Equestria’s recovering!”
The stallion bowed his head, a sad smile on his lips, “maybe a century ago we could have made a go of it,” he sighed regretfully, “but now...it’s too late.”
The mare frowned, “what are you talking about?  How is it too late?”
“If we leave the city, the wendigos will pounce on us before we make it a mile,” Archie said grimly, “you saw what happened yesterday: just one of them took four burst.  I’d never be able to fight off a whole pack of them.”
“I’m pretty good with magic.  Teach me the spell you were using and maybe we can protect everypony else together,” Starlight insisted, not willing to simply admit that everything was hopeless and give up the same way that the ghoul stallion seemed willing to.  She’d seen ponies overcome seemingly impossible odds with her own eyes, and heard about several other instances during her travels.  This situation couldn’t possibly be even more desperate than any of those!
“It wasn’t a spell” he said, earning a rather perplexed look from her.  Archie shrugged and they passed through the door.  The stallion nodded politely at the guard on duty, receiving a rather deep bow and a reverent ‘Master Archie’ in return, “well, not as such anyway…”
“What do you mean?”
“Wendigos aren’t affected by magic,” he reiterated, sounding slightly annoyed, “remember the stories?  Nothing the unicorns of old did could stop them.  Even the pegasi couldn’t control the storms they brought with them when they came to Equestria.
“What I did back there, it wasn’t magic.  Not really.”
“So then what was it?” Starlight asked, “you clearly did something back there.”
“I…” Archie hesitated, winding his hoof like he was trying to come up with the right word to describe something, but having some difficulty doing it, “...thought at them,” the deep frown on his face suggested that he wasn’t at all satisfied with his own answer.
Neither was the mare standing next to him, regarding him skeptically, “you…thought at them?  What does that mean?”
“That―it’s…” he grunted in frustration, “it’s complicated,” he was silent for several more long seconds, his features distressed.  Starlight waited patiently for him to find his mental purchase once again.  She had learned that some ghouls tended to find thinking about complex subjects difficult.  A form of pervasive dementia or some such.  It was best to let Archie’s mind process his thoughts in its own good time rather than push too forcefully and only end up frustrating him further.
Finally the stallion seemed to find the words that he was searching for, “there’s this one memory I have,” he began again, sounding at first like he had changed subjects away from discussing how he dealt with those winter spirits, but Starlight remained silent as she listened to the tangent, “actually, it’s more of a memory of a memory of a memory―you get the idea,” he rolled his eyes and then continued, “the point is: if I can make myself feel the way I did in that memory, the wendigos go away.
“The problem,” he went on before she could interrupt, “is that after two centuries, I don’t actually know what that memory was about.  I just...try to grasp at the feeling that I had when I did know what it was about.
“...But it gets harder every time,” he sighed, hanging his head, “a hundred year ago, I could have chased away a dozen wendigos with just one burst, and they’d have stayed gone for months―maybe even a year! Now…” he shrugged again, “well, you saw: four bursts, and it didn’t even notice that first one.  Plus it’ll put itself back together in a day or two, if it hasn’t already.”
Starlight thought over his words, but she wasn’t sure that she fully understood, “so you’re saying that they’re chased away by emotions?” then her eyes widened, “you’re right!  The stories!  In the stories, friendship chased away the wendigos!”
The ghoul snorted derisively at her, “you don’t actually think it’s that easy, do you?”
“But, in the stories―”
“In the stories, three ponies talked through the night and suddenly became close enough friends that their affection for one another chased away demons from an unknown plane of existence that nearly destroyed the whole world with a winter so potent that even the entire pegasus race couldn’t affect it in even the slightest,” Archie sneered at her.  Admittedly, when he phrased it like that, it did sound quite absurd.  Granted, monsters that brought eternal winter and froze ponies solid sounded absurd too, but clearly they were real! “not everything in an old fable can be taken as literal fact.”
He waved his hoof around at their surroundings and the collection of crystal shanties huddled tightly around the base of the ancient central castle.  A few of the inhabitants were watching them, in much the same way as anypony might watch something happening that wasn’t part of a typical day, as they went about their lives.  Most were simply conducting their routine little fixes of their dwellings, or preparing food for their meals.  It was a little community, going about their lives, like some many others in the Wasteland, “there’s plenty of ‘friendship’ here,” Archie pointed out, “but the wendigos are still around.
“Clearly there’s more to the old stories than has survived in our traditions,” he muttered, turning away from her and heading further from the castle.
Starlight had to concede that point.  From what little she had seen in this place, the ponies of the Empire got along fantastically.  There weren’t roving bands of gangs and raiders like there had been everywhere else.  The city’s inhabitants hadn’t been devastated by the balefire of the zebras’ attack the same way as the rest of the Wasteland.  It was clear that things had been deteriorating over time as the dying enchantments that had sustained the Empire for so long allowed the winter the consume more of the city, but those who had endured didn’t seem to have lost their sense of community.
From what she knew of the Hearth’s Warming stories she’d been told all her life, this cooperative little town should have been all that was needed to stop the wendigos.  Obviously that wasn’t the case.  What was missing?
She trotted to catch up with the ghoul stallion, “the secret to stopping the wendigos has to be somewhere,” the mare insisted.
“It very well may be,” he acknowledged, “the Canterlot archives is where I’d start, but there’s no way to get there.”  
Starlight frowned, “there’s got to be other possibilities too,” she insisted as she looked around, “the Crystal Heart’s magic works.  That’s obviously not an option any more since it’s gone, but it suggests that there are other things out there that might be able to stop them besides ‘the power of friendship’.” Archie shrugged and nodded his head, conceding her observation, “so maybe we can find another solution!”
The withered stallion peered over his shoulder at her, cocking his brow, “you’re going to research a whole new kind of magic in order to defeat creatures that hardly anypony knows anything about?  Ambitious,” he looked forward once more and muttered, “let me know how that goes…”
The pink unicorn glared at her escort, “at least I’m willing to try!  Maybe you’ve given up hope, but that doesn’t mean I have to.”
“I’ve been watching this place die, slowly, for two centuries,” he said in a somber tone, “generations of crystal ponies have tried to find a way to stop this, and look at the good it’s done.”
“They can be beaten,” Starlight repeated, “there’s a way to do it, and I’ll find it.”
“I hope you do, but I’m not going to hold my breath,” the ghoul said dryly.  Then he offered a hollow chuckled, “not that I breathe anymore…”
“Master Archie!” both of them turned to see the reddish hued older stallion that had been among those to welcome Starlight when she’d arrived trotting up.  Agate was his name, she recalled.  At his side was the same emerald crystal mare who’d been with the older trio that greeted her initially.  She still bore the harness from which fluttered the purple and silver banner of the Empire, framed in golden braids.  It was rather ostentatious, she thought.
The pair stopped and bowed deeply before the ghoul.  The emerald mare tapped a release on her harness, and the flag she was carrying dipped as well.  When they straightened back up, the banner was raised vertically and locked into place once more.  The pink mare cast a curious glance at the ancient ghoul stallion, but said nothing, “I’m told you’re heading out,” Agate asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice as he spoke.  His eyes darted cautiously between them, “might I know why, and for how long?”
Archie nodded his head towards the pink mare, “she wants to see if her husband is among those buried in The Old Graveyard.  I’m taking her there to look for him.  I doubt it will take more than a few hours.  We’ll be back before noon.”
That seemed to relieve the community’s leader quite a bit, “I see.  Very good,” he turned his attention to Starlight now and inclined his head slightly towards her, “my sympathies.  I hope you find him and return safely.  There’s going to be a celebration tomorrow night,” he smiled uneasily, “well, I say ‘celebration’, but I suppose that it’s really just going to be more of a small feast of sorts.  I’d like to introduce you around, now that you’re no longer fatigued.  There are many who would like to meet you and hear about how the rest of the world is fairing.”
“I’d like that,” Starlight returned the nod and smiled easily at the stallion.  In truth, she really was looking forward to it.  Everypony here seemed to be a decent enough sort.  Besides, until she came up with a way to deal with the wendigos, she was going to be hanging around here for a while; it would be nice to get acquainted with the locals.
Honestly, even after the threat was averted, Starlight was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to be leaving any time soon.  This had technically been her home before the world ended, and she didn’t feel particularly attached to anyplace else.  Well, no place that still existed anyway.  The town that she had founded in order to showcase her “grand experiment” had been razed by the zebras early on in the war.  
Yes, an offer had been extended to her to remain in Seaddle, and even Manehattan, but the Empire was a lot more familiar to her than those places had been.  Even back before the war had ravaged them.
“Good, good,” the crystal stallion said, looking between them again, “well...safe journey then, and we’ll see you both later,” both he and his flag-bearing escort bowed low once more, “Master Archie,” then they retreated back to the castle, the guard’s flag fluttering prominently as they went.
The pair of unicorns resumed their journey out into the snowy outer city.  Starlight glanced to make certain that the crystal ponies were out of sight and then smirked at her companion, “so...they just let the pony in charge go wandering off into the Wasteland all on his own, but that guy has a guard with him everywhere he goes?  What’s he do anyway?”
“I’m not the pony in charge,” the ghoul muttered.  He jerked his head back towards the castle, “Agate is.”
“But how’s that work?  Aren’t you the Prime Minister?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I’m actually ‘in charge’ of the Empire.  Under Imperial Law, when the throne is vacant, a regent gets appointed.  Right now, that’s Agate.  When he dies, another regent gets appointed.”
“Why don’t they make you the regent?” asked Starlight, “you’re the most experienced and everything.”
“Because I’m not a crystal pony, and the regent has to be a crystal pony,” a smile touched his mottled flesh, “it’s designed to keep the throne from falling under the control of an outsider if no member of the Imperial Family is capable of ruling in their own right.
“Not that I’d want the job anyway.”
“So if you’re not in charge, why all the bowing?”
He grimaced now, “that’s just...habit, I guess.  I’ve basically helped raise or tutor every pony in this place, and I’m the oldest member of the Imperial Court.  I’m also the most senior―other than Agate, of course.
“I’m technically supposed to be the one bowing to him,” Archie chuckled, “but since I occasionally changed his diapers when he was a foal, it makes him profoundly uncomfortable; and he’d been the one bowing to me his whole life until just a few years ago, so he’s having trouble breaking the habit.  It’s been like that with quite a few of the recent regents.”
“Is there even really still an Imperial Court?” the mare asked skeptically.
“Every single title’s been maintained.  A few of us are even doubling up,” there was another rough laugh from the ghoul, “which is why the Prime Minister is pulling double-duty as the Imperial Archmage.  In all, about a third of the town holds Court positions.  Nopony takes most of them seriously.  It’s not like the Imperial Ambassador’s conducting a lot of correspondence with other nations.  And since there isn’t an Imperial Family anymore, the Keeper of the Privy Purse doesn’t have any finances to manage.  An Imperial Marshal’s a bit much to manage the hoofful of guards we have too.”
There was another laugh, “In fact, the lowest ranked soldier in the ‘Imperial Guard’ right now is Ensign Spinel, who you saw with Agate just now; the Army’s standard bearer.  One of her duties is to carry that flag with her everywhere she goes.  
“Every guard is an officer, because there aren’t enough ponies left in it to have enlisted members.”
“I can’t believe that all of you are still bothering with regents and marshals and stuff,” Starlight said, shaking her head with a smirk, “even after none of it matters anymore.”
“It matters to them,” the ghoul replied in a somber tone, “they’d tell you it’s the only thing that matters anymore.”
“How’s that?”
“It’s a part of their heritage―their culture.  Their traditions define them.  They even still hold the Crystal Fair every year, to include bowing to where the Heart used to be.  Sure, it doesn’t actually do anything to renew the magic protecting this place like it was designed to, but it’s important to them that they carry on living their lives like crystal ponies.
“Maybe that’s silly,” the ghoul added, smiling wanly back at the city as falling snow started to obscure it, “but it’s what keeps them going.  They’re not idiots.  They know the enchantments are weakening.  They know the wendigos are coming.  They know their foals probably won’t live long enough to have foals of their own.
“Any lesser ponies would probably despair and just give up.  They haven’t.  Not yet.”
Starlight recalled how fragile Agate’s smile had been.  The timbre in his voice that she had taken for mere nervousness, but now realized could easily have been fear gnawing at his facade as the ghoul whom he had known all his life left the safe(ish) center of the city on a dangerous errand.  As old as Archie was, and as respected as he was, the crystal ponies probably saw him as sort of a symbolic ‘heart’ of their little community .  If he was lost…
Hopefully, once she had her answers, she could do something to help these ponies.  She chuckled to herself at that thought.  Random ponies wandering the Wasteland in an effort to help struggling pony communities seemed to have become a theme of late.  The pink unicorn certainly didn’t fashion herself a Stable Dweller, or a Security Mare, or even a Wonderbolt.  She was just...Starlight: a mare out of her own time, looking for her husband’s grave.
Still, if she happened to find some way to help the ponies here, that wouldn’t be a bad thing…

The storm didn’t seem to be quite as bad as she remembered it being just before she’d run into the wendigo, but Starlight still found herself drawing her leather duster in a little more snugly around her neck as the falling flakes continued to find ways of sneaking down her collar.  The unicorn firmly resolved that, after saving the Crystal Empire from the wendigos, she was traveling to Barnbados and living out the rest of her life on a nice, warm, tropical island.  This cold weather could suck her frozen dock!
Archie didn’t seem to even notice the cold or the snow.  It appeared that being clinically dead had some advantages.  The ghoul kept his pale eyes scanning their surroundings, watching intently for threats as they made their way down the snow-drift choked streets.
Again, Starlight found herself leary of the darkened shops and homes that she could still recall being so full of life in her own relatively recent memory.  They even passed a cafe or two that she remembered dining at on occasion while out running errands.  If, as Archie had told her, this unnatural winter had not set in immediately following the detonations, the pink mare wondered how long these places had remained functional.  Though, she supposed as her eyes drifted to her withered escort, she really didn’t have to wonder, did she?
She had come for answers, after all, “what was it like?” she asked, speaking up to be heard over the stiff wind that was being directed into their faces by the city’s buildings, “after the bombs fell?”
The stallion glanced back at her over his shoulder, contemplating whether he was going to reply or not.  Finally, he returned his attention back to scanning the abandoned buildings and said, “shock, at first.  Then the panic set in.  The city was ringed by balefire.  Their Princess was dead, and the Heart destroyed.  It took less than an hour for word to spread through the city that Canterlot and the Royal Sisters had been lost as well.  Nopony knew what to do.
“A mare by the name of Beryl was the Designated Regent back then.  Nice mare.  Good head on her shoulders, thank Celestia,” the ghoul’s eyes somehow became a little more glazed than usual as he recounted the distant past, “she wasn’t technically in charge yet, what with Shining Armor still alive.  He wasn’t in any state to give commands though, not after what had just happened to Princess Cadence.  Beryl started giving the orders.  She and the Marshal got the Imperial Guard organized.  Martial law was declared, and a curfew was set,” he shrugged, “not for long; only a few weeks.  Just until everypony could process what had happened and get a little more settled.
“A big funeral was held for Princess Cadence, and there was also a memorial for Celestia and Luna as well.  That helped a bit.  Everypony rallied around Shining Armor.  The Court played up his past as the Captain of the Royal Guard, and hoped that the citizens would feel safe with a stallion like him in charge,” he scowled and shook his head, nearly spitting, “then he went and hung himself a week later.  Everypony panicked all over again.”
The ghoul paused and stretched out his shoulders as he suppressed those ancient feelings of resentment towards a pony long since dead.  Then he sighed and continued on, “Beryl took charge for real that time,” he snorted, “she was a genius, that mare.  She kept her old title, even though it didn’t make any sense.  The whole Imperial Family was dead.  The Royal Sisters were dead.  The majority of the Equestrian nobility was gone.  There wasn’t anypony left in the line of succession for her to be holding the throne for.  She could have taken it for herself, and not a single pony in the whole Empire would have batted an eye.  A few in Court encouraged her to do it, in fact.”
“Why didn’t she?” Starlight asked, finding herself quite curious about the reasoning behind the first Regent’s move.  Even to her own thinking, it seemed quite odd to make such a decision.
“Because if she crowned herself the new Crystal Princess, that meant that she was admitting that Equestria was completely lost, and that there wasn’t―and would never be―a more legitimate heir that would come along later,” he looked momentarily back at the pink unicorn following him and smiled, “she was giving them hope.  She was telling everypony, ‘someday, we’ll get a real Crystal Princess again; just you wait and see’,” he shrugged and looked ahead once more, “and when she finally died, the pony that took her place did the same thing: pronounced that they would keep the Empire in trust for the day when the ‘rightful’ Princess presented herself.
“Every regent since has taken that same oath.”
Starlight’s mouth hung agape in response to the story.  From every account that she had heard, the rest of Equestria had not been nearly so stable in the aftermath of the culminating zebra attack.  Granted, there had been good enough reason for that.  Unlike the Empire, none of greater Equestria’s upper leadership had been left intact.  The Royal Sisters had died.  The Ministry Mares were all dead or missing.  Every major city center had been obliterated.  The only functioning governmental body left had been among the pegasi, and they’d sealed themselves away from the rest of the world.
All that remained on the surface was chaos.
Archie hadn’t quite finished recounting the Empire’s recent history though, “things weren’t perfect, of course.  Without the surrounding arable land viable anymore, thanks to the balefire, there was a food shortage.  Rationing helped, but not much.  Half the city was torn down to make room for more cropland, which meant everypony had to be stuffed into the remaining half of the city.  Conditions were pretty crowded.”
The ghoul’s head drooped, “there were some plagues due to everypony being crammed in so tightly.  A lot of ponies died.  It helped with the overcrowding and the food situation, but...it was rough for a few years there,” he cocked his head and moved his lips wordlessly as he thought over what he’d just said, “huh.  Actually I guess it was a little over thirty years of plagues.  Funny how the time blurs together when you live forever…”
Starlight’s eyes widened, “wait.  Thirty years of plagues?  That’s horrible!”
The stallion shrugged, “it was a self-perpetuating cycle for a long time.  Ponies would be crowded together, and inevitably the sanitation situation would become so severe that disease would spread.  There weren’t enough working hospitals to house that many patients, so a few blocks of the city would be cordoned off as makeshift wards for the sick.  That meant the healthy ponies were even more crowded than before, and so there’d be another outbreak...it just kept happening.  Plague after plague.”
There was another wan smile from the ghoul, “eventually enough ponies died that there was enough room for the survivors.”
“How many made it?” the mare asked, dreading the answer.
“More than you’d think,” Archie told her, his smirk becoming a little warmer, “crystal ponies are a hardy bunch.  The young were the hardest hit,” that smirk faltered for a moment, “we didn’t feel those effects until about twenty years later.
“Maybe one fifth of the foal population survived the ‘plague era’,” he explained, “that meant that there weren’t all that many mares left who were fit to foal the next generation.  The Empire’s numbers never really recovered after that.  We went from a nation of hundreds of thousands to just...hundreds, in less than a century.  We’ve been struggling ever since.”
“Is the food situation really that bad still?”
Archie shook his head, “food hasn’t been a problem in decades,” he informed the pink mare, “it’s bloodlines.  With so few ponies left...heh, let’s just say there’s a lot of ‘kissing cousins’ in the Empire these days.  Pretty sure even those southern hillponies in Equestria wouldn’t approve of some of the partnerships we’ve had recently.”
He glanced back over his shoulder at Starlight again and winked at her, “just a heads up: Agate’s going to be introducing you to some of our more eligible bachelors at that feast tonight,” then he thought for a brief moment and chuckled, “and probably a few of the less devoted married stallions as well…”
Starlight’s expression soured, “thanks for the warning.  Just so you know, that’s...not going to be happening anytime soon,” while, on an intellectual level, the pink unicorn mare could understand why the small population would be welcoming to new blood, and she could imagine that there would be a lot of subtle―and perhaps even some blatant―suggestions that she pair up with a stallion, the fact was that she was very much still in mourning.  Sunburst might have died nearly two centuries ago, but for her...he’d been gone less than a year.
To say nothing about how she felt about foals, mere months after having lost her daughter...again.
“As far as I’m concerned, you can take as long as you want,” the ghoul shrugged, “like I said before: we’re all going to be dead soon anyway.  It’s honestly probably better if nopony bothered bringing a new generation into the world,” he said as his voice grew more hushed, “fewer ponies would have to suffer that way.”
“I told you: I’m going to fix this,” Starlight stated firmly.  Maybe she didn’t know exactly how, but she knew that there had to be a way.  She was one of the more brilliant wielders of magic that had ever lived―if she was allowed to forgo a little humility.  While they hadn’t exactly been ‘popular’ with her peers, she had developed several new spells and a whole new school of magic that revolved around cutie marks.  There weren’t many ponies in recent history that could claim to have made discoveries like that!  With enough time, and the proper resources, who was to say that she couldn’t do it all over again?
Archie glanced back over his shoulder at the mare, a curious smile creasing his leathery features, “with confidence like that...maybe you just might.”
When the pair finally reached the graveyard, Starlight was struck by the sheer scale of it.  While she was able to conceptualize that several hundred thousand was a lot of ponies, to see all of those simple markers laid out before her...it was almost overwhelming.  It was difficult to even make out all of the graves, as so many were little more than the tips of the small crystal obelisks that just barely managed to peek above the snowdrifts.  Suddenly, the pink mare didn’t even know what to do anymore.
“...Where do I even begin?”
“The oldest graves are this way,” Archie said, nodding his head further out towards the perimeter of the city.
That made sense, she supposed.  Even under ideal circumstances, Sunburst likely wouldn’t have lived more than another fifty or sixty years.  As she approached the far end of the graveyard, Starlight wasn’t exactly sure how to tailor her expectations.  If they found his grave quickly, that likely meant that he’d died early on after the bombs fell, suggesting that either he had indeed taken his own life or been a victim of the plagues that Archie had mentioned.  She didn’t want to think about him having died under either of those circumstances.  On the other hoof, the longer he had lived, the more of these markers she would have to look at until she finally found his.
“What was his name again?” the ghoul asked.
“Sunburst,” she replied absently, her gaze still absorbing the countless dots of headstones laid out before them.
The withered pony blinked, his already wrinkled features creasing further as he seemed absorbed in thought.  Under his breath, he muttered, “...I know I’ve heard that name before, I think...a long time ago…” a moment later he shook his head and, in a more audible tone offered, “We’ll split up.  You can start here.  I’ll take the other side.  We’ll meet in the middle,” before he left her side, he added, “keep an eye out for umbras and wendigos.  If you see one: come running to me immediately.  Don’t try to fight them on your own,” he warned sternly.
“I understand,” Starlight assured the stallion, though in the back of her mind she was a little bit annoyed.  She wasn’t exactly helpless.  On the other hoof, he had insisted that ghoulified crystal ponies were significantly different from typical examples like himself.  At least until she got some experience dealing with them herself, it probably wasn’t the worst idea to defer to her escort’s advice on the matter.
Archie nodded and headed off to begin browsing the names.  Starlight wiped away the snow obscuring the first headstone.  Azure.  Then came Sard.  Feldspar.  Hematite.  The dates all had a common theme: they shared the same year that Starlight had gone into hibernation.  The year that the war had ended.  Some were only days or weeks after the fateful date, suggesting that they were some of the suicides that Archie had mentioned.  Then there was a bit of a time-skip to about six or seven months later where large clumps of the graves shared the same dates.
Plague victims, Starlight quickly realized.  Whole swaths of headstones that had been erected within hours of each other as ponies succumbed to disease.  There was every likelihood that the next name she cleared away would be Sunburst’s.  How could it not be, when so many hundreds―no, thousands―of ponies had died in that manner.  If the conditions had been as crowded as the old ghoul had suggested, then surely entire neighborhoods had been afflicted all at once.
She wasn’t sure how many of the stones she had checked before she looked up and took note of her progress.  The far edge of the graveyard wasn’t even visible through the falling snow.  It just seemed to go on forever in every direction.  A seemingly infinite number of graves yet to be checked.
The obelisk that she was at currently had only been half cleared away when her hoof drew up short.  Three letters had been uncovered: Sun.  Her heart leapt up into her throat as she tried to swallow her trepidation.  With a feeling of dread, she moved to clear the rest of the name.
Sunstone.
Starlight had never before felt such a conflicting combination of emotions welling up inside of her.  First there had been the sweet relief that it hadn’t been the grave of the stallion she loved.  The ridiculous little voice in her head that had rejoiced, it’s not his!  He might still be alive!  This was followed up a heartbeat later with anger and outrage at herself as she reprimanded that treacherous little piece of her mind for daring to get her hopes up.  Of course he’s dead; it’s been two hundred years!
Then came the shame.  How dare she actually want to find Sunburst’s grave out here.  How dare she want him to be dead.  Indignation followed quickly on its coattails though.  It wasn’t that she wanted him to be dead; it pained her to no end to think that she would live out the rest of her life without the stallion she had cared for so deeply ever since they were foals.  He had been her first friend in the whole world, and the knowledge that she would never see him again was a heavy weight on her heart.  She didn’t want to accept that he was really gone but, at the same time, Starlight knew that she had to if she was ever going to find peace for herself.
This wasn’t the way to do it though, she finally realized; not out here in this place.
She turned away from the crystalline headstone and sought out her ghoul companion.  He wasn’t hard to spot, sitting out in the snow as his dingy scarlet cloak flapped about in the stiff wintery wind that whipped around the headstones.  His pale blue eyes stared down at a tightly knit trio of stone markers.  The pink mare kept silent as she stepped around and peered at the names carved into them.  V. Capitalist, A. Magnate, T. Magnate.  His family, the mare quickly realized.  
For a long while, neither of them spoke.  Starlight was the one who eventually broke the silence, “I’m sorry for your loss,” it hadn’t actually occurred to her that Archie would have known what she was going through.  While she knew that nearly every ghoul had lived through the war just as she had, she had not interacted with enough of them to inherently recognize that most of them had lost their own families as well.  It was no wonder that the withered stallion had been so willing to help her find closure.  He must have known exactly how she felt.
“I’d actually forgotten I even had a family,” the ghoul whispered.  The stallion didn’t look particularly mournful as he stared down at the names, considering the stones with his milky gaze, “I can’t even remember what their names were, or what they looked like.  I guess after a while...you just block out the more painful memories until you forget them entirely.”
Starlight smiled weakly as she regarded the stones with him, “I guess I should see about getting myself turned into a ghoul then.  It’d be nice not to remember how much I miss them,” at least she had been able to say her farewells to their daughter, as bittersweet as that experience had been.
“I think...that I wish I did remember,” Archie said softly, looking a little more regretful, “the ponies in our lives shape us.  They change who we were, and make us better for it.  Not remembering anything about my family...I have to wonder how different I am now from what I used to be.  Am I lesser for forgetting them?”
The mare gently bumped up against him, “you seem nice enough to me,” she offered, flashing a wan little reassuring smile at the stallion, “and I’m not just saying that because you saved my life.”
“Thanks.  Did you find what you were looking for?”
Her ears drooped as she bowed her head, “no...and I don’t think this was a good idea after all.  Every time I find a grave that isn’t his, a tiny part of me keeps thinking Sunburst might still be alive.  It’s stupid and wrong, but I can’t help myself.  My brain still hasn’t fully accepted that two centuries have passed.
“I need something that will finally shock some sense into me,” she frowned.  Then her ears perked up and she looked around, “I need to go home.”
“The castle?”
“No, my home,” Starlight explained, “I need to see the house Sunburst and I lived in.  If I see those two hundred years of neglect then maybe I can finally process how long it’s been and really be able to let go of that false hope I have.  And, I suppose, I can say my ‘goodbye’ there just as well as I could here.
“It won’t tell me how he died,” the mare said with a resigned sigh, “but I suppose that’s something I never really had much chance of learning anyway.  I just really need closure, more than anything.”
“Well, then I guess we just need to hope that your old house wasn’t in the part of the city we leveled to make cropland,” Archie said as he rose back up onto his hooves and started to lead them out of the graveyard.
“It was off of Facet Avenue, near the outer edges of the city,” Starlight offered, trying not to sound too desperately hopeful.
The withered stallion thought for a brief moment and then nodded, “I think that’s still around.  This way.”
The deep snow impeded their progress.  Archie didn’t seem to be as bothered by the biting wind and so the pink mare didn’t feel quite as guilty about walking on his lee side in order to shield herself a little from the worst of it.  She kept her eyes open and scanning their surroundings as much as he was, looking for any sign of the ghostly figures of the wendigos.
Though this meant that she probably wasn’t paying as much attention to where she was going as she could have been, Starlight Glimmer wasn’t convinced that any amount of watching her footing would have kept her from tripping over the buried curb.  The snow was easily two feet deep, and only the barest hints of covered objects remained, and even those looked nearly identical to the otherwise innocuous drifts that had been built up by the constantly blustering wind.
She picked herself up out of the snow and shook away the freezing ivory powder with an aggravated grunt, lashing out at the offending curb with her hind hoof.  A step later, she drew up short, her ears swiveling to her rear as she heard the ‘curb’ begin to growl at her.  Slowly, she turned her head, her eyes growing wide as the remains of the snow drift that she had fallen into rose higher and began to fall away, revealing shimmering patches of deep violet and black crystal beneath.
Starlight’s jaw went slightly slack as she found herself confronted with a dark pony-shaped creature.  Purple nodules of hexagonal prisms dotted the otherwise smooth facets that formed the equine figure.  Smoldering balefire-green eyes blazed out at her, framed by a jagged mane of onyx shards.  The unicorn felt herself taking several unconscious steps back from the creature as it continued to growl at her from deep within its throat.
Archie was instantly at her side, interposing himself between the mare and the umbra pony.  The diamond-forged blade that he had brought with him for just such an occasion floated at his side, poised to strike at the crystalline abomination.  The growl shifted quickly into a heart-stopping scream that Starlight felt deep within her very bones as the umbra launched itself at them.  The ghoul stallion didn’t so much as flinch, his horn flaring bright with magic as a telekinetic wave burst out and slammed into the leaping beast, halting it briefly in the air.
The gleaming sword danced towards the umbra pony, the impossibly sharp blade biting deep into the hardened flesh of the corrupted pony.  It’s horrifying scream became a wail of pain and outrage as Archie’s sword plunged into its chest and drove the beast back down into the snow.  Fissures appeared all throughout its body, centered around the impaled blade.  Those cracks filled with a sickly green glow, growing in intensity until the umbra pony’s body finally shuddered with a pulse of emerald light and dissolved into something that looked very much like coal dust.
Archie stood, looking down at the pile of black powder, which was already starting to get buried beneath the falling snow.  He didn’t make a move to sheath his sword though and, very quickly, Starlight discovered why.  The growling sound from earlier persisted...and seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.  Her blue eyes scanned their surroundings and she realized that all of the snowdrifts around them weren’t snowdrifts at all.  They were buried umbra ponies.  Dozens of them…
They rose up from the snow as one, each turning their glowing eyes towards the pair of ponies and Starlight felt as though this adventure of hers might have been a mistake.  Her eyes darted briefly towards the ghoul standing beside her.  She could tell from his stance and the slight twitch of his hooves that his instinct was to charge at the monsters that had surrounded them, instead of waiting to be swarmed by the abominations.  However, he was loath to part from her side and leave her exposed to the monsters.
A smile creased her lips.  It was very sweet of the withered stallion to want to protect her, but Starlight wasn’t a fresh arrival to the Wasteland anymore.  She’d fought against―and defeated―all manner of beasts and ponies over the last few months since emerging from her centuries-long slumber.  These things were little more than just another variety of feral ghoul when you got right down to it.  As far as she was concerned, ghouls were the sort of Wasteland threat that adventurous ponies practiced on in order to get ready to handle real threats.
“Bet I can kill more of them than you,” The pink unicorn said, smirking up at the surprised expression on Archie’s face, “loser has to kiss the first pony Jasper tries to fix me up with,” and then she charged the nearest umbra before he could respond.
Her lever-action shotgun was out and blasting away at the violet umbra pony in front of her before Starlight had taken more than three steps.  As Archie had warned her, the lead pellets didn’t seem to have nearly the lethal effect that she had hoped they would.  The soft metal smeared itself along the monster’s faceted surfaces, leaving behind silvery streaks as they were deflected away.  However, it seemed that the umbra ponies still retained some measure of pain response, as the impacts made her target reel back.  It was a brief flinch though, and the umbra didn’t take long to recover and lunge at her in retaliation.
Starlight’s horn flared.  A heartbeat later she was on the other side of the umbra, which was splayed out in the snow after having missed its target which had teleported away.  Its jade eyes whipped around in search of its quarry, taking only a few seconds to locate the pink unicorn mare.  In those seconds, Starlight had levered out all of her weapon’s ineffectual ammunition and was loading in her precious supply of orange-hued explosive rounds that she had picked up while traveling through Hoofington.  As the fifth and final round was fed into the weapon, Starlight’s magic ratcheted the lever and pointed the barrel directly at the head of the once more charging umbra pony.
There was a thunderclap and a burst of orange flame.  Amethyst shards erupted from the left side of the umbra’s face.  The crystal monster went sprawling down into the snow and lay still.  Then a roar drew the unicorn’s attention away.  The violet monster bearing down on her was far too close to shoot.  Instead, her telekinesis whipped the shotgun around and drove the reinforced stock into the gaping jaw.  Its head whipped sharply to the side with a resounding ‘crack!’ and Starlight deftly sidestepped in order to avoid the limp body slamming into her as its momentum carried it past her.
Two more snap-fired shots sheared off the right front leg of a third umbra, causing it to slide to a stop only a yard from where she was standing.  A follow-up round placed squarely between its glowing green eyes from point-blank range reduced the head into purple powder.  In only a matter of seconds the pink mare had managed to dispatch three of the corrupted crystal pony ghouls.  It seemed as though these things weren’t nearly the tenacious beasts that Archie had been making them out to be after all.  She looked for the robed stallion to chide him for overselling the threat that the umbra ponies posed.
Her prepared playful retort died on her lips as she saw that the first umbra pony she had ‘put down’ was slowly rising back up to its hooves.  The crater in the side of its face where she had hit it with the explosive round was even now reforming as hundreds of shimmering crystalline prisms grew and merged with one another until the contours of its face had completely repaired themselves, leaving behind no trace that it had been injured at all.  The twisted neck of the second was cracking back into place as well, and the third was regrowing a whole new leg and head even as the rest of the body struggled to rise.
“That’s cheating!” Starlight whined nervously as she backed away from the trio of umbra.  Another four were moving in on her as well.  Her thoughts became more panicked as they drew closer, and she had to fight the impulse to simply teleport herself back to the castle.  If she left now, Archie would be forced to face all of these things by himself.  Even with the diamond-forged sword, there was no way he would stand a chance on his own.
The very least she could do was distract as many of the umbra as she could while the ghoul dispatched them.  She took a deep breath and glared at the encroaching purple monsters, “you want me?  Well I’m going to make you work for it!”
Her fifth explosive round blew off the jaw of one of the umbra facing her and then they all pounced.
A cyan burst of light lit up the snowstorm as Starlight teleported herself elsewhere.  Not far, as she neither wanted to abandon Archie to face all of these creatures on his own, nor deplete her magical reserves too quickly.  Five more explosive rounds floated into the loading port of her weapon even as she withdrew one of her grimoires, “got any suggestions for useful spells that can actually hurt these things?!” she called out to the ghoul stallion, who was surrounded by a half dozen umbra and a couple piles of black powder as the jeweled blade whirled around him.
“Well, they’re crystal,” he yelled back as he lopped off the head of one of the umbra before driving the sword down through the exposed gullet and reducing a third creature to dust, “so something sound-based should be effective!  Do you know Staccato’s Shattering Tone?”
Not for the first time since leaving Neighvada, Starlight vehemently wished that she’d grabbed more than just the three books from the Ministry of Arcane Science hub library before it was disintegrated.  That was, of course, before she’d known that the Canterlot Library was a deathtrap and the Manehattan hub at Tenpony Tower had been taken over by what amounted to a secretive cult who weren’t willing to part with any of their more advanced books and scrolls for all the caps in the Wasteland.  At the time, she had settled for versatility over raw power.  Now she was once more wishing that she had thought to acquire just a little bit of power…
“The best I can do is Requiem’s Raging Voice,” which, the pink mare snarled to herself, would really let her do little more than scold these creatures very loudly.  It certainly wouldn’t come close to actually shattering them.
Another green flash announced the death of a fourth umbra but, in that time, six more had appeared, and there was a rather grisly looking gash that had opened up most of the left side of Archie’s face.  He was also favoring his left hind leg, the mare noticed, “Raging Voice?  What is that, a foal’s primer?!”
“It might as well be,” Starlight grumbled to herself as she ran around and blasted at the legs of the crystalline creatures surrounding the stallion even as just as many clambered through the snow in her wake.
The stallion slashed at an umbra pony as he narrowly sidestepped a second, “do you know how to combine spells at least?  If you can mix it with Tectonic Tremors, you might―”
“―get the resonance I need to shatter crystal!” Starlight finished excitedly even as she drew out a second tome, “that’s brilliant!” her telekinesis unfurled a scroll as well, “top it all off with some of Allura’s Aura to give it a wide area of effect and...cover your ears!”
The pink unicorn mare’s horn began to glow brightly as she came to a stop.  Even with such relatively simple incantations, blending all three of their effects together in the proper fashion took a lot of concentration as she was forced to reimagine many of their constituent glyphs so that none of the energies interfered with one another.  She only hoped that she would have enough time to get the spell off before she was piled on by a dozen umbra ponies.
Something large, heavy, and smoothly faceted collided with her chest, driving the air from her lungs and toppling Starlight onto her backside.  It took every ounce of effort that the unicorn mare had to retain the spells in her mind.  Unfortunately, this meant that there was little focus left for her to spare in order to combat the rising fear she was feeling as she felt sickeningly hot and fetid air being blasted over her as the monster that had tackled her roared fiercely.  She stubbornly kept her eyes closed tight, knowing that if she actually saw the gaping maw of the umbra coming in to bite her face off she would lose the spell completely.  All she could do was absently use her telekinesis to fire the shotgun in the vain hope that one of the shots would strike her attacker.
Then there was a loud grunt of effort and the weight of the umbra was suddenly relieved from her chest.  This was followed by the sound of something heavy landing in the snow a few yards away and hoofsteps planting themselves around her.  Archie’s voice sounded from above her, ragged and pained, “any time now, Starlight!”
That moment of respite was all she had needed.  With a final clear thought, the spell that she had been building was allowed to be released.  Her horn flared brightly once more, and then the cyan light imploded into a miniscule little pin prick that was nearly invisible to the naked eye.  For half a heartbeat, nothing at all happened as a dozen and a half umbra ponies circled around the pair.  As though waiting for some shared signal, they all charged in simultaneously and leaped into the air, arcing to come down with their combined power on the ragged ghoul unicorn stallion who was standing protectively over the prostrate mare.
She spoke a singular word, “stop!”
Then the spell went off and a deceptively thin-walled bubble of magic exploded outward from the pink unicorn’s horn.  It brought with it a roar of sound as loud as a balefire bomb detonation.  As the film of light came into contact with the umbra ponies, they instantly dissolved into clouds of amethyst mist, falling lightly upon the snow around them.  Then this covering of purple powder was soon layered by more white snow from the storm, leaving only the trampled drifts as evidence that any disturbance at all had taken place here.
Starlight finally allowed herself to open her eyes once again and confirm that the two of them were safe.  If only for the moment.  Who knew where more of those things were buried beneath the snow.  Archie was very carefully easing himself off of her, kneeling down in the snow.  The diamond-forged sword slipped from his telekinetic grasp and vanished into a drift as he used his magic to extract a healing potion from his saddlebags and chug down the revitalizing fluid.  The severe looking wound on the side of his face began to close up before Starlight’s eyes.
She let out a relieved breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding all that time, “that was really close.”
“What?” the ghoul said a little louder than was probably necessary, given how close by he was.  He was rubbing at his ear as he looked at her.
“I said that was really close!” the mare repeated more loudly.
“You want some wheat toast?” his expression scrunched up in confusion as he looked around for a brief moment before looking back at her, “now?!”
Starlight couldn’t help but chuckle and shake her head.  It seemed that the umbra ponies had not been the only victims of her spell, “never mind,” she said, waving her hoof dismissively.
“With wine?  How can you think of food at a time like this?!” the stallion glared at her in irritation while she fell back over into the snow, laughing.

“Is your hearing back yet?”
“What’s that about baguettes?” the stallion asked, still rubbing at his ear, before shaking his head, “where do you think we are?  Prance?  You have quite the fascination with grain products,” he looked around, “are we there yet?”
Starlight Glimmer rolled her eyes, hiding an amused smile from the ghoul’s sight before pointing a hoof out at the half buried house across the street.  In slow, clear, words she announced, “we’re here.”
The withered old pony seemed a little relieved at the knowledge that they had arrived at their destination and could finally take shelter, if only briefly.  While they had not been unfortunate enough to wander into yet another herd of slumbering umbra ponies, they had spied several small groups that were lumbering through the snow-choked avenues.  Fortunately, it seemed that the corrupted crystal ghouls didn’t have the keenest of senses.  According to Archie, as long as you kept out of direct line of sight of an umbra pony, you could just about stand directly behind them without their noticing.  Starlight had chosen not to test that exact premise, and she noted that even the Empire’s Prime Minister stepped very gingerly whenever an umbra pony was within view.
If Starlight had hoped that merely seeing the building that she had once shared with Sunburst would be enough to firmly set in her mind the notion that her husband was surely dead and gone, she was sorely mistaken.  The sight of her home had quite the opposite effect, in fact.  Looking only at the modest abode with the deep drifts of snow obscuring much of it, did nothing at all to make it appear abandoned and neglected.  From the outside anyway; the interior was a very different matter.
That was when it all finally started to hit home for her.  The last time that she had been here, she had been packing up the last bit of a few belongings that she intended to take with her on her latest rounds to several Ministry of Arcane Science facilities, with an unscheduled diversion to the bunker in the Neighvada Valley where Moonbeam was being treated.  Sunburst hadn’t been awake to say ‘goodbye’ that morning, as he had spent another overly long stint at the Academy working on one of his many research projects; either for the MAS, or something for Princess Cadence, as both made frequent requests of his time.  That wasn’t anything new.  Honestly, the two of them spent so little time together in the same room while they were both conscious and awake it was a miracle that they’d managed to have a foal together!
She had finished packing her bags, given her slumbering husband a peck on the horn, and slipped out the door with every intention of being back in a little less than a month.
“Home again, home again…” the pink unicorn mare sighed as she looked around the interior of the house.  When she had last been here, it had actually been a bit of a mess.  Sunburst had a ‘system’ of something approaching ‘organized chaos’ when it came to arranging his notes and study materials.  Starlight had found it uncanny how the stallion seemed to instinctively know the location of any book that he was looking for from among the many seemingly random stacks of volumes that constantly cluttered every raised surface of their house.  She had often jokingly referred to his study as the Imperial Library’s annex.
If her own duties hadn’t kept her away from the house itself for weeks at a time, with only short breaks between trips, she might have been annoyed by the messy state of their house enough to have insisted that the golden unicorn do something about it.  However, since she was only ever very rarely in the Empire for any length of time, she was willing to overlook the clutter, so long as the bed was kept mostly clear of stacks of tomes.  It usually was.  Sometimes.
The house was tidy now though.  There wasn’t a single book or half-unfurled scroll on the floor anywhere.  There wasn’t anything on any desks or tables―nor even furniture of any kind.  The whole house was devoid of anything at all, save for a single iron-banded chest in the bedroom that was positioned curiously in the middle of the room.  Rather, anyone who had never been in this room before would have thought its placement odd.  Of course, Starlight knew that, when there had once been a bed in this room, that chest had rested snugly at the foot of it.
Archie grunted in mild surprise from behind her in the doorway to the bedroom as he too spied the chest, “that’s strange,” he murmured, “I thought they stripepd these old houses of everything useful…”
Starlight regarded the chest for several long seconds before approaching it slowly.  Once upon a time, the sturdy oak container would have held Sunburst’s more treasured magical volumes that he had acquired from the library in Canterlot―with Celestia’s personal approval, of course!  Or so her husband had vehemently insisted whenever pressed on the matter.  The pink mare considered the implications of what leaving those tomes behind could mean about the possible fate of their owner.  She gently ran her hoof over the top of the chest, noting the tingling sensation she felt as she did so.
She withdrew her hoof and took a step back from the chest, “there’s something in it,” she recognized warding enchantments when she felt them, and nopony magically secured an empty chest.
“That’s even stranger,” the ghoul stallion frowned, stepping closer to the chest to examine it himself, “do you know what it might be?”
“Sunburst kept some old spellbooks in there,” the unicorn mare admitted as she turned away from the chest and started tracing her hoof along the nearby wall.
“Really?  Those could prove useful…”
Starlight mumbled a distracted acknowledgement, her eyes remaining on the wall.  Then the actual substance of Archie’s remark and the implication behind it penetrated through to her distracted brain and she whirled around, “wait, don’t!”
It was too late.  The ghoul’s horn was already glowing with pale blue magic, as was the lock of the old chest.  The ancient stallion had only a moment to glance at the nearby mare with a puzzled expression before there was a brilliant flash of yellow light and he was sent hurtling out of the room.  There was a loud crash audible from the other side of the doorway, and Starlight rushed to see if the unicorn ghoul had survived his folly.
“Are you okay?!” she gasped, staring wide-eyed at the stallion laying in a crumpled heap on the far side of the living room.
Archie groaned softly and stirred as he prepared to get back up onto his hooves, “ow…” he breathed mekely.
“I should have warned you it was magically sealed,” Starlight said as she trotted to Archie’s side and help him back up, “sorry.”
“My own fault,” he groaned, rubbing the back of his neck, which seemed to have been what he had landed on after being tossed from the bedroom, “should have figured the Empire’s old Archmage would locked up his books with more than a simple key.”
“Well, actually,” Starlight started with a wry smirk as she trotted back into the bedroom and returned to the wall she had been studying earlier.  The ghoul stallion followed stiffly behind her and peeked back inside, wary of the chest.  He watched as the pink unicorn mare traced her hoof along the wall until it abruptly stopped and then moved to the floor below.  Out loud, but more to herself than anypony listening, Starlight mumbled, “three laws of thaumaturgy, five pillars of magic, and one rule of scrying,” with the mention of each number, her hoof counted over that many floorboards’ first left, then up, and then left again.
When her leg finally came to a rest, she pushed down on the end of the indicated board, and it popped up with ease, revealing a gleaming golden key beneath.  Starlight picked it up with her magic and smiled.  Her eyes glistened slightly, but she managed to not shed any actual tears as she recalled the reason why that key even existed.  It was a reason that she volunteered to Archie, simply out of a need to share it in order to take advantage of the sympathetic ear that was at hoof.
“Sunburst was a brilliant wizard, in a lot of ways,” she sighed, nominally speaking to the ghoul even if she never actually looked in his direction, “he’d memorized over a thousand different spells by the time he’d graduated from Celestia’s school.  He wasn’t very good at casting spells, but he knew them like nopony else.
“However,” she went on, rolling her eyes as she approached the chest with the key, “it often felt like the reason why he was so good at remembering spells was because he didn’t bother remembering anything else.  Like where he left the key for his chest.  After the fourth time we had to go out and buy a replacement ward lock―which isn’t cheap, I’ll have you know―I went ahead and made myself a bypass.”
“And you kept it hidden under the floor?” the ghoul rasped skeptically.
“I didn’t want Sunburst to know I had it,” she admitted, “not because I didn’t think he’d trust me or anything.  It was just...well, it was really starting to upset him, how often he was losing keys.  So, I decided to make my own so that whenever he lost his, I had the template to make another copy and place it somewhere he was sure to find it.  He stopped ‘losing’ keys, and started feeling a lot better about himself,” the mare flashed a wry smirk, “unfortunately, I couldn’t do the same thing to replace the glasses he kept losing.  That stallion would just put them down anywhere and not pick them up again.  I used to joke that if anypony ever needed to find him, they only needed to follow the trail of glasses left in his wake.”
She slipped the key into the lock and gave it a turn.  The lock clicked and the chest seemed to grow slightly duller in appearance as the magical wards encasing it were dispelled.  Starlight flipped open the lid…
...and gaped in astonishment at the contents.
She had anticipated finding a collection of ancient magical grimoires and old vellum scrolls.  Those were the articles that Sunburst had traditionally kept inside the chest, after all.  It seemed that a change had been made at some point after Starlight had left on her most recent trip through Equestria, because the contents were drastically different since the last time she had peeked inside.  Contained within the chest now was what must have been every personal effect that the two of them had acquired since getting married.  It was a veritable treasure trove of knick knacks and mementos.
Prominently displayed on top was their wedding photo and the quartet of Moonbeams first horseshoes.  Beneath those was a host of other photos of their life together.  There was also just about every birthday and anniversary gift that they’d ever exchanged.  Nestled on one side was also a trio of small glass globes that were glowing with clouded swirls of golden light.  Memory orbs.  Old World repositories of a pony’s experiences.
Starlight felt her rump landing hard on the floor as her hind legs gave out, her mind working hard to process the implications of what the contents of the chest signified.  There was no question that all of these objects amounted to the sum total of her and Sunburst’s life together.  The one question that she had in her head now was: why?  Certainly there were any number of reasons that her husband might have had for wanting to discard anything that might remind him of the wife he had believed was lost to him, but which one had it been?
Had the thought of losing his family simply been too painful, and so he had opted to seal away all thoughts of that traumatic loss in order to cope?  Had this all been in an effort to move on and settle down with somepony else?  Was there some other reason that she couldn’t conceive of that would have made sense to Sunburst?
She had come to this place to seek answers, but instead she felt like she had found only further questions.
Tentatively, she reached out with her magic and retrieved the nearest memory orb.  She glanced at Archie, silently asking his permission to peer inside of it, knowing that doing so would render her unaware of the world around her and leave him with the duty of watching over her unconscious body.  The ghoul gave her a somber nod and parked himself just outside the room.  A sweet, but largely unnecessary, granting of privacy.
Starlight did the best that she could to mentally prepare herself for what she might find within the memory orb.  What precisely had Sunburst wanted to effectively forget about her?  She swallowed and touched her horn to the glowing orb.


	oooOOOooo


The world blurred, and then slowly reformed around her.  Except she wasn’t a ‘her’ anymore; she was a ‘him’.  A him that was having a poor go at settling into the new office that went along with his new position as the Imperial Archmage.  At first he had been so overwhelmed by the prospect of being recognized for his magical talent―something which hadn’t happened since he was a foal―that he hadn’t really given much in the way of thought to what his new position would actually entail.  He had just figured that he was going to be a glorified librarian of sorts, placed in charge of the Empire’s moderately impressive collection of magical grimoires.
In less than a month he had soon discovered that this was far from the case.  His specialty up to this point had been rooted firmly in the pursuit and retention of magical knowledge.  However, it was not old magic that Equestria and the Crystal Empire were interested in to aid them in their war with the Zebras; it was new magic.  Unfortunately, there was a not insignificant gulf between the principles of memorizing the contents of a book and those espoused in divining completely untested spell matrixes.
He glanced down at the message on his terminal, his eyes lingering on the name of the author, one ‘Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle’.  The message had been very politely worded, but the subtext was plain to see: the Ministry of Arcane Science was not happy at all about how little progress he and the Empire’s ‘Academy’ had been making.  So, in an effort to help him ‘get things moving along’, the Ministry Mare was sending him somepony whose job it would be to ‘advise’ him.
“Take over is more like it,” he mumbled to himself as he finished reading the message for the umpteenth time that week.  Granted, the Ministry Mare hadn’t come right out and said as much.  That would have meant stepping on more than a few political hooves where the nominal autonomy of the Crystal Empire was concerned.  He knew about the history that the Crystal Princess and the MAS’s founder shared though, and doubted that it would take more than a simple word to Cadence to have him removed and replaced by anypony that Twilight wanted.  However, things in the Empire among the general public were becoming...tense, these days.
The crystal ponies, as a rule, loved Princess Cadence dearly, and would follow her lead most anywhere.  Even so, there was a slowly growing sentiment among them that their Empire was being dragged deeper and deeper into this war against the actual desires of their princess.  After all, there was no way that a leader who was very nearly the next best thing to the physical manifestation of love itself could want a genuine war with anyone, right?  The common crystal pony was certainly not very happy about their involvement in a war that was largely viewed as none of their business.  This had all started over a trade dispute between the Zebras and Equestria, and none of it had concerned the Empire at the time.
Indeed, there had been relatively little direct involvement of the Crystal Empire in the war, at first.  In the early years, only medical aid and disaster relief teams had been dispatched to help Equestrian ponies affected by the fighting.  The Empire’s citizens had wholeheartedly supported those efforts.
Then soldiers had finally been committed to the fighting.  That was when the worry had begun to set in among the populace.  Only a little at first, as those expeditionary forces had been volunteers that Princess Cadence offered to help her former mentor who ruled their close ally.  Assurances had been made at the time that those volunteers would only participate in defensive battles on Equestrian soil, and never actually attack into the enemy’s sovereign territories.  This helped somewhat to mollify the concern at the time was that seeing crystal pony soldiers would draw the ire of the zebras directly to the Empire.
Public opinion didn’t begin to sour noticeably until Princess Luna assumed the throne, and sent Cadence a ‘formal request’ for more soldiers to reinforce Equestria’s frontline regiments.  The official letter of state had been ever so graciously worded, but nopony in the Empire had seen it as anything less than Equestria telling them to commit their own forces to a nominally ‘foreign’ war.
Since that moment, the public had been watching very carefully for any further sign that Equestria was trying to assert dominance over a nation that was―again, nominally―an independent sovereign state.  On paper, the Crystal Empire was not a vassal of Equestria and Cadence was their ruler, not Luna, or her Ministries.
So, while Twilight could almost certainly have held a private conversation with the Imperial Princess and gotten him replaced with anypony that the Ministry Mare wanted, the public would have balked rather abrasively at the sign of the Equestrian government ‘meddling’ in the Empire’s domestic affairs.  Sunburst wasn’t sure exactly how much further the crystal ponies could be pushed before their love for Cadance was outweighed by their contempt for Equestria’s interference, but he doubted that they’d stand for much more at this point.  Either Twilight Sparkle knew enough about the local political climate to realize that, or somepony who did had cautioned her about taking more direct action; and she had settled for sending an ‘adviser’.
He had a pretty good idea of what would happen if his lack of progress continued though.  Hurt feelings among the crystal ponies or no, he would be replaced.  Keeping his job meant doing what he was told by whoever Twilight was sending, and essentially letting them run the show until things started going the way that the MAS wanted.
The moment Twilight’s envoy stepped through the door to his office, he was essentially no longer in charge of his own Academy.
A hoof tapped rather sternly upon the polished stone portal, making the golden stallion wince.  His new ‘boss’ had arrived.  He took a deep, resigned, breath and sat up straighter in the seat.  The least he could do was endure this with some semblance of dignity.  He was still Princess Cadance’s Imperial Archmage, after all.  Maybe he wasn’t a genuine crystal pony, but he still held a place in the Court, and that meant that his demeanor reflected on Cadance herself; and he respected the pink alicorn and the trust that she had placed in him too much to let her down if he could help it, “enter.”
The door swung inward, revealing a pink mare with a purple mane and tail.  A teal streak shot through both, very nearly matching her pale blue eyes.  Eyes which regarded the stallion sitting behind the desk with cool detachment.  She strode through the open door and approached him, “Sunburst, I presume?”
There was something...familiar about the mare, but he wasn’t able to place it.  He pushed the thought aside, resolving not to let himself become distracted, “Archmage Sunburst, yes,” he nodded curtly to the visitor, “you are the, um...advisor that Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle has sent to observe our operations here in the Crystal Empire?” he very pointedly used the wording that had been contained in the official missives that he had received, letting this mare know that, whatever else she might think her job here was, this was his domain.
The pink unicorn mare didn’t seem to have been phased by his language in the least, however.  In fact, his choice of words served only to amuse her, “no, I’m the mare that Twilight sent to tell you what you’ve been doing wrong and finally get this place working like it’s supposed to,” despite himself, Sunburst balked at her blunt statement, losing his carefully crafted composure.  The mare’s teal eyes sparkled with amusement upon seeing his surprised expression, “my name is Starlight Glimmer, and I’m your new boss.”
“Now see here―” the stallion blurted when he finally managed to recover from his shock.
“No, you see here,” she rose up and planted her hooves on the surface of his desk, glaring down at him.  Much to his own chagrin, the stallion felt himself flinching away from the rather aggressive unicorn mare, “this jumped up library of yours is a disgrace!  I know crystal ponies aren’t exactly renowned for their magical talents,” she admitted with a nod of her head before jabbing a hoof at the Archmage’s chest, “but you attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns!  The way I see it, a pony like you has no excuse for not being able to follow through on something as simple as a little magical research.
“Your staff has yet to produce a single new spell; and that’s just unacceptable,” she frowned at the stallion, “I don’t suppose you have any shitty excuses ready so that I can explain to you how pathetic they are?”
“Well―I―um…”
The mare snorted in disgust and rolled her eyes at the stallion, “of course not.  No new magic, no bad excuses, exactly what have you and your staff been coming up with here?”
This time, she seemed inclined to wait long enough for Sunburst to give some sort of coherent answer.  It took the stallion far longer than he cared to admit to recompose himself and finally articulate one beneath her bored stare, “Miss Glimmer, I don’t think you quite appreciate how unique our facility is: the Crystal Empire’s library―like everything and everypony else in the Empire―was removed from time for over a thousand years!  It is far older than the Canterlot Library―perhaps even older than the library in the Castle of the Two Sisters!  There are volumes here that were long thought completely lost by Equestrian scholars.  Some of the titles on these shelves date back to before there even was an Equestria!  If you think that such invaluable works, some written in languages that predate even Old Ponish, can be interpreted with just a casual―”
“Language barrier.  Perfect!” Starlight interrupted him, withdrawing a scroll and a quill as she started to scratch out some notes, “that should buy us a few months,” she glanced back at the stallion, whose face had once more blanched, “anything else?”
“I―what?”
“Can you think of any other reasons that I can feed Twilight about why nothing’s been done up here?”
Sunburst narrowed his eyes at the pink mare, “...I thought you weren’t interested in excuses?”
“I’m not interested in bad excuses,” Starlight stressed with a smile, tapping the scroll levitating in front of her with her quill, “but you’re right that the books here are likely older than anything else any Equestrian scholar has ever encountered.  The research going on in Equestria is chugging along quite nicely because there are ponies who have spent their entire lives studying the books on magic that are there.  Twilight has, literally, thousands of experts at her disposal to help her come up with new spells based on those sources.
“How many ponies have read all of the books in the Imperial Library?”
“All of them?  Um, nopony.  Nopony left alive, anyway,” Sunburst amended soberly, “it seems that King Sombra was keen to eliminate anypony in the Crystal Empire who knew enough about magic to pose a threat to him.”
Starlight’s quill was dancing over the vellum once more, “lack...of experts...on site.  That’s a good one too.  I can probably get her to send us a few dozen interns or something.  No experienced ponies, we’ll want fresh minds for this in case there’s material in those books that flies in the face of Equestrian unicon sensibilities,” she added, rolling her eyes, “you would not believe the sort of entrenched thinking that goes on in Canterlot,” her features contorted into a grimace, “if it’s not magic that they think has merit, they don’t want to even hear about it…
“But, having a team of ponies with no experience is one more reason I can give Twilight that could buy us a year or two on top of the language barrier thing,” the mare grinned broadly once more as she jotted down another quick note.
“I’m sorry; I’m confused,” the amber stallion was finally forced to admit, pushing his glasses back into place from where they had been subtly slipping down his muzzle, “why are you helping me buy more time?”
“I’m not.  I’m helping me buy more time,” Starlight corrected the stallion, and took a fair amount of delight in seeing his confusion compound significantly.  She chuckled, “the longer I can convince Twilight Sparkle that I’ll need to get this place producing the results she wants, the longer I can stay here as her ministry liaison, and away from Canterlot.
“You have no idea what it’s like working for that mare,” the pink unicorn sneered acidly, prompting Sunburst’s eyes to widen in surprise.  He had not expected to hear somepony who worked so closely with the Ministry Mare of the MAS be so critical of her boss, “she acts like she’s some sort of expert on everything arcana, but she’s a dabbler, at best.  Maybe she graduated from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, but it’s not like she’s the next incarnation of Clover the Clever.  She’s never even created a new spell before, whereas I broke ground on a whole new school of magic before she’d ever attained her ministry title!
“Not that she or any of her cronies wanted to hear about it…” she added with a mumbled growl under her breath.  She took a deep, cleansing, breath and continued more amicably, “suffice it to say I am completely on your side in this.”
Sunburst felt himself letting out a tense breath he hadn’t realized that he’d been holding.  He had not anticipated finding any sort of ally in whatever liaison Twilight had thought to send his way, and the knowledge that this mare was firmly in his corner from the outset was a very welcome surprise indeed.  Why, with enough time, the two of them might very well be able to start churning out the results that the MAS was looking for.
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear you say that Miss...Glimmer, was it?” something nagged at the back of his mind, but it was a fleeting sensation, “it certainly wasn’t anything that I expected after the introduction that you made.  You’re quite...assertive.”
The unicorn mare’s blue eyes gleamed brightly above a mischievous smile, “scared you a little, didn’t I?” the Archmage begrudged her a slight nod, “that’s because I needed to make sure I got some honest answers out of you.  Sparkle may be new to the field of genuine magical research, but even I have to admit she’s not a complete moron.  She’d know a shit excuse if she heard one, and I needed real reasons to justify any further delays.  Throwing you off of whatever prepared script you had was the best way I knew of to get at them.”
“So you’re not going to be taking over?” the golden stallion felt himself relaxing even further.
“Oh, yeah, I’m absolutely taking the lead on all the projects here” Sunburst immediately tensed up again, “as I said: I have experience in arcane matrix development,” as though she sensed his increased trepidation, she added, “but that doesn’t mean I’m going to cut you out of the loop or anything.  I’m not going to pretend that I know the first thing about what’s contained in the books here.  You do though.  Your knowledge of the tomes here will be integral to our success, so you will stay exactly where you are, and keep doing your research.
“However, I’ll be the one ‘managing’ you and your team to make sure you’re pursuing useful paths.  I’ll also be the pony in charge of matrix development for any promising new magicks, since that’s my area of expertise.
“You and I are going to be working very closely together for the foreseeable future, Sunburst,” She smiled at the stallion and held out her hoof, “and I’m looking forward to it.”
Sunburst wasn’t going to pretend that he was completely thrilled by everything that he’d heard in his office today.  What little relief he felt had been tempered by the mare’s laid out plans for how things were going to be organized.  He was the highest magical authority in the Crystal Empire.  He was supposed to take his direction directly from Princess Cadence.  The idea that he’d have to defer to this mare nibbled at his pride more than a little bit.
Still, if she was willing to largely keep out of his mane where the actual research was concerned, he supposed that he could live with that.  He had to admit that he knew next to nothing about creating spells.  Truth be told, he knew embarrassingly little about casting spells.  His strengths lied in his ability to retain and recall magical knowledge with awesome accuracy.  Every test at Princess Celestia’s magical academy which had involved drawing upon the study material he had passed with flying colors.  Which had been just enough to keep him from failing out of the school entirely when those scores were factored in with the paltry marks he earned when tested on his actual magical proficiency.
“Very well, Miss Glimmer,” he sighed, extending his hoof, “so where do you suggest we start?”
“Starlight, please,” their hooves clacked briefly before she withdrew hers, “and let’s start with coffee.  It was a long trip here from Canterlot,” she turned and headed for the door, pausing to look over her shoulder and motion for him to follow after her, “I saw a nice little cafe on my way here that’s not too far…”


	oooOOOooo


The past eased out of focus and the present asserted itself once more as the memory ended.  Starlight Glimmer shook off the last remaining vestiges of disorientation and looked around her surroundings, taking in the nearly empty room that she had once shared with her husband.  Archie’s ghoulish form was standing in the doorway, looking down at her with an expression of mixed relief and curiosity.
“You were out for a while,” he rasped at the prone mare, “are you alright?”
The pink mare blinked as she sorted out the scenes that she had just beheld.  It wasn’t as easy this time as it had been with other memory orbs that she had seen in her life.  Generally, when she reviewed the orbs from other ponies, it was a simple matter to make sense of things and compartmentalize what she had seen; separating it out as ‘some other ponies memories’.  It was like watching a movie, in a way.  This time though, things were different.
She remembered that day quite clearly.  Only, she remembered it from her own perspective.  There had also been some...discrepancies, between what she remembered and what she had just seen in the orb.  That was one minor flaw with memory orbs: they were memories.  With a few exceptions, nopony could ever commit events perfectly to memory exactly as they had happened.  Usually, this wasn’t all that much of a problem, since ‘close’ was often good enough for most of what the orbs were intended for.
However, Starlight was undergoing a bit of an internal crisis at the moment as her brain tried to reconcile those minor differences between what she recalled personally, and what she had just witnessed in the orb.  She hadn’t remembered being quite so...hostile towards Sunburst; but that was clearly how the stallion had seen her arrival.  Had she really been that abrasive with him during their first meeting at the Academy?  Had she really seemed so self-absorbed and vapid during their conversation later at the cafe?
That memory had encompassed most of the afternoon, starting from that meeting and ending when she had finally left for the suite at the hotel where the MAS had paid to put her up at while she worked.  Once her initial report had been sent back to Twilight, along with a revised estimate for the project timelines and the reasoning for those estimates, she had been moved into an apartment near the library.
Starlight looked down at the little glowing orb, “I’m fine,” if she didn’t sound absolutely convinced of that, there was good reason for it.  While she had been fairly sure of what sort of memories she would find in the orb, given the nature of the other contents and how they related to the life she had shared with Sunburst, she hadn’t been prepared for the sheer totality of it.  Every moment of her contact that day with Sunburst had been included in that memory.  Hours of discourse.
This hadn’t even been the point where their romance had begun to kindle.  Sunburst hadn’t even yet realized who she was yet!  The idea that her husband had wanted to be so thoroughly rid of any memory of her existence that he would even remove something like that, well...it hurt.  It hurt a lot.  If he had been as extensive with all their other interactions...it would have been for him like the two of them had never met at all.
The mare spent several more long moments staring into the chest at the remaining orbs.  Who knew how many more hours, or days, or perhaps even years worth of memories they contained?  There certainly wasn’t time enough for her to review them all here, and Starlight wasn’t sure that she wanted to put herself through that; to see exactly how much Sunburst wanted to be rid of her memory.  She collected them though, and placed them soberly into her bags.
She removed one more article from the chest as well: a blue cape with gold trim.  It was very tattered, and a little threadbare in places, but it had been Sunburst’s favorite cloak.  This she did not place in her bag, but instead threw up over her back and fastened into place around her neck.  The garment now snugly in place, draped over her leather duster, the pink unicorn mare closed the lid on the remainder of the precious articles which effectively summed up her life before waking up in the post-Equestrian Wasteland.  Her hoof rested lightly upon it.
“I’m so sorry,” she said in a near silent whisper that even Archie might not have been able to hear from his position in the doorway, “I should have stuck to my itinerary and come right back.  I just...I heard they were doing things with our little Moonbeam in Neighvada, and even though they were just rumors…” she sniffed and wiped at her muzzle, “I just...I never thought the zebras would really do it, you know?  They had balefire, we had megaspells; only an idiot would have actually used any of it!
“...I wish I’d been here.  I should have been here.  I’m sorry.
“Goodbye, Sunny,” Starlight took in a deep, ragged breath as she fought to maintain her composure.  She removed her hoof from the chest, “may Celestia protect you, Luna defend you, and may we see each other again, in the Everafter.
“I love you.”
Starlight turned away, and left.
> Chapter Three: Old World Blues
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

But the days ahead are dark and tragic
No time for hope when all is strife

“Did you find what you needed?” the rag-bound ghoul rasped as he and Starlight Glimmer made their way out of the house that the pink unicorn had once shared with her long-dead husband.
“Needed?” the mare asked, her words slightly listless as she steadily composed herself for their return to the city’s center, “I suppose.  I don’t know that there was ever going to be a way to do this that wasn’t going to be...difficult; but I really hadn’t expected the orbs,” she cast an idle glance back at her saddlebags and the glowing little motes of memories that they contained.
“Does it bother you, that he wanted to forget?”
“A little,” she admitted, her expression souring, “I suppose I can kind of understand.  He’d just lost his wife and daughter.  I’m sure it was very painful,” Starlight rolled her eyes and let out a hollow laugh, “I know it’s very painful.  I’m half tempted to have a few memories extracted myself,” she might have been joking.  Maybe, “but, at least this way, I have them.  Who knows?  Maybe this is better.  I’ll be able to see ‘us’ through his eyes.  How many widows can say that they ever get the chance to have that sort of insight into their husbands?”
“Not many, I expect,” the ghoul agreed as they headed outside into the perpetual storm that raged through the outer circles of the ancient crystalline city, “ready to go back?”
Starlight wasn’t certain of how serious the question was.  Ready or not, it was pretty clear that the two of them needed to return sooner than later.  Their encounter with the umbra ponies had hammered the point home pretty clearly of just how dangerous this city was.  The unicorn mare certainly didn’t have any pressing desire to remain in it any longer than she had too.  Not that it looked like she’d be leaving any time soon.
“Yeah,” she nodded, gathering her duster’s collar up around her neck to ward off the worst of the snow once again, “let’s get going.”
Her mind quickly turned from thoughts of her dead husband and what she and Archie had found in their old home to, well, the future.  It was a subject that, she now realized, she had actually given surprisingly little thought to since setting out on this journey.  Partially, that had probably been because, despite her desperate hope to the contrary, Starlight had never really believed that she’d learn the truth to the definitive degree that she just had.  Never in her wildest fantasies had she expected it to be this easy, and wrap up so neatly.
This was supposed to have been the sort of futile quest that would take her many years, and leave her wandering the whole of Equestria without ever finding any actual closure.  That was exactly how she had expected this whole endeavor to go…
...because, deep down, that was what Starlight had wanted.  She had wanted―needed, even―the distraction of such an eternal search.  After all, what exactly was there left for her in this world?  Her husband had died centuries past.  Her daughter’s soul had effectively been stripped away around that same time.  She’s been witness to the final passing of her daughter’s physical form only a few months ago.  Everypony that she had ever known was long dead and gone as well.  For all intents and purposes, this wasn’t even her world.
She had no place here.  Where she belonged was two centuries in the past; only there was no way to get back there.
Starlight was stuck in this strange, devastated, future that she was never supposed to have lived to see.  Worse than that, she had been thrust into its reality through a trial by blood, and death, and fire.  It was all still so very surreal for her, and she was only just beginning to process how to deal with it all.
Certainly she hadn’t put any sort of thought into building a life in it.  What was she supposed to do?  Where was she supposed to live?
Well, she supposed that last question had sort of answered itself, hadn’t it?  According to Archie, there wasn’t any way to safely leave the Crystal Empire with the wendigos about; and she had witnessed, first hoof, how dangerous they were.  So, for the foreseeable future, it looked like this pink mare from the past was going to be living among the last of the crystal ponies in their dying city.  Perhaps not her first choice of post-apocalyptic settlements; but it certainly wasn’t the worst off that she had seen in her travels.  Her ghoulish escort had placed the expected expiration date at a few decades in the future, which was quite an optimistic life expectancy for someplace like the Equestrian Wasteland.
And perhaps that could help Starlight with her need to figure out what to do with her time: finding a way to extend that expiration date.  Part of her job, before the Great War had destroyed the world, had been to come up with new magicks that would save it.  Obviously, those endeavors had failed in spectacular fashion back then; but she could certainly hope for a marginally better outcome this time around.  While she didn’t know how she was going to do it, Starlight was determined to at least make a commendable effort to drive back the wendigos and stave off the ultimate destruction of the Empire and the ponies who were still living in it.
Beyond that, assuming her efforts were ultimately successful, well...Starlight couldn’t say.  Without some great threat looming overhead that portented the deaths of everypony around her, the unicorn wasn’t sure what she’d do.  Mostly because that was just the sort of life she’d become accustomed to by this point.  The War, Arginine’s Stable, the wendigos; she wasn’t sure how she’d handle a life where her most pressing concern was whether to wash the dishes before, or after, she did the laundry.
Was she even capable of enduring that level of mediocrity?
In hindsight, given the nature of their surroundings, Starlight’s attention would probably have been better served directed at spotting potential threats instead of wool-gathering.  The ghoul stallion with her might have been the resident expert on local dangers, but he was just one pony, and could only be looking in so many directions at once.  It was an oversight that cost them the initiative in their next fight; but had, fortunately, not cost them their lives at the outset.
“REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE!  DISINTEGRATION COMMENCING!”
A cascade of rainbow beams lanced forth from the dense flurry of falling flakes, illuminating their dim surroundings with a splash of dazzling multicolored light.  Both ponies leaped out of the way as the torrent of deadly light ripped its way through the deep snowdrifts.  Powdered snow and blasts of steam exploded all around them as the intense heat of the energetic bolts superheated the frozen water crystals that covered the ground.  The clouds of dense steam obscured the vision of the two ponies even further, as though their attacker hadn’t already been nearly impossible to spot.
Not for the first time, Starlight Glimmer found herself wishing that she had been possessed of one of the Stable-Tec fetlock-mounted devices that would have permitted her to detect threats through just about any obstruction.  Lacking such a device, all she could do was snap off a few shots in the vague direction that the beams were coming from with her shotgun as she and Archie ran for cover.  Not that there was much in the way of that to be had out in the middle of the street.
“What’s firing at us?!” Starlight screamed as her magic threaded a line of fresh rounds into her weapon’s feeder port.  The ghoul didn’t seem to have a ranged weapon of his own, only the diamond-forged sword.  This initially struck the mare as a particularly stupid oversight on his part.  Though, she was forced to admit that simple firearms certainly hadn’t proved to be all that effective against the umbra ponies.  There was every possibility that such weapons wouldn’t work against whatever this was either.
“PrismaTron,” Archie yelled back at her over the sound of the flash-boiling snowdrifts, “think: UltraSentinel, but made out of gems!”
“Let me guess,” the pink mare grimaced as she fired off five more shots on the run, “immune to bullets?”
“Most kinds,” he admitted as they rounded the corner of a building.  Concentrated bolts of deadly light struck the faceted surface, gouging deep divots into the structure and showering the pair with glittering dust, “armor piercing can get through.  Spark rounds work too.”
Those were both varieties that Starlight did not possess in significant quantity.  She let out a frustrated grunt and pulled out her spellbooks, “I get that this is the Crystal Empire, and all; but couldn’t you ponies have built at least some things out of metal like everypony else?!”
Another chunk of wall vanished in an explosion of rainbow light and they both ducked as faceted shards rained down on them, “it’s not like there’s much else to build with out here…” Archie muttered.
Starlight responded with another annoyed grunt and some mumbling as she paged through her grimoires, “Royal Canterlot Voice...an inverse Mosaic Manifestation...and…”
“Even a primer should have Saint Elmo’s Fire,” the ghoul offered, “to help with the electronic components of the PrismaTron.”
“Ooh, good call,” the pink mare nodded, turning to the appropriate page and scanning over the spell.  She was severely testing the limits of what she was capable of this time.  Merging spells was difficult enough, especially such simplistic ones that were never intended to be invoked in such a way by unicorns of real skill.  Now, on top of that, she was going to try and actively invert one of them so that it would have the exact opposite of its intended effect.  Even with simpler cantrips, that was a difficult feat under ideal circumstances.
Being shot at, in the middle of a blizzard, while merging it with two other spells was just about the furthest thing from an ‘ideal circumstance’ that Starlight could think of.  She closed her eyes and focused on constructing the matrices, “I’m going to need a clear shot,” she informed the stallion through clenched teeth as she already felt the magical forces within her protesting what she was trying to do.  She was taking some pretty creative liberties with their composition at the moment, and it was anypony’s guess if they’d even maintained their integrity long enough to be cast.
Best case scenario: she came out of this with a respectable headache.  Worst case…
Well, that would certainly dispel her concerns regarding what she’d be doing for the rest of her life.
“One clear shot, coming up,” the ghoul sighed as he withdrew the shimmering blade from its scabbard and charged out from around their slowly disappearing cover, “hey, over here!”
As was intended, the relentless stream of brilliant energy shifted from working over the building that the pair had been huddling behind and started after the ghoul unicorn.  Archie dashed through the snow, moving with far more alacrity than Starlight might have expected from somepony who looked like a corpse long overdue for burial.
Starlight didn’t take the time to admire her escort’s nimble movements.  She had a much more pressing concern: casting her rather tenuously constructed spell.  The pink unicorn mare stepped out from behind cover and glared in the direction that the energy bolts were coming from, sweat starting to bead along her brow.  She had her spell, she had her target―ish―now she needed only a word with which to discharge it.  She took a deep breath.
Archie screamed.
Before she knew what she was doing, Starlight whipped her head in the direction that the pained cry had come from just in time to see a golden lance of light strike the side of the ghoul and pierce cleanly through his torso, emerging from the other side.  The withered stallion went rigid, his stride catching mid-gait as he tumbled into the snow, plowing a billowing white furrow in the ground as more chromatic beams washed overhead.
“No!”
Her reaction had been instinctive, precipitated by the sight of her escort being cut down by the deadly fire coming out of the darkness.  It was too late to take it back though, and that single word carried with it not just her fear for the safety of the ancient Imperial pony, but her spell as well.  A conical wave of visible energy emanated outward, not in the direction of the PrismaTron, but over Archie’s prone form.  The potent spell that had been intended to shatter their attacker slammed into another building instead, devastating the structure that had endured two centuries of extreme cold and stormy winds; but which was no match for the magical acumen of a pink mare whose knowledge and experience had carried her high up the ranks of the Ministry of Arcane Science.
The long abandoned home trembled for a brief instant, and then it shattered into a cloud of glass.  The grain-sized shards that had once been a building captured and amplified the cascade of shifting hues from the attacking robot’s energy weapons, turning the old neighborhood into something reminiscent of an Old World rave presided over by Equestria’s original DJ Pon3.  Through her fear, Starlight Glimmer noticed that those shots were getting progressively less focused and accurate as the stream of fire started to drift higher and further away.  Something about the cloud of refracting crystalline dust was disrupting the PrismaTron’s targeting systems.
The pink mare realized that wasn’t going to be the case for long though, as the debris was already quickly settling into the snow.  She dashed out into the maelstrom of lethal light and dove for Archie’s still form, “don’t be dead don’t be dead don’t be dead…” Starlight uttered the words over and over like a desperate mantra as she automatically clutched at the ghoul’s neck for a pulse.  A heartbeat later she chided herself for forgetting that ghoul ponies didn’t have a pulse.  Nor did they breathe.  Honestly, without the aid of a pipbuck, she wasn’t sure how exactly she was supposed to know if the stallion was alive or not.  Frankly, this precise moment wasn’t an ideal time to devise a method to do so anyway.
Starlight produced a healing potion and emptied the contents into the charred hole that had been drilled through his barrel.  Archie was either still alive, or he wasn’t.  Regardless, remaining out in the open like this wasn’t an option.  The two of them needed to be elsewhere, and quickly.  The mare squinted through the thick haze of billowing flakes of the perpetual storm in the opposite direction of their robotic attacker.  She focused on the furthest location that she could make out clearly enough and clutched the ghoul as tightly as she dared.
A cyan flash enveloped both of them, and a moment later they materialized at the point that she had focused on.  It honestly probably wasn’t even a hundred yards from where they had just been.  Indeed, Starlight could still clearly see the stream of chromatic energy flying through the air.  The light show ended a second later, but her ears were able to pick up the sound of something large and heavy crunching through the thick covering of snow that coated the city.  It either knew where they were, or was simply conducting a search pattern designed to find them.  As close as they were, it would be on them again very soon in either case.
They needed to move again, and soon.
As much magic as she had expended recently, Starlight wasn’t confident that she could successfully teleport the both of them all the way back to the city’s center.  Of course, if Archie was already dead and there wasn’t anything that could be done for him, the mare suspected that she could take herself back to the castle with little issue…
A faint moan escaped the stallion’s mottled lips.
He was alive!  Honestly, a bit of a mixed blessing in Starlight’s case.  While she was grateful that she wasn’t going to be known to the Empire’s residents as the mare who had gotten their beloved ghoul mentor killed on her selfish quest to hold a paltry eulogy for her long dead husband, it did still leave her with the difficult question of what the two of them were going to do to get away from their attacker.  She could try her spell again and hope that it went better the second time around, but the two of them were a lot more exposed than they had been a moment ago.
Starlight’s teleportation had taken them out from the cluster of small homes and shops into the middle of what looked to be some sort of wide avenue, or perhaps even a courtyard, given the large structure nearby.  If they could make it inside, they might find shelter behind the thick crystal walls though.  It was a plan, at least.
The pink unicorn mare poured a second healing potion into Archie’s noticeably smaller wound for good measure before levitating the ghoul onto her back and carefully draping him across her withers.  His desiccated body was a lot lighter than she would have thought, honestly.  Either that, or nearly a year of hard living in the Equestrian Wasteland had done more to improve her physical fitness than she had suspected.  She trotted gingerly through the thick snow, diligently finding the steps buried beneath them that would take them up to the massive reinforced doors of the large building.  It was an encouraging sight, to be sure.  If this place couldn’t keep them safe from the PrismaTron, then no place was safe.
She placed her hooves against the doors and pushed as hard as she could.  Nothing happened.  Her apprehension began to grow as her ears picked up the sounds of the robot pursuing them growing louder.  She pushed again, leaning into the portal with all of her weight.  Still nothing happened.  She wrapped her hooves around the heavy latch and pulled, also to no avail.
“Come on, open!” she cried out in an exasperated tone, pounding against the treated lumber barred with iron.  Her horn glowed as she assaulted it, first with every cantrip and minor spell that she knew of that had even a remote possibility of opening a stuck or locked door.  These efforts too proved fruitless.  After those options were exhausted, Starlight moved on the actual assaults with pulses of destructive magic, in an effort to cut her way through.  All that resulted from those magical exertions were blackened marks and the onset of a looming migraine which promised to punish her severely for evoking so much magic in such a brief period of time.
On the bright side, if they ever managed to get in, they would surely be safe from the PrismaTron’s weapons!
Not that it seemed that getting past the doors was going to be an easy task.
“Open!” she screamed at the door, as though the inanimate construction might be inclined to take pity on their plight and allow them sanctuary if only she sounded desperate enough.  It was a wasted effort, of course.  The door didn’t budge, and the sound of the robot hunting them grew ever louder, likely attracted to their position by all of the commotion that she was making.
“Please!” still the door was unsympathetic to her wailing.  Starlight wilted before the stubborn entrance, her stomach gripped by hopelessness, “...please…”
“YOUR COOPERATION IS APPRECIATED!” Starlight tensed at the blaring synthesized voice, wheeling around so quickly that her frantic spin very nearly dislodged the ghoul laying across her back, “YOUR DEATHS WILL BE SWIFT! ALL HAIL THE CRYSTAL PRINCESS!”
The faceted robot that had been trying to kill them was clearly visible now as it approached.  It very much resembled a massive crystal pony, adorned in the traditional armor of the Crystal Empire’s knights, sitting atop a pair of snow-packed treads.  Mounted on a swiveling turret bolted onto its right side was a steaming gatling magical energy cannon, its seven barrels slowly rotating.  Those barrels pivoted to point directly at the pair of ponies on the stairs, and then the barrels started rotating.
Starlight threw up the most robust defensive barrier that she could muster.  A cyan shell burst into existence at nearly the same moment that the cascade of searing light poured out at them.  The impacts of the bolts created nearly blinding flashes as they exhausted themselves upon Starlight’s magical shield.  It was only a momentary respite, of course, and the unicorn mare well knew that.  No spell cast by a mere unicorn, even one as accomplished as herself, could hope to stave off the sheer volume of destruction being levied against her and the unconscious Archie for long.
She could still leave, the mare realized.  She could teleport away and save herself.  It would mean leaving the ghoul to die, but surely it was better that one of them should live than for them both to perish.  Agate and the others would understand…
Movement off to her left and right caught the unicron’s attention.  She turned her head away from the dazzling display of chromatic energy blasts splashing against her barrier, and immediately felt her heart sink.  The movement was a pair of heavy machinegun turrets to either side of the doorway rising up out of their concealed positions in the ground.  Their barrels already leveled inward towards the staircase and the pair of ponies there.
Then, much to her relieved surprise, those imposing barrels swiveled around and trained upon the PrismaTron.  The mare winced in pain as the rolling thunder of those large caliber weapons unleashed mirrored streams of orange tracers into the chassis of the crystalline automaton.  While most weapons wielded by a common pony might not have had the power to effectively punch through the thick armored shell of the robot, the heavy slugs of those two turrets encountered little effective resistance.  They chewed deep furrows into the PrismaTron, sending bullets deep into its inner workings.
In a matter of seconds, the robot’s energy weapon fell silent.  It’s speaker system squealed and shrieked a few times as circuits were destroyed and wiring shorted.  Before Starlight was able to finish processing what had just happened, the large automated sentinel was just a pile of crystal shard and smoldering circuitry that barely even resembled the intimidating robot that it had once been.  Only then did the turrets to either side of her and Archie go quiet, their glowing barrels steaming in the cold.
The pink unicorn jerked as a speaker mounted into the wall of the building near the door crackled to life, “are you two okay?”
Through the speaker’s mild distortion, Starlight could pick out the voice of a young mare.  It was clear and crisp, so not that of a ghoul, either.  She hadn’t suspected that there would be anypony else out here in the abandoned sections of the city.  From what Archie and the others had suggested, nopony really strayed too far from the castle.  There was no reason to.
She trotted up and stared at the speaker panel, “um, yes, we’re alright.  Are you the one controlling the turrets?”
“Hacking the Academy’s defense systems was one of the first things I did when I got here.  You don’t mess around with umbras,” the mare on the other end of the connection responded proudly, “Didn’t think I’d need them to protect anypony else but me though.  What are you doing out here anyway?”
“We were looking through some of the old houses.  Can you let us in?  My friend’s hurt.”
“Oh, uh, sure.  Just a sec,” Starlight heard the deep thrum of machinery moving within the nearby walls.  A moment later, one of the doors slowly creaked inward.  Through the narrow opening, Starlight could make out the faint glow of powered lights, “Come on in!  I’ll meet you in the main gallery,” there was a faint crackle of static, and then the speaker went silent.
Starlight took one final, cautious, look around.  Save for the smoldering remains of the PrismaTron and the steaming gun turrets, there didn’t appear to be signs of anything else dangerous nearby.  She shifted Archie around on her back and slipped in through the open door.
Once inside, the pink unicorn mare found herself inside a massive rotunda that contained two stories and a high domed ceiling.  Her mind flashed with veiled recognition as what she remembered about this place tried to reconcile with what she was seeing at this very moment.  Like so much else in the Crystal Empire, her memory of what it had been only a short time ago, to her mind, was quite far removed from the present reality.  Too much had changed so drastically in the ‘one year’ since she’d left.
When she had last been here, the main gallery had contained a single large reception desk where ponies waited to assist visitors to the Imperial Academy.  Behind them had been a dozen smaller desks that held terminals which could be used to locate books and reference materials which lined the tall shelves of the old library’s publicly accessible areas.  Things were quite different now.
While the massive reception desk, which had been built directly into the floor, still remained, all of the others were gone, shuffled off to one side of the circular room; and that lone remainder had apparently been converted into a soup line.  Rusted and defunct stoves and pots lay just beyond it, and a couple stacks of trays and bowls had tumbled to the floor at some point in the past.  A few trays were visible on those old terminal desks off to the side, suggesting where the dining area had been.  Down one of the large hallways which branched off of the rotunda, Starlight spied several moldy mattresses and bedrolls.
It seemed that, at some point after the city’s protective barrier fell, this old library had been converted into a shelter of some sort.  Archie had mentioned that much of the city had been demolished in order to make room for arable land.  That suggested that they had needed to house the displaced residents somewhere.  It looked like a fair number had been packed into this place until it was eventually abandoned.  Unlike her old home though, which had been rather deliberately stripped of everything useful and left bare, this place had not been quite so thoroughly cleared out.
Starlight’s mind had only just begun to come up with plausible theories about why this place would have been treated differently when she saw the skeletons.  Indeed, they were merely the first, as the unicorn didn’t need to go very far at all before she spied a great deal more.  Nearly all of them were lying upon old mattresses.  Nearby were bedpans and chamber pots, not all of them appearing to have been emptied and washed out after their last use.
This hadn’t been a place to house the dispossessed, the mare soon realized.  It had been a makeshift hospital.  Or, at the very least, it had quickly turned from the former to the latter; likely due to the overcrowding.  Archie had also told her about the ‘plague years’ which had ravaged the city.
“Welcome to one the Crystal Empire’s many tombs.”
Starlight’s head whipped around in time to see a turquoise mare slowly descending a flight of stairs from the upper level.  She was a crystal pony, the unicorn realized immediately, and she was dressed in the steel armor of one of their knights.  A vibrant green and silver sash was slung across her chest, and a matching green crest sat atop her visored helmet.  Like those sets of barding that she had seen worn in and around the castle, it seemed quite anachronistic even in the decayed surroundings of the otherwise modern library.  The only contemporary alteration to the mare’s barding was the magical energy rifle mounted to her side; though even that was still quite clearly a product of crystal pony aesthetic; as it had many of the cosmetic features of an ancient jousting lance.  Save for the discrete spark pack array mounted on the opposite side, anypony would have been hard pressed to identify her armament as an energy weapon.
The crystal pony paused for a brief moment as she tipped up her visor and gaped at Starlight Glimmer with her golden eyes, “...you’re not a crystal pony.  Who are you?  And how did you get past the wendigos?!” her tone was not so much accusatory as it was incredulous; as though she couldn’t believe that such a thing could possibly have happened.
“My name is Starlight Glimmer, and it’s a long story.  I’ll tell you everything, I swear.  But first, my friend…” she nodded her head at the caped ghoul who was still draped over her back.
The crystal mare’s gaze shifted slightly to regard Starlight’s burden, and then her eyes widened, “Master Archie?!  Is he okay?” she must have been part unicorn, because the turquoise mare just about teleported next to Starlight, she moved so fast.
The pink unicorn mare very diligently lifted the ghoul from her back and deposited him on a nearby mattress that didn’t appear to be in as poor condition as most as gently as she could manage, the crystal mare fretting over him immediately, “he’s alive, but he took a bad hit.”
“Cast a healing spell or something!” she pleaded, noting the horn atop Starlight’s head.
“I’m not quite so good with healing magic,” the unicorn admitted.  As much studying as she had done in her life, battlefield medicine had not been one of her chief concerns.  Certainly it hadn’t come up much during the course of her studies before the war had broken out; and the vast majority of her magical efforts after that had centered around the development of weapons, not healing...spells…
Though perhaps that was the answer, wasn’t it? “I need one of your spark packs.  Highest charged one you’ve got,” Starlight said breathlessly as she used her magic to open up the small leather pouch she carried which contained her own small supply of precious stones.  Wearing a confused expression, the crystal mare pulled free one of her cartridges which was packed full of highly energized powdered gemstones and passed it to the unicorn.  She took it absently in her telekinetic field even as she appraised her assorted jewels.
“What are you doing?”
Starlight made her choice, and returned all but a finely polished emerald to the pouch.  She cracked open the spark pack and poured out the glittering powder onto the floor of the decrepit library.  It didn’t remain in a pile for very long as she utilized her magic to spread the tiny grains around, “I’m making something that I haven’t created in a very long time,” she murmured, biting her lower lip in concentration as she worked.  As the crystal mare looked on, the pile of assorted gem powder transformed into one of the most elaborate works of art that she had ever seen.  Starlight’s magic was even separating out the granules of the types of gems that had been ground up, laying them out in distinctly colored lines.
“Honestly,” the pink unicorn added absently, “this is probably the first time anypony’s made one of these in nearly two hundred years, if I had to guess,” once she was satisfied with the rune that she had laid out, she carefully positioned the emerald that she had selected in the center of the pattern, “and it definitely isn’t something I could do by myself if it was any bigger…”
Before the turquoise mare could ask for further clarification, Starlight’s horn flared with sickly green light.  Unlike most auras that surrounded her horn, this was not a simple glowing effect.  The light flickered and danced much the same way that the flames of a fire might.  The unicorn closed her eyes in concentration.  She didn’t particularly care for this spell.  It made her feel...icky, inside.  However, it was the only thing that she knew for certain would help a ghoul like Archie to fully recover.
Her spell fired off, and the rune made out of powdered crystals began to glow that same sickly shade of green, before it too burst into flames.  The licking tendrils of fire rose higher and higher into the air.  The crystal pony took several steps back, her golden eyes wide with fright as she beheld the eerie sight.  Then the flames began to dance and swirl around, becoming a tempest of viridian fire.  The flicker surrounding Starlight’s horn grew higher and higher, until the tip of it finally made contact with the tornado rising out of the glyph she’d drawn out on the floor.
The swirling green flames flashed brighter still, speckled with streaks of yellow and orange as it started spinning faster and faster.  As it’s rotation increased in magnitude, it also began to shrink down, the focus of its funnel directed on the shimmering emerald that Starlight had placed at the center of the arcane rune.  In a matter of seconds, the whirlwind of green flames had vanished completely, sucked into the depths of the pristine jewel.  Only it wasn’t a mere emerald anymore.  It now glowed with that same foreboding light which had possessed Starlight’s horn.  A light which any seasoned veteran of the Equestrian Wasteland would recognize as belonging to―
“...A balefire egg?” the crystal mare gasped, “you made a balefire egg?!”
Starlight’s hindquarters slumped to the floor as she let out an exhausted grunt, closing her eyes firmly against the pounding headache which had come upon her.  Even impregnating so small a stone such as that emerald was usually something that a ritual circle of no fewer than three well-trained unicorns was supposed to do.  However, there was a distinct shortage of unicorns in this city, and Starlight Glimmer knew that she was worth at least a half dozen moderately competent MAS unicorns.
“It’s really more of a balefire-cracker,”  the pink mare tried for her best smile in her fatigued state, accompanied by a wistful little chuckle, “it honestly probably couldn’t even level a house…”  she reached out with one of her hooves and gently slid the glowing gemstone closer to Archie’s prone form before scooting herself further away.  It shouldn’t be emitting too much radiation, given its diminutive size, but a lot of that would depend on how stable the balefire matrix was; and that was a tricky thing to know when dealing with such a small container.  Generally speaking, the bigger the bomb, the more stable the warhead was, since the wards that were designed to keep it from prematurely detonating could be enlarged and strengthened.
While the ‘bomb’ that she had conjured was certainly quite diminutive when compared to how powerful they tended to be when designed for the purpose of destruction, that tiny little emerald that she had used as the catalyst hadn’t given her much surface area with which to work with when it came to setting up containment wards.  As long as nopony dropped it from more than a couple feet in the air, it should be fine.
Maybe.
“But...how?!” the crystal mare stammered, “everypony who knew how to make those things is dead!  I mean, I assumed they were…” a look of dread crossed her face as she stared at Starlight, “...please don’t tell me that the war’s still going on!  It’s been two hundred years!”
Starlight shook her head and waved a tired hoof at the armored crystal pony, “no, no, there isn’t a war anymore,” she assured the teal mare, “in fact, things are getting a lot better out there.  The skies are open, Taint’s vanishing, even raider activity is slacking off in most places,” she offered a wan smile, “the world’s starting to return to normal...ish.  Who knows?  Maybe, in a few more decades, it’ll all be back to the how I remember everything being before that stupid war.”
A pony could hope, at least, Starlight thought to herself.
The mare blinked her golden eyes, “I...what?  Who...are you?  Really?”
Starlight Glimmer smiled at her, “you might want to sit down.  This is going to be a lot to take in…”

About an hour later, when the vast majority of the tale was finished being told, the turquoise mare―Marine, was the name she had given―was left looking completely overwhelmed, her gaze largely unfocused and staring off into space, “wow...that’s just...wow…”
“It’s pretty unbelievable, I know,” Starlight had gained back most of her strength since casting the demanding spell, but her head still ached a decent bit.  She had resolved to lay off any magic more demanding than telekinesis for the next day or so for fear of burning out her horn completely.  No unicorn enjoyed that!
“You can say that again,” Marine shook her head slowly, running a hoof through her silvery mane as the other played idly with the crest of her helmet, which she had removed about half way through Starlight’s story.
“You don’t believe me, do you?”
“I mean,” the crystal mare shrugged, “it’s crazy, don’t get me wrong; but I kinda figure, if you were trying to feed me a load of road geodes, you’d try to come up with something that was a lot more...well, plausible, you know?”  she snorted and shook her head again, “either you’re one hundred percent delusional―and he wouldn’t be with you if you were,” she pointed at Archie, who was already looking much better thanks to the continuous exposure to the radiation emanating from the tiny little balefire bomblet pulsing next to him, “or the world’s just a slightly crazier place than I thought it was.”
Marine rolled her eyes and cast a wry smile at the nearby unicorn, “we are in a city surrounded by monsters from an old Hearth’s Warming story, after all.”
“Fair enough,” Starlight shrugged.
“Besides, I’d be a bit of a hypocrite if I just dismissed somepony who was out to learn about the past as being crazy,” this time it was the turquoise mare who earned a baffled look from the unicorn, which was a refreshing change of pace, in her opinion, “I’m on a bit of a fact-finding mission myself.  It’s why I’m here,” she waved at their surroundings.
“I’ve been meaning to ask.  Not that I’m not grateful or anything―I am―but why are you here?  I thought all of the crystal ponies stayed near the castle?”
“Because, for a colonel, she’s very bad at following orders.”
Both mare’s whipped their heads in the direction of the mattress upon which the old ghoul was lying.  He had rolled over and was looking at the two of them now.  His glowing horn was slowly twirling the pulsing emerald, “is this what I think it is?”
“Yeah.  Don’t drop it,” Starlight cautioned, “or shake it too hard.  Or sneeze near it,” she thought for a brief moment and cringed, “maybe avoid loud noises too…”
Archie recoiled from the balefire egg slightly and very slowly started floating it far away from the three of them.  He’d only just placed it on a distant cushion before he was aggressively glomped by a very excited crystal mare, “Master Archie, you’re okay!” the stallion initially stiffened upon being embraced, but eventually relaxed and offered her a reassuring pat on the back.
“It’s good to see you too, Colonel Aquamarine.”
“Master…” the armored mare groaned as she pulled away, “you know I hate that.  Please just call me ‘Marine’.  At least while Agate’s not around,” she amended, rolling her eyes, “and you know why I disobeyed him and came here anyway.”
“It wasn’t just the regent that you disobeyed,” Archie said, fixing the turquoise mare with his gaze.  
Marine bowed her head and looked away, an expression of pained regret on her face, “I know, and I’m sorry about that, Master.”
“We were sure that you had been killed,” the withered stallion went on in a quiet tone, “there was a ceremony.  Your mother wept,” every successive sentence evoked a wince from the mare, who still couldn’t bring herself to meet the ghoul’s intent gaze.
“Somepony had to do something,” Marine finally managed to croak out, “we can’t just wait around to die, Master,” she faced him now, her features anxious as she sought either forgiveness or understanding; Starlight couldn’t be certain, “you showed me the numbers!  The inbreeding is already setting in.  Every new generation sees fewer births than the one before it.  It’s like the wendigos and our own narrowing gene pool are racing to see which one will wipe us out first.
“We can’t just keep sitting around waiting to die!” she waved her hoof around at the library, “I’m here looking for answers.  I know it’s a long shot, but at least I’m willing to take it at all.  Please, Master Archie, you have to see that what I’m trying to do is important; don’t you?”
The ghoul offered a slight nod, “I do.  I just wish that you’d said something before you left, and that you hadn’t come alone.”
“Agate would have forbidden me from coming,” the mare snorted derisively.  It was clear that she didn’t have the highest opinion of the city’s nominal ruler, “every time I brought it up all he did was remind me that I had an obligation as a ‘dutiful daughter of the Empire’ to help save our city by popping out as many foals as I could while I was still young to keep our numbers from dwindling any further,” another eye roll.
“The regent is doing the best that he can.”
“He’s doing nothing!” Marine spat, bitterly, “he wakes up every morning, puts on a pair of blinders, and pretends that everything is just fine; but it’s not.  It won’t be until we can figure out some answers.”
“You’re talking about beating the wendigos, aren’t you?” Starlight felt that she had finally happened upon a moment to bring herself back into the conversation, “you think that the Academy might have a book that talks about a way to defeat them.”
“Destroying them might not be an option for us.” the turquoise mare shrugged, tapping her bare forehead, “I think, however, that we might be able to escape them.”
“How?  I thought that the city was completely surrounded?” she looked to Archie for confirmation and the ghoul nodded.
“Venturing out into the Wasteland isn’t an option,” he confirmed, “the wendigos would be on us in minutes; hours at the best.”
“If I’m right, we won’t need to go into the Wasteland,” the armored mare said, “we can get somewhere safe directly from the city.”
“How do you mean?”
The crystal pony frowned, “I’m still trying to figure that part out,” she admitted, “the records that I’ve found are...spotty, at best.  What I do know right now is that crystal ponies didn’t always live in the Empire.  We came here from somewhere else a long time ago.  I’m pretty sure that it was a very different place too, from the way it was described.”
“Do you mean ‘very different’ in the sense of a far away continent, like Zebrica?  Or are you thinking something along the lines of a different plane of existence?” While Starlight Glimmer was a little dubious of the latter possibility, she did know that such places existed.  Tartarus was one such pocket dimension; and the demon, Discord, had presumably come from another.
“I think it was a physical place,” Marine offered, “but I don’t get the impression that they had to cross any oceans or really even go very far,” the mare thought for a moment, “maybe it’s better if I show you.  Come with me,” she waved for the two unicorns to follow her as she headed towards the rear of the library.
Starlight recognized that they were being led to the basement, which was where much of the older literary works were kept, as it was easier to keep the temperature and humidity at levels that were the most agreeable for the ancient vellum rolls that resided there.  The pink unicorn shuddered to think of what condition some of the more delicate volumes would be in by this point.
She had spent a considerable amount of time on this level of the library while doing her research, so she was familiar with the layout.  Almost immediately she recognized that they were being taken to the section reserved for Imperial historical records.  Most of those were dedicated to cataloging family lineages and royal affairs of state―marriages, deaths, proclamations, and the like.  There was also a small section that was supposed to chronicle the history of the Crystal Empire and its founding.  However, Starlight had learned that many of those records were incomplete.
As though the turquoise mare had been reading the unicorn’s thoughts, she said, “a lot of our records were destroyed when King Sombra came to power.  He wanted to erase any reference to the Crystal Princess or the Crystal Heart especially.”
“He was afraid of somepony finding the Heart and using it to stop him,” Starlight said.  It was hard for anypony to spend years living in the Empire and not pick up a fair bit of the nation’s history.  Besides, she had studied many of these works personally in her search for references to powerful magicks and artifacts.
“Exactly,” Marine sounded impressed by the other mare’s knowledge, “what little we do have was what was preserved by a few small resistance cells.  Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of trained scholars among them, so they didn’t really know what it was they were preserving.  All they knew was that Sombra wanted a lot of important scrolls and books destroyed, and they wanted to keep him from doing that.
“As a result, what survived is pretty fragmented and incomplete.  Ponies just grabbed whatever they could get and hid it away.  Sometimes those ponies were captured and executed before they could share the hiding places with anypony else; meaning that a lot of what they ‘saved’ was still lost in the end; buried in some hidden cache somewhere, never to be found.”
That had been a source of significant frustration during Starlight’s tenure here.  Frequently, she would come across references to other significant works that promised to hold powerful sources of magic, only for those specific tomes to be nowhere to be found; as they had either been destroyed by King Sombra, or sequestered away in a hiding spot that nopony remembered the location of.  It had stymied more than a few of her efforts over the years.
“But, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t found anything,” Marine went on.  She walked over to a table which had several unfurled scrolls already laying upon it.  Immediately, Starlight recognized how old they were.  They might well be some of the oldest volumes in the entire library.  It was a miracle they hadn’t simply withered away to dust by now, though some of them did look as though they were quite close to reaching that state, “specifically, I keep coming across one word: ‘geodessa’.”
There was the faintest spark of recognition in Starlight’s mind, but it was fleeting.  She recognized the word, but she couldn’t recall any of the context in which she had come across it during her research, “is that a place, or an artifact, or what?” she asked, stepping around the table to scan the nearest opened scroll.
“That’s the thing, I’m not sure,” Marine admitted with a note of frustration, “the context keeps changing,” she tapped her hoof on one of the scrolls, “here, it talks about receiving some kind of guidance from ‘geodessa’, like they were a pony,” the crystal mare tapped another piece of parchment, “but here it says the geodessa was being moved somewhere; which suggests it was an object.”
Starlight quickly read through the various excerpts, and her memory of their contents refreshed themselves in her mind, “I asked about these scrolls when I worked here.  Nopony could give me an answer then either.  I just sort of assumed it was some sort of mystical artifact that was used to divine answers.  Some of the other races have similar objects in their histories.  The griffons had the Pinion of Damiclaws that supposedly helped them choose worthy warlords.”
“The thing is, when I came out here, I was under the impression that ‘geodessa’ was actually a place,” Marine nudged a third scroll; this one in noticeably better condition than all of the others.  She started reading from it, “...and lo, we sought refuge within Geodessa; and she threw up her walls, grand in both size and might, and the Horror was sundered upon her walls, and we were saved.  No force can pierce our bastion that is Geodessa!
“See?  It sounds like they’re talking about a fortress or something like that surrounded by huge walls,” the turquoise mare tapped the paper, “and since the Crystal Empire doesn’t have anything like that, I assume this had to be talking about some other place; I think wherever it is we originally came from.”
Starlight Glimmer leaned over and peered at the writing on the parchment.  This excerpt, she did not recognize.  However, it was Archie who asked the question that was fermenting at the front of her mind, “where did you find this one?  It’s in much better condition than anything else in this room…”
“That’s because I found this back in the castle a couple months ago,” the crystal mare replied, “it’s why I came out here: I wanted to see if I could find other records that could help me piece the location of our previous home together,” she shrugged, “but all I found were even more questions.”
The pink unicorn mare wasn’t listening to Marine’s reply though; her gaze was fixed intently on the writing.  Like most of the older works in the Crystal Empire, it was not written in Modern Equestrian.  The language was that of an outdated crystal pony dialect that had fallen out of common usage even by the time the northern-dwelling pony race made contact with their other equine neighbors over a thousand years ago.  It was not completely gone from living memory though; as it popped up in certain ceremonies; marriages, oaths of fealty, even some foal’s tales were still told in that ancient language.
Starlight had been forced to learn it as a consequence of her studies down here; as she couldn’t really justify monopolizing one of the few crystal pony scholars that they had just to help her translate all day.  She’d made every effort to become as fluent as possible, as well, so that she wouldn’t miss any of the nuances of the wording that could fundamentally alter the details of anything important she might find.
Which was why she was able to catch the slight―error?―mistranslation, in how Marine had read the passage.  She waved over the crystal mare, “I don’t think this word is ‘wall’.  Der’la tess’ka means ‘circle of crystal’, which was how they said ‘wall’ back then.  This says, tess’la der’ka.”
The other mare shrugged, “it’s a synonym.  ‘crystal circle’.”
“Not quite,” Starlight corrected.  Marine didn’t appear to be too pleased at the thought of an Equestrian pony telling her about the nuances of her own ancestor’s language, but she waited patiently for the unicorn to finish, “der’la tess’ka literally, means: ‘crystal, made; circle, like’.  Because a wall back then was something that was made out of crystal, and would be erected around whatever it was supposed to protect, which wasn’t always in the shape of a perfect circle, of course.
“Tess’la der’ka means: ‘circle, made; crystal, like’.  This is referring to something that was like crystal, which had a circular shape.”
“So a stone wall then.  We don’t like building things out of that stuff normally, but that doesn’t mean we never did.”
Starlight nodded, “that’s possible; there wasn’t a word for ‘stone’ until about the time of Princess Zirconia the False.  After that point, there was a clear divide between der for ‘crystal’ and zerca for ‘stone’; ‘false crystal’.  But I’ve actually encountered that exact wording―tess’la der’ka―in one other place; which is how I know it’s not talking about a physical wall,” she trotted out of the room and pulled a book from a shelf in a nearby alcove.  She returned and carefully opened the tome’s crackling pages, using her magic to very delicately turn to the page she was looking for.
“Here it is: ‘The Ballad of Belladonna’.  It’s the story of how Princess Belladonna protected the Crystal Empire from a Yeti attack,” she skimmed down the page until her hoof came to rest on the verse that she’d been looking for, “‘and Our Great Princess raised the city’s tess’la der’ka by invoking the Royal Spirit.’”
“The Royal Spirit?” Marine quirked her brow.
Starlight Glimmer sat down, staring at the page, “it was an old name for the Crystal Heart,” she said under her breath.  Her eyes moved back to the parchment that the crystal mare had brought here, “I think that means that the records you found are talking about the same thing.  ‘Geodessa’ must be an even older name for it.”
“It makes sense,” Archie chimed in, “if the crystal ponies really did come here from some other place, they’d certainly want to bring their most prized possession with them.  As far as the name change, that’s fairly common over long periods of time.  The Castle of the Two Pony Sisters used to have a different name too, for example.”
“You sure seem to know a lot about the Crystal Heart,” Aquamarine noted, looking at the unicorn.
“It was the focus of much of mine and my husband’s research,” Starlight informed her, “the source of its power, the strength of its barrier, it’s broader influence over the rest of Equestria, all of those things were of great interest to the Ministry of Arcane Science.  Being able to replicate its properties for wider distribution could have guaranteed Equestrian victory in the war.  Unfortunately, we were never able to,” she muttered.  That fact was still a rather bitter pill even after all this time.  She’d spent years on that project before finally having to give up and shift her attention onto other avenues of research.  Even Twilight Sparkle hadn’t liked having to write off all of that wasted time and energy as a loss.
“We couldn’t even figure out what kind of crystal the damn thing was made out of!” the pink unicorn continued, letting long suppressed exasperation regarding this topic come to the surface once more, “we compared it to every variety of stone and gem known to ponykind and none of it was a match.  Then there was the matter of how it drew power from feelings of love!  I’ve charged thousands of jewels with magical energy, and it’s never been as simple as just thinking good thoughts at it.  Imbuing matter with magical energy requires more than that, it’s a scientific fact.
“But that was never the case with the Crystal Heart.  In fact, it actually rejected attempts that I made to try and charge it with traditional methods.  Don’t even get me started on that physical impossibility!”
Finally Starlight Glimmer realized that the other two ponies were staring at her and she cleared her throat and recomposed herself, “sorry.  From my perspective, all of this was just a year ago for me; and was one of my greatest failures.”
“Alright,” Archie said, bringing their conversation back around to the topic at hoof, “so now that we know what Colonel Aquamarine was chasing was the Crystal Heart, and it was destroyed two centuries ago,” he cast a knowing look in the direction of the turquoise mare, “that means that we can call this mystery ‘solved’ and get back to the castle.”
The armored mare’s amber eyes widened, “what?  No!” she rapped her hoof on the table with the records, “knowing that these records are talking about the Heart means that now we have proof that crystal ponies came here from somewhere else!  If we study them and find the right clues, maybe we can retrace their hoofsteps.”
The ghoul sighed and shook his head, “even assuming that’s possible; and assuming that path doesn’t just take us through the wendigos anyway,” he leveled his stern gaze at the mare, “have you considered that, maybe, there was a reason that your ancestors left to come here?
“There might not even be anywhere left to go back to.”
Marine took a deep breath and nodded soberly, “I’ve thought about that,” she looked up at Archie with a determined expression on her face, “and I’m willing to take that risk.  I’ll go alone, and make sure it’s safe.  That way I'm not putting anypony else at risk.  If I find something, I’ll come back and let everypony know.”
“And if you find nothing?”
“...then I’ll just keep looking for someplace else that’s safe,” the mare replied quietly, “I won’t come back until I’ve found us a home.”
Because, if her search takes too long, she knows that there could very well be nothing left for her to come back to, Starlight realized.  The crystal officer was either effectively exiling herself, or running away; depending on how somepony might choose to look at it.  The pink unicorn suspected that her decision wouldn’t go over very well with the others back at the castle.
“Where would you even start looking?” Starlight asked.
“I’m going to retrace the path described in the last chapter of this volume,” she tapped the scroll that she’d brought to Academy, “it doesn’t go into a whole lot of detail,” she admitted with a wry shrug, “but it’s something to go on,” she stepped around and unfurled the velum, scanning over the writing, “our ancestors certainly had a flare for the dramatic, but I’m hoping I’ll recognize the landmarks that they do mention when I see them.”
“And those landmarks are...?” the ghoul prompted.
“The Labyrinth of Sorrows,” Marine began, already cringing slightly upon seeing the reaction of the other two ponies as she read off the short list of names, “the False World, the Tower of Fire, and the Threshold to the Future.”
She had not been wrong, those names certainly sounded as though they had been crafted more for dramatic effect than for the purpose of accurately describing the locations they belonged to, “those sound like the titles of Daring Do novels,” the pink mare muttered, earning a confused look from Marine and an amused snort from Archie, “how exactly do you expect to make any progress with a list like that?”
“Well, as it happens, I think I have an idea where to begin,” the turquoise mare earned a pair of surprised looks from the other ponies present, “I don’t know about any ‘Threshold to the Future’, but there is a place called the ‘Threshold of the Empire’.”
Archie frowned, “that’s not a place, it’s an art piece,” at Starlight’s questioning look, the ghoul elaborated, “it’s the title of a relief in the castle catacombs, purportedly depicting the first Crystal Princess founding the Empire.  She is entombed in a sarcophagus in front of it.”
That certainly sounded like a tenuous connection, at best.  But Aquamarine didn't seem like she was going to let herself be dissuaded from her journey before even starting it, “it's a start, Master Archie. It's a chance!
“Maybe you're right,” the mare admitted ruefully, “maybe I won't find anything and this will have all been a huge waste of time,” she's gestured at the collection of tomes and scrolls before fixing the ghoul stallion with a determined glare, “but what if it's not?”
Silence hung between the three ponies for what felt like nearly a full minute before Archie finally answered, “I will...speak with the regent,” he relented with a heavy sigh, his tone remaining reluctant even as the crystal mare’s face broke out into a broad grin, “and recommend allowing you to investigate the catacombs.”
“Oh, thank you, Master Archie!” Aquamarine very nearly squealed as she threw her legs around the ghoul in a very undignified hug, earning an exasperated roll of his milky blue eyes.
“But!” the stallion continued, though it appeared that the younger mare would not let her spirits be dragged down even by his cautionary tone, “if you find nothing, this will be the end of it, agreed? You will return to your normal duties. No more of these wild ewe chases.”
Finally, Aquamarine managed to, somewhat, school her features into something approaching what could be considered in keeping with ‘proper military decorum’ and gave the stallion a solemn-looking nod, “yes, Master. I understand.”
Her lips, however, still continued to twitch as they fought valiantly to contain a smile. It finally broke through once more as the stallion turned away from her to head for the exit. Starlight even caught sight of the young officer doing a brief dance on the tips of her hooves. Then she appeared to suddenly remember that there was a third pony present and turned her blushing face towards the unicorn mare, shrinking away with a sheepish little smile. Starlight only smirked and followed the two Imperial residents out of the library's basement. 

The unexpected return of a trio of ponies, where only two had left that morning, caused quite a stirring within the castle grounds. The most profound reaction was from an older, chartreuse-colored, mare who very nearly tackled Colonel Aquamarine to the ground and immediately began bawling her eyes out. The turquoise mare lasted only a few more seconds after that before years began to flow from her own eyes amid a string of cracking apologies.
Agate and the standard bearer approached as well. Starlight could see from the hard look that the older stallion flashed the pair of sobbing mares that he'd have liked to severely reprimand the formerly AWOL officer, but seemed willing enough to postpone such a matter until after the tearful reunion. He instead approached the ghoulish Prime Minister, a look of relief clear on his face, “we’re grateful for your safe return,” then he shifted his attention to Straight, “was your search...um, successful?”
The pink mare appreciated the stallion’s hesitance at referring to confirming a loved one's cause of death as ‘successful’. She shook her head, “not really, no,” Starlight admitted, “I don't think I'll ever learn what happened to him.  Someday I'll even be able to admit to myself that that's okay,” she shrugged, attempting to muster up even a wan smile. 
“I'm sorry for your loss,” the red-hued regent offered, “I really am,” to the stallion’s credit, Starlight thought that he did sound genuinely sincere, “we will, of course, avail all of our records to you, if you'd like to look through them for clues. Those from the period immediately after the war are not as complete as we'd like, but…” he gave a resigned shrug. 
“Thank you,” Starlight Glimmer said, bowing her head slightly, “I really appreciate the offer,” and she did, “but I should probably focus on grieving, instead of obsessing. After all,” she added, managing a mirthless smirk, “all this trip has done for me so far is nearly get me killed by wendigos, crystal ghoul ponies, and a giant robopony. And that was just the last twenty-four hours!
“I'm not sure I'd last another week if I kept looking.”
“I understand,” Agate said, offering his own wan smile in return, “we are all here to help, should you need anything.  Just let us know how we can make your stay with us more pleasant,” his features brightened hopefully, “and having a second unicorn in our community will certainly be something worth celebrating at the festival we're putting together tomorrow night. You said you would attend?”
Starlight only barely caught Archie’s eye roll as she responded to the regent, “I don't exactly have anywhere else to be,” in retrospect, she hoped that hasn't sounded as sarcastic as she feared it might have. 
In any case, Agate’s smile broadened, “excellent! Now, we've discussed where we can house you for the time being and―”
“Miss Glimmer will stay in my quarters,” the ghoulish stallion cut in, bringing the regent to a surprised halt. When it looked like the crystal pony was about to protest, he doubled-down, “if she finds herself with any more questions about the Empire’s history, who better to answer than somepony who can provide her with a first-hoof account?”
The regent closed his mouth with an audible click and bowed his head, “of course,” he responded, somewhat reluctantly, “that will be perfectly acceptable. For the meantime,” Starlight quirked an eyebrow at that last, cryptic statement, but said nothing, “it is late. We'll speak more in the morning, Master Archie, at Court. Until then, good night to both of you.”
The crystal stallion bowed once more, as did the standard bearer, and then left. As he once more passed Marine, Starlight Glimmer heard him address her in a low tone, “welcome home, Colonel. I look forward to hearing your after-action report tomorrow. General Malachite will be by in the morning to collect it, and you, to deliver it,” then his eyes darted briefly to her mother before returning to the turquoise mare, “enjoy this night with your family.”
Judging by the mare’s expression, she seemed torn between feeling grateful at being granted leave to reconnect with her family, and more than a little nervousness at what the morning had in store for her. Starlight noted as much to Archie as he gestured for her to follow him up to his quarters in the castle, “at some point, she'll need to face the consequence of her actions,” the ghoul sighed, “she has placed Agate in a difficult position.”
“How so?”
“The colonel defied orders, abandoned her post, and was absent for nearly a month.  Those acts constitute desertion. As no formal armistice was ever actually signed between the Zebra Confederation and the Crystal Empire, a state of war still technicality exists. During times of war, desertion is punishable by death.”
Starlight felt her breath catch in her throat, aghast at the thought, “they wouldn't actually kill her, would they? That's crazy!  It’s been two hundred years!  Fuck the paperwork; the war’s over!”
“And yet, the protocol still stands,” the stallion said tersely, returning the mare’s outraged look with a defiant one of his own, “the only thing that has kept us from completely succumbing to despair has been that rigid adherence to tradition and protocol.  We obey the laws that have ruled the Empire since long before even the rise of Nightmare Moon, because those laws define the crystal ponies.
“They will not be abandoned for the sake of convenience where a single pony is concerned,” he insisted.  That hadn’t been enough to soothe Starlight’s concerns though.  However, before the pink unicorn could renew her objection, Archie continued in a much more palliative tone, “no,” the ghoul assured her, “the death penalty will not be considered. There are too few of us as it is. I am simply illustrating the seriousness of her transgression,” the pink mare let out a relieved sigh, “nor,” Archie continued, “can the Empire afford to waste the resources it would take to imprison her for any significant length of time.”
Starlight could see how the lack of an ability to place somepony in jail could be limiting. Similarly, the unicorn doubted that a fine would be of any use either. She wasn't sure the ponies here even bothered with money anymore, “so, some sort of community service then?”
“Colonel Aquamarine’s normal assigned duties are already to service the continuity,” Archie said, flashing the mare beside him a wry smirk that very quickly melted back into a frown, “though, there is one ‘duty’ that the Colonel has been putting off for some time now.”
“What’s that?”
The ghoul looked at Starlight, as though he was a little reluctant to answer her, “our gene pool is tenuously shallow, and our numbers dwindle with each generation,” he began. 
“You mentioned that this morning,” then realization dawned on the unicorn, “wait, are you saying they'd…?”
The stallion avoided giving her a straight answer, “Parliament has, in the last few decades, voted on imposing a new law, mandating a minimum family size. The measure has failed each time, but the margin gets narrower with each successive vote. If it doesn't pass during the next upcoming vote, then it certainly will the one after. 
“Most mares Colonel Aquamarine’s age have already foaled at least once,” the stallion’s tone was grim, “and the ‘socially acceptable’ minimum number for an Imperial mare these days is three, though two is still somewhat common as well. 
“I think it's very likely that the Colonel will be directed to have four or more foals within the decade,” the ghoul finished with a heavy sigh. 
“What?! That's crazy!” Starlight was fuming at such a notion, “how would they even enforce that kind of thing?” a moment later, as the thought of one such method crossed her mind, the pink unicorn’s face paled, “they wouldn't!”
“No, they would not,” Archie assured her with a firm shake of his head, “she would have a say in her partner. Or partners,” then he averted his eyes from her, “as long as it appeared she was on track to comply with her sentence. If not…” he didn't continue. 
“That’s…” Starlight struggled to find suitably abhorrent ways to describe what Archie was suggesting, but the stallion cut her off. 
“A very unpleasant alternative,” he finished, “and, in a kinder, gentler, world, a notion that could only acceptably be called: ‘monstrous’. But we do not live in that world, Starlight. We live in this one. 
“And this world makes monsters of us all...eventually,” the stallion paused outside the door to his office and examined his withered, leathery, hoof. He set it down and once more looked at Starlight, “Colonel Aquamarine’s actions, as well-intentioned as they may have been, broke very serious laws. To let her go without punishment would set a very dangerous precedent. It is very unfortunate that there are not more options for that punishment available to us.”
The stallion took a deep breath, “I am not saying it is an ideal option,” he said to the still obviously irate mare, “but nothing about the Empire is ‘ideal’ at the moment.”
“And that makes it okay?”
“No.  But I have no say in the matter, ultimately. The issue of Colonel Aquamarine’s punishment will be handled by the Regent and the Chief Justice,” the stallion shrugged and offered his unicorn companion a hopeful smile, “but, if she does manage to succeed in finding this ancient crystal pony homeland, then I suspect her sentence will be commuted anyway.”
More quietly, and with a more wan expression, he added, “and if she does not, I doubt that we'll live long enough for her to give birth even once.”
Well, that was certainly some dubious ‘optimism’, Starlight thought. Archie opened up his office and gestured for the mare to precede him. He shucked his cloak and returned his sword and scabbard to the stand he'd retrieved them from when they'd left, leaving enough room for Starlight to add her own duster and weapons. 
Then the stallion walked over to a couch that was set against one wall of the office and began rearranging the cushions, “I've never needed a proper bed,” Archie said aloud as he worked, “since ghouls don't sleep and all. So I hope this will be fine.”
“I've been sleeping in snow drifts for the past week,” Starlight pointed out, “as far as I'm concerned, this is a Hayatt!”
The stallion snorted, “well, I'm afraid there's no room service,” he glanced out the window, “and they're done serving dinner. I'll go and see if I can find something in the castle kitchens.”
“I'll take a double hayburger with a large strawberry smoothie, daisy falafels, and a chocolate cupcake for dessert please!”
“With extra sprinkles,” the ghoul snorted absently as he headed for the door, “and a small thistle nuggets. I'll see what I can do…”
Starlight chuckled to herself as the door closed, leaving her alone in the office. She'd actually forgotten that she usually got a small order of thistle nuggets with her hayburgers.  It was nice to be able to use that joke with a pony who actually got the references to the long-extinct fast food options. 
The pink unicorn set about fussing with her new bed for the first several minutes until she was satisfied with the arrangement of its cushions. Then she shed the last of her barding and gear, setting it nearby. Without much else to occupy her, the mare found distraction by slowly walking around the spacious office and taking it in. What there was to it anyway. 
Aside from the picture commemorating the opening of the Academy, there were other framed articles as well. Most of them looked to be clippings that extolled the Empire’s contributions to the war effort; featuring the Academy heavily. That wasn't surprising, Starlight supposed, as it had been a highly publicized point for public consumption in the Empire. Princess Cadance, understandably, had not been overly fond of the war with the zebras. She never made any public statements that could have been viewed as ‘critical’ of the war, of course. Solidarity among the nation’s alicorn trinity had been essential for morale. But it didn't take a genius to comprehend that the ‘Princess of Love’ took a dim view of killing others, regardless of the context. 
The Empire at large, too, had still been feeling weary from it's recent―for them―revolt against King Sombra. So, for the benefit of her subjects’ peace of mind, Cadance had emphasized non-violent contributions, and the Empire’s news outlets had fallen eagerly into step, focusing on stories that had to do with the Empire’s more passive measures of helping wider Equestria.
There were other photos on the wall as well, featuring the royal couple, Archie, and other ponies of note from either the Empire or beyond it. Starlight recognized most of the events, those memories bringing a sad smile to her lips. Welcoming the Academy’s first inductees. The presentation of their first research breakthrough―spark batteries―to Twilight Sparkle.
Starlight Glimmer saw a number of diplomas too.  A masters degree in political science, a bachelors in economics, and another in communications.  A few Writs of Thanks caught the unicorn’s eye as she let her gaze drift to a set of shelves.  These were commonly presented to members of a community by the local leadership―mayors or governors and the like―as a way of recognizing private citizens for their contributions.  The pink mare quickly realized that these writs were not endorsed by any mere city mayor, however.  One of them bore the flowing signature of Princess Celestia herself, commending Archibald Magnate for ‘exemplary service to the Crown’.  It seemed that he’d once served in a ministerial posting in Canterlot before the war broke out.
From a holder of a low-level cabinet position, rising to the Prime Minister of the Crystal Empire.  Starlight had to admit that represented quite the promotion.  He’d certainly impressed somepony.  If a few of the other, smaller pictures on the shelves were any indication, the unicorn suspected that it had been Cadance herself.  She idly wondered if Shining Armor might not have had some competition for the alicorn’s affections back in the day.  Starlight shrugged and moved her attention to the office’s desk.
The surface was markedly barren.  Presumably the Prime Minister of such a diminutive ‘Empire’ didn’t have many administrative duties to attend to on a regular basis. She wondered if the drawers were equally empty.  Not that she expected to find anything of any particular interest; she was just curious what the Prime Minister of the Crystal Empire kept in his office.  
Nothing that she found in the first one that she opened was of any particular surprise, of course.  Quills and other writing materials, a few filed reports on the state of the Empire, though most of those were dated to be well over a century old.
One drawer, however, refused to open.  Considering that absolutely nothing else in the office seemed to have been secured in any way, the pink unicorn mare found this quite curious.  In the event that it might simply have been stuck, she tried tugging on it a little harder, but still the offending drawer wouldn’t budge.  Starlight took a step back, considering the desk for a long moment, and debating exactly how important satisfying her curiosity was to her.
Her eyes darted briefly to the door.  Of course, what Archie didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him, would it?
The mare narrowed her eyes at the little lock on the drawer and set her horn to glow.  As she suspected, it was far more of a magical lock than a physical one.  While Starlight was certain that the Prime Minister was a completely competent user of magic in his own right, he was far out of her own league.  It took her only a few seconds to unravel the matrix of the spell, at which point the drawer slid obediently outward.  Honestly, she’d encountered more complex locks used by unicorn fillies on their diaries.  Though, it wasn’t like a spell of any real complexity would have been needed to keep a magically mundane crystal pony from getting at the drawer’s contents.
Starlight leaned in and examined the bounty that she’d uncovered.
The first thing she noticed were the trio of picture frames.  Curious, Starlight peaked at the faded images they held.  One was a headshot of an admittedly lovely young earth pony mare. The alluring expression she wore in the photo made it quite clear that this image had been taken explicitly for her husband to look at.  Starlight had commissioned a similar picture for Sunburst soon after their relationship shifted from professional to romantic, for him to keep in his own office at the Academy.  
A second, smaller, frame contained the wide, grinning, face of a little unicorn filly who did not seem at all shy about the garish braces mounted to her teeth.  The pink mare had to take a moment to suppress the nearly involuntary thought as to whether her own Moonbeam would have needed braces had she been allowed to grow up naturally.  Those feelings grew into a tightness of her throat as she saw the third and final picture: a family portrait featuring the same beaming filly sitting between her parents as they nuzzled up against one another, seemingly oblivious to the camera that was taking their picture.
It was a photo that she and Sunburst had not been given the opportunity to take.  
Starlight wiped her eyes, and shook herself in an effort to pull her thoughts back from that rather unpleasant path.  Instead, she set the momentos carefully to the side and distracted her thoughts with the rest of the drawer’s contents.
She found a small stack of papers which bore what Starlight recognized immediately to be arcane diagrams and some associated notations.  She picked them up in her telekinetic grasp and began to look them over.  Most of the contents were written in short-hoof; specifically, it was a notation system that the Academy had developed internally as a pseudo-cypher to help keep their notes secure from zebra agents.  As one of the ponies who’d devised the coded language, however, she had little issue translating it.
She very quickly realized that the contents concerned arcane resonance amplitudes and matrix decay rates.  Somepony―presumably Archie himself―had been taking very careful measurements of an enchantment over a period of many decades, and had used those measurements to calculate the date of the spell’s inevitable failure.  It wasn’t hard to figure out that the enchantment in question was the residual protection offered by the Crystal Heart’s magic that was still clinging to the structure of the ancient castle.  She recalled the Prime Minister mentioning that precise reality that morning.
Starlight also remembered that he’d alluded to the Empire still having a good number of years yet left before the magic failed completely and the wendigos descended upon the survivors.  However, ‘years’ wasn’t what these meticulously measured notes indicated remained for the ponies living in and around the castle.  It took the unicorn a moment to do some quick conversions of the Imperial date used in the notes over to the common Equestrian calendar model that she was used to.
They didn’t have years; these crystal ponies had only―!
The shock was so overwhelming that her magic failed her, and the papers fluttered to the floor.  Starlight shook with a start and quickly set about collecting the scattered notes, organizing them back into their proper order and preparing to return them to the drawer that she had found them in.  That was when she noticed that something else had been hidden beneath the papers.
It was a simple black case, of the sort that might contain a set of reading glasses or a personalized pen.  The mare set the papers off to the side in the drawer and levitated the case out, placing it upon the desk’s surface.  When she opened it, her surprise was only further compounded.  It contained, of all things, a memory orb.
Starlight’s gaze went automatically to her saddlebags near the couch, which contained the trio of orbs that her husband had sequestered away in the chest at their old home.  She wondered now if the Prime Minister had undertaken a similar endeavour to rid himself of unpleasant memories.  He’d lost his family too, after all.  That notion was quickly dismissed of course, as it would have made little sense for him to have expunged memories of his dead wife and daughter while simultaneously keeping their framed photos.  Though, admittedly, those images weren’t exactly easily visible.
Perhaps he’d only been able to bring himself to take a half-measure and sequester just the most potent and painful of his memories.
“I’d forgotten I even had a family…”
The pink mare’s brow furrowed as she recalled what the ghoul had said while sitting before the graves earlier that day.  Then she once more looked at the photos.  How could he have forgotten them with their photos so close at hoof?  The calculations on those papers had to have been done using reading collected over many decades too, so the drawer couldn’t possibly have been sealed for the last two centuries.  Archie had to have been in it at least within the last few years if he expected to be as accurate with his prediction for the failure of the city’s protective aura as those papers claimed to be.  
She reached tentatively for the orb, contemplating delving into it in order to see what memories were contained within.
Then the door opened, revealing a withered rear end backing into the room.  The pink mare’s blue eyes went wide with panic.  Her horn flared as her magic worked to frantically accomplish several tasks at once.  In a single, swift motion, she simultaneously closed the black case and hurled it at her saddlebags.  The tiny little missile sailed through the air, slipping just beneath the flap of one of the bags, the force of its insertion knocking the satchel over.  As the case underwent its maiden flight, Starlight also returned the contents and closed the drawer, replacing the crude little locking spell upon it. Another drawer was pulled open and the mare snatched out the first object that she could grasp with her magic.
The ancient Prime Minister stallion whipped his head back and forth, trying in vain to track the various sounds that he’d just heard coming from opposite sides of his office.  Finally, his gaze fell onto Starlight, who was standing just behind the desk, smiling broadly in his direction in an effort to look as innocent as she could.  The unicorn ghoul quirked a brow at the mare.
A little flustered, Starlight cleared her throat, “sorry, I was just over here looking for a―” she held up what she’d withdrawn from the desk drawer and glanced at it.  Her mind blanked as she finally caught sight of it.  She genuinely had no idea what she was holding, “...um...this.”
Archie quirked a brow, “...you need to remove staples from something?”
“What?  No―wait,” the mare examined the odd, pen-like, device that she was holding, “I thought you removed staples with those snake-teeth things?”
“You do,” the ghoul nodded, finally stepping the rest of the way into the office and closing the door behind him.  A small tray of food floated nearby, held aloft by his magic, “but you also remove staples with one of those.  It’s a ‘push’ staple remover,” he walked over and set the tray down in front of her on the desk, “you were snooping, weren’t you?”
“Only a little,” the mare mumbled under her breath, bashfully opening the drawer back up and replacing the odd little device that she very clearly had no need of, “sorry.”
The Prime Minister shrugged and waved away her apology, “it’s fine.  I got to see where you lived, after all.  Besides, it’s not like I have anything to hide.”
Starlight had been looking over the tray and its contents―a small loaf of bread and crystal berry jam with a bottle of Sparkle Cola―but the stallion’s last statement prompted her to look him in the eye once more.  She glared at the stallion critically for several long seconds, “you don’t?  Are you saying that you’ve been perfectly honest with me about everything; with everypony?”
The stallion stared at her with a blank expression, blinking in stunned surprise for several long seconds.  Then, realization dawned upon him, and he sighed, “you’re a pretty thorough snooper, aren’t you?”
“I saw the papers.”
Archie was already nodding though, not appearing to be the least bit abashed by her statement.  He gestured at the tray, “eat,” meanwhile, he walked over towards the couch and eased himself slowly down onto the cushions.  The ghoul let out a tired sigh, “besides you and me, only two other ponies know the truth: Regent Agate, and General Malachite.
“I wasn’t out there by accident when I found you,” Archie continued, “I was...testing the waters.  Seeing how far I could get before the wendigos found me, and how easily I could repel them.  It was a ‘trial run’, of sorts, to gauge how likely we’d be able to make it to safety if we tried to leave.  
“As you saw, I didn’t get far from the city at all, and it was all that I could do to even turn away one of those monsters.  If we went out there and a group of them swarmed us…” the stallion shook his head.
“The magic of the Crystal Heart will be completely gone in two months,” Starlight announced, as though Archie wasn’t aware of the calculations that he’d done himself.
“And it will be too weak to repel the wendigos in half that time,” he amended, “when that happens...everypony here will die.  With luck, it’ll happen during the night…”
Starlight was shaking her head now, “I did not come all this way just to get killed in my sleep by a phantom from a foal’s tale!”
“If you doubt my calculations, feel free to review all my notes and even take some measurements of your own while you’re here,” the ghoul pony offered, “but even my most recent examinations of the enchantment’s integrity have fallen perfectly in line with the predicted decline I devised over two decades ago.  The margin of error is no more than ten hours either way.”
“I refuse to accept that,” the pink unicorn said, “I’m going to fix it.  I don’t know how yet, but I’m going to; and you’re going to help me!”
“Me?” the stallion sounded genuinely surprised.
“Yes, you!” Starlight reiterated, “even I’m not powerful enough to cast a spell that can save an entire empire,” that counted as humility, right? “And, yeah, I’ll admit that just two unicorns isn’t much of a ‘ritual circle’, but if we find enough amplifiers or something―”
“You think that the Crystal Empire, of all places, has LAmPs lying around here in the numbers it would take for a couple of unicorns to affect an entire nation?  Or even just a single city?” the ghoul fixed her with a highly dubious expression, “are you sure you didn’t leave anything behind in that memory orb you were in?”
“If there aren’t any Leyline Amplification Pylons,” the mare amended through gritted teeth, feeling herself becoming frustrated by the ghoul pony’s persistent pessimism, “then we’ll figure something else out,” she insisted, “I did not survive the end of the world and claw my way back here just to die in my sleep!”
“Well, I’m afraid that’s exactly what’s going to happen, unless you actually have a worthwhile idea to try out?  Because a month doesn’t leave a lot of room for error.”
Starlight Glimmer was about to issue another rebuke to the stallion when both of them found their attention drawn to a hesitant knock against the open door.  Standing in the hall corridor beyond was Aquamarine, no longer attired in her barding from earlier, but instead in a simple pale yellow robe.  Her eyes, which were visibly glistening in the firelight, were locked on the pair of unicorns, “I have an idea.”
“Marine?” Starlight said in mild surprise, her blue eyes wandering over the crystal mare, “what’s wrong?”
“I’ve been relieved of my duties,” the mare cleared her throat and swallowed, “and urged to pursue more...domestic,” she let the bitter word slide out from between grinding teeth like it left a rancid taste in her mouth, “ambitions.  But if I’m not going to live long enough to foal anyway, then I can at least die with my dignity intact,” she insisted, “we all can.
“Master Archie, I want you to take me to the catacombs.”
“I haven’t had the chance to speak with the regent about―”
“With all due respect,” Starlight noted that the crystal mare’s tone was anything but respectful, dripping with vitriol, “fuck the regent,” she paused for a moment, then, “he knows, doesn’t he?  About how long we all have?”
“He knows,” the ghoul stallion admitted in a quiet tone.
“Of course he does,” the mare seethed, “and yet he still insisted I should―,” she clamped her lips shut against the rest of the thought and took a deep breath, affixing the pair of unicorns with a determined expression, “I’ll be at the entrance to the catacombs in one hour.
“Be there.  Please.”
Archie said nothing in response.  After several long seconds, he issued a reluctant nod, and Aquamarine vanished down the hall.  The withered prime minister shook his head and headed over to one of the nearby bookcases, his horn’s magic enveloping one of the tomes.  He floated it over to Starlight, who glanced at the grimoire in confusion as she accepted it and glanced at the title.
“Anthology of Arcana Volume Three?”
“If it turns out that there’s something to this whole ‘Threshold of the Empire’ thing, it’ll be nice to have something a little more comprehensive than a couple of magic kindergarten primers,” he flashed her a wry smirk and a wink.
He wasn’t wrong, “I don’t suppose that there’s a copy of Astra’s Ancient Analects around here somewhere?”
Archie smiled, “the annotated edition!”
> Chapter Four: The Pit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whatever might have been
All the dreams that ponies share

A little over an hour―and a thorough perusing of Archie’s personal library―later, the pair of unicorns were reaching the bottom of a winding staircase which was taking them to a section of the castle that Starlight had heard of in passing but never actually been to.  Mostly because there’d never been much cause for her to be anywhere near here.  The catacombs of the Crystal Palace were rather sacred to the crystal ponies, being the tomb for past princesses and princes.  It was only ever opened up on very specific occasions, and even then only a select few ponies were allowed to enter it.
Specifically, the royal family and their guests during occasions to honor the dead.
They arrived to find Aquamarine looking fervent and pacing in front of the humble barred door.  At the sound of the approaching hoofsteps, she jerked her head up, her eyes briefly widening in fear.  Upon seeing who it was that was coming her way, the crystal mare relaxed...a little, “you’re here; finally!” she blurted breathlessly.  Then her eyes took note of their saddlebags, “you’re coming?”
The mixture of surprise and hopefulness in the mare’s voice struck Starlight as almost adorable, and she couldn’t help but smile in response, “you saved our lives,” she shrugged, “the least that we can do is keep you from getting yourself killed.”
“Assuming that we even end up going anywhere,” Archie cautioned the mares, “this is all still just a bunch of tenuous conjecture.”
“Two hundred years in the Wasteland just sort of sucks the optimism right out of you, doesn’t it?” the pink unicorn quipped, earning a grunt from the ghoul, “let’s get going, shall we?” She stepped past Aquamarine and placed her hoof on the door, giving it a hardy shove.
The sturdy wooden door didn’t budge, “what the―?”
“It’s sealed,” the crystal mare explained, “nopony’s allowed to just go in.  You need special permission,” she glanced towards the decrepit stallion, “that’s why I needed Master Archie here.”
As she spoke, the ghoul was stepping forward, his pale blue telekinesis lifting the medallion that hung around his neck and extending it towards the door.  The talisman glowed briefly with a light of its own, and then there was an audible click.  The door noisily swung open on hinges which had obviously not seen much attention over the years.
Beyond was a dark void.  Again, the ghoul stallion took the lead, his horn glowing with a bright teal light that washed over their surroundings.  Those surroundings were, unsurprisingly, sarcophaguses.  A lot of sarcophaguses.
“One hundred and seven,” Aquamarine said, appearing to note Starlight’s awed expression, “that’s how many Princesses and Princes the Crystal Empire has had since its founding.  At least,” she added with a wry smile, “since it was founded here.”
“Still just conjecture at this point,” the Prime Minister cautioned, earning a grunt from the crystal mare.
The pink unicorn mare let out an appreciative whistle as she looked around the expansive chamber, which seemed to stretch out all around them.  Crystalline pillars and shimmering crypts filled the cavernous space.  Her gaze fell to the nearest pair.  The reliefs etched into them were easily identifiable.  There wasn’t a pony in Old Equestria who wouldn’t recognize the images of Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor.
“You know, there’s one thing that I’ve always kind of wondered,” Starlight began, looking at the pair of Imperial residents, “It’s the Crystal Empire, right?” the pair nodded, “...but it’s the Crystal Princess…?” she prompted expectantly.
“Tradition,” came Archie’s anemic reply, “it’s recorded that the founder of the Empire, Princess Moonstone, was the daughter of the ruler of another nation,” his hoof rose and began to pet at his chin in thought as he glanced at his crystal companion, “though I can’t think of what that other nation was called…?”
“Dom-terrah,” Aquamarine supplied, “but that just sort of means ‘ The Homeland’,” she glanced briefly at Starlight to see if the unicorn wanted to add any additional commentary on her translation this time.  The pink mare did not, “so I don’t think it’s the name of an actual ancient country.
“But, yeah, Princess Moonstone never actually crowned herself Empress, so none of her descendents ever did either, out of respect.  Eventually, it just sort of became the tradition that the ruler of the Empire was a prince or princess.”
That information certainly lined up with everything that Starlight had come to expect from the crystal ponies, “and I assume they never bothered to change the name to the Crystal Princedom for the same reason?”
“Probably,” the former colonel shrugged.
“Fascinating.  So, where exactly is this ‘Threshold’ that we’re here to examine?”
“It should be at the far end of the catacombs, follow me!”
As Starlight pretty much had anticipated, the pair of unicorns were led to the far end of the chamber by their armored companion, past scores of crystalline crypts, until they finally arrived at what was clearly the far wall of the catacombs themselves.  There they found the carved relief that had been described, as well as the tomb of the revered First Princess of the Empire, Princess Moonstone.
Though, the unicorn did note with some surprise that, unlike all of the other sarcophagi, this one was vertical, not horizontal.  Nor were the forelegs of the mare’s carved relief crossed over her chest in soft repose, but spread out, almost welcoming.  Starlight balked at the sight before them as Aquamarine sat herself down and began to examine the carvings for clues.
“So, if this is the Threshold, then there’s got to be some sort of hint that will tell us how to get to the Tower of Fire,” the crystal mare thought out loud, “Tower of Fire...Tower of Fire…” she started looking around, “are any of these support columns unusually yellow or red maybe?  Do you guys see one that has a bunch of torch sconces or something?”
Starlight was only half paying attention to the other mare’s mumblings as she shared a look with the ghoul stallion.  Archie, in turn, let out a bored sigh, “you did say that they sounded like Daring Do book titles,” the Prime Minister pointed out as he approached the sarcophagus.
“Well, yeah, but…” Starlight shrugged, “I didn’t think that it’d be as obvious as a Daring Do book,” she said as she approached with the ghoul, “I always kind of assumed that A.K. Yearling was dumbing that stuff down for her audience.  Like, if you wanted a fun adventure, then you read Daring Do; but if you wanted actual puzzles and mysteries, you read Sherlock Hooves!  There’s no way that the solution to an actual ancient puzzle is this obvious!”
Aquamarine looked up from her muttering and regarded the pair of unicorns with a confused expression, “what are you two doing?”
“Opening the Threshold,” Starlight responded in an oddly defeated tone.  As she was speaking, Archie pressed the token of his position to the crypt’s surface.  The medallion once again pulsed briefly with light.  A few seconds later, the lid bagan to shift, slowly swinging outward, much to Aquamarine’s horror.
“What are you doing?!  You can’t disturb a body like that!  This place is sacred to...our…” her protests petered out as the interior was revealed to contain, not a body...but a descending staircase, “what.”
She continued to sit in stunned silence for several more seconds before glaring at the unicorns, “okay, seriously, who the fuck is Daring Do?!”
“She’s a character in a series of novels that apparently aren’t nearly as campy as I first thought,”  Starlight answered with a sigh as she followed Archie through the opening, “I suppose I owe them a read if any actually survived the apocalypse,” she glared at the fresco before she began descending down the stairs, “but, I swear to Celestia, the Tower of Fire better be as dramatic as it sounds!”

“In fairness,” Archie said as the trio continued to descend along the passageway.  The stairs had ended after just a few yards, and the dutifully carved passageway had opened up into a much rougher natural tunnel, albeit one with a perilously steep incline, “this likely was a far more dramatic journey a few thousand years ago.”
“What do you mean by that?” Aquamarine asked.
“This is a lava tube.  It’s a natural tunnel formed by volcanic lava flows.  They can stretch for miles.  This one is obviously dormant now but it’s entirely possible that, thousands of years ago, it was much fresher.  Those ancient crystal pilgrims could very well have endured oppressive heat and even traces of still cooling magma while passing through it.”
“I’m still not giving it a pass,” Starlight grumbled, “I was promised fiery towers.  Instead I get the Trottingham Underground.”
“Are you seriously complaining about this being a simple walk through a tunnel?” Archie arched a brow at the mare.
“Kind of?” the pink mare’s lips curled in a wry smile, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, me from a year ago would be in awe that something like this existed beneath the Crystal Empire, and I’d be marveling that I was walking in the hoofsteps of ponies from a time before Equestria even existed.
“But after waking up in the Wasteland?
“In the last three months I’ve: fought a half dozen manticores, killed a radgator the size of an Enclave Raptor, cut my way through an army of batpony ghouls to recover Princess Luna’s Moonlight Bow from the Castle of the Two Sisters, out-magiced an alicorn―that bore a suspiciously close resemblance to the mare who used to bully me in college―got eaten by a sandworm, and killed a kodiak.  And those are just the things that stand out!
“For Celestia’s sake, I nearly died twice just walking from the Crystal Palace to my old house, and those don’t even register as blips on my radar!  It’s the Wasteland.  Crazy things happen all the time!  You’re just walking along some crumbling road, minding your own business, and then―bam!―an airship being piloted by a ropobony with the personality of Commander Firefly drops out of the sky and press-gangs you into her crew and now you’re a sky pirate for two hours!  
“That happened!  Twice!”
The pair of ponies were gaping at her in slack-jawed awe.
Aquamarine raised a hoof, “...I’m sorry; did you say eaten?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Starlight waved a dismissive hoof, her body shuddering at the memory, “ugh!”
“You were a sky pirate ‘twice’?” Archie quirked a brow.
The unicorn mare rubbed her head sheepishly, “yeah, turns out they were part of some sort of escaped amusement park attraction from Las Pegasus and after two hours they reset, drop you off, and run through the exact same routine again after ten minutes.  I kind of forgot about them and accidentally got picked up again a week later at the same spot,” she cleared her throat, “it was a fun ride, but not the kind that you do a second time, you know what I mean?  It’s a lot less exciting when you know what the routine is...
“Look, the point is that this?” she gestured around at the dimly lit dormant lava tube, “this is not what I’ve come to expect from the Wasteland.”
Archie and Aquamarine exchanged a look and the ghoul shrugged, “well, speaking as somepony who has spent the last two hundred years sitting in an old palace working as a glorified clerk, I can safely say that this is the highlight of my life and I’m having a simply marvelous time.  Marine?”
The crystal mare nodded, fighting to contain a grin, “I’m about to have my life’s work completely validated by finding the ancient homeland of the crystal ponies!  We might have just saved the Empire!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Starlight sighed, “it’s all really cool and everything,” she acknowledged, scuffing her hoof at the tunnel’s steeply inclined floor, “I just...figured it’d be harder than walking there…”
“Again, I find myself wondering why that is a complaint?”
“Because everypony was making it this big deal!  The wendigos, the dwindling Crystal Heart magic, the umbra ponies, everypony dying in their sleep in a month being the most optimistic future to hope for...and we’re going to solve all of those problems by...walking down a hill,” Starlight sighed again, “the last time I was involved in a quest to avert a genocide, there were alicorn robot swarms, tanks, and an army of genetically engineered super-soldiers!  
“I brain-washed a town!  Again!”
The teal crystal mare stared at Starlight, “...what is your life?”
“A lot weirder since the world ended, I’ll tell you that much,” she muttered.
The ghoul stallion stepped up beside her and gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and said in a tone that wasn’t―quite―patronizing, “don’t worry, we’re not there yet.  I’m sure that we’ll meet a nice rock wyrm in here that will try to eat us before morning.”
“Here’s hopin’!” Starlight responded in a tone that wasn’t―quite―sarcastic.
Aquamarine looked between the pair, “...you’re both crazy.”

“See?  Now this: this is pretty cool,” Starlight said as the trio―finally―emerged from the lava tube.  They’d been walking for hours by that point and hadn’t actually reached the true end of the natural tunnel.  However, there was little doubt in the minds of any of them that they’d reached their destination intended.
If anything at all counted as a “False World”, then it had to be a caldera that wasn’t technically a “caldera”, for all that it seemed to possess just about every other criteria.  Clearly formed by a volcanic eruption at some point in the past, a lake in the middle of it, and even something of a thriving ecosystem.  Though it was far more fungus-based than Starlight was entirely comfortable with.
The weather was nice though.
That was how high the ceiling of the simply gargantuan cavern was: it had weather.  The three ponies could clearly see clouds above them.  There was even a light drizzle happening on the far side.  Where they were standing was sunny though.  Only, it wasn’t, because the light that they were standing in wasn’t being cast by the “sun”.  Not technically.
“I don’t suppose either of you brainiacs know what’s going on?” the crystal mare asked in awe.
“Sunstone,” Archie supplied with a simple frankness that seemed to bely his own amazement at where they were standing, “certainly the largest on record though…”
“That thing’s a giant glowing rock?”
“Ehh…” Starlight’s hoof wavered in the air, “sort of?  It’s a mineral formation, yeah, but I wouldn’t call it a ‘rock’.  That gives it the wrong connotation.”
The ghoul chose to elaborate upon seeing the confounded expression that the crystal mare was wearing, “that glowing is caused by bioluminescence―light from living creatures.  The specific creatures involved are a type of bacteria that secrete a silicate compound as waste.  It creates a translucent sheath around them that is a lot like a quartz crystal,” he looked up at the massive stone that must have been hundreds of feet in diameter, “as long as they have a steady supply of nitrates and a source of sulphur, they’ll glow.  Plenty of both in an old magma chamber…”
“That’s also why it smells a little like rotten eggs,” the unicorn mare added, wrinkling her nose in annoyance at the odor.  It wasn’t particularly potent, but it was very clearly omnipresent in the air.  It was as though she was perpetually walking into a recently-used little filly’s room.
“...The fuck are eggs?”
“It’s like a fart,” Starlight amended.
“A what?”
Both the living and the withered unicorn looked at Aquamarine with surprised expressions.  They exchanged glances before the pink mare asked, “are you fucking with us or do crystal ponies really not fart?”
“I don’t know,” the crystal mare shrugged, “what is it?”
“When gas comes out of your ass?”
“Eww!  That’s disgusting,” the younger mare’s lip curled in clear revulsion, “why does that happen?”
Again the two unicorns shared a look and shook their heads, “now’s not the time for a biology lesson,” Archie assured everypony, “let’s just settle on ‘it smells bad’.”
“It does?  I seriously have no idea what either of you are even talking about.  It smells fine here.  Honestly, this place smells surprisingly fresh considering it’s an underground...cave?  That word doesn’t sound nearly big enough for this place.  We could fit the whole Empire in here…”
Starlight decided to file away Aquamarine’s olfactory peculiarities for later contemplation and instead returned her attention to their surroundings.  She had to agree with the other mare on that much though.  There was room for the castle, it’s outlying buildings, and there would be plenty of land left over to set up some farms and a few herds of tiny ewes.  She’d have been willing to put bits on this place being the ancient homeland of the crystal ponies…
Except…
“We’re not there yet,” Starlight said with a slight frown, “there’s still a labyrinth to find and go through.  And I don’t see anything like that here,” she pointed out, gesturing at the scene before them.
Aquamarine looked a little torn now.  It wasn’t hard to understand why.  On the one hoof, they did seem to find a perfectly idyllic place to move the crystal ponies to that would protect them from the wendigos and the umbra ponies.  Everypony could be safe right here.  Though that did leave one question burning in the minds of everypony.  
It was the crystal mare who gave it voice, “...why didn’t our ancestors settle here?  This place looks perfect.  They didn’t have to go up to the surface,” she glanced at Archie, “especially if you’re right and that lava tube was really a lot fresher when my ancestors came through here...Why make a dangerous trip like that when they’d found a paradise like this?”
“Perhaps this place too wasn’t nearly so pleasant back then,” Archie glanced upwards and frowned, “a growth like that would certainly have needed at least a few thousand years to reach such a size,” the ghoul stallion sighed and shook his head, “for definitive answers to those questions, we would invariably have to press on and find this Labyrinth of Sorrows.  Beyond it lies the true ancient home of the crystal ponies and perhaps evidence as to why they’d have left it.”
“...we should press on,” the armored mares said in a resigned tone, earning a curious look from her mentor, “there’s a reason that my ancestors passed this place over and took a much more dangerous path instead.  I have to trust that they knew what they were doing.  There’s a reason they went to the surface.  I have to know what it was.”
“Fair enough,” the Prime Minister nodded, “however, perhaps a rest before we press forward?  It’s surely well after midnight by now.”
Funny how it wasn’t until the ghoul had mentioned that that Starlight finally began to feel fatigued.  Understandable, as she’d had quite the long day―what with the two aforementioned incidents of near-death and all.  She glanced apologetically at the crystal mare, who was looking just a little distressed at the notion of pausing their quest for something as trivial as a little sleep, “I actually could use a few winks,” she gestured at their lush surroundings, “and this is a pretty cozy spot for it.  No telling what we might run into further on.  It’s best that we’re rested for it if we do end up running into danger.”
The crystal mare sighed and nodded her head, “you’re both right.  We’ll break for a bite and some sleep.”
A fire wasn’t necessary, as Starlight doubted that it was even capable of getting dark here.  She idly wondered if that was why the crystal ponies didn’t stick around: too bright all the time.  It was certainly giving her some trouble getting to sleep, despite her best efforts.  Aquamarine seemed to have little issue though, and Archie was already snoring like a hell hound with a deviated septum.  That much Starlight could deal with, but the light…
The pink unicorn let out a defeated sigh and rolled over, turning away from the light in the hopes that it would help at least somewhat.  In the process, she inadvertently knocked over her saddlebag.  A pair of glass globes that glowed with a faint orange light rolled into view.  Starlight stared at the memory orbs for several long seconds.  She wasn’t certain how ultimately ‘restful’ a trip into a memory orb would be where dealing with her fatigue was concerned, but her aching joints should get a good reprieve at least while she was in there.
Starlight brought the first orb over and touched it to her horn, drawing the memories in with a gentle tug.
Imagine her stark surprise when she was rather violently thrown back out again.  The unicorn winced, letting out a his of pain as she was overcome with a splitting headache.  She’d not gone into a lot of memory orbs in her life, but she’d certainly never encountered anything like that before!  What Starlight had found most peculiar was that it hadn’t even felt like she was supposed to have been ejected like that.  She’d felt no trace of a security spell―and, honestly, her husband simply wouldn’t have been capable of casting one that could keep her out anyway.  No, the problem that she began to suspect after a couple more―much more tentative―probes was a far simpler one:
Sunburst had “broken” it.
At least, effectively.
Memory orbs were really only intended to contain a single memory.  Even then, the memory was supposed to be relatively short.  A few hours at most.  The day that she’d arrived in the Crystal Empire to assume her post as the Ministry of Arcane Sciences liaison with the Imperial Academy had skirted the boundaries of those limits, honestly.
Whatever was in here...it was just a jumbled mess.  It wasn’t just overly long memories, he’d shoved multiple memories into it!  Now its contents were a hopeless jumbled mess of sounds and visuals with barely a coherent thought between them.  The mare glared at the orb as though it had offended her sensibilities, and in a way it had.  Sunburst had very much abused that poor orb in much the same way she remembered his abusing that drawer in the kitchen: just stuffing whatever he wanted into it until it barely closed and there was no hope of ever finding whatever he was looking for in the future.
It made a little bit of sense, she supposed.  He’d clearly never intended to look into it ever again, so what did he care whether the contents were accessible to anypony else?  He’d just wanted the memories out of his head.
Again there was that pang of hurt at the realization of how much her husband had wanted her gone from his life.
Starlight turned her attention to the second orb.  She very much suspected that it was in the same state as the other one, but she figured that it was worth at least an attempt.  After all, the first orb that she’d used had been perfectly fine.
Though she wasn’t expecting much, the unicorn mare touched her horn to the memory orb and made a cautious attempt to access it―


	oooOOOooo


The nurse popped her head out the door, “Mister Sunburst?”
The stallion shot up like a lightning bolt had stuck him.  He hadn’t even realized that he’d gone to sleep.  He glanced at the clock on the wall.  Three in the morning?  They’d gotten here at midnight, and he knew for a fact that it’d been a lot longer than three hours since then―
Oh, right, they’d been given a room and told that it could still be a good while yet before anything more happened, but the staff didn’t want to bother sending the two of them home.  He’d just sort of puttered around all day, wandering to the cafeteria and back.  Then he’d been kicked out of the room when the contractions really kicked into high gear.
But that had been just after dinner!  Surely it hadn’t―
“Mister Sunburst?” the nurse repeated much more loudly.
Oh, right, somepony was talking to him, “y-yes?”
The mare swallowed, seeming to force a nervous smile as she regarded the disheveled stallion, “you can come in now and meet your daughter.”
“...oh,” the stallion got up onto trembling hooves.  He felt more than a little nervous, truth be told.  Two months premature wasn’t a super big deal―according to the books he’d read when the doctors first warned them that this pregnancy might be difficult.  They couldn’t give specifics, but their tests had shown that certain hormone levels weren’t where they should be.  Nothing too extreme, they’d vehemently assured, and nothing that should cause genuine alarm...but enough to be watchful.
Hence why they’d shown up at the first sign that Starlight was feeling any sort of abdominal discomfort.
Sunburst followed the nurse through the doors and down the hall.  Past the room that Starlight had initially been admitted to, the stallion noticed, feeling that lump of nerves in his gut grow a little bigger.  The nurse didn’t flinch though, apparently knowing full well where Starlight had been moved to.  He didn’t like that they were heading towards doors marked “NICU”.  He supposed that was only right, though.  It was two months early…
However, he simply couldn’t force himself to wait for any information to be volunteered, “are they alright?”
“Your wife is fine,” the nurse said.  Sunburst didn’t believe that he imagined the waiver though, “the birth was...difficult.  There were complications―minor complications,” she stressed fervently, “but she pulled through just fine.  She’s with your daughter now.”
“And Moonbeam, she’s…?”
“―alive,” the nurse swallowed, “it―your daughter is...alive.”
He didn’t find that response as comforting as he felt that he should have.  The sound of the various beeping machines that became audible as the two of them neared the door didn’t help either.  Not all of those ominous tones had to do with his new filly, of course.  There were other newborn foals who rested here beneath the watchful eyes of doctors, nurses, and fretful parents.  Sunburst didn’t care about any of them though.  His eyes passed them over without hesitation until he finally found the familiar form of his wife.
The nurse was left in his wake as he rushed over to Starlight and threw his hooves around her.  The pink unicorn started at first, but then quickly returned the embrace, burying her face into his chest.  She was mumbling something, but Sunburst couldn’t quite make it out.  He got the faint impression that the nurse was trying to tell him something too, but again those words didn’t penetrate.
He was too distracted by what lay nearby.
It was probably supposed to be a pony, but…
“―doing everything we can,” that was the nurse’s voice, the stallion thought, still only half-hearing her, “we’ve reached out to the Ministry of Peace and they’re sending over a specialist for a consultation―”
“―rry...I’m sorry...I’m sorry...” that was Starlight.
The monitors attached to the creature in the incubator nearby beeped.


	oooOOOooo


“―ervous?”
Sunburst looked away from the mirror for a brief moment and turned to face his visitor.  The smile that he flashed the older mare was bittersweet.  He loved his mother―honestly―but she could be a little...motherly.  The stallion made a conscious effort not to think about his mother in ways that were too disparaging.  She meant well.
That was what he kept telling himself anyway.
“No, Mom, I’m not nervous,” he assured the burnt orange mare.
“Your father―bless his soul―was an absolute wreck on our wedding day,” the unicorn mare continued, as though not having heard a word that he’d said, “he was sweating the whole time!”
Probably because it had only just hit him what sort of hell awaited him on the other side of that altar―
Sunburst cut the thought off quickly and forced himself to smile and take a deep breath to calm his nerves.  Though, as he had said, those nerves genuinely had nothing at all to do with the wedding that was mere minutes away from happening.  The truth was that neither him nor Starlight were nervous about it.  From a purely legal standpoint, they’d been married for nearly a year now, in fact.
The only reason for this ceremony was because it turned out that neither of them had had the spine to tell either of their parents that they’d eloped to Las Pegasus―specifically to avoid dealing with their parents on a day like this.  So when it became clear that the questions about when the two of them would finally tie the knot wouldn’t stop, they’d eventually broken down and “set a date” for the benefit of their parents; giving his mother and Starlight’s father free rein to plan everything.
Fat lot of good eloping did cowards like us, the stallion thought to himself, I’d suggest we talk to a shrink about our parent issues, but they’d kick us out after the first session to save their own sanity!
There was nothing for it but to grin and bear it at this point.  If anything, the hard part was over.  They’d both endured months of fittings, cake-tastings, color pallet choosings, venue scouting, all leading up to this moment: when the two of them could finally be free of their parents’ incessant nagging about their lives!
“―and don’t get me started on how he reacted when I brought up foals!”
Oh, she was still rambling.  How wonderful…
“Speaking of...” 
Oh no.  Nononono!
“I hope the two of you have set aside a room in that house of yours for a nursery?”
Sunburst mentally face-hoofed.  Right.  Now this could start.  Maybe he should talk to Starlight about popping out a foal as soon as possible to head this sort of talk off at the pass!  No, that wouldn’t work.  Because the moment they did have a foal, it would just turn into questions about whether their child was potty trained yet, how their counting was coming along, had he and Starlight scouted out any good colleges they were just born, Mother, I know but you need to have a plan for these sorts of things, Dear―!
The stallion took in another deep breath and made a mental note to speak with Starlight about learning that emotion-bottling spell of hers for when his mother invariably dropped by to visit.  Likely unannounced, of course.
“We’re going to be putting that sort of thing off,” he said out loud in a tone that possessed a calmness that even surprised himself.  He focused on straightening his bowtie.  His mother hadn’t approved of polka-dots but―by Celestia!―Sunburst had made that a hill he would die on.
Polka dots were cool.
It was also the only decision he’d made this whole wedding that his mother hadn’t overruled or patently ignored.
“Not too long, I hope,” Stellar Flare said, stepping up beside him a ‘restraightening’ his bowtie.  Sunburst merely smiled, reminding himself that it would all be over in an hour and then they’d be free of their parents for at least two weeks while the ‘new couple’ was on their honeymoon.  If his mother really wanted grandfoals, there was no way she was going to disturb that!
“Nothing against your lovely bride-to-be,” she continued, “but it gets a lot harder for a mare to ‘bounce back’ as she gets older.  That’s why I was smart and had you right out the gate!” she patted her son adoringly on the head.
“Thank you for that information, mother,” he wasn’t thankful, “but we’re not sure how long it’ll be.  It all depends on when the war ends.”
Stellar Flare frowned now, “don’t tell me you’re one of those ‘we can’t bring ourselves to bring an innocent life into this world full of hate!’ types?”
“No mother,” well, partially, “but Starlight and I both have very important jobs that demand a lot of our time.  We simply can’t care for a foal right now.  There’s too much to do.
“When the war’s over, Starlight’s agreed to officially transfer to the Academy and work there full time.  She won’t have to travel, and we can arrange our schedules so that somepony’s always home to take care of the baby,” he flashed his mother a―not quite―wicked grin, “it’s our plan!”
It was a wonderfully satisfying experience to watch his mother’s sensibilities go to war with one another inside her head as her desire to be a grandmare engaged in an epic struggle with her fundamental approval of well-reasoned plans for the future.  In this case, her compulsion eventually won out, “that’s...great!” barely.
“We think so,” Sunburst floated over the white boutonniere that lay on the nearby table and slid the stem into the lapel of his suit.  He ignored his mother’s magical adjustment of it and headed for the door, “ready to go, Mother?” he extended his hoof―


oooOOOooo


“This is so stupid―I love it!” Starlight’s voice called from behind the changing curtain.
Sunburst chuckled, “it is pretty great,” he agreed, “I’m honestly surprised that more ponies don’t do this,” the stallion struck a pose and examined himself in the mirror as he appraised his own choice of attire.  The flowing white beard was hanging a little loose around his chin, but there didn’t seem to be much helping that.  The plastic hooks that looped around his ears to keep it in place only came in the one length.  The hat was a size too big too.
He supposed that if they wanted to make sure that the costume fit as many ponies as possible, it made more sense to err on the larger side.  Sunburst shrugged and stepped out from behind his own divider, “well, I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.  How about you―?” his words choked off in his throat.
Obviously there was quite the discrepancy where the quality and care of attires was concerned between stallions and mares.  Where his cloak, hat, and beard were all sized up, rather simplistic, and a little frayed in places; it seemed that the costume that Starlight had received for the occasion was quite different.  In every regard.
If anything, it was a size―or three―too small.  Not that the stallion was inclined to voice any complaints, mind you!  Her own cloak was little more than a miniature cape, fluttering around her withers as she moved.  It didn’t even meet the pleated skirt that she’d―somehow―managed to shimmy into.  Her hat was essentially a pointed fez that was canted adorably to one side of her mane.
For a moment, he wondered if the owners had perhaps accidentally received a costume that had been intended for a, erm...different establishment.  There were several such places in this city―which he only knew because such things were general knowledge!  He certainly hadn’t visited any of them!
“Uhh...Starlight…?  Are you sure that’s…?”
The mare giggled and struck a pose of her own, “what’s the matter?  You didn’t think that Clover the Clever could look so sexy?  No, this isn’t one of theirs.  I picked it up special this afternoon,”  The mare strutted around the flustered stallion grinning broadly at him, “look at you, you dirty old stallion; how dare you ogle your, young, innocent, impressionable, corruptible, student like that…” each word brought the mare closer in until she was leaning with her full weight against Sunburst, “when all that I want…” she craned her head up towards his ear, “is for you to...teach me…”
Sunburst let out a flustered gasp.  He was positive that a blush had now permanently burned itself into his cheeks, “uh―I...What I mean is―um...I―er, uh―”
Starlight was laughing uproariously now at the sight of her sputtering husband-to-be, “Oh, Celestia!  The look―gasp!―on your face―!  I love it!” she rushed in and hugged the stallion, saying it a much sweeter tone, though one that was still piqued with mirth, “and I love you, Sunny-butt!
“Now let’s get to that altar so that Liberacneigh look-alike can marry us and then you can tell me what I’ll have to do to you ‘after class’ if I want a passing grade,” the unicorn mare was prancing to the door, and cast a smoldering look at her groom, “and feel free to use any of that stuff that’s in those magazines you ‘hide’ in that red horseshoe box in the closet,” her lips spread into a wide grin upon seeing the stallion blanch, “last august, page seventeen, specifically!”
His ability to perfectly recall subject’s he’d read about was something of a mixed blessing at the moment.  Sunburst rearranged his cloak, “...yes, ma’am.”
“That’s, ‘yes, you naughty little girl’ to you!  Now hurry up!  This skirt’s really tight and I want you to rip me out of it ASAP―!


	oooOOOooo


Sunburst was leaning back in the chair staring straight ahead, and yet not really seeing anything.  He was just sort of...looking.  Meanwhile his brain was racing to process a hundred different things all at once.  It apparently took him far longer than Starlight appreciated to recognize that she expected him to articulate a response to her announcement too, “Sunburst?”
“Yeah!” the response had been automatic, but not entirely appropriate for the moment.
“‘Yeah’?  ‘Yeah’ what?” the pink unicorn asked cooly, narrowing her gaze slightly at her husband.
“I...uh...what was the question?”
“There wasn’t one,” was her terse reply.
“Right!  Right…” there hadn’t been a question.  Merely a statement of fact, “so...I guess we have some choices to make, don’t we?”
“‘Choices’?” Starlight curled in on herself slightly, almost reflexively, as though protecting herself.  No, not herself, Sunburst realized, “what do you mean?  Because I’m not going to―”
“No!  Nonono!  No that’s not what I’m saying!  I mean, you know...we need to get, like, a regular doctor, right?  The kind that mares see for this sort of thing?”
“You mean an obstetrician?”
“Yes!  That!” the stallion let out a relieved sigh, “we need an obstetrician.  And we’re also going to need to pick out a room―probably my office, honestly.  I can just move all of my stuff to the Academy―should have done that years ago anyway.  Buy some books on parenting―”
By this point, the pink unicorn had relaxed considerably, “so...you’re not upset?”
“Upset?!  Celestia, Starlight, no,” he assured the mare, “I’m not upset, angry, mad, or anything like that!  I’m just...surprised.  I think I’m allowed to be that,” he offered his wife a wan smile, “after all, we’d both decided that we’d wait until after the war―”
“I didn’t plan this!”
“I’m not saying you did!” Sunburst assured her, wondering why he felt like he was walking on eggshells.  Were these those ‘raging hormones’ that stallions were always talking about where pregnant mares were concerned?  Because he’d been under the impression that they were supposed to come into play a little bit later on in the process, “and I’m not saying it’s your fault or anything in any way!” he added, hoping to cut off another accusation, “I mean, I distinctly remember being there too, you know?
“Neither of us planned for this, but we weren’t exactly being as careful to avoid it as we apparently could have been.  But that doesn’t matter anymore.  It happened.  We’re going to deal with it―in a good way!” he hastily amended, “and we’re going to make it work.
“I’ll talk with Archibald and let him know that I’m going to be taking some paternity leave sometime in the next year.  The Empire’s pretty liberal with that sort of thing, what with the Princess of Love and all being the head of state,” he smiled at the now much more relaxed mare.  Then he thought for a moment, “though, aren’t we supposed to go to a doctor and have a real pregnancy test done to make sure?  I thought I heard that those at-home ones were only kinda reliable―”
“I found out from a doctor,” Starlight answered, sounding a little more nervous now, “today.  After they got the blood test results from my annual physical last week,” she paused for a moment, “they called me in for an ultrasound.  I’m at three months.”
“Three...months?” the stallion was back to his stunned state, “don’t mares usually know...before that…?”
She frowned now, “we’re working with a lot of untested spell matrixes at work.  Which means a lot of unknown side-effects.  Combined with the birth control I’m on...I’ve missed cycles before,” she shrugged, “I didn’t think anything of it.
“I talked to HR.  They’re pulling me off my ongoing research projects for the time being.  I’m going back to being a liaison again.”
“Oh.  Well that’s good.”
Starlight looked at her husband, still wearing a slightly wary expression, “you’re sure you’re okay with this?”
Sunburst sighed, let a smile return to his face, and leaned in to nuzzle the mare, “I’m fine; I promise!  I wanted this.  Yes, I prefered waiting until after the war when things were less…worrisome―but I did want this.
“I want all of it: holding our foal for the first time.  Hearing them say their first words.  Their first day at magic kindergarten.  Watching them cast their first incantation…all of it.
“I know it’s going to be wonderful, and I know you’ll be an amazing mother, and I know that we’ll be a great family together.”
Starlight smirked, “you mean that I’ll be amazing compared to your mother.”
“Griffons are amazing mothers compared to mine,” he snorted and then gave her another nuzzle, “you’ll be amazing compared to anypony’s mother,” he pulled back and thought for another moment, “you...said you had an ultrasound already?”
“Yes?”
“...do they know the gender?”
Starlight smiled at her husband, “we might want to pick out a book on baby names for girls―”


	oooOOOooo


Her eyes fluttered open slowly.  Even so, she was still unprepared for the amount of light that assaulted her.  It was completely unchanged from how it had been when she’d gone into the memory orb.  Which made it decidedly difficult to determine how long she’d been in there.  For all she knew, it had been anywhere from a few minutes to a few days.  Judging by how hungry she felt, it had been at least a decent hoofful of hours.
This guess was bolstered by the fact that neither Archie nor Marine were where they’d been sleeping before.  Honestly, they weren’t anywhere in sight.  This was both a little worrying and a bit of a relief, if the mare was being honest.  Waking up alone in a strange place was hardly an ideal situation under any circumstance.  However, it at least meant that she was able recompose herself in peace.
There’d been...dozens of memories that had been coherent enough for her to experience at least parts of.  However, they’d all come at her without warning, and bringing with them a flurry of emotions that she could barely process.  There was also her own brain’s attempts to reconcile the various incongruities between how she had viewed those events compared to Sunburt’s recollection.
Had she really looked that good wearing that ‘Sexy Clover’ Nightmare Night costume that she’d bought for their Las Pegasus wedding?  Sunburst had definitely looked a lot more like the real Starswirl than he’d thought, she remembered that much.  The beard had looked fine.
It was at least nice to know that he really hadn’t been upset about her getting pregnant like that.  She’d always kind of wondered if he’d been saying the ‘right’ things because he felt like he’d had to.
The unicorn mare wiped her eyes and nose and looked around herself again more thoroughly.  While her companions were gone, their packs remained.  Which meant that they likely hadn’t gone very far at least.  This was confirmed minutes later when she saw them approaching.
“Well, look who’s decided to finally come back to the present,” the turquoise mare chided, smirking at Starlight, “how was your trip?”  Archie’s expression was more concerned.  As a unicorn, he was likely more aware of how unusual it was for a memory orb to last as long as it must have.
“It was fine,” the pink unicorn said simply as she repacked her bag and got back to her hooves.
“Uh huh.  Well, we decided that we’d get a little searching in until you woke up.  We think we found something.  Follow us; you can eat on the way.  We’ve lost enough time already.”
Starlight frowned but said nothing as she fell into step behind the pair.  She was still trying to process those recent experiences when the trio apparently arrived at their destination: an apparent cave-in along the wall.  
Archie explained how a cursory investigation had convinced him that it hadn’t been a natural event, “it started too low,” he said, using his magic to illustrate the areas of the vaulting rocky walls where the stone had apparently fallen from.  It was barely ten feet above the surface, “and the breaks are far too uniform.  Somepony was deliberately knocking down stones here.”
Starlight stepped up now and began to examine the collection of fallen rocks, probing at them with her own magic, “it’s hollow beyond them,” she confirmed, “everypony stand back,” she and the other two ponies each backed away gingerly.  A brilliant blast of cyan energy from her horn proved sufficient to pulverize the obstructing stones, revealing in their wake another tunnel.
This was no lava tube though, “this was mined out,” Archie noted.  Starlight and Aquamarine were forced to agree with the ghoul’s conclusion.  The sides were too smooth, and the dimensions were far too uniform to be a natural formation.  It was also a nearly perfect size for a pony to comfortably walk through.
“Not much of a labyrinth,” the pink unicorn said as she poked her head into the single passageway.
“Maybe it just leads to it,” her crystal companion suggested.
“Only one way to find out for sure,” the stallion said as he stepped to the front of the group, pulling out his sword and heading inside, “stay close,” he cautioned.
They’d yet to encounter anything that could be considered a threat on this journey, but the close confines of the tunnel that they were about to travel into meant that they’d be at considerably more risk than at any other point thus far.  The ghoul’s caution was likely appropriate, Starlight thought.  She elected to take up the rear position, giving their group the ability to generate magical light both ahead and behind them in the event that they needed to backtrack if they ever did find their way to this labyrinth.
A couple hundred feet later, they reached their first intersection.  However, Starlight couldn’t help but feel that it was a little obvious which way they were supposed to go, “one tunnel leading into three,” she noted, and their group was standing at the mouth of one of the three, given the way that the passageways seemed to curve.
“We’re coming at the labyrinth from the opposite way,” Archie concluded, “we’re going from the exit towards the entrance.  This was designed to confuse ponies going the other way.”
“Everything about this trip has been so underwhelming,” Starlight sighed, “worst. Adventure. Ever.”
“In fairness, we don’t know that for sure,” Aquamarine pointed out, “we shouldn’t just assume that in a place like this.”
“That’s a fair point,” the ghoul agreed.  He gestured towards one of the other tunnels, “you two check down that way and see if it dead-ends.  I’ll stay here,” he looked at Starlight, “you grabbed Cavalcade’s Cantrips, right?  There should be an arcane tethering spell on page two hundred and fourteen.  I’ll serve as the anchor point.  That way you two won’t get lost.”
“Good idea,” the pink mare floated out the appropriate grimoire and flipped it to the indicated page, finding the spell easily―much to her own surprise.  Though she supposed that when one had a few hundred years to do so, memorizing spellbook contents was probably a pretty simple feat even if you weren’t a prodigy like her husband had been.  She closed her eyes and deftly connected the magical tether between herself and Archie.  A wispy blue tendril of energy now existed between them, floating delicately in the air.
She looked to the crystal mare and nodded towards the tunnel ,”let’s go,” as she started walking, the line connecting her to the unicorn ghoul grew in length, following her precise path like a magical trail of breadcrumbs.
The pair of mares advanced cautiously down the tunnel, Starlight lighting the way for them.  It possessed the same dimensions as the passageway that they’d entered through.  However, it did not seem to extend nearly as long.  It only took them a couple of minutes to reach its end, as they had mostly expected they would.
What they had not expected was the skeleton.
The light from starlight’s horn washed over the collection of bones and barding that had once been a pony.  The slight shimmer that they possessed confirmed that it had indeed been a crystal pony as well.  A pickaxe and a sword lay mingled with the remains.  They stared at the body for several seconds in silence.
“No sign of what killed them,” Aquamarine said, after leaning in close to examine the skeleton, “nothing broken at least.  The armor’s undamaged, so it wasn’t a cave-in or a monster of some sort.”
“They didn’t get lost down here either,” Starlight mused, “it looks like they were actually making this tunnel when they died.  If anypony should know their way through this place, it should be the ponies building it.”
“Do you have a spell that can tell us what happened?”
“Ponies don’t do necromancy,” was Starlight’s terse reply, “you’ll need a zebra for that,” that wasn’t strictly true, if the rumors about some of the MAS’s more...questionable research projects were to be believed; but Starlight had not been involved in those.  She was interested in researching new magicks, yes, but there existed some lines that even she wouldn’t cross.
Her eyes looked to the sword.  A diamond-forged blade, just like Archie’s.  Much older though.  Only the blade seemed to be in any sort of serviceable condition.  The pommel and hilt were all but eroded away.  Which honestly made little difference to a unicorn, since she could wield the cutting edge with her magic just as effectively either way.  She collected the blade in her telekinesis and tucked it into her barding.
“Let’s go back.”
The second tunnel that they were rather certain was a dead end proved to indeed be one as well.  It too ended in an armored corpse.  Starlight suspected that all of them would, and she didn’t particularly like those implications.
Labyrinth of ‘Sorrows’ indeed.  Labyrinth of Death was more like it.  How many ponies had been sacrificed to build this place, and to what purpose?  Had the builders been murdered to keep the solution a secret?  It’s not like it was even that difficult of a maze.  None of the ‘false’ passages they tested out seemed to go on for very long, and none of them branched off into any additional false leads.  Every intersection they came to was more of the same: a clear point of origin that led into several options, of which they always emerged from one.  The others all ended in a body after a few hundred feet.
“This place was a waste of time,” Starlight grumbled, “nopony could actually get lost down here.  Not really.  Inconvenienced maybe.  Delayed.  But so what?  What was the point?”
“Maybe that was the point,” Archie pointed out, “to delay somepony.  Or something.  They blocked off the exit too, remember?  Even if we’d come at this thing from the ‘right’ way, we’d have run into nothing but dead ends no matter what path we took.  It would have looked like there wasn’t a solution.
“This wasn’t a puzzle that was meant to be solved.”
“I think Master Archie’s right,” the crystal mare said, “each of those soldiers had their weapons drawn.  They went down fighting.  Their job was to create false paths and delay whatever followed them down them.”
The ghoul nodded, “meanwhile, the main body of the group would continue down the real path until they reached the end and then seal it off,” he thought for a moment, “I have to wonder if this had not originally been just a single tunnel and those off-shoots made long afterwards while they were trying to escape...whatever it was that was chasing them.”
Starlight was forced to acknowledge that the idea was rather likely.  Honestly, it was the only conclusion that made sense, given what they knew.  The crystal ponies being led by Princess Moonstone had gone to the surface for a reason―had barred the way behind them for a reason.  That reason was very likely: they were trying to escape from something.  It likely hadn’t been some sort of natural disaster either.  Natural events didn’t chase you down.
The pink mare was wondering now if they should be so determined to seek out a place that the crystal ponies had been so keen to run from.  Granted, a few thousand years was a long time.  Time enough, certainly, for whatever threat might have existed to have vanished by now.
Idly, she wondered if, in another few thousand years, the crystal ponies might have to leave here and go back to the surface to escape some sort of danger.  An eon-spanning shuttle run of some sort.  Starlight found a bit of macabre amusement in that thought.
As the trio expected, they found the end―or rather, the beginning―of the ‘labyrinth’ with little actual issue once they ceased to explore the obvious dead-ends.  Once again, it came time for the small group to wonder at the marvel of what they were seeing.  It was not as fantastical as the False World had been, at least, not in terms of its cheer scope and size, but it was still very impressive in its own right.
There was little doubt that they’d found the home of the crystal ponies.
The sides of the fractal cavern glistened and sparkled with crystalline spires.  Indeed, Starlight was relatively certain that they’re emerged into the middle of a massive geod of some sort.  These spires which adhered to the walls of the cavern were themselves dotted with openings and additions―windows, doors, balconies, staircases.  Each massive hexagonal crystal spire was like unto an apartment building.  Pathways formed of a mosaic of precious stones wound and twisted their way along the ground before them.  Up ahead, Starlight could even make out a central column of crystals that had been carved out into a structure that was distinctly reminiscent of the Crystal Palace.
“Huh.”
Starlight glanced down at their crystalline companion, “that’s all you’ve got to say?  ‘Huh’?  Isn’t this what you’ve been searching for?”
“I thought it’d be...harder,” Aquamarine said sheepishly.
The pink unicorn flashed a grin at the ghoul stallion standing beside them, “see?  She gets it!”
“I hate to play Discord’s advocate,” the stallion said with a wry smirk of his own, “but I don’t think we should turn back just yet.  The crystal ponies left for a reason.  At the very least, we should see if we can’t learn what that reason was and see if it still poses a risk.”
He had a point.  It did nopony any good to bring the Empire’s remaining citizens down here only to have them get wiped out by...something, “so where should we start looking then?”
Archie pointed to the central column, “I nominate the palace.  The ponies in charge would surely have kept a record of any threats that they faced.”
The mares nodded in agreement and they began to make their way through the city towards it’s center.  Slowing on occasion to examine a nearby structure or feature.  Starlight couldn’t help but notice how different the ruins in this place felt from the ruins on the surface.  She didn’t just mean the lack of physical devastation either―though that certainly stood out.
On the surface, the destruction of the world had largely come as a surprise―Starlight herself had been under the impression that the alert was merely another drill.  Nopony had had much time to prepare, and what she saw of the devastation suggested that relatively few managed to escape at all.  Bodies lined the ravaged streets and crumblings buildings of the Old World.  Homes and businesses looked like everything had just sort of...stopped...mid-action.  A cosmic force had paused Equestria, and then everypony had died where they stood.
Here?
There were no bodies―save for those that had been in the labyrinth.  No shops had their wares on display.  No homes had set tables or cluttered living rooms.  What possessions there were―and Starlight felt like there were far fewer than there should have been―had been neatly packed away in cupboards and dressers and desks.  This evacuation had been organized, orderly, and planned well in advance.  The ponies here had known that they were leaving, and when.
That suggested a well known, and a well understood, threat.
A threat that they’d understood well enough to know that it couldn’t be defeated either.
That concerned Starlight.
The pulled up short just before reaching the palace, in front of an obelisk that bore a carved message.  Starlight and Aquamarine recognized the old crystal dialect easily, as it was identical to that contained in the Empire's oldest records.  The contents of the carved message did little to assuage Starlight’s worries.
“‘Be it known…’” the crystal mare read from the relief, “‘that this...monument?  Serves to announce the the memories of our―serves as a memorial’,” the mare corrected herself, “‘to our loved ones; who died fighting the…’” she faltered now, narrowing her eyes as she peered at the elusive word, “‘fear and danger’?”
Starlight leaned in and looked over the words, “‘The Horror’,” she supplied, “it’s mentioned a few times in the old records.  They never say exactly what ‘The Horror’ is though.  Everypony back then just seemed to take it for granted that the reader would know exactly what they were talking about.
“I assume it’s a monster of some sort.”
“Ah,” Aquamarine nodded and then continued to read the message, “‘...died fighting The Horror.  Their sacrifice shall never be forgotten.  May their...essence―spirits live forever in this city, which we leave in their care.’”
“They declared this place to be an actual ghost town,” Archie noted with a smirk as he looked around, “fascinating.”
“Well, we finally know what happened―kind of,” the pink mare frowned, “The Horror chased the crystal ponies away from their home.  If we ever find out what ‘The Horror’ were then we’ll know if it's safe to come back or not.”
“I still have hope that there will be more detailed records in the palace,” the ghoul said, “even if they never give a description, finding a record of where The Horror came from or what they do should go a long way.”
That much Starlight had to agree with.  She wouldn’t deny that she was frustrated with the vagueness of the description, but she supposed that it was no different than seeing a sign that said: “Beware: Hydras”  Anypony who never seen or heard about a hydra before would have no idea what one looked like, could do, or how much of a threat they posed.  Only a few books ever really went into a lot of detail about those sorts of things.  Most mentions of dangerous monsters just took it for granted that ponies had been taught by somepony else at some point that those monsters were dangerous and why they were dangerous.
The unicorn was sure that, thousands of years ago, every crystal pony was taught nearly from birth what The Horror was and why it should be avoided.  There was simply no reason for every mention of it to be paired with a long dissertation that described it in minute detail for an uninformed pony.  Though, as with hydras and manticores and other dangerous monsters that existed on the surface, there surely did exist some sort of definitive work on The Horror somewhere that had been written by scholars who’d studied them.
Hopefully a copy was located either in the palace or whatever building might pass for the library or archives in this place.  They just had to find it.

“Do you think we missed the party yet?” Starlight asked as she drew out another book and flipped through the pages.  The palace’s royal library was frustratingly both expansive and unhelpful.  It appeared that crystal ponies had a propensity for coming up with flourishing titles for both their reference guides and their fictional works.  At least, Starlight assumed that the various tales about ‘Pesky Pyrite’ and the colt’s nonsensical misadventures were intended to entertain the reader rather than document what would have surely been an extraordinary life for a pony of such a young age.
The tome she’d withdrawn this time appeared to cover the finer points of dining etiquette given the expansive number of forks it depicted of slightly varying size and tong count.  She put it back and moved on.  If she was being honest, she was not holding out much hope that they’d find anything helpful.  As had been apparent by the state of the rest of the city that they’d seen, the evacuation had been thorough and methodical.  Whatever logistical constraints had existed in order to be sure that their timetables could be met obviously meant that not everything could be taken, but the broad gaps on the shelves suggested that they’d made an effort to take what books they believed would be most useful to them in whatever new lands they settled.
Starlight was beginning to think that she references that they needed most had been taken to the surface and that they were either on the Academy's shelves, or had been lost during the reign of Sombra.  All that they were likely to find here was drivel.
“Hmm?” Archie looked over from his own shelf, “oh!  You mean Agate’s little ‘festival’ where he planned to pair you off with somepony?  Hard to say.  I didn’t think to bring a way of tracking time with me.  It might be that late by now,” he glanced outside a nearby window, not that it did him much good.  
While this city might have lacked the singular massive sunstone that the False World had, it was clear that such growths had been a mainstay for lighting in the past.  The walls and ceilings were dotted with them.  Starlight found herself doubting that most of them were where they’d been placed originally, as they lacked the elegance and order that the arrangement of the rooms and furniture suggested that the early crystal ponies had, but the effect was maintained: every room was at least moderately well lit at all times.
The unicorn mare found herself wondering if crystal ponies actually naturally did ‘night time’...
“Do you think they’re looking for us?”
“Probably not,” Archie answered, elaborating at the mare’s raised brow, “I left a note.”
“You left a note?”
“Sort of.  I told them that I was taking you back to the Academy for the day,” he shrugged, “though, in my defense, I didn’t think we’d actually find anything in the catacombs and that we’d be back in the castle propper by lunch.”
“That’s fair.  I didn’t think that we’d find the lost homeland of the crystal ponies either,” the two shared a chuckle.  There was silence for a moment, then, “are you worried you’ll get in trouble?”
“Trouble?  You mean will Agate punish me?” the pink mare nodded, “no.  He won’t do anything,” the ghoul thought for a moment, “well, I mean, he’ll complain about me being gone for so long and beg me not to do it again; but I won’t be punished in any way.”
“You sound pretty sure of that.  Doesn’t a regent have all the power and authority of the Princess?  Couldn’t he remove you as Prime Minister.”
“Of course he could,” Archie agreed, “but he won’t.  I helped educate every pony in that city.  I helped raise more than a few of them. ‘Master Archie’ has been the Prime Minister for as long as they’ve been alive―as long as their grandparents were alive,” he flashed the mare a smile, “it’s now ‘tradition’ for Master Archie to be the Prime Minister,” he said with a wink.
“That’s the level of tenure that every college professor dreams of,” Starlight grinned as the two shared another small laugh and resumed browsing through books for a brief time.  After another few minutes though, “will I get a Court position?”
“Hmm?”
“Court position.  Do I get one too?  You said the other day―or yesterday, whenever―that most ponies had one, even if it was just ceremonial.  I was just curious if I’d end up getting some nifty title.  Countess Starlight Glimmer has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
The ghoul smiled, “I don’t think there are any titles of nobility left to be passed out,” he said after a moment’s thought, “but I don’t see why we can’t find you something appropriate.  You’re obviously good with magic.  The position of Archmage might suit you.”
Starlight’s expression faltered.  Sunburst’s old position.  She wasn’t sure how she felt about stepping into that particular role.  He’d still only been dead for less than a year as far as she was concerned.  She’d only just started to mourn―and not even properly yet, “no...not that one.  Not yet.”
The ghoul regarded her for several long seconds with a curious expression, “...as you wish.  I suppose there’s no hurry if you want to get you hooves under you first,” as though another thought occurred to him he shrugged, “I suppose a mare like you could make it more than just an ‘honorary’ position, now that I think about it.  It’ll be a novel concept having a genuinely capable unicorn holding that title for once―”
“He was plenty capable!” Starlight snapped, startling the ghoul almost as much as she’d surprised herself.  The two looked at each other in stark silence until the mare cleared her throat and turned her attention back to the shelf in front of her, “sorry.  I’m just―...sorry.
“...We should focus on looking for a reference guide,” the withered stallion nodded slowly and went back to his own search.
Several hours later, it was Aquamarine who turned up with the answer to their question.  While the unicorns had perused the royal library, she’d chosen to search through the barracks.  Her reasoning had been sound enough: if The Horror was a monster, then the guards would have doubtlessly been trained on how to combat it, and those training materials might still be there.
She returned bearing a book, and a decidedly resigned expression, “wendigos.  The Horror are wendigos,” she announced unhappily as she tossed a well used book to the two unicorns.
“What?” both said with simultaneous surprise.  Starlight picked up the book with her magic and began to quickly flip through the pages, hoping that the crystal pony had simply made another translation error.
She had not, “‘born from Death itself’,” Starlight read, “‘The Horror appear as spectral ponies.  They have no tangible form, and they bring with them a cold that defies all efforts to keep it at bay.  They are without mercy.  Without compassion.  They cannot be reasoned with.  They fear no blade.  If you encounter The Horror…’” she looked up from the depressingly meger entry and swallowed, “‘...run.’”
“Wendigos?” Archie said breathlessly, “the crystal ponies were running from wendigos?  How is that possible?”
“...the old Hearth's Warming stories never said where they came from,” Starlight reminded him, looking to the ghoul, “they just showed up one day and brought a winter that neither earth pony, unicorn, or pegasus could stop,” she looked once more to the entry―an excerpt is what it was honestly, “maybe this was it: they came from here.”
“Did they though, or did they show up here at the same time?” Aquamarine asked.
Archie shook his head, “the Crystal Empire predates The Great Migration by many centuries.  The wendigos were here long before they chased our ancestors to Equestria,” he took the book from Starlight and scanned the text himself, “granted, it doesn’t say specifically whether they’re natives to this place either,” he noted.
“Something tells me that this city doesn’t exactly see a lot of invasive species,” the crystal mare pointed out.
“Fair enough.”
“...so where does that leave us then?” Starlight asked, “if the wendigos were here once, they can come here again.  This place isn’t safe from then either,” she noted Aquamarine’s decidedly unhappy expression as she reluctantly nodded her agreement.
“Perhaps not indefinitely,” Archie said, “but we might escape them long enough to find another solution.  Between the Academy and this library,” he gestured around him, “there should be knowledge enough for you to make a decent go of finding a magical solution,” his gaze went to Aquamarine again, “and down here we may last longer than just a month.
“It must have taken the wendigos time to track down your ancestors when they left, otherwise they would not have settled where they did for as long as they did.  We might buy ourselves years―decades even,” then, under his breath he added, “where the wendigos are concerned anyway…”
None of this would address the issue of the crystal ponies’ ever-dwindling gene pool, but that was not the most immediate concern.  If returning below ground did end up buying them time away from the wendigos and the umbra ponies, and Starlight did end up finding a way to ultimately deal with those threats, then they could return to the surface again and try to make contact with the rest of the world.
Idly, Starlight wondered if there even would be a ‘rest of the world’ if it took her long enough to deal with the wendigos.  Presumably they were only still here to deal with the last of the crystal ponies.  Without those targets within their reach anymore, would they venture south into Equestria?  They’d gone there before, according to the Hearth's Warming stories.
All the more reason for her to work quickly to devise a solution, the mare supposed.
“You’re right,” the crystal mare nodded, mustering up something akin to a confident expression, “we can buy everypony time.  That’s not nothing.
“Though, just to be sure, I think we should take a good look around before we head back.  Make sure there aren’t any threats that moved in here while we were away.”
“That’s a good idea,” Archie nodded, standing up from where he’d been reading, “I’ll come with you while Starlight stays here,” the pink unicorn was about to protest when he cut her off, “keep looking through the library for any other information that might help us.  The wendigos had to have come from somewhere.  Maybe the crystal ponies have a record of their first encounter with The Horror.”
“...alright,” that was actually a good idea, and the stallion had a point.  They’d found what poonies were taught in order to combat them―or, rather, to not combat them―but it hadn’t mentioned anything else beyond that.  There did have to be some mention of the first time a wendigo was spotted and especially where that location had been, “I’ll keep looking.  You two stay safe.”
“We will,” the ghoul smiled.  He checked his sword and then motioned for Aquamarine to follow him, “Colonel, shall we?”
Starlight turned her attention back to the shelf and looked into the next book.
> Chapter Five: Honest Hearts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Because of you, Starlight Glimmer
Now the future's not a cold nightmare


The glowing orange orb floated in front of him.  He stared at it for several long seconds, as though trying to figure out why he had it.  He couldn’t remember.  It certainly wasn’t the first time that he’d forgotten why he’d walked into a room.  Perhaps if he left and came back in he’d know why―
Whose stuff was this?
The chest in front of him should have been filled with books and grimoires, but it instead held an assorted collection of knickknacks that clearly belonged to a mare.  One that he’d never seen before.  He was in the right house, wasn’t he?
That would certainly be embarrassing!
He spied the note, written in his griffon-scratch penmareship.  Curious about its contents, he floated the piece of paper up to his eyes to read it.  Apparently he’d misplaced his glasses again, as well as his memory.

Sunburst

	Put the orb in the chest 
Lock it
Go to the palace
Ask PM to erase your memory from this moment
If he asks: mention Shining Armor

Sunburst

He put the note down and returned his attention to the orb.  One that he now suspected contained his own memories.  There were already two others just like it in the chest.  Lying on top of the strange mare’s possessions.  As well as, some belongings that were sized for a foal, but he had no memory of owning as a colt.  Most of those things of his would have been with his mother anyway.
A strange mare.  A strange foal.  
‘Shining Armor’?
The stallion had been found hanging from the canopy bed that he’d once shared with his wife just a few months ago.
Ah...so that was it.  He’d had a family too.  One that, apparently, had not survived the war either.  He’d wanted to be free of that loss―that grief―lest he wind up like the late Prince Consort.  Very well then.
Sunburst placed the ord alongside the others and closed the lid of the chest.  He placed a lock spell upon it and took one last look around the room.  It was completely empty.
That was right, everypony’s belongings had been consolidated recently.  His were in the Academy.  Though, it seemed that his next appointment was to be in the Prime Minister’s office.  He’d presumably extracted...well, likely years of memories from his head recently.  Another few minutes would be a drop in the bucket compared to that, but he wanted to minimize it as much as possible anyway.  He also wanted to scold his past self for doing something this reckless.  With the sheer quantity of memories removed to erase a relationship like that, he was as likely to have ended up completely lobotomized!
As it was, he’d almost guaranteed the early onset of a severe case of dementia.
He must have really loved that mare.
The walk through the empty streets went swiftly, and nopony stopped him as he entered the palace.  Why would they?  Everypony knew who the Archmage was.  He ascended to the upper levels of the palace and found the Prime Minister’s office.  It was virtually a guarantee that the salmon unicorn stallion would be inside.  He rarely left these days.
Sunburst rapped his hooves on the door.
“Enter!” somepony yelled out before descending into a small coughing fit.
The blazed unicorn stepped inside, “you should get that looked at,” he cautioned the Prime Minister.
“It’s just a cold,” the older stallion waved away the concern, “without the Crystal Heart’s power, the temperature’s dropped a fair bit throughout the city.  A lot of ponies are getting colds as a result.  My family is already down with it too.  Bed rest and warm broth is all we need,” he smiled up at his visitor, “now, how can I help you today, Master Archmage?”
“I...need you to erase my memories, apparently,” Sunburst said lamely, waving around the note that he’d written himself, “everything from now back until I was standing in my house,” he thought for a moment.  Did he even remember going to his house or packing those things away?  No.  He’d already sequestered those memories.  It was just this one last loose end to tie up.
“And why would you need me to do that?”
“...Shining Armor.”
The Prime Minister’s slightly wrinkled face creased in confusion for a brief moment, then he looked on in horror, “Sunburst, you didn’t!”
“I apparently did,” he said lamely.  Nopony was more aware of the documented risks than he was.  He’d read over the new spells being developed by Equestria very carefully.  Most had been quite disturbing, if he was being honest, “I assume I had a very good reason for it, even if I don’t remember what it was.”
“I―…” the other stallion let out a long, defeated, sigh, “there’s no help for it now, I suppose,” he looked critically at the younger unicorn, “I wish you’d sought counseling though, instead of doing...this,” his disgusted tone was undercut by another brief coughing fit.
“I don’t remember if I did or not.  Please...Archibald, just do this for me.  I need to forget about forgetting,” he let out an annoyed snort at how redundant that statement sounded, “otherwise knowing that I erased my family could end up causing a psychotic break as my brain tries to fill in the gaps it knows are there.  For this to work, long term, I have to not even know that there was anything I forgot.
“I can’t remember making those orbs or seeing that box.  I can’t remember this conversation!” he sighed, “just...tell me I fell asleep on your couch or something.  I’ve been pulling long enough hours recently―haven’t we all?―that I won’t question it,” honestly, a genuine nap was pretty tempting.
“...Alright, Sunburst,” the older unicorn finally nodded, “I’ll do it,” he was quiet for a moment, “for the record: I don’t think this was fair to Starlight.  Or Moonbeam, for that matter.  There’s probably nopony else in the world who’ll carry on their memories.”
Sunburst noted that the mention of those names did nothing for him.  Which one of them was supposed to have been his wife?  He stepped over to the couch and laid down, staring up at the ceiling, “the world’s ending, Archibald.  Nopony’ll remember any of us soon enough.”
The Prime Minister stood up from his desk, retrieving a blank memory orb from a drawer, and walked over, “I don’t think you give these crystal ponies enough credit.  They’re a tough breed.”
The blazed stallion merely shrugged and wiped away at his brow.  He frowned at the mane hairs that came away with his hoof.  The stress was finally making him go bald.  That or the patrols he did along the circle of balefire that ringed the city in an effort to find a way through.  He wasn’t powerful enough to dispel it on his own.  A shame that the Ministry of Arcane Science hadn’t sent him anypony to help out.  He could have used one of their mages in his research.
Hopefully he’d remember to ask the medical staff to evaluate his radiation exposure.  It probably wasn’t good for him to be out there that long.  There were a lot of ponies getting sick, and it was doubtlessly impacting his immune system.  He’d catch his death of cold if he wasn’t more careful.
“Ready?” the older unicorn asked.
“Do it,” Sunburst nodded.
The orb drifted over his head and touched his horn―


oooOOOooo


Starlight Glimmer jerked awake.
The memory orb fell away, rolling to a stop next to the jet black case that it had been held in.  She replaced it and sealed the box before slipping the container back into her bag.  With a heavy sigh, she stood up and looked around the―now much messier―royal library.  She’d exhausted every book and reference in the room, and none of them had held the answers that they’d sought regarding the wendigos.  So she’d decided to pass the time until the others got back by taking a look into the last of the memory orbs that she’d found.
Archie had apparently been involved in helping Sunburst to forget all about her and their daughter.  The pink unicorn wasn’t sure how she felt about that.  Honestly, she’d sort of expected to find the locked-away memories of the Prime Minister’s own family, given how he’d reacted with surprise at finding their grave markers the other day.  Apparently he’d simply forgotten about his own family the way that most ghouls slowly lost their memories over time.
Starlight couldn’t imagine what it must have been like, to get here ‘the long way around’.  She’d closed her eyes in Equestria and opened them in the Wasteland two centuries later.  All her memories of how things had been were fresh in her mind.  Most of the events of the last few years were crystal clear in fact.  Her last few birthdays, Hearth’s Warmings, Hearts and Hooves Days, Nightmare Nights...she could look back on them with clarity and fondness―if a few bittersweet tears these days.
It wasn’t until she turned her thoughts to her foalhood that things got cloudier.  A couple birthdays stood out.  The Hearth’s Warming that she’d gotten that ‘Little Clover’s Magic Kit’ she’d been begging her father for all year.  That one nightmare that she’d kept having about a manticore hiding under her bed.
Events like that that were―for her―thirty years ago, existed as fragments and images for the most part.  How much less of them would she be able to recall in another thirty years?  A hundred?  It was likely a Celestia-given miracle that Archie could remember anything at all about the events of the war, no matter how significant they had been.  Forgetting about the details of his personal life were entirely forgivable, to include having known and worked with her husband.
The unicorn mare once again looked out the nearby window out of habit and then immediately rolled her eyes when she was unable to gauge the approximate time.  She couldn’t wait to be back on the surface again.  Snowy overcast or not, it was at least possible to know whether or not it was day or night!  She should have gotten a pipbuck or something on her way north,
Regardless of the time, one thing that was clear was that Archie and Aquamarine weren’t back yet from their patrol.  There was a quiet feeling of worry at that realization, she would admit, but she suppressed it.  Those two were quite capable ponies, and they’d seen nothing thus far that suggested there was anything particularly dangerous down here.  Anything that could reasonably threaten them would probably also cause enough of a ruckus that she’d be able to hear it from the castle.  Going out on her own in an effort to find them and check on them was more likely to see to it that they constantly missed each other and ended up wandering around in this place for days on end.
So Starlight resolved to stay put in the castle.
Which was not to say that she stayed exclusively in the library.  If there was one good thing that Starlight could say about the crystal ponies’ adherence to ‘tradition’, it was that it made navigating this thousands-year-old castle quite easy, as its layout was identical to the Crystal Palace that they’d built on the surface.  She’d visited the palace on quite a few occasions in―for her―recent years, so she didn’t get turned around too much as she wandered.
She wasn’t looking for anything particular.  Just...browsing.  Her thorough search of the royal library had resigned her to the fact that they wouldn’t find any useful knowledge here.  Those books had almost certainly been taken to the surface during the evacuation.  Worse than that, given that Starlight had already read through most of those historical texts in the Academy and had seen nothing referencing the wendigos or their origin, it was likely that those references simply no longer existed.  Either destroyed by Sombra, or lost in the Resistance’s noble effort to ‘preserve’ them by hiding them away where they would never be found again.
The origin of those spectral equines―and any hint as to how to truly defeat them―were probably gone forever.  Along with any hope the crystal ponies had of surviving.  The only hint that she had was a foal’s tale about three ponies talking through the night in a cave together.  Not exactly a lot to go on if she wanted to create a spell to mimic those effects and dispel the wendigos for good.
No, Starlight had pretty much given up on the idea of beating them.  Hopefully this city would prove to be safe at the moment and would keep the crystal ponies safe for a couple of decades while she researched a more permanent solution.  With enough research and time, the unicorn was confident that she could―eventually―come up with a spell.
She’d devised new magic before.  She could do it again.
The mare found herself wandering the upper levels of the castle, near the personal quarters of the royal family.  It was a part of the castle that she’d never gotten to see before.  Unlike Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle, she hadn’t been a close personal friend and immediate family of the Princess and Prince Consort.  She’d hardly even set hoof inside the castle proper except to accompany Sunburst during official functions of the Court.  Aside from the Crystal Heart at the castle’s base, there hadn’t been all that much that held her interest here anyway.
Which wasn’t to say that she wasn’t at least a tiny bit curious about how the nobility lived.  Sire’s Hollow hadn’t exactly been a big city.  She’d strictly enforced a spartan standard of living in her proof-of-concept village to mitigate potential feelings of jealousy and envy.  Her Ministry salary hadn’t been able to afford much more than a one-bedroom apartment in Manehattan.  Even Sunburt’s home in the Empire had been rather conservative, especially given what his stipend as the Imperial Archmage had been.
Not that she’d pushed him to get a bigger place.  Their plan had been to put aside all of the money they saved to move to someplace nicer after the war.  A big home out in the country.
Best laid plans of possums and ponies, Starlight thought with a mirthless chuckle.
It seemed that royalty valued their space though.  The suite intended for the Empress and Emperor was bigger than every home Starlight had ever lived in combined.  What was even more surprising than its gratuitous opulence, the unicorn thought, was the fact that it also looked like it had been completely untouched!
Nearly all furniture in the homes throughout the city had been left behind, likely for the simple fact that it was large and bulky―two qualities that were anathema for belongings to be packed up for a proper evacuation.  However, it was clear that an effort had been made by those occupants to take with them those possessions which were of significant emotional value, even if they weren’t practical.  There had been suspiciously bare spots on walls where pictures had likely hung, gaps on tables and counters, a lack of jewelry, missing clothing.  Clear signs that the ponies that had once lived there had taken something of their old lives with them when they left.
Starlight saw none of that here though.  Aside from the dust, the imperial couple might have still been living in these quarters today, for all that the mare could tell.  If anything, the place was too neat.  It was less a living space and more an expansive shrine.  A memorial.
She was actually a little uncomfortable being in here, truth be told.  Like she was trotting on somepony’s grave.  The pink mare backed out and closed the door.
The next room she checked in this wing of the castle was much smaller, but felt very similar.  The noticeable difference was that it was clear only a single pony had lived here.  A stallion, Starlight guessed, judging by the cut of a suit of barding displayed on a rack on one side of the room.  A uniform was on display too, also looking like it was fitted for a stallion.  Between them was a small table arrayed with various pictures of a crystal stallion wearing said armor and uniform.  Most depicted him alone, but a few had him grouped with a trio of equally finely-dressed ponies.
One of whom she recognized.  Those sculptors had apparently done a remarkable job of capturing Princess Moonstone’s likeness when they carved her relief on the sarcophagus in the catacombs.
Starlight’s instinctive thought was Moonstone’s husband, but she soon amended that idea.  While it was clear that he’d been close with the Princess, the resemblance was too close, and she doubted that they’d have been quartered separately if that was the case.  Brother, she decided.  Princess Moonstone had had a brother.  One that did not have a crypt in the catacombs, she noted.  Nor did her parents.
Four members of the imperial family, and only one had managed to evacuate.  Had that been because the others had remained behind...or had there been nopony left but Moonstone by the time they left?  Starlight was leaning towards the latter.  Aquamarine had said that the reason that the Crystal Empire was ruled by a ‘princess’ was because Princess Moonstone had refused to take on the title of her parents.  Starlight had to wonder if that had been out of grief at having lost them.
Again Starlight left the room largely unexplored and turned her attention to the last of the chambers of the imperial family.  There was little doubt that it had to have been Moonstone’s.  At least she knew that the princess had made it out of here alive.
This fact reflected on her quarters.
Where the others had felt like memorials, these rooms reminded the pink unicorn mare of the other homes they’d passed.  Much remained, but it was clear that some things had been taken, like personal effects and mementos.  It still retained that same element of neatness though.  Likely the result of having a staff of maids at hoof to take care of such things.
These quarters Starlight felt comfortable exploring.  She was still walking in the hoofsteps of a long dead mare, but it was a mare who’d not died in this place.  Starlight didn’t strictly believe in ghosts, but it still felt intrusive to be in places dedicated to a pony’s memory.  That wasn’t the case here though.
She idly pawed through the princess’ wardrobe, taking a closer look at some of the more extravagant dresses that were present.  Starlight hadn’t paid all that close attention to the fashion scene, but she could appreciate a well-made dress.  Jewelry too―though she much preferred functional accessories to cosmetic ones.  A pretty broach was all well and good, but a broach enchanted with a few wards was much more practical in her opinion.  Not that she got much of a sense from anything in this room that any of it was magical.  Crystal ponies weren’t the type to place enchantments on any of their―
...Wait.
The mare narrowed her eyes and scanned the room.  There was magic here.  Not a kind that she recognized, but it was definitely pony magic.
Starlight’s horn began to glow as she sought out the source.  This was quite the unexpected discovery, to be sure.  Nothing that she’d come across in any of the books that she’d read in the Academy during the war had suggested that crystal ponies were capable of casting enchantments.  Oh, crystal ponies were certainly capable of manifesting their innate magic―as demonstrated every year during the Crystal Fair―but Starlight had been under the impression that had been a feat induced by the Heart itself.  Now she wasn’t so sure.
The mare found herself doing something she hadn’t done in many years and cursed the Crystal Heart’s recalcitrance in the face of her efforts to divine its nature and mechanisms.  Never before had an artifact been so determined to give up its secrets to her.  Indeed, it had almost been like the Heart had been intentionally uncooperative.
Perhaps though, the unicorn had been wrong all along it it hadn’t been the Heart, but instead the crystal ponies themselves who had been behind the magic all along?  That would certainly explain a few things, though not all of them.  There was still the fact that the Heart had rebuffed her attempts to charge its magic through conventional means.  How it was able to channel one form of pony magic but not another defied at least a few laws of arcanum, at least as she knew them.  Then again, the texts that had taught her those laws had been written by the same entrenched minds that rebuffed her pursuit of cutie mark magic.
Maybe that was the issue: she was keeping her mind too narrow.  She was looking for magic as she ‘knew’ it had to be, and leaving no room for the possibility that she was flat out wrong.  It was an idea that spurred some mirth, as that was a very similar critique that she’d had of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences.
Starlight paused, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.  There was energy in this room.  She had to not think of it as unicorn magic.  It needed to be more broad than that.  More primal.  She continued to breathe slowly and calmly as she began to strip down the barriers and mental blocks that most unicorns erected―most subconsciously―to insulate themselves from the world.
The reality was that their horns were something of a double-edged sword.  While they allowed unicorns to manifest their magic in a way that was very different from how other pony breeds did, it also left them vulnerable.  Equestria―indeed the whole world―simply teemed with all sorts of magical energy.  It practically permeated the air they breathed.  Raw magical energy that could very easily use a unicorn’s horn to flow back into them and do great harm if left unchecked.
It was one reason that young unicorn foals tended to exhibit a lot of magical potential at an early age: before they learned that control, the magical energies of the world just tended to flow into their horns and their little bodies instinctively forced it back out again when they became too saturated.  The results were unfocused, and thus quite powerful and unpredictable.  Nopony went through the ‘terrible twos’ quite like a unicorn foal with unbridled access to the aether of the whole planet!
For the first time in decades, Starlight was stripping away those instinctive barriers now though.  She was exposing herself to the innate energies around her, reflexively cringing as she felt herself becoming a focal point for them.  It was like the air around her had gotten suddenly thicker and was pressing in around her body.  She let it inside―though still with care so as not to overwhelm herself―and focused on feeling for the direction that the bulk of it was coming from.  She let her horn become a dowsing rod, leading her towards the source of greatests aetherial concentration.
‘Thock’
Starlight opened her eyes and looked up towards the point of her horn.  She was leaning against the wall.  It wasn’t even a particularly interesting point on the wall.  Just...somewhere in the middle of it.  With an annoyed frown, the mare erected her barriers once more and glared at the crystalline surface as though it had intentionally sought to thwart her efforts.  
She sat back and critically examined the polished surface in front of her.  This area of the room had been emitting an inordinate amount of magic, but why?  And from where?  Concentrations of magic this far above the general background layer had to have a tangible source.  Otherwise the laws of magical entropy would cause it to defuse over time.  Just as was happening to the Heart’s magic that had been absorbed by the castle.
So what was the source of this magic?  Surely it wasn’t the wall.  It wasn’t made of the kind of crystal that could retain an enchantment.  It was little more than shiny rock.  A genuine gemstone would have been needed.  Or at least something magically similar, the mare amended as she reminded herself that she was dealing with crystal pony magic, and the Crystal Heart had not been constructed of any commonly understood magically attuned gem type.
Something behind the wall, or at least within it?  That was far more likely, the unicorn thought with a nod.  Her horn began to glow again and a thin beam of energy lanced out at the surface, tracing out a delicate cut along the surface.  Doubtlessly there was some other less obvious means of getting at whatever was sequestered there, but Starlight had exhausted all her available patience that day futilely looking through the library and didn’t fancy trying to tug on every sconce and outcrop of molding in the room in the hope of stumbling onto the intended mechanism.
That same lack of patience was one of the reasons that the Castle of the Two Sisters was in a substantially worse state of repair since her visit.  It appeared that the former alicorn rulers had been stalwart fans of such hidden passageways and concealed levers.  Starlight had not been very respectful of those ruins and had instead made several improvised doorways of her own.
She kept the amount of destruction here though to a minimum.  The ancient palace was in such remarkable condition that she felt genuinely bad about damaging it.  Meanwhile knocking down a wall in the old Everfree castle had just been adding yet another crumbling wall to the long list of existing ones.
Her efforts were rewarded by the exposure of what indeed appeared to be some sort of secret compartment.  Not a very large one to be sure.  Not that it needed to be particularly large, given what it appeared to be intended to hold.  Starlight’s levitation magic reached out and took hold of the object, bringing it near for a closer inspection.
It was a crystal.  Which was actually more surprising than it might have sounded, given her current location.  For this was a propper crystal.  Six sides and tapered at both ends.  It also showed clear signs of containing an enchantment of some sort.  What effect it had, Starlight had no idea.  Nor was she clear on what it would take to invoke it.
It had to have been important though, to an extent.  Important enough to want to hide to keep it safe, but not quite important enough for Princess Moonstone to have taken it with her.
...Unless she had meant to leave it behind?
It had not been a hasty evacuation.  Everypony had been given ample opportunity to pack up what possessions they treasured most.  This one little crystal would have hardly taken up any room at all.  Starlight found it unlikely that Princess Moonstone would have forgotten about it, and she could certainly have taken it if she wanted to.  So if it was still here, then the evidence very strongly suggested that it had been left there intentionally.
Not as a message or warning though.  Such things were meant to be found and thus left out in the open.  This crystal was meant to be forgotten.  Starlight intended to find out why.
First she needed to find out what it contained.
That was easier said than done.  Crystal pony magic was not a phenomenon that Starlight understood well.  She debated waiting for Aquamarine to return, but figured that wouldn’t do much good either.  That mare was unlikely to know much about the innate magical nature of her own people.  After all, she’d grown up in a time centuries after even the Crystal Heart had existed.
She’d need to find a way to do this one her own.
Starlight began by setting the crystal down on the floor and taking a few steps back.  Even making these attempts were going to violate at least a dozen safety protocols established by both the MAS and any even reasonably respectable magic school.  Chief among them was: if you don’t know what the spell does, don’t cast it!  Only a complete moron would evoke an incantation with unknown effects.  Especially when the possible list of effects that a spell could have included―but was not limited to―altering personalities, tranmusting living creatures into fruit, and erasing cutie marks and talents.
“Safety’s for ponies who have time on their side,” Starlight said grimly as she closed her eyes and reached out to the crystal with her magic.  Tentatively at first.  She wanted to probe it.  Get a feel for its stability, perhaps even its basic nature if she could.  It was difficult though.  It was nothing like an enchantment made by a unicorn.  Those were structured.  Orderly.  This was…calling it a ‘mess’ wasn’t quite right, but it was in the ballpark.
The matrix was completely random.  Starlight could make out the vaguest hint of a method behind it, but it was like somepony had written out a message while looking at the paper upside down using a mirror.
At the same time though, the unicorn couldn’t shake the sense of familiarity to it.  She’d encountered similar magic before, she realized.  Recently, if fact.
Her eyes shot open in surprise, staring down at the crystal.  This was a memory orb!
Well, obviously not an ‘orb’, per say; and it didn’t feel like it contained a true memory, but Starlight was fairly confident that it did contain something of a pony.  On a hunch, Starlight closed her eyes once more and reached out to the crystal, gently applying her mind to it as she might with one of the glass spheres.
She was vaguely aware of a flare of magic from within the crystal.  The spell effect had activated.  However, she wasn’t pulled inside or immersed in a memory.  In fact...nothing at all seemed to happen after that.  Starlight frowned.  Had the spell indeed deteriorated after all this time, or―
“Des-caduss sahgen-ta cognumen…”
Starlight’s eyes shot open again in stark surprise at the sound of the mare speaking right in front of her.  She backpedaled away until she was flat up against the wall.  Standing in front of her was the ghostly image of a mare that she later realized had to have been none other than Princess Moonstone.  She was standing in the room, big as life, and looking directly at Starlight as she continued to speak in the long-defunct language of the crystal ponies.
After a few seconds, the initial shock subsided and the unicorn was able to once again start thinking critically about the situation.  For example, it was very unlikely that the long-dead princess was actively speaking to her specifically.  Even though the manifestation did seem to track Starlight’s movements if she stepped to either side.  The unicorn took this to be an intended effect of the illusion magic, otherwise it would be rather inconvenient if the projection were oriented away from the viewer, with no way to get around to the front of the princess if the room were small enough.
This was a recorded message, most likely.  One that Starlight had already missed most of by this point; and was in a different language.  Starlight concentrated briefly and cast a pair of spells.  First she interacted with the crystal again in order to re-trigger the recording from the beginning, and then she applied a translation enchantment to herself.  She already knew the language of the ancient crystal pony nation.  She just needed it parsed in real-time.
The image of the princess flickered, and then began again in what sounded to Starlight like Modern Equestrian, “The doctors have suggested to me that discussing my feelings will help to relieve my...anxieties.  I am doubtful.  What words could possibly compare to all that has transpired in so short a time?” the mare’s voice quavered as she spoke, “in the span of a month, I have become the last of my line, and my advisers are in agreement that leaving our home is the only solution available to us…”
The image was silent for a long while as the mare closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “though that is only because I am keeping from them a terrible secret,” Starlight’s ears piqued at those words.  She had not anticipated this message getting quite that interesting.  She only hoped that it was a genuinely worthwhile ‘secret’, and not just something that a high society mare thought was ‘scandalous’ but really wasn’t all that bad, “we do not have to leave,” oh, so it was going to be the former then, “they do not know what my parents―” the mare’s voice broke and she was forced to clear her throat before moving on, “...what my parents...achieved.
“Even now I am wracked with guilt, and I dare not speak aloud to any other why.  The guilt consumes me though.  I must speak it aloud.  To know that my admission exists, even if no other will ever hear it: my mother and father sought to save us, and I know in my heart that they did succeed,” the image of the mare reached out and drew an object into view from the side.  Starlight’s breath caught in her throat.
It was the Crystal Heart!
“The mythical Geodessa,” her voice cracked again, “a relic of legend crafted eons past by our ancestors to fight the lava wyrms and lost centuries ago, has been reforged anew,” she wiped her eyes and sniffled, “and it was done so at the expected cost,” she said in a haggard tone, “it would save us from The Horror, surely.  Only…
“...I dare not use it.”
Starlight was stunned.  Moonstone had the Crystal Heart.  An artifact known, even back then, to combat the wendigos.  Apparently an artifact that her own parents had died retrieving somehow.  Yet she did not want to use it?  Why?!  She’d rather have kept it a secret and fled to the surface than protect their home?  What could possibly have prompted her to do something so stup―
“I have watched my parents leave this world.  I will not expunge my brother along with them,” wait, what? “I do not care that he is not as he once was.  He is still my brother.  I would rather he exists as one of The Horror than not exist at all,” she sniffled again, staring defiantly at Starlight, “I will not be the instrument of his destruction!
“So I have decided that we shall leave this place.  We will find a new home and there…”
The princess said more after that, but Starlight had begun to tune her out.  Had she heard the recording right?  Her brother was one of The Horror?  Her brother was a wendigo?  How was that even possible?!  The more that she learned, the more questions she had, the unicorn groused.  She wasn’t likely to learn more from the manifestation of the princess either, whose recording was apparently nearing its end.
“...With any luck, my brother and the others will find some measure of peace in this place.  Perhaps they may even forgive us in time,” she sounded quite doubtful of this, and was silent for a good while before she spoke again, “the Long Watchers were bad enough,” she took a breath and straightened up slightly, “I ordered the crypt sealed off.  It is an order that should have been given centuries ago before this nonsense got so out of hoof.
“Once that is done, we will make our final preparations to leave,” the mare was silent again.  Then she took a deep breath, and the image dissolved.
Starlight’s gaze narrowed at the inert crystal as she stared at it for several long seconds.  Then she marched for the door and headed for the stairs.  It seemed that she had more to investigate.

Several hours later, Starlight Glimmer was sitting in the royal library once more, surrounded by a dozen open tomes that had not been present earlier.  As she had suspected: a sealed off section of the castle that had been intended to be forgotten had had very few of its contents removed and taken along with the evacuating ponies.  This had left the unicorn mare with exactly the sort of trove of answers that she had hoped the royal library would contain.
Which was unfortunate.  In that the answers she had finally found to the questions they had all been asking did not turn out to be the answers that they were expecting...or that they were hoping for.
It also had the side effect of leaving the mare completely nonplussed when Archie and Aquamarine came galloping back,the crystal mare panting for breath, bearing news that would otherwise have chilled Starlight to her core.
As it was, it was a revelation that she fully expected.
“Wendigo!  There’s a wendigo in the city!” the turquoise mare gasped, her eyes wide with terror.
In truth, the unicorn mare did feel a slight chill run down her spine.  It was one thing to ‘know’ an unpleasant fact, and quite another to have it independently confirmed.  Still, she simply sighed and nodded, “probably a lot more than one,” she said, much to the astonishment of the other two.  Starlight looked to the ghoul stallion with a wan smile, “it turns out that this is where the wendigos came from.”
“...Say that again?”
Starlight looked between the ghoulish stallion and the crystal mare.  It was hard to blame their skepticism.  She’d been half tempted to believe that the revelation in question had actually come from one of the many recreational texts which she’d merely mistaken for a historical reference.  Unfortunately, too much of its other contents had been independently verified through other sources in this very library.  It was a legitimate historical text; and as hard to digest as its contents were, they were genuine facts.
“The wendigos are crystal ponies.”
“How is that even possible?” Aquamarine demanded, aghast at the notion.
It was Archie who offered an initial guess, “you mean they’re another corrupted form?  Like the umbra ponies?”
The former Imperial officer didn’t seem to particularly care for that hypothesis, and that was verified by here horrified expression when the pink unicorn mare confirmed the Prime Minister’s suggestion, “you’re not far off.
“Umbra are what happens when living crystal ponies absorb too much magical radiation over a long period of time.  While the radiation causes necrosis in most other pony breeds, the more mineralistic nature of crystal ponies means that they react differently.  They become corrupted, and the absorbed energy stimulates recrystallization―your race’s version of regeneration.
“That’s what happens to living crystal ponies that are changed through exposure to too much of a certain form of magic,” Starlight reiterated, “the results are apparently significantly different depending on the type of magic involved.”
It was Archie’s turn to balk now, “are you suggesting that ancient crystal ponies practiced transmutation?!”
“That’s impossible,” Aquamarine insisted, fervently shaking her head, “crystal ponies don’t have the ability to use magic.”
“Incorrect,” Starlight said, noting the sensation of deja vu that she was experiencing at having to explain to another pony the inherent magical nature of equestrian equines of all races, “all pony kinds―to include crystal―possess innate magic.  Not just unicorns.”
“All that makes us different is how that magic is expressed,” the ghoul added.
Starlight nodded, “while it’s more obvious how unicorns are magical, the fundamental forces at work are present when pegasi manipulate weather patterns, when kirin transform into niriks, or when an earth pony bucks apples off a tree.  We’re all magical in some way,” she frowned now though, “but you are right that―under normal circumstances―crystal ponies don’t directly manifest their magical natures in the same way that a unicorn might when casting an actual spell.
“Which is not to say that it’s impossible, either,” the unicorn mare added by way of a caveat, “the best example of that is the Crystal Heart.  During the Crystal Fair, the crystal ponies are able to manifest that magic and physically transfer it into a receptacle.  The Heart then acts as a focus and uses that collected energy to create its enchantment of protection over the Empire.
“That means that it is possible for crystal ponies to create magical spell effects under the right conditions,” Starlight confirmed that her audience was following her explanations thus far, “and this book suggests that there was one other as well that was used.  A long time ago.
“The record indicates that this place was once under threat from a creature called a ‘lava wyrm’―a massive beast of fire that lives in the deep mantle of the world and would occasionally make its way to the city through the various volcanic lava tubes that seem to permeate this area.  They were apparently very dangerous and caused a lot of devastation during their attacks.”
“The Crystal Heart didn’t protect them?” Aquamarine asked, sounding surprised.
“This predates the creation of the Crystal Heart,” she looked back down briefly at the reference, “at least, the creation of the one that was brought to the surface.  The texts suggest that other Hearts have existed through the ages, but are lost in some tragedy or another.
“But, anyway,” she cleared her throat and got back to translating the covered events, “it seems that the ancient crystal ponies found a means to focus their magic into some of their fallen warriors and breathe a second life into them.  They’re referred to as the Long Watch in this book: soldiers that don’t tire, and are very powerful.”
“And unkillable,” Archie grumbled.
“These weren’t the wendigos,” Starlight shook her head, “they were a lot more like the umbra, actually, it sounds like.  And the lava wyrms managed to kill those resurrected warriors just like we did.  So they needed to continually create more.
“Then somepony had the brilliant idea to not use dead ponies,” the unicorn’s tone made it clear that she found the idea to be many things―vile, horrific, nauseating―but none were ‘brilliant’, “instead they used their best and bravest soldiers in the incantation.
“Those became the wendigos.  Cold, relentless, and immortal.  They drove back the lava wyrms once and for all,” she added with a mirthless snort, “and then...they turned on their creators.”
“Does it say why?” Aquamarine asked.
“They don’t come out and say it here,” Starlight admitted, tapping the tome even as her telekinesis levitated up a much smaller volume, “but this diary I found that was written by pony involved in their creation suggests that those ‘best and bravest’ didn’t exactly volunteer for the procedure.”
The other two reeled back in horror, “they forced them?”
“Tricked them, it sounds like,” Starlight nodded, “and it also sounds like those ponies that became wendigos included the son of the ruling Empress and Emperor, who was serving as the Imperial Martial at the time.  They were horrified when they found out what happened, but it was too late.  The prince and his comrades were wendigos, and their focus was no longer on keeping out the lava wyrms―”
“―but on getting revenge for how they were betrayed,” Archie finished, shaking his head in resignation.  Starlight nodded.
Aquamarine looked up hopefully, “does it say anything about how to stop them at least?  If they were created by a spell, then maybe there’s a way to reverse it?”
“Hypothetically,” Starlight began, knowing that she was going to almost immediately quash that budding optimism, “but that would mean having access to the original spell, and I haven’t found that yet.  I honestly probably won’t.  Because crystal ponies don’t cast spells like unicorns, I’m doubtful that they recorded them in spell books.  I have no idea where to begin looking,” her gaze darted towards the window, “and I doubt we have the time left to look.”
The others followed her gaze, and shared her furtive look.  There was at least one wendigo that had apparently never left the city and it was likely only a matter of time before it found them.
And they still had no means of effectively fighting it.  Perhaps…
Starlight was actually hesitant to bring up this one point that she’d found, mostly because it didn’t contain nearly enough information to be truly usable.  On the other hoof, maybe there was something to be gained by pooling the available―if limited―brainpower between them, “...the Crystal Heart is mentioned though,” this got the attention of the other two once more, “...it was apparently created by the Empress and the Emperor in an effort to combat the wendigos.”
The pair exchanged glances and Aquamarine eagerly prompted, “...and?!”
Starlight shrugged, “there isn’t an ‘and’.  The Heart was created...and Princess Moonstone evacuated to the surface with it.”
“It didn’t work?” the crystal mare asked, disheartened.
“She refused to use it.  She didn’t want to ‘kill’ her brother, even if he was a wendigo.  It almost certainly would have worked though,” she shrugged, “not that we have the Heart anyway.”
“You said one was created here,” Archie pointed out, “does that mean that another can be?”
“In theory,” the unicorn mare answered reluctantly.
“But?” the ghoul prompted.
“...But I don’t think that it was a coincidence that the Empress and the Emperor were killed when they made the last one,” Starlight finally answered, “remember how the Crystal Heart was referred to as ‘The Royal Spirit’ in some of the old texts on the surface?  I’m starting to think that ‘spirit’ in that context was a synonym for ‘soul’ or ‘essence’.
“I think the Heart was the Empress and Emperor.”
Those stunned looks were back again.
“Creating the Crystal Heart requires a sacrifice?” Aquamarine asked tentatively.  Starlight nodded somberly, “...then I volunteer.”
“Marine―” Archie began, only to be cut off by the younger mare.
“I am a colonel in the Imperial Guard,” she retorted defiantly, “I took an oath to devote my life to protecting the Empire, even if that service cost me my life!  If I can save everypony by sacrificing myself, then I do so gladly,” she looked back to Starlight, “do it.  Turn me into another Heart and use me to stop the wendigos,” the mare closed her eyes and straightened up her stance, as though she were actually expecting the pink unicorn to perform such a transmutation right this moment.
Starlight was actually a little appalled, “even if I knew how―and I don’t―I’m not just going to kill somepony!”
Aquamarine let out the breath she’d been holding and glared at the pair of unicorns, “but we can stop the wendigos!  We can save everypony!  One life is worth that, right?!” she looked at Starlight, and waved at the books, “there has to be something in there that talks about how to make another Heart.”
The unicorn was silent for several long seconds as she looked at the mare, considering her answer carefully, “...nothing in these books describes how to make a new Crystal Heart,” she noticed that Archie narrowed his gaze at her, but he remained quiet regardless.
The crystal pony let out an aggravated groan and stalked off, “we came all this way for nothing?”
“It wasn’t for nothing,” Starlight defended, “we learned what the wendigos are.  With that information, I can start to research ways to stop them that don’t involve the Crystal Heart.  With enough time, I can get rid of them,” and all of that was true.  She had a point from which to start.  It was all a matter of ferreting out the specifics of the magic that evoked their change and how to construct the necessary matrices that would undo it.  The development would take some time, and the field testing would be dangerous, but if she had Archie with her to help keep her safe during the initial trials, she was confident that she could pull it off…
“And you can do that in the month or two that we have left?” Aquamarine asked.
...And there was the ‘but’ that she’d been getting to, “it’s possible,” what she didn’t add was that it was highly improbable.  Reverse engineering magic used by a race of ponies for which there was no technical documentation on the nature of their magic, nor any currently living members that still knew how to manifest their innate energies?  It was a monumental task for any skilled unicorn, even one as accomplished as herself.
She was basically counting on getting lucky.
“Are you willing to bet our lives on ‘possible’?” the mare asked evenly, “the continued existence of the Empire?”
“It’s the best option we have,” again Starlight noted Archie’s look; and again she was grateful that he stayed silent.
Aquamarine took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “very well.  We should leave now,” she looked out the window, “there’s no telling when that wendigo will find us.  I’ll go make sure the coast is clear.”
The ghoul stallion watched the crystal mare leave.  Only when it was clear that she was out of sight did he finally break his own silence, “what are you not telling us?”
Starlight hesitated as she packed up the texts that would best aid her in her intended research.  She briefly entertained the prospect of playing dumb.  However nothing about the stallion suggested to her that he was an idiot.  He’d been able to figure out that she was holding something back after all, “...that the crystal transmutation array used to create the last Crystal Heart is still in place.  Swap out a few cracked crystals, get the sacrifice in place, activate the array...voila: one freshly minted Crystal Heart.”
The ghoul regarded her critically now, “why did you tell Marine you couldn’t do it then?  I understand if you’re squeamish about letting somepony die, Starlight, but you and I both know that there’s no way in Equestria you can pull off coming up with a new spell in a month.  Six, maybe―a year, ideally―but not a month.  It’ll take you two weeks just to tune the new matrix right
“And before you say anything,” he snapped just as Starlight opened her mouth, “you know that that ‘two week’ figure is already accounting for you being the magical prodigy I think you are.  It should take even a skilled unicorn two months.”
Starlight closed her mouth with an audible ‘click’.  He was right, of course.  Managing to come up with a stable matrix of any kind in just two weeks would be quite an accomplishment, honestly.  Most unicorns who knew about such things would be teetering on the edge of abject disbelief, in fact.  A month would be the next best thing to a miracle, yes; but they had no choice.
“It’s not that,” mostly.  A part of her was reluctant on those grounds though, “using Marine wouldn't work because it’s not the use of a live subject that matters.  It’s the qualities of the subjects; plural.”
“It requires a pair of ponies?”
“A pair of very specific ponies,” Starlight stressed, “the wendigos were described―accurately―of being ‘born of death’.  To create their counter requires the opposite quality.”
“Life?  No…” the ghoul stallion frowned.
“The promise of life,” the mare said, “the one thing that makes life worth living: love.  It requires two ponies who are in love,” she finally said bitterly, shaking her head, “and that doesn’t apply to any of us.  If Marine―or any of us―activated the array, we’d be more likely to create another wendigo.”
“...I see,” the defeat in the withered unicorn’s voice was palpable.  He finally began to pack up his saddlebags as well, “I guess we’d better start hoping you break whole new records in the field of matrix attunement.  Maybe we’ll get lucky and you’ll prove to be the next Twilight Sparkle.”
Starlight snorted, “please!  Twilight’s second-tier material at best,” she scoffed, “the only reason she was the Ministry Mare of the MAS was pure nepotism.  I’m the only reason her ministry did anywhere near as well as it did.  She’d get so laser-focused on something stupid like turning ponies into alicorns and let every other project fall by the wayside.”
The unicorn flashed a grin at the ghoul, “you’ll see; I’ll have that matrix slapped together in one week, and a working proto-spell in two!” she had finished packing by now and was heading for the door, bumping the stallion playfully as she walked by, “just try not to look directly at it during the first casting.  Wouldn’t want you to be the first pony―”
“―Blinded by starlight.  Yeah, yeah,” the stallion snorted in amusement as he waved away the bad pun.  He then noticed the look of shock on the mare’s face, “what?”
“...How’d you know that was what I was going to say?”
The ghoul quirked his brow, “because I’ve heard that one before.”
“You have?”
“I’m over two hundred years old,” the stallion smirked at the mare, “I’ve heard a lot of things before.  Don’t feel bad, it’s still pretty cute, Glimmy.”
Again the mare balked, looking at the stallion, “‘Glimmy’?  Getting a little familiar there, aren’t we?”
She had the satisfaction of seeing the ghoul’s withered features somehow visibly pale, “I’m sorry...I don’t know where that came from,” he frowned, pawing at his chin in thought for several seconds, “the words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying…”
The pink unicorn continued to stare at the Prime Minister.  Even among her closest peers, only a select few had ever called her ‘Glimmy’ outside of her immediate family.  Certainly none of them had been in the Empire.  Well, save for the one―
“Guys!” Aquamarine burst back into the library, “we have to leave, now!”
Starlight’s thoughts on other matters were brought to a crashing halt as the crystal mare’s warning took precedent.  They took their belongings and rushed for the castle exit.  Even as they ran, she was starting to feel the air around them noticeably cool.  Archie had his diamond-forge blade out, though Starlight was under the impression that it had no effect on wendigos.  His spell should help them though.  Assuming he could manage to get it to go off successfully.  Perhaps if she saw what he was doing up close she would be able to duplicate its effects and incorporate it into her own anti-wendigo spell.
Even now the back of her mind was racing to come up with possible avenues of approach where effective spell effects were concerned.  Wendigos were crystal ponies at their core, which implied some sort of resonance component maybe?  No. They weren’t tangible.  It had to be a fully energy-based approach, nothing physical.  Their aetherial matrix wouldn’t be like that of a normal pony though, it would have to be based off of what she had felt in the crystal containing Moonstone’s recording.
Maybe that was another piece of the puzzle: similar crystal had been used in the creation array; Starlight had seen it.  Something about the way that magic needed to be organized in order to interact with structures that unicorn magic couldn’t normally interact with!  Crystal ponies didn’t express themselves the same way, so their energies didn’t manifest the same way, so those energies didn’t interact the same way!  If she could recreate the spell matrix of a crystal pony and create a spell based off of that, then she might be able to―
Starlight tripped over something.
That ‘something’ had turned out to be Aquamarine.  The crystal mare had suddenly stopped running just as the trio had emerged from the castle.  The reason for that probably had something to do with the ivory spectral form of a wendigo which was perched directly in their path, staring placidly down at them with its pinprick blue eyes.
A sense of panic overwhelmed the pink unicorn as she instantly relived her recent encounter with the wendigo out on the fringes of the Crystal Empire.  Where she had been frozen solid and very nearly died.  It turned out that such vivid memories made it quite difficult for her to form coherent thoughts.  The crystal mare that she was tangled with likewise didn’t seem to know how to react when confronted by such a monumental threat mere yards away.
Fortunately for the both of them Archie was not similarly paralyzed.  The ghoul posted himself solidly between the wendigo and the fallen mares, glaring back at the spectral equine.  He didn’t close in for an attack, as he had to know that such an act would be pointless.  Instead, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  His horn began to twinkle faintly with a soft, yellow light.
Starlight hissed in pain and looked to her hooves.  Her eyes widened with fear as she saw them begin to be encased in ice.  The same thing was happening to Aquamarine and Archie as well.  The crystal mare cried out in a mixture of fear and anguish as the pain got to her as well.  The ghoul said nothing.  Starlight idly wondered if ghouls could actually feel the cold.  Whether he felt it or not, it was clear that the withered unicorn was not going to allow his concentration to be broken before he got off his incantation.
What was perhaps most disturbing about this encounter was how unmoved the wendigo seemed to be by any of what he was seeing.  It simply...stood there...staring at them, as they were slowly encased in ice.
Then Archie’s horn pulsed, and a halo of golden light expanded outward around them, slamming into the wendigo.  The creature recoiled slightly, but otherwise didn’t react.  The ghoul’s eyes creased as he concentrated more deeply, evoking a second pulse.  This one too washed over the specter, and while it was clear that the creature felt the effects, it was still not dissuaded.
Starlight wasn’t standing idly by either.  Archie had granted her several new tomes on the surface, and it was about time that she put them to use.  A trio of grimoires floated out of her bags, all flipping to specific pages.  She looked at one, her eyes taking in the incantation hurriedly before glaring at the wendigo, “burn in Tartarus, you bastard!”
It started as just a spark at the spectral stallion’s hooves.  A mote of orange candlelight that quickly blossomed into a tornado of fire and fully enveloped the wendigo.  The inferno grew tall enough to touch the ceiling.  Whirling flames that were hot enough to scour and scorch even the surfaces of the crystal cavern and would have left any living creature as little more than a pile of ash endured for several long seconds before finally fading away.
The wendigo didn’t even flinch.
The pink unicorn snarled and turned to the next spellbook.  Her horn flashed again.  The three ponies all began to glow with a soft cyan aura, but that was not the primary effect of the spell that Starlight was using, merely a precautionary measure to protect them from its true effects.
A shell of violet light surrounded the wendigo.  Nothing seemed to happen for several seconds.  Then a faint crackling sound was heard coming from all around them.  Rocks skittered across the ground, flying past them and adhering to the sphere.  Dishes and furniture as well.  Loose debris.  Then doors that had ripped from their hinges.  Chunks of buildings ripped from their foundations.  One of the castle’s parapets.
The sphere pulsed.  The massive collection of detritus slammed violently inward, compressing down within the magical shell surrounding the wendigo.  It crackled with lightning, growing brighter until it became difficult to even look at.  Then there was a final flash of light and the sphere and everything within vanished.
Everything except for the wendigo.
The ice was at Starlight’s shoulders now.  She was trying not to let the panic she was feeling consume her, but it was difficult.  She hated feeling helpless like this.  Even being this close, she couldn’t discern the nature of the magic that Archie was using.  It didn’t feel like any sort of magic she had encountered before.  It didn’t feel like anything to her, and yet it was clearly having an effect, if only a marginal one.  Unlike anything that she had just tried on the creature.  Had the ghoul already figured out the foundation for a crystal-magic-based matrix without realizing what he had?
“Argh!” the stallion cried out as he finally unleashed a third―visibly more intense―burst.  This one managed to actually physically throw the wendigo back, sending it sprawling across the courtyard.  It didn’t dissolve like the one in the Wasteland had, but at least the ice ceased to continue growing around them.  
Starlight used a pulse of her own magic now to shatter their icy casts, freeing all three of them to move once more.  Her gaze went to the prone wendigo.  It wasn’t gone, but it wasn’t moving either―for a moment.  It was an opportunity for her to try one last measure at least.
She withdrew the retracted bow from its holder and depressed the release that expanded it out to its full size.  The ivory bowstring of moonlight joined the tips and awaited the insertion of the jeweled ammunition.  Starlight wasn’t going to pull any bucks at this moment.  A trio of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds floats out and took up positions along the beam of light, forming instantly into magical arrows.
The unicorn took aim at the prone figure, and fired.  A bolt of fire, ball of lightning, and an orb of acid all struck the wendigo, enveloping it in a surreal firestorm that crackled with bolts of electricity, several of which lashed out at the surrounding buildings and edges of the cavern.  Yet, almost as to be expected, when the effects all cleared away, the wendigo did not look the worse for wear.  Much to Starlight’s growing consternation, “oh, come on!”
  “We have to get out of here,”Aquamarine yelled as she helped the visibly fatigued ghoul to his hooves.  His limbs were trembling, but he was at least able to stand.  Whatever he had done had taken a toll, that much was clear.  He nodded his agreement though.  The pair began to back away from the wendigo.
However, the pink unicorn’s attention was drawn upwards as her twitching ear caught a hint of a sound not unlike cracking ice.  Only, it wasn’t ice that was cracking.
It was the cavern’s ceiling, where it had been blackened but hellfire and lightning strikes.
“What in Celestia’s name…?”  Had her spells caused that somehow?
“It’s getting back up!” the crystal mare yelled and Starlight’s attention was once more drawn to the wendigo which was―as indicated―slowly rising to its hooves.  It seemed that their reprieve had been exceptionally short-lived.  Which was unfortunate for them.  Especially since it was quite evident that Archie would not be able to muster up a fourth burst yet.
Starlight was preparing to teleport the three of them at least to the Labyrinth of Sorrows entrance, when she heard a loud crash from overhead.
The defensive shield was up almost immediately as if on instinct.  Six months on her own in the Wasteland had made erecting the magical barrier second nature.  Which was very convenient for the three ponies right this moment, as it was the only reason that they managed to survive the next few seconds.  Unfortunately for Aquamarine, ‘almost immediately’ was not fast enough to deflect away a few of the fragments at the leading edge of the rocky rain.  One such sharp grazed the side of her head and she went down along with it.  Archie was at her side a second later, tending to the mare.
Fortunately, those first small pieces were all that made it through before the barrier solidified.  Shards of rock and crystal the size of skywagons rained down around them, deflecting off of her shield for several more seconds.  They were not alone either.
Something else, very large, very long, and very not a rock also fell to the ground.  Most of it bounced off of Starlight’s shield and slithered away.  A massive scaled head, which looked to be glowing with radiated heat reared up and let forth a deafening roar that shook the molars in the back of the pink mare’s mouth.  Though she had never actually seen one before, Starlight had little doubt in her mind that they were in the presence of a bona fide lava wyrm.
It even brought along some of its namesake, she discovered, as molten rock started to cascade down from the opening in the ceiling, which was apparently connected to a very fresh lava tube.  The unicorn closed her eyes and started pumping as much magic as she could into the magical shield surrounding them.  Partially in an effort to reinforce it, but also so that she could reshape and enlarge it.  The last thing that they needed was to end up trapped by the waterfall of fiery liquid rock.
The magical funnel that she formed caught the leading edge of the lavafall and sent it flowing towards the very creature that had allowed for its intrusion into the city.  The lava wyrm―unsurprisingly―did not seem to be particularly inconvenienced by the deluge of molten lava washing over it.  If anything, it actually seemed much more content.  What was somewhat disheartening was the lack of any reaction from the wendigo as well as it continued to stand, seemingly oblivious to the glowing puddle of rock seeping around its hooves.
Starlight grit her teeth as she continued to sustain the shield.  It was taking a great deal of power and concentration to maintain its shape beneath the incredible weight of the lava flow.  Thousands of tons of molten rock was being kept off of them, and it was incredibly draining.  Honestly, she could feel its cohesion beginning to slip.
“Run,” she said through clenched teeth, “I can’t hold it for much longer,” and she couldn’t.  Her horn was growing hot, and she could feel her own ley lines starting to fray.  She could see the lava in contact with her shield starting to cool and harden.  In another minute, it might even be strong enough to support itself and create something of a natural flume to keep directing the rest of the flow.
She wasn’t going to last a minute though, “get back into the castle!” It was too dangerous for them to risk being out in the open right now, especially with their crystal companion unconscious as she was.  Archie would need to hide with her inside the palace for a while, let himself recharge, and then they could make a second attempt at a getaway.
It was a pity that she wasn’t going to be joining them.  She’d really been looking forward to seeing if she really could have made that matrix in a week…
She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and assumed that it was Archie taking Aquamarine away.  However, she was only half correct: it was the ghoul stallion alright, but he wasn’t going anywhere.  Instead, and much to Starlight’s own horror, his horn started to glow.  A second later, its energy joined hers.
She screamed.  It very nearly cost her her concentration and meant the end of her spell and their lives.  However, she was quite surprised to feel something that she had not expected: her shield grew stronger.
The energy flowing from the ghoul’s horn perfectly complimented her own spell matrix and allowed her to maintain the necessary field strength with much less effort on her part.  The back of her mind raced with a hundred different questions, but decades of professionalism and training allowed her to push those thoughts aside in order to retain focus on the primary task at hoof: keeping them from being buried alive by a lava flow.  The seconds bled by.  The visible rock on the other side of the barrier darkened and cooled.  The weight that the shield was trying to maintain ebbed away...until it felt like they weren’t holding hardly anything up at all.
Finally, Starlight’s horn burned out and she collapsed to the ground, panting.  Her head hurt terribly with the exertion.  But they’d been saved.  The pair of them―impossibly―had warded off the lava.
“I think...I think we’re good,” Archie rasped, surveying the results of their conjoined spell.  He then turned and made his way to the side of the unconscious Aquamarine once more, “she’s breathing.  It looks like she was just knocked out.  I think we can bring her around again…”
Starlight wasn’t listening though.  Her gaze was still firmly fixed straight ahead of her, baby blue eyes wide with disbelief and confusion.  Her brain refused to accept what had just happened, because everything that she knew about magic―which even her greatest critics in life would have had to grudgingly admit was a lot―insisted that what had just happened simply couldn’t have.
Her magic had been about to fail her.  That wasn’t what was hard to swallow―mostly.  She’d known that it was a long-shot at the outset; a spell cast as a desperate last resort measure.  Failure had honestly been more expected than not.  There’d simply been no other option though.  She known that―felt it―in the moment.  Her matrix had begun to unravel as the spell lost cohesion and, with it, potency.  It wouldn’t have lasted for another five seconds.  She knew that.  She’d known that they were all going to die.
Then Archie had stepped up.  Starlight had seen his horn glowing and recognized his wordless intent.  She’d cried out for him to stop out of reflex.  After all, it would hardly have mattered.  Whether the spell failed because it lost cohesion on its own or was irreparably disrupted by a foreign mana frequency, the result would have been the same.  What harm was there, ultimately, in a death that came a couple of seconds earlier?
At the time, she’d assumed that the Prime Minister had to have known that what he was doing wouldn’t have any chance of actually working.  Somepony―some unicorn―in his position would have had to know that his supporting her like that wouldn’t work―couldn’t work.  The most basic and fundamental laws of unicorn magic forbade it!  He should be standing right here, in complete awe that they’d succeeded like this.  The ghoulish stallion should be just as surprised as she was, and trying to think of how it could be possible.
Because it couldn’t be!
Certainly not for the two of them!
Yes, unicorns working as a team to cast ritual spells did combine their individual magic into a singular cohesive effect.  Such practices became the basis for megaspells during the war.  However, there was more to it than that.  Those ponies worked together tirelessly for months, ‘feeling out’ each others’ frequencies in order to understand how to better compliment them and prevent the spells that they cast together from fizzling.  Even the most experienced unicorns took two or three weeks from the day they first met to be able to cast ritual spells together.
Starlight and Archie had known each other for three days!
“How?” she heard herself finally ask out loud, much to her own surprise.  Her confusion was simply too profound to be contained any longer.  The pink mare turned to look at the withered stallion, “how did you―how did we―just do that?”
Archie glanced up from where he’d been tending to their crystalline companion, “what do you mean?” the stallion even managed to sound genuinely unsure of what Starlight was referring to; which only served to make her even more irate.  He was a damned unicorn stallion!  This was magic kindergarten level stuff she was talking about here!
“That!” the unicorn mare shouted, jabbing her hoof back at the wall of cooling lava just a few yards away from them, “how did we do that!  You infused my magic with yours!”
Still the stallion didn’t seem to be grasping the central crux of her consternation, “...yeah?  I kind of didn’t want all of us to die…?”
Starlight gaped at him.  How could he still not be getting this? “So you jumped in and pumped mana into the spell of a unicorn that you just met, and whom you have never cast conjoined spells with before, and you thought that it would all go just fine?
“Do you know nothing about Abjurer’s Anthology of Arcane Axioms?  Specifically axiom fucking one?!”
Now Archie was looking almost as irritated as Starlight herself was, like she’d just given him a personal insult.  In certain ways, it could be interpreted that she indeed had; as her question would have been akin to asking a pegasus if they knew what their feathers were for, or if an earth pony knew plants grew from seeds.  It was a reference to something that was fundamental to unicorns as a race, “of course I know the First Axiom of Arcana,” he growled, then he proceeded to recite it as though he was reading directly from the original text, “‘All ponies possess a personal magical aura that is unique and distinguishable from the moment of their conception,’” he rolled his eyes and glared at the pink mare, “what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well what the fuck happens, Mister ‘First Axiom’, when two fields of ‘unique’ magical auras encounter one another?  Like, say, during the casting of a spell?”
Again, the stallion’s response started out as condescending as hers had been, “the frequencies would create an interference pattern that would quickly amplify and cause the spells being cast to f―” Starlight was able to spot the exact moment on the ghoul’s face when his clouded eyes filled with comprehension, “...fail.”
He blinked, going silent as it only seemed to now dawn on him how impossible what they’d just pulled off should have been.
Starlight was rubbing her head as her brain continued to try and make sense of all of this.  The chances of it all have been a fluke were too astronomical to even bother considering.  Yes, it was true that some unicorns possessed magical frequencies that, while different, were indeed close enough in similarity to not cause any magic they might spontaneously cast together to outright fail.  However, such instances would still result in such joint castings producing a spell that was overall weaker than an identical spell cast by either one of them would have been.  It certainly wouldn’t strengthen the result.  Only ponies that went through rigorous training could overcome that hurdle.
Okay, that might not have been entirely true, Starlight admitted to herself.  Groups of unicorns did manage to join their powers without needing a regimented and dedicated course of study and rehearsals.  Indeed, such occurrences were actually rather common; but the principles under which they operated were very different.  Unicorns who spent a lot―and Starlight meant years or decades―in constant close proximity to one another would often find themselves compensating subconsciously when casting magic together.
The younger a pony was when they started this process, the less time it would take and the more compatible the group would be.  During the war, it wasn’t practical to arrange for collections of young unicorn foals to grow up together to create the ritual groups of the future that they needed ‘now’.  Ministry Mare Fluttershy’s suggestion of using group counseling and mentoring sessions, in conjunction with trust exercises, had allowed the first groups of unicorns to cast megaspells after a little less than a year from the day they were brought together.  Starlight and Twilight Sparkle had taken that foundation and improved upon it to create the megaspell focus groups that they needed to help win the war.
Starlight Glimmer herself had been a part of numerous such groups during the war.  It had been another testament to her magical acumen that she could train herself to be compatible with so many other unicorns.  However, she was nearly positive that every single one of those ponies was dead and gone; and they certainly would have had to have recognized her anyway!  Archie had had no idea who she was when they met.  So he couldn’t have been one of her old coworkers.
Besides, none of them had been sent anywhere near the Crystal Empire prior to the end of the war.
Nor did Starlight have any siblings, cousins, or any other living family members that she’d spent any meaningful amount of time with that could have explained this.  Heck, she’d even only had the single childhood friend growing up; the same colt who she’d eventually married and started a family with.  Married unicorns were another demographic that almost always eventually adapted to each other’s magic after a few years without even trying.  After all, such ponies tended to spend a lot of time in ‘close proximity’ to one another.
But, Sunburst was―
...Wasn’t he?
The pink unicorn mare stared at the ghoul, only now truly examining him with any amount of scrutiny.  Among ponies, her husband had possessed a few physical traits that weren’t commonly seen.  His otherwise solid golden coat had been accented by white stockings on his legs and a blaze running down the middle of his face.  Familial holdovers, he’d once told her, from ancestors that migrated to Equestria from the Neighvada region, far to the southwest.  It had certainly served to help him stand out in a crowd.
However, looking at Archie now, it was genuinely difficult to tell what color his coat had once been, since his hide was completely devoid of fur altogether; leaving behind only his bare, leathery, flesh.  He was, however, about the same height and build that Sunburst had been.  Not that that meant much―ponies rarely varied too wildly from one another in such ways.  Half the stallions in Equestria would have been within an inch or two of her husband’s height.  There simply wasn’t any way for her to know whether or not that wild thought of hers could be validated.  Certainly not by merely looking at him.
Then something occurred to her.  A question that, up to this point, hadn’t seemed at all necessary to ask him: “what’s your name?”
The ghoul jerked in mild surprised, stunned out of his own deep consideration of the impossibility of their joint magical accomplishment a minute ago by the seemingly nonsequenture of a question, “I told you: everypony calls me, ‘Archie’,” he reminded her in his raspy voice that sounded nothing like her husband’s.
“As in...Archibald, right?”
“What?  No, of course not,” the ghoul curled his nose, “Archibald was the name of the previous Prime Minister before I was elected.”
Starlight blanched, “so then...who are you?  Why would everypony call you ‘Archie’?  And don’t you dare tell me that was part of some sort of weird crystal pony tradition for how they refer to the Prime Minister!”
“No―I mean, yes it is, but not how you’re meaning,” the stallion frowned, “I watched over and taught most of them when they were all very young foals.  Even before Archibald died,” he explained, “the children all started calling me ‘Master Archie’ because most of them initially had trouble saying ‘Master Archmage’.  After a few decades, I stopped bothering to correct the children and the name just sort of stuck through to adulthood.”
Her hind legs gave out as the shock began to set in, “you were the Archmage...before you were the Prime Minister...while Archibald was still alive.  You’re…” she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
The ghoul rolled his eyes and executed an overly elaborate flourish, “I have the honor of being the Crystal Empire’s first―and likely last and only―Head of the Imperial Academy of Arcana,” the stallion performed a mocking bow, “Archmage Sunburst, of Sire’s Hollow.
“Heh...it’s been...well, centuries since I used my actual name.  Sounds weird to hear it out loud actually.  I’ve been ‘Master Archie’ for what feels like forever,” then he seemed to hesitate for a moment, furrowing his brow, “wait a minute...you’ve used that name.  At the graveyard…”
The ghoul’s expression shifted again, as he caught sight of what his response had inflicted upon the pink mare.  To say that she was a ‘little surprised’ would have been like saying that The Crystal Empire was a ‘tad to the north’.  She looked positively dumbstruck; her lips moving in a soundless tremble, her head taking on a subtle denying shake that only escalated as the seconds wore on.
Then she finally began to form words.  Inaudible at first, but their volume quickly crescendoed, “nonononononoNONONO!” she was screaming now, her eyes glistening, “you’re lying!  You’re not him!  You can’t be; you just can’t be!  YOU’RE NOT HIM!”
Whatever response that the stallion had expected to receive as a result of the simple recitation of his name, this, had not quite been it.  The ghoul recoiled noticeably, taking several clumsy steps backwards from the raving unicorn mare, “what are you talking about?  ‘Him’ who?!” he demanded.  His critical tone probably wasn’t the ideal one to take with a hysterical mare while they were miles underground surrounded by magma flows that could burst through the walls of the cavern at any moment if the demonstrably powerful unicorn saw fit―in her apparent madness―to begin throwing spells around without due regard.  
To say nothing of the lava wyrm and wendigo that were just on the other side of the recently added rock wall nearby.
However, he was at a complete loss for why she should be reacting this way.  Who exactly did she think he was?!
For her part, Starlight wasn’t even consciously aware of why she was raving like this.  Surprise, she would later conclude.  Yet, all in all, even that sounded like a misleading answer.  After all, how could the revelation have been a genuine ‘surprise’ to her if the entire reason she’d directly asked for his true name in the first place was because she had already begun to suspect what the answer was?  No, she wasn’t ‘surprised’.
She was hurt.
This withered stallion, this husk of a pony who looked upon her with no hint of recognition―no hint of love―was indeed Sunburst.  This ghoul was her husband.  He was the pony that she’d come all this way across the Wasteland to find.  She’d waited for two centuries, survived two wars, crossed thousands of miles of genuine hellscape, all to find him…
...and he didn’t even know who she was.
That pain...it was indescribable.
A numbness came over the mare, perhaps in response.  It was far easier to remove her emotions from the present than to deal with them.  After all, the two of them had much more immediate concerns to deal with.  They were far from being out of danger, and Aquamarine was still unconscious, “we need to get back inside,” Starlight said in a voice that sounded hollow even to her own ears, “we’re not safe.”
The ghoul’s own expression was rather grim, not appreciating the sudden change in topics, but he at least recognized the gravity of their predicament as well.  He dutifully lifted the crystal mare onto his back and followed Starlight into the castle.  In their wake, they could hear the roaring and the thrashing of the lava wyrm as it rampaged through the city.
Starlight hesitated for a brief few seconds in the entrance gallery, her mind racing with where they should go next: up, or down.  Either could end up leaving them trapped when the wendigo finally finished dealing with the newly arrived molten serpent and came after them.  They might be able to make an escape if they went up, by performing a hasty exit through a window, but the lower levels of this palace was where the wendigos were originally created.  If there was any hope of finding something she could use to counter it, then it would be there.
“This way,” she darted for the stairs which would take them below the palace.  It was likely that she was leading them to their doom, but there was little help for it.
The pink unicorn had little trouble navigating the few twists and turns that brought the trio to the room she was seeking.  She’d been there only a few hours ago, after all.  It was where she had found the references which ultimately provided the answers to the origins of the wendigos, as well as the Crystal Heart.  Odd to think that they had been created through the same means.
Well, perhaps not that odd, Starlight admitted.  A ritual circle of unicorns was just as likely to create a megaspell that healed the injuries of a thousand wounded soldiers as it was to create a living maelstrom.  Intent mattered just as much as structure when it came to spellcasting for unicorns.  Perhaps it was not quite so different for crystal ponies as well.
She heard the door bar behind them and glanced over her shoulder.  Archie―or, rather, as it turned out, Sunburst―was sealing the reinforced door with a locking spell.  He’d already deposited Aquamarine carefully on the floor nearby.  Starlight wondered if it would be more of a kindness to leave her unaware.  She’d just die panicked and terrified if they revived her, after all.
“You must be Sunburst,” Starlight said mirthlessly, “your ‘lock’ spell is just as weak as his,” her own horn glowed now, and the ghoul’s eyes widened as he watched the door that he had just sealed become adorned with a curtain of ethereal chains and locks.  To his eyes, it even looked like the material that the portal had been made of strengthened considerably.
Despite how impressed the stallion was with the feat, he still shot an annoyed glare at the pink mare, “I’ll admit that I was never the most...potent mage in Celestia’s school, but my mastery of the more didactic elements are unparalleled.  I wrote my dissertation on ley line resonance.  It was published in the Canterlot Journal of Magical Science.”
“And you were completely wrong about sub-aetherial harmonics,” Starlight chided the stallion, for she had actually read his paper, “and you wouldn’t have been if you actually knew how to cast spells with bi-therial matrices!”
“They’re hard!”
“They’re supposed to be!”
Despite herself, the mare was unable to maintain her glare at the ghoul stallion and bowed her head as her lips cracked into a wry smirk.  She snorted, “Sweet Celestia, you really are him, aren’t you?” She’d had a very similar―if considerably much calmer and more constructive―conversation with her husband over that exact publication.
The withered unicorn snorted, “and that’s another thing: exactly who is it that you think I am?  Did we meet at some point during the war?  I thought you worked for the Ministry of Arcane Sciences.  I remember everypony I met from the MAS and I don’t recall meeting you.”
There was that pain again.  Starlight had to close her eyes tightly against it, “no...I suppose you wouldn’t…” there was silence in the room as Sunburst patiently waited for her to elaborate.  Briefly, she contemplated telling him a lie.  She could say that she’d just been some classmate that he’d barely spoken to.  Or that she was a distant relative of Prime Minister Archibald that knew about him from letters that they’d exchanged.  There were a dozen things that she could say to end this whole ordeal right here and now.
She looked back up at the ghoul and met his piercing gaze.  Another fresh jolt of pain.  Her husband had never looked at her like that.
Though that was because, in a great many ways, this stallion wasn’t her husband.  Whatever his name was, and whoever he might have been before the world ended, this pony didn’t have the temperament that their years and experiences together had molded.  Sunburst had been a very different stallion when she’d first arrived in the Crystal Empire.  She’d been a very different mare.
He wasn’t the pony she loved.  Not anymore.  That pony was still just as gone from her life, and forever would be…
...Or was he?
Starlight reached into her bag with her magic and withdrew the quartet of memory orbs.  They contained within them the sum total of Sunburt’s memories of her and their life together.  These were the experiences that had shaped them, “...because you put those memories in here.”
The ghoul looked skeptically between the pink unicorn and the floating orbs, “and exactly why would I do something like that?”
She cracked a wan smile, “Shining Armor,” the mare said, thinking back to the note that Sunburst had once left for himself.  There was confusion on the stallion’s face at first as he puzzled over her response.  Then comprehension dawned over his features.
“...You were my wife; is that what you’re saying?”  Starlight nodded somberly, “and I thought you lost in the balefire bombardment,” another nod.
It was the ghoul’s turn to avert his gaze now as silence returned.  Then, “...you look remarkably well for a mare your age.”
He certainly had her husband’s terrible sense of humor.  That, it seemed, had not been something that had been tempered by their relationship.  That was just a part of who the stallion was.  Despite herself, Starlight let out a short, chortling laugh, “well, I sort of cheated,” she offered with an apologetic shrug, “I ended up in a suspended animation pod,” her expression darkened again as she remembered what her own survival in the device designed for short-term sustainment had cost all of the other ponies in the bunker.
She may not have implemented the triage protocol which diverted energy from the other pods’ inhabitants to her own, but that did little to alleviate the lingering guilt she felt at knowing that scores had died―effectively been murdered―so that she would live long enough to be rescued, “I wasn’t even supposed to be there,” she said hollowly, “I was supposed to be on my way back to the Empire, but I’d heard...rumors...about what they were doing to our daughter.  So I took advantage of my Ministry access and dropped by for a ‘surprise inspection’.
“Then the bombs fell.”
The ghoul swallowed, “I had a daughter too?”
It was silly, Starlight knew, to talk about stuff like this right now.  Even through the thick walls of the castle, and below ground like they were, she could barely make out the rumbling of the lava wyrm and the wendigo doing battle.  A specter that encased its victims in an icy coffin was apparently having some trouble doing so to a creature that was nominally formed―at least in part―of molten stone.
Of course, the wendigo didn’t have a physical form, so Starlight couldn’t see any way that the wyrm might actually manage to win.  Inevitably, it would succumb.  Then, the wendigo would finally come for the three of them as well.
“For what it's worth,” the ghoul said, “I’m sorry.”
“You couldn’t have known,” she sighed, “I know how hard it had to have been.”
Sunburst managed to wrestle up a tiny little smile.  Then he looked past the mare and the orbs, his gaze going to what he quickly recognized to be a conjuration array built into the floor of the room, “I take it this is where the crystal ponies created the Crystal Heart?”
“And the wendigos,” she nodded, “and the Long Watchers,” she looked over the carefully arranged crystals, a few of which were cracked.  Very likely a consequence of having to focus and refine the vast quantities of magical energy that it had taken to create the ancient artifact.  She marveled at the similarities that the array bore to MAS ritual circles.
The ghoul wandered into the center of the circle of crystal and examined it, “efficient.  I see where they set up a sub-array to collect and redirect any residual energies that might bleed off.  Remarkable, considering this has to predate Pentarast’s Treaties on Aether Reclamation by...oh, two thousand years do you think?”
“At least,” Starlight nodded, allowing herself her own meager smile, “I don’t even think it needs LAmPs or support casters,” she gestured to the damaged crystals, “if we took those out and rearranged the intact ones to compensate, this circle would be good to go,” not that it would matter.
Sunburst realized this too.  He looked back at the orbs, “...even if we had the years that it would take for me to relive those memories, it wouldn’t matter.  As thorough as I appear to have been…I wouldn’t recognize those memories as being mine,” he stared hard at Starlight Glimmer, “even looking at you right now―even knowing that you were my wife―I feel nothing.  I mean, you’re smart and pretty enough that I could see why I’d marry you, but…” he shook his head.
“Nothing’s left of us up here,” he tapped his brow.
Despite herself, Starlight blushed upon hearing the compliment.  He was right though: if he were to experience these memories, they wouldn’t reintegrate themselves into his mind if he truly had been as meticulous as it seemed.  To him, it would be like he was watching the life of somepony else.  There’d simply be nothing there to serve as any sort of initial anchor point that the memories could start to integrate with.  That was also assuming―as he’d pointed out―that they had the years to spend for him to relive all those memories.  Of course...
“It doesn’t matter,” she shook her head, “most of the memories are corrupted anyway.  You never intended to get them back, so you just sort of crumpled them into the orbs,” she managed to frown at the ghoul with some amount of mirth, “these things are about as messy as you used to leave your office.”
The stallion chuckled, “that sounds about right.  I probably left a few hayburger wrappers lying around in them too somehow.”
Starlight smiled, her own mind filling with a half dozen examples of the food wrappers littering his work space in their house.  Then she inhaled sharply.
“...thistle nuggets…”
The ghoul raised an eyebrow, “I mean, I guess I might have left a few empty boxes of those around too…?”
“No,” the mare shook her head, “in the palace―the one above ground―the other day.  I joked about wanting a hayburger and you added that you’d pick up some thistle nuggets to go with it.”
“...And?”
“You hate thistle nuggets!  You always complain that they get stuck in your teeth,” Starlight watched as the ghoul’s own features creased in realization that she had correctly recounted his food preference, “but I loved them, and I’d always ask you to get some for me.
“Don’t you see?  You got rid of your memories of me, but you didn’t go after every stray thought you had about me whenever I wasn’t around,” she was bubbling on the edge of excitement, and she wasn’t even sure why.  It certainly didn’t help to change anything about their situation.  Honestly, it was more the simple excitement of solving a mystery than anything else, “I bet every time you went into a Burger Princess, even when it was just for yourself, in the back of your head, you would remember what I liked to order.  You probably weren’t even consciously aware of it.
“Even my ‘blinded by starlight’ joke!  I bet you occasionally thought about my bad puns even when I was nowhere around,” she ran up to the stallion, eagerly staring into his eyes, “there are still pieces of me in there somewhere.  You might have gotten out ninety-nine-point-nine percent of me, but there’s still something left up there in that head of yours.
“That’s what you’re grasping at when you chase away the wendigos: that dim spark of love for me that you didn’t quite manage to extinguish.  It’s not much, but it’s still there,” her lips cracked into a smile as she let out a chuckle, winking at the stallion, “you might even say: that it’s just a glimmer.”
The ghoul rolled his eyes, “but we still don’t have the time, and you said that the orbs were broken,” he sighed.  The stallion reached out a hoof and gently stroked her cheek, “I’m sorry.  I really am.  But there’s no way for me to get my memories back.”
Sunburst canted his head slightly, his ear swiveling.  His lips pulled back into a wan smile, “and it seems that we’ve run out of time anyway.”
Starlight listened now too.  It was quiet.  The rumbling of the battle raging outside was nowhere to be heard.  The wendigo had doubtlessly finally won and would be coming for them soon.  Her sealing spells wouldn’t last forever.  In minutes, it would track them down, and then...
Her face fell once more.  The mare racked her brain for another answer, but it was looking like he was right.  She may have proven that his memories could hypothetically be reintegrated, but they still weren’t accessible.  The orbs were useless, and there wasn’t anywhere else those memories lied.
...No, that wasn’t accurate.
Starlight looked back up at the ghoul, her gaze hardened in desperate determination, “I can’t give you back your memories,” she acknowledged, “but I can show you mine!”
Her horn flared to life and before the stallion could react, she touched it to his own.


OOOoooOOO


Sunburst blinked as he looked around.  He wasn’t standing in the lower levels of the ancient crystal palace any longer.  He was...well, actually he had no idea where he was.  It seemed to be an endless white void of some sort.  As he looked around, he caught sight of his own hoof and balked.  He brought his fetlock up and marveled at it.  The limb was no longer furless and leathery, mottled by radiation and age.  Instead, it was covered in a deep orange coat that ended in a white sock.  Looking very much as it had before balefire radiation had transformed him into the walking corpse he was now.
His whole body had been restored, he soon found.  His coat, his cutie mark, his mane...not his goatee though, for some reason.  That was odd.  There was something else that was a little off too. But he couldn’t quite put his hoof on it…
“Hello there,” he turned at the sound of the voice and found that Starlight Glimmer was in the void with him.  She smiled and gestured around them with a flourish of her hoof, “and welcome to Casa del Starlight,” she grinned at him.
The stallion thought for a moment, then his eyes widened in realization, “you cast a memory orb spell...on me.”
“Something like that,” she nodded, “I brought you into my head so that I could show you my own memories of us.  We can relive our lives together.  The good times.  The great times,” she grinned for a moment before her features smoothed once more, “...and even the not so great times.  All of it.  Everything that we went through, we’ll go through again,” she stepped up to the stallion, nuzzling the soft coat of his neck, “...so that we can fall in love just like before.”
She was grateful―so very grateful―that the blazed unicorn returned the nuzzle, almost instinctively, “there’s no way we have time for that,” he murmured, “the wendigo will find us in a few minutes.”
Starlight pulled away and shook her head, her grin still firmly in place, “Requim’s Required Respite.  A similar spell is used as part of a pipbuck’s Sparkle Assisted Targeting System.  Time will be suspended for as long as we need it to be.
“We can relive our lives together in the blink of an eye.”
Sunburst looked around them, “that feels like cheating.”
The mare shrugged, “eh.  Who cares?”
The stallion chuckled, then looked down at the mare, “speaking of: my goatee?”
She rolled her eyes, “but it’s so itchy!” the stallion leveled his gaze at her, amusement dancing behind his feigned annoyance, “...fine!” he felt his chin tingle and reached up to once more stroke the tuft that had fallen out centuries ago.
“Also, am I...buffer than I remember being?”
“I don’t think so,” the mare said in a tone that sounded convincingly innocent as she brushed up against the stallion, “you look just how I remember you.”
“Hmm,” not that he was complaining, “so...where should we begin?”
The mare smiled at him, “where else?”
The void melted away, replaced by the front stoop of his foalhood home, and a doorway that seemed remarkably large.  He quickly realized that this was because he was no longer a stallion, but a young colt who didn’t even have his cutie mark yet.  In front of him stood a little pink filly with a purple and teal-striped mane pulled back into a pair of tiny pigtails.
She smiled at him, “hiya!  You must be the new colt that moved into town!  My name’s Starlight Glimmer; what’s yours?”
The blazed colt looked at the filly for a few awkward seconds.  Then he smiled too, “...Sunburst.  Nice to meet you, Starlight.  Wanna play?”


OOOoooOOO


The spell ended.
Starlight opened her eyes very tentatively.  She didn’t quite trust the moistness that she felt behind them.  Nor was she certain that she wanted to be confronted with the results of her efforts.  It had just been a theory after all.  She’d found the crack in Sunburst’s attempt to remove her completely, yes; but she had no way of knowing for sure that it would be enough to allow his memories to be integrated.
To say nothing about letting somepony else's memories integrate themselves.  It was possible that it could work, but―
Her thoughts were interrupted as her body was gathered up into a tight embrace.  The stallion’s withered flesh was rough and cool to the touch.  No heart beat in the chest against which her ear was pressed.  It was so very unlike the thousands of embraces that she’d just finished reliving in her head.  Yet, the voice that she heard―though raspier―was undeniably her husband’s.
“Oh, Starlight, I’m so sorry!” the ghoul said.  His voice cracked, and not merely as a consequence of his undead condition.  He likely would have been crying if he was physiologically still capable, “can you ever forgive me?”
Tears were something that she was still capable of though, and they began to flow now despite her best efforts to hold them back, “you silly stallion,” she returned his desperate embrace to reassure him, “of course I forgive you.  You lose your keys, your glasses...why wouldn’t you go and manage to lose your memories too!”
She pulled back from him slightly so that she could look up into his still-distraught face, nuzzling his shriveled nose affectionately, “fortunately I’m here to help you find them again.  As always.”
A fragile smile cracked across the ghoul’s lips and he drew her back up against himself again, “thank you!  Thank you for coming back for me, too.”
“Sorry it took me so long,” she cringed at the snag in her own voice.
“You’re worth waiting for.”
They remained like that, wrapped in each others’ arms, for some time.  Unmoving.  Each afraid that doing so would end this fragile dream that they were in.
Starlight shivered slightly, pulling herself in more tightly to the stallion.  Her features slowly sank, “...it’s coming.”
“It is,” Sunburst replied.  His horn started to glow, a matching aura grasping at the crystals surrounding them.  Starlight joined in his efforts.  Those that were damaged were removed.  Suitable replacements were sought out.  Those that could not be swapped for intact crystals were rearranged to compensate.  Between the two of them and their combined arcane knowledge, it was foal’s play to restore the array.
“...Will this work with non-crystal ponies?”
“It should,” the stallion assured her, “other ponies are receptive to its effects at the Crystal Fair.” 
That was a good point.  The array was soon completed and ready to be activated, “...is it selfish to not want to do this?”
“I don’t think so,” he replied.  Then, after a few seconds he added, “we don’t have to if you don’t want.”
It was tempting.  They could teleport away.  Make their escape back to the surface...and then what?  Abandon the Empire?
To what end?  Run away together?  Become a pair of Wasteland adventurers?
No.  She didn’t want that.  All that she’d wanted from life was to learn the fate of her husband.  She had done that.  That they were together again was something that she could never have anticipated, but was immeasurably grateful for.  That was enough for her to die happy.  Even if, “...I don’t think I’m ready to die.”
“I don’t think that’s what this is,” Sunburst said after a few seconds of thought, “remember how the Crystal Heart refused to be charged with unicorn magic?” Starlight nodded, not pulling away from the stallion, “you thought it was because the crystal it was made out of just didn’t want to receive raw magic for some reason?”
“Yeah, so?”
“What happens when you try to syphon raw magic into a living pony?”
The mare frowned, “you can’t,” he knew that too, “a living pony’s own arcane essence rebuffs it―” her eyes shot open and she looked up at the stallion, who was smiling down at her, “you think the Crystal Heart was alive?
He shrugged, “it’s a theory.  Care to test it out with me?  One last magical experiment,” he let out a resigned sigh, “too bad there won’t be any way to publish the findings…”
“I’ll peer review it with you,” Starlight smiled, nuzzling the ghoul before leaning her head back against his chest once more.  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “there’s worse ways to go, I guess.”
Her ear twitched as she heard the sound of somepony stirring nearby.  She looked over and saw Aquamarine moving, raising her head up and massaging what would surely develop into quite a fantastic bump.  The turquoise mare blinked at the pair of unicorns hugging in the middle of the array of glowing crystals, “wha...what’s going on?”
Starlight smiled at the crystal mare, “found my husband,” she nuzzled Sunburst’s neck, “we...sort of renewed our vows, in a way.  But, in a new twist, we’re going to be giving you the wedding present!”
“I don’t think the couple gets gifts for a vow renewal,” the stallion pointed out.
“Hush.”
“Yes, dear.”
The pair chuckled as the light from the crystal array grew brighter.  Starlight beamed at Aquamarine, “you’ll all be fine now.  Just do us a favor and try not to break this one any time soon, okay?”
The door to the room creaked.  Cracks formed throughout its surface.  The two unicorns glared at the room’s sealed entrance even as Starlight’s magic finally gave way before the arrival of the wendigo.  The spectral being stood stoically in the doorway, it’s piercing eyes staring at the ponies in the room.  It seemed to pay special attention to the pair of embracing unicorns.
Then, for the first time ever, Starlight saw signs of emotion on the wendigo’s skeletal face.  Realization.  It seemed to know what they were doing...and it was afraid.
Starlight’s lips spread out in a vicious grin, “love conquers all, bitch!”
The ghoul frowned at her, “‘love conquers all’?  That was the best one-liner you could come up with?”
“I suppose you think you could do better?”
He thought for a moment, “call a doctor, because you’re about to have a heart attack?”
Okay, that was actually pretty good―
The spell went off.

In hindsight, she probably should have been paying a lot more attention to which turns they’d taken in the Labyrinth of Sorrows.  That thing was a lot more daunting when coming at it from the ‘correct’ direction.  The Tower of Fire as well felt more aptly named on the way back up.  It hadn’t been any warmer, certainly, but the steep climb had certainly left her calves feeling like they were on fire!
Carrying all of this extra weight hadn’t helped matters any.
It was a great relief when she finally found the steps that had been carved into the last few feet of the scent, coming to an end at the sarcophagus that was actually a disguised door.  She stepped through it into the palace catacombs.  A shiver went down her spine as she felt the chill in the air.  It was a chill that she had not recalled being present in the dingy catacombs when they’d come down here initially.
As she ascended towards the surface and caught her first glimpse of the outside world, she understood why: the snow was much closer than it had been just a few days ago.  Much closer.  It was falling in the castle courtyard.  Which seemed to fly in the face of Master Archie’s―er, Archmage Sunburst’s calculations.  They should have still had a few weeks before it got this bad.
On the other hoof, if it was love and hope that powered the Crystal Heart, and by extension the magic that protected them, then it stood to reason that feelings of fear and despair would undermine those same magicks.  Such as the despair at losing track of a mainstay of their Empire, like the ghoulish Prime Minister, for several days.  He had doubtlessly been missing for far longer than whatever note he left had suggested.  They probably feared that he’d been killed.
They weren’t all that far off, she thought mournfully as she looked to her pack.
She took a deep breath and resumed her course to the outside with renewed determination.  It didn’t matter how near the snow was anymore.  If Master...Sunburst and Miss Starlight had been right―and she fervently hoped that they were―then this winter would soon be at an end.
The atmosphere was filled with the nervous chatter of fearful ponies moving about in a bluster of activity.  Nearly all of them were carrying a weapon of some sort, and those ponies who held high positions of rank in the military were barking unsure orders.  They had the rank, but none of the experience that went with it.  Honorary titles rarely came with substantial training.
She soon caught sight of the reason for all of this activity too.  Out in the falling snow, closer than they had ever been in recorded history, were the dark and corrupted forms of umbra ponies, prowling around the palace’s perimeter.  The last vestiges of the old Heart’s magic was keeping them―barely―at bay, but it looked like those lingering effects would fail at any moment.  When that happened…
No.  That wouldn’t happen.  She wouldn’t let it happen!
The mare spurred herself into a gallop, heading for the center of the courtyard and the pedestal that had seen nought but ceremonial use in two hundred years.  Tonight though, its purpose would be fully realized.
“Ponies!” she called out, struggling to be heard above the wind which was picking up as it never had before, “ponies, listen to me!” a few passing crystalline figures paused, more out of surprise than anything else, but she seized upon their moment of hesitation, “everypony needs to gather here, quickly!  I need everypony in the courtyard.”
“But, the umbra!  They’re―”
“They don’t matter,” the mare insisted vehemently, “we can’t fight them off anyway.  We only have a few diamond-forged weapons left; not nearly enough to protect everypony with.  Bring everypony here.  Now!” she reached into her pack and withdrew the shimmering piece of solid crystal that she’d carried from beneath the earth.  Upon catching sight of it, the faces around her gaped in vague recognition, “we don’t have much time.  Get everypony here!”
Those few who had stopped initially nodded absently and scattered.  It wasn’t long before other faces arrived; out of curiosity if nothing else.  Even if they only came out of need to confirm for themselves how it could be that a relic long lost could have reappeared, it was enough that they came.  That was all she needed of them: to come, and to stay.
When she felt that a significant portion of the Empire’s remaining population was present, she finally addressed them, “I know what you are all wondering, and I can tell you that, yes, this is the Crystal Heart!” Well, not the one of old, she admitted to herself, but it made no difference where these ponies were concerned, “this is the key to our salvation!
“But it will not be enough on its own,” she cautioned them now as she slowly positioned it onto the pedestal, “the Heart needs us just as much as we need it!  It needs us to be the crystal ponies that I know we can be.”
A vicious snarl tore through the air from nearby.  A pair of umbra ponies were skirting the edge of the courtyard, having moved even closer still.  Ponies recoiled from them, and a frightened murmur flowed over the crowd.  A few picked up their useless weapons to form a protective perimeter.
“Lay those weapons down!” the mare snapped, earning skeptical looks from those assembled, “your urge to defend your fellow pony is commendable,” she nodded sympathetically, “but this is not a fight that will be won by force of arms.  Instead, I need you all to look inward, to examine the origin of that same compulsion,” she urged them.
“We care for one another,” she went on, “our whole lives, we have relied upon the ponies standing here beside us.  It is a unity of community that predates the Wasteland,” she smiled at them, “and it is what will allow us to survive tonight too.
“I want everypony to take the hoof of the mare or stallion next to them,” the crowd hesitated, “please,” her eyes momentarily darted to the umbra which still prowled.  To the pinprick pairs of glowing blue eyes that hovered just beyond them.  Then she looked back to the crowd as they slowly began to take each others’ hooves, “look to those ponies.  Remember how you once helped them―how they once helped you.  Grab hold of that feeling...and let it flow between you.
“Let it flow out of you,” as she spoke, the mare placed her own hoof on the Heart itself.  She brought to her mind every memory she had of the Prime Minister.  How he’d fostered her desire to learn more about the history of their Empire.  How he’d comforted her in moments of grief.  Shared her moments of joy.  Before her eyes, she saw the Crystal Heart begin to glow more brightly.  It was a subtle change, but perceptible.
Then she saw the very ground beneath the crowd began to light up.  Tendrils of energy trickled along the polished crystal surface, tracing out a path toward the pedestal and the Heart sat atop it.  It grew brighter now, as bright as any torch, at least.
It was working, she thought, feeling relief beginning to well up inside her.  There was a chance!
“Think of our ancestors, and all of the hope that they had for us!” She shouted above the storm, “think of our responsibility to those that will come after us!  This Empire has endured for generations uncounted, and it won’t fall now!  We won’t let it fall!  Not to the umbra.  Not to the Wendigos.  Not to this unending winter.
“It will endure, because we will endure,” she proclaimed, “together!”
The torchlight was a bonfire now, and it showed no signs that it would cease to brighten any time soon.  The mare closed her eyes and bowed her head towards the Heart, whispering, “thank you.  Both of you.”
There was a blinding flash.
When it subsided...everything seemed to be different.  It was honestly a lot to take in all at once.  Everypony raised their hooves to shield their eyes from the sky, and the brilliant golden orb that was bearing down on them.  It had been generations since any of them had seen the sun.  It’s light would doubtlessly take some getting used to.
As―the mare suspected―would their appearance, which a few ponies were taking note of all well.  Everypony shimmered and glistened like living stained glass windows, their manes and tails adorned with jewelry and ribbons.  Never before had any of them been dressed so well, and she wondered if a gala had ever been held that could justify this level of grandeur.
Would it be permanent, she wondered?  It certainly explained why they were called ‘crystal’ ponies, she supposed.
“Former Colonel Aquamarine,” a stallion said from nearby.  The mare winced at the sound of the regent’s voice and slowly turned to face him.  He’d always been dressed rather nicely―as befitted his position―but his newly acquired appearance made him look quite regal now.  Intimidatingly so!
“How kind of you to finally return to us.”
Again the mare winced, bowing her head to the regent, “my apologies.  I just...I couldn’t sit by and do nothing,” she swallowed, “I had to know the truth.  I’m sorry for disobeying you.”
The red-hued―now translucent―older stallion sighed and looked around, “well, I certainly cannot argue with the results,” he smiled down at the mare, “so I see no reason not forgive you.  This time.
“Though, there is one last little matter that the two of us need to address,” he glanced at the crowd of gathered ponies, “and this honestly seems as good a time as any,” his eyes returned to the former officer and he cleared his throat, “though it would probably be better if you stopped bowing.”
The mare quirked her brow in puzzlement, but slowly rose back up.  Then, much to her utter shock, the regent bowed to her!  Along with the bearer of the flag of the Crystal Empire...and everypony else it turned out!  What was going on?
Then Agate began speaking, “this Crown, I have held in trust, on behalf of the ponies of the Crystal Empire; oath-bound to give it only to the rightful successor, or to the next regent that they might hold it in trust until such time.  So it is, by ancient oaths sworn, that I, Agate, Regent of the Crystal Empire, do so relinquish the Crown I have held, and return it to its rightful place.”
He looked up now, a glimmer of amusement behind his otherwise solemn features as he beheld her agape consternation, “All hail Princess Aquamarine!  All hail the Crystal Princess!”
“All hail the Crystal Princess!”
The roar of the crowd actually made the turquoise mare jump.  Her gaze darted around as she tried to figure out how exactly she was supposed to react to something like this.  What was even going on?!  The Crystal Princess?  Her?!  She’d just been fired from being a colonel a few days ago!  What did she know about running a whole Empire?
“Are you crazy?!” she hissed at the regent―former regent now, she guessed, “I can’t be the princess.  I don’t know what to do!”
The older stallion looked around at the restored landscape of the Empire, where there was no longer even a hint that it had been covered in several feet of snow only ten minutes ago.  It was even preposterously warm, too, “you seem to be off to a good start, if I may say so, Your Majesty.”
“Stop that!”
He chuckled, “my apologies, Your Majesty, but titles come with the position, I’m afraid,” the stallion stood up once more, “now, if you will pardon me, Your Majesty, with my duties finally executed, I think I might like to enjoy my retirement―”
“Oh no you don’t!” Aquamarine snapped, stomping her hoof.  The older stallion opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off, “fine, I’m the Crystal Princess now, but if you think you’re off the hook that easily, I’ve got news for you, Prime Minister Agate!”
“Prime Minister is an elected position,” he protested politely, “you cannot simply appoint―”
Aquamarine turned to the crowd, “by order of the Crystal Princess, I am declaring that general elections shall be held right now!  I nominate Agate for Prime Minister,” she jabbed a hoof at the standard-bearer, “second the nomination, your princess commands it!”
“...Seconded?”
Again she looked at the crowd, “the nomination has been seconded.  All those in favor of making Agate the new Prime Minister, say ‘aye’!”
“Aye!”
Aquamarine had turned back to face Agate before receiving the response from the crowd to gauge whether it had actually sounded at all like a clear majority, “and the ‘ayes’ have it!  Congratulations!”
The newly 'elected' Prime Minister of the Crystal Empire smiled wryly at his monarch, “I don’t know that that counts as a lawful election.”
“Feel free to challenge it in court when I get around to appointing a Chief Justice.  Now be a good little Prime Minister and gather up the Small Council and have them meet me in the throne room in ten minutes.  Something tells me we have a lot of work to do,” Agate smiled again and bowed without further protest, trotting off to fetch the requested ponies.
“As for the rest of you,” the mare addressed the crowd of expectant ponies, “...feel free to go out and enjoy this nice weather,” she hesitated a moment, “and...I’ll do my best to live up to this position.”
A chorus of laughter and chuckles rippled through the crowd as they dispersed and began to wander out―cautiously―into the city which had been reclaimed from the winter.  They had a whole Empire to rediscover.  Soon Aquamarine found herself alone.  Er, well, except for the standard bearer.  The freshly-minted princess looked over the ensign, frowning, “could you...go put that thing at the top of the castle or something?”
“I thought you’d never ask!” the mare galloped off without hesitation.
Now she was alone.  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, still trying to process the change.  Both in her personal status as a reigning monarch, and the Empire as a whole.  It was honestly quite surreal.  Likely it would feel that way for a while yet.  In time, though, this would hopefully start to feel like the norm.
“We’re not out of the blizzard yet,” she murmured to herself, “our population’s still too small to be sustainable.  We need to reach out to the rest of the world.  Remind them we’re still here.
“But...we have a chance, and that’s what matters."
She looked at the Crystal Heart and offered it a wan smile, “thanks for that.”
Princess Aquamarine of the Crystal Empire turned away and began walking towards the palace.  She’d made it only a few steps before she hesitated and looked behind her.  She stared for a few long moments, narrowing her eyes at the heart that she could have swore had pulsed in response to her comment.  The mare frowned, shook her head, and resumed walking.  Obviously the stress of the position was already getting to her.