"It looks amazing! I don't know how I could've done this without you!" Twilight exclaimed happily, "One last check to make sure everything is in place, and then the festivities can begin!"

"What's this thing for?" I asked, looking over a medium sized statue of a crystal standing on a podium.

"The last page of the book mentioned a Crystal Heart as the faire's centrepiece, so I used my magic to cut one out of a crystal block."

"Nice work, Twi. Think we're ready to get this faire up and runnin'." Applejack said.

Soon, the faire was up and running and several ponies were out, trying to enjoy the festivities. I was with Twilight who was still going over the book whilst I was nomming away on some good pie. I then saw Dash flying towards us and covering the crystal statue with the flag, which confused Twilight.

"Why did you-" Twilight asked before getting cut off.

"I think we may have a problem..." Dash replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Dash then quickly explained what she heard from the other ponies about a crystal heart protecting the empire. We gasped and ran straight to the castle to tell Shining and Cadence about it, we were on the castle balcony, overlooking the city.

"I didn't know it was an actual relic! The book didn't mention anything about the Crystal Ponies powering the Heart! There was a page missing...How did I not notice?!" Twilight exclaimed while slightly panicking.

"It's alright, Twilight." Cadence replied before she fainted in Shining's arms and her glowing magic went out.

"Twily..." Shining said and he knew what was about to happen.

We then looked over the horizon to see the huge shield evaporate, revealing the cold blizzard. Then in the distance, we saw the black clouds coming towards us at a fast pace with Sombra's head in the middle, and it began covering the outskirts of the city already.

This was looking grim for all us of involved as we looked on to see the outer parts of the city get covered in the black clouds, before noticing Sombra showing up by the entrance to the city.

"The Empire is under attack." Shining commented.

Cadence then got up after a short while of being exhausted from her magic, she began to use her magic again to bring the shield back up and she timed it perfectly as well, as Sombra was about to make his move before being stopped.

"Nice timing there, Cadence." I complimented

"I have to find the Crystal Heart!" Shining said.

"No, you stay here with Cadence. She needs you, Shining Armour. We'll retrieve the Heart." Twilight said as she and I galloped from the balcony and out of the castle with Rainbow Dash behind us.

"Let's do this!" I replied.

"I've been trying to figure out how we're meant to pass Celestia's test. Retrieving the Crystal Heart must be it. But there is something else you can do, Rainbow." Twilight said.

"Name it." Dash said.

"You and the rest of our friends have to keep the Faire going."

"What? With that thing moving into the Empire?"

"The whole purpose of the Crystal Faire is to lift the spirits of the Crystal Ponies, so they can activate the Crystal Heart."

"Yeah, and?"

"If the Crystal Ponies find out that King Sombra is trying to take over the Empire again, their spirits are gonna be anything but lifted. It won't matter if Bond and I find the Crystal Heart. They won't be able to make it work. You have to keep them happy here at the Faire."

"Keep the Faire going and the Crystal Ponies' spirits high. Done and done!"

"What about Spike?" I asked Twilight.

"He can stay here too, this may be even far too dangerous for him." Twilight replied.

"Bond and Twily, be careful!" Shining said to us from the balcony.

"We will." Twilight replied as we went back inside the castle.

"So where do we go to find this crystal heart?" I asked as we went through several rooms.

"I'm not sure, but I'm trying to remember Celestia's orders." she replied before pausing for a moment, she then gasped, "Of course!"

She then galloped to the throne room and I followed her.

"What is it, have you found it?"

"No, because this isn't King Sombra's castle."

"Well, isn't this where he lived when he was in power?"

"It is. But it didn't look like this. "

Twilight then used her magic which then created a dark aura and zapped it at the crystal on top of the throne chair. The ray from the now dark crystal revealed a secret spiral staircase in the middle of the room.

"Whoa. When did you learn to do that?"

"That was a little trick Celestia taught me."

"Remind me to not get on your bad side."

We then shared a giggle, before making our way down the stairs, but Twilight stopped me.

"You stay here."

"If you insist." I replied as I stood still by the stairs. "Can you see what's down there yet?" I called out.

"Not yet. I can't even tell how far down this goes..."

There was silence for a moment.

"Bond?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you see outside?"

I then trotted over to one of the windows looking over the city, there was Sombra among the dark clouds still outside, but I could see the shield was flickering now.

"It's not good! Cadence's magic must be fading faster than before!"

I then heard nothing from her and there was silence for a long time...I was getting worried about Twilight, so I galloped down the spiralling stairs to find Twilight sitting in front of an opened door with a wall behind it.

"Twilight? Twilight! Twiliiiight!" I yelled as I then bucked the door shut and saw Twilight's came back to her sense.

"Huh, what?"

"I know you told me to stay up there, but you were down here for such a long time and you weren't answering and I got worried so I came down here and you were just staring at that wall and..."

I then noticed Twilight opening the door. "This is King Sombra's dark magic. A doorway that leads to your worst fear."

"How exactly...it's just a wall"

Twilight opened the door and suddenly, my vision changed...I was back in the streets of Fillydelphia in a dark alley and I was being chased by ponies in big cloaks and hats...oh no, it's those gangsters.

"No...get away from me...leave me be!" I yelled as I kept running before I ran into a wall, I was then cornered.

"Goodnight...sleepy...filly..." the gang member in front said in a melody voice before pointing a gun at me.

"Noooooooooooooooo....argh!" I exclaimed as my vision suddenly went back to normal. I looked around to everything was the same and with Twilight standing by me.

"Oh Twilight...it was a nightmare." I said whilst trying not to cry. "It was my worst fear, being shot by the gangsters in Fillydelphia...it was a disturbing fear." I added as I sat down in sadness.

"A fear that will never come to pass..." Twilight assured as she gave me a loving hug and quick peck on the cheek which surprised me, "...we'll always be there for you and we're not gonna fail our test!"

I got up, wiping away my tears and smiling slightly. "Thank you...Twilight..."

We then shared another caring hug, just to be sure I was alright before pulling away. "Now what can we do about this door?"

"Let's use our reform spell together, combining our magic together will get rid of the cursed door."

"Alright, let's get this over with."

We then held hooves and used our magic together on the door...the dark crystal above it shattered to pieces. Twilight then opened the door slightly and she walked in, it looked much different.

"What's in there?" I asked.

"Stairs. Lots and lots of stairs." she sighed, "Maybe you should come with me this time."

"Alright and don't forget, I can help you fly upwards if you need me to."

"Good idea, I'll hop on now...just follow the stairs going upwards."

"You got it."

Twilight then got on my back and held on as I began to fly up the stairs, it took a while but we then reached the top...it was quite windy up here too as I landed down on the ground.

"Woah...I can see my house from here!" I said as Twilight got off me.

"Look, the crystal heart!" she replied, pointing to it that was in the centre.

She then walked towards it, but as she got close, a black circle appeared and an alarm of some sorts went off. I looked out to see that Sombra had noticed and used his magic for something. I looked back quickly to see Twilight about to jump but she got trapped by dark crystals. The heart however escaped and landed beside me.

"The heart, where is the crystal heart?" Twilight asked.

"I've got it, it's on the other side with me...it rolled over to me when it flew out of the centre."

"You can move, just not towards me! How could I have been so foolish? I was just so eager to get it! Then when I saw what was going on outside, I..."

"You have to get out of there, Twilight! You and I have to be the ones who brings the Heart to Princess Cadence! If we don't, we'll fail Celestia's test!"

"Bond...I may not be able to pass my side of the test but you still can achieve your side. King Sombra is already attacking the Empire. He could reach the Crystal Ponies at any moment... reach Princess Cadence, my brother, my friends. There may not be enough time for me to find a way to escape."

I looked down with a sad expression as I saw tiny dark crystals began to show up around the top tower.

"You want me to be the one to brings the Crystal Heart to the Faire alone?" I asked her, just to be sure.

"Yes...GO!" she replied.

I lifted the crystal heart with my magic as I noticed that the shield spell was down again and more of the city was about to be covered in Sombra's darkness. I didn't had much time left...I had to do it for the sake of the crystal ponies. I began to fly up and swoop down the tower.

"HEY EVERYPONY!" I shouted. "I'VE GOT THE CRYSTAL HEART!"

"NOOO...THAT...IS...MINE!" Sombra yelled as he began to make his move from the distance.

I carried on flying downwards when I saw Sombra appear from a crystal hill he seemed to be standing on...to my amazement, the dark mist around him disappeared to reveal true body form.

"Yeeeeeeeeesss...." Sombra said with delight.

Suddenly, one of my wing feathers clicked knocking my flight ability off balance, I was now falling with the crystal heart...it looked like everything was about to end here when I was swooped by a flying pony.

"Ugh...Princess Cadence!" I exclaimed.

"I've got you, Bond...and the Crystal heart"

We then landed by the bottom of the tower where all the other ponies were.

"The Crystal Heart has returned. Use the light and love within you to ensure that King Sombra does not!" Cadence exclaimed as I placed the heart in the centre which was now magically held in place.

Suddenly, everything started to glow into bright lights as the crystal ponies began to glow into crystal versions of themselves, much to Sombra's rage, seeing it happening. Cyan lights began to glow all across the city as the crystal heart began to spin round faster and faster. A huge circle then appeared and increased in size, when it went through me, I looked to see myself in a crystal form...talk about dazzling to the extreme! Every other pony began to dazzle as well as I looked back to see Sombra looking shocked at the event.

"NO...NO...STOP!"

Another huge circle appeared and it was more powerful...Sombra screamed in extreme pain as he was literally blown to pieces, apart from his horn which was kicked right out of Equestria and the black fog was driven back, before being completely wiped out along with the snowing mountains...no more blizzards will be blowing around here at last. One last push of magic was made as very powerful lights brightened across the whole land around the Crystal Empire and beyond.

"AND THE CURSE IS OUTTA HERE!" I shouted which got every pony cheering.

I looked up above to see Twilight free and in her crystal form...she actually looked quite gorgeous...actually nearly all the mares around me were beautiful looking. Perhaps I should come here more often when I have time...oh who am I kidding, I'm just being random again.

Afterwards, Cadence brought Twilight down from the tower and she and I shared a celebration hug. However, Twilight didn't seem to be happy about something, but I assured her that when we tell Celestia all about it, she'll understand.

Sometime later, the seven of us and Spike were walking back to the Station around the city with Shining and Cadence escorting us.

"I do so wish it was permanent. Did you see how my mane just absolutely sparkled?" Rarity said.

"But... good things are better when they're a rarity." Applejack complimented.

"Aww..." Rarity then giggled slightly.

"Everything's gonna be okay. You've gotta stop saving my rump like this. It's starting to get embarrassing." Shining said to Twilight.

"Wasn't me who saved you in the end. It was Bond and he did it alone whereas we should've done it together." Twilight replied sadly.

"It's just a test. Maybe she'll let you retake it."

"I don't think she's gonna give me a new test."

"Cheer up Twilight, once we get back and explain it all to Celestia, she'll be reasonable." I assured.

The six mares, Spike and myself got on board in the train as we waved to Shining and Cadence before they were out of sight. Due to no more blizzards, the journey didn't take as long as before and by the time we got back, it was the beginning of sunset.

We were all at Canterlot, the others and Spike waited whilst Twilight and I were in the throne room with Celestia who had just put up another window glass frame image that showed me inside the crystal heart...but no sign of Twilight on there.

"It's beautiful." Celestia commented.

"I wish it had been both of us who ultimately made it so. But it wasn't." Twilight replied sadly as I had my hoof around her.

"Twilight, as I understand it, Bond brought Princess Cadence the Crystal Heart because you weren't sure how quickly you could find a way to escape the tower. You weren't willing to risk the future of the citizens of the Crystal Empire in an effort to guarantee your own. Far better that I have a student who understands the meaning of self-sacrifice than one who only looks out for her own best interests."

"Does this mean...?"

"Yes...you two have passed...with flying colours."

"Whoohoo!" I exclaimed as Twilight and I did a bro/sis hoof.

"Now go on, you deserve to celebrate with your closest friends. I will meet you all again very soon."

"We will Princess, come on Twilight."

Twilight and I trotted out of the throne room and out of the castle and saw the others by the stairs.

"Hey there all." I said to the others as they looked worried.

"We passed!" Twilight and I said together.

The others ponies cheered and soon, music began to play, time for yet another musical number as Rarity began to sing.

"You were prepared to do your best

Had what it takes to pass the test

All those doubts you can dismiss

Turns out you were"

The other ponies then joined in.

"Prepared for this!

You clearly have just what it takes

To pass a test with such high stakes"

"We knew for sure you would prevail

Since when does Twilight Sparkle ever fail?"

"All those doubts that you can dismiss

Trust yourself and you cannot miss"

Turns out you were

Turns out I was

Turns out you were

Turns out I was

Turns out you were

Prepared for this!"

The music number ended by then as we shared a group hug.

"Yeah, I knew everything was going to be fine." Spike sighed before fainting on Twilight's back.

"Well, he has been through a lot today...so what do you say, girls...it's time to go home." I said.

They all nodded as by sunset, we got on a train back to Ponyville and we arrived back just in time to see the beginning of the night. We then exchanged our farewells and called it a night before I walked off back to my home. When I got in, I sighed with a smile, knowing that had been a long day of one big event. I got undressed and headed off to bed as I looked back to what happened today.

Who would've thought that there was a Crystal Empire? Well it seems to now be the home of Cadence and Shining who I'm sure will be amazing rulers over there and there is nothing to fear with that Sombra gone. But I did wonder though...how did Sombra know about my worst fear and where did the remains of his horn fly off to?

But I am happy that Twilight and me have developed a very close bond of friendship and care and we're gonna keep it by sharing a big smile before falling away to sleep and waiting for dreamland...maybe if Luna had heard the news yet...okay that's it, no more talking in my head until tomorrow. Next Chapter: Too Many Pinkie Pies Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 50 Minutes