章 120: Chapter 120: The Crystal Empire 2
Stepping out of a train into a hastily built station in the middle of the frozen tundra, Twilight Sparkle was quickly buffeted by cold and howling winds. Her leg raised over her face to protect it from the biting cold.
Her friends followed after her, shivering as the warm interior of the train was quickly replaced by the freezing northern wind.
"Ha! And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves!" Rarity laughed as she exited the train, a soft scarf wrapped around her neck, keeping her warm.
"I didn't say a word~" Spike the Dragon said as he followed after Rarity, carrying a small mountain of luggage on his back, only to slip on a pile of snow and drop the bags on the floor.
"There you are!" A Pegasus wearing a white and blue vest yelled over the snow as he pointed at the train, causing a bunch of Earth Ponies to rush out of it, all wearing the same uniform, carrying large bags on their backs as they followed the Pegasus before running into the snow, following a path marked by poles impaled into the frozen ground.
Twilight's eyes followed the ponies running into the snow before she spotted a pony making his way toward them along the same path, one she recognized.
"Twilight!" The pony called out to her as he spotted her in turn, the Unicorn in question running into the snow to meet up with the pony.
"Shining Armor!" Twilight smiled as she hugged her BBBFF, who took the snow goggled off his face in order to look into his younger sister's eyes.
"We better get moving, there are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark," He told her and her friends as he let go of the hug, "We'll catch you all up later, we need to move."
"What kind of things?" Fluttershy gulped in fear before asking.
"Let's just say the Empire isn't the only thing that's returned." Shining Armor told them.
"King Sombra..." Twilight's mind thought back to the illusion Princess Celestia showed her.
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As the group walked through the freezing tundra, the harsh winds whipping at their faces, Shining Armor spoke up to quickly catch them up on what was happening.
"Something keeps trying to get in!" Shining yelled at the group behind him, the frozen winds making his loud yell sound like a normal sentence, "We think it's the Unicorn King who originally cursed the place!"
"But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the Empire!" Twilight told her brother, "If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected!"
As Twilight finished her sentence, a deep howl sounded out from afar, slowly growing louder, causing the snow falling from the sky to quake in the air as if the very winds were telling it to show respect.
"It's one of the things, isn't it?!" Fluttershy squeaked in terror as the deep howl grew in intensity, the air itself seemed to be shaking as if furious that trespassers were standing in its territory.
"We need to get to the Crystal Empire!" Shining Armor yelled to the group to hurry up as a cloud of black mist visibly crawled over a distant hill, rapidly making its way toward the group, "NOW!!!"
The Urgency in Shining Armor's voice spurred the group into a run, the wind still buffeting them, stabbing at their skin like frozen needles, the air around them still shaking in fury as if it was alive, the cloud of dark mist and shadows quickly getting closer and closer, closing in on the ponies like a leopard getting ready to pounce.
The group ran, their faces burning from the biting cold, their legs shivering from the freezing snow, "Go Go!" Twilight yelled at her friends, picking Spike up in her magic to carry him on her back, his short legs making him the slowest of the group.
"Almost there!" Shining Armor yelled as he spotted the Crystal Empire in the distance, a large bubble of blue magic acting as the barrier to keep it safe.
He saw the group of Ponies that left the train earlier already making their way into the barrier, at the speed they were running, it would only take perhaps a minute or two to reach the Empire.
But as he looked behind him, Shining Armor noted that while it would take them two minutes to reach the Empire, it would take less than a minute for the mist to capture them.
Without waiting, Shining Armor spun around and shot a beam of pink magic at the cloud of dark smoke. It harmlessly passed through it, its gaseous body shifting and morphing around as a pair of green and purple eyes emerged from the darkness, the cloud rising high above the Pony as if to assert its dominance.
The air quaked, the wind shrieked, and the darkness encroached on Shining Armor, but he succeeded. He managed to buy enough time for the rest of the group to reach the Empire.
"Take this!" He yelled as another beam left his horn before he turned around and ran away, his legs screaming at him to stop running and take a break, his lungs clawing at the inside of his chest as they cried for more oxygen, and his fur stood on end as if warning him to show respect to the cloud of darkness, to the Shadow of the Empire.
Shining Armor ignored them all, he ignored the darkness slithering after him, the crystals that burst from the ground in an attempt to cage him from escape, he ignored them all.
And just as he was about to reach the barrier, to the safety of his wife's love, he was caught.
Just a small touch, less than a graze, but that was enough for the Cursed King.
"Aghh!" Shining Armor yelled as he stumbled mid-leap, dark crystals latching onto his horn just before he escaped into the barrier, landing on the warm grass underneath.
"Oh no, Shining Armor!" Twilight Sparkle said as she pulled her brother up, "Your horn..."
Shining Armor looked at the small crystals latched onto his horn, he tried to cast a spell, the base of his horn glowing with pink magic before it fizzled out, unable to reach the tip of his horn as the dark crystals blocked the magic's path.
"I'll be fine," Shining Armor smiled weakly in an attempt to clear his sister's worries, "We need to update Cadance."
"Right!" Twilight nodded confidently, turning to speak with her friends, only to stop at the sight in front of her.
It was just like the illusion Celestia showed her, houses carved into crystals growing out of the ground, patterned like a snowflake around a towering castle in the center.
"The Crystal Empire..." She whispered in awe at the sight.
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"Oh, This place is Gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!" Rarity said as the group made its way down the streets of the Crystal Empire towards the castle in its center.
"It is really pretty..." Fluttershy added with a nod as she agreed with her friend.
"There are just... No words!" Rarity yelled in awe, her eyes sparkling with inspiration and excitement at all the crystals around her.
"Focus, Rarity." Applejack tapped Rarity's shoulder to get her attention, "We're here to help Twilight, not admire the scenery."
"Eh~ I don't see what the big deal is," Rainbow Dash piped up as she walked past, "Just seems like another old castle to me~"
"Wha- Er- Ah- Another old castle?!" Rarity spluttered as if offended at the idea that the towering crystal castle she stood under was just another old castle, "Have you lost your mind?!" She grabbed Rainbow Dash's attention, "This place is-"
"Hehehehe~" Rainbow Dash chuckled at Rarity's reaction, joined by Applejack, the two ponies giving each other a high hoof as Rarity understood what was going on.
"...Very funny," Rarity said blandly as the group entered one of the legs of the towering castle, walking up a flight of stairs on their way to the throne room.
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"Cadance!" Twilight Sparkle yelled out as she entered the throne room, spotting her old foal-sitter sitting on a giant crystal throne.
"Twilight!" Cadance smiled as she stood up from her throne, her horn glowing with blue magic as she walked over to meet with the Unicorn.
"Sunshine Sunshine, Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves, and do a little shake!" The two ponies sang and danced, giggling at their childish greeting, only for Cadance's eyes to close for a brief moment, her face scrunching in discomfort, the barrier of magic around the Empire fizzling in and out of existence for a short moment before stabilizing.
"One of these days we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance," Cadance said with a tired smile as the magic of the barrier stabilized, her eyes drooping tiredly, deep dark circles forming beneath her eyes as she let out a tired sigh, her eyes closing for but a moment before suddenly bursting open, as if trying to keep awake.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked with worry as Cadance slowly dragged her hooves back to her throne.
"Cadance has been able to spread a barrier of love and light, That's why we were able to pass while Sombra and the cold are still trapped outside. But her skill in barriers isn't the same as mine, she needs to stay awake to keep it up," Shining Armor told her as he looked out of a window at the bright blue bubble that surrounded the Empire, "She hasn't slept in days, The other group is working tirelessly to keep her awake while finding a solution to this all, but outside of feeding her mountains of food and drinks, they haven't found anything." Shining Armor shook his head, "I want to help her, but my protection spell is useless against King Sombra, His body is mist, If I try to keep him out I might choke everypony inside on accident, not that I can even attempt that now with these on my head," He lifted his hoof to scratch at the crystals latching onto his horn.
"It's alright Shining Armor, I'm fine," Cadance said weakly from her throne, her elbow resting on a pillow as her hoof held her chin, keeping her head aloft as her horn kept glowing.
"She's not fine," Shining Armor disagreed, "She needs to sleep sometime soon, but if she does the barrier will disappear, And you all saw what's waiting for us outside,"
"That's why we're here," Twilight reassured her brother.
"Why we're all here," Applejack said as the rest of the Elements of Harmony nodded along.
"Well, With Cadance using all of her strength to stay awake, and me keeping a look for danger out in the Arctic, none of us had the time to question the Crystal Ponies on what they know." Shining Armor told them, "But one of them has to know a solution to protect the Crystal Empire without relying to Cadance's magic."
"Wait- wait wait wait!" Rarity blurted as she raised her leg up as if trying to get a teacher's attention, "Earlier you said there was another group trying to find ways to keep Cadance awake, and I thought I recognized the vests those ponies from earlier wore- Are you telling me that-"
"Bluey and his team have been searching for solutions for a while now, They've built some tents on the eastern side of the city, you can't miss them~" Cadance smiled weakly from her throne before letting out a yawn.
"PRINCE BLUEBLOOD IS HERE?!" Rarity screamed, her eyes widening in panic at the lack of fashionable accessories and clothing she currently had on her.
"If any of you want an update on what his team already knows, you should go ask them," Shining Armor said, "They haven't exactly been subtle, as Cadance said, You can't miss them."
"Ah! A research paper!" Twilight suddenly spoke up.
"Huh?" Shining Armor tilted his head in confusion.
"That must be part of my test! To gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you! Then we'll be able to find a way to keep the Empire safe and I'll pass Celestia's test! This is gonna be great! I love research papers!" Twilight smiled with confidence as she seemingly figured out what her test was.
"Are we splitting up? Oh, I'll go check with Prince Blueblood!" Rarity said with a sing-song voice as she turned around and walked away, The other girls spoke up on which directions they'd go as they all left to figure out a solution to the barrier problem.
"Don't worry Big Brother, I am really good at this sort of thing." Twilight tapped her brother on the chance as she and Spike walked out as well, ready to complete the Princess's test.
"...There's a test?" Cadance asked after the Elements of Harmony already left, receiving a shrug of the shoulders from her husband, who seemed to be as confused as she was.
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