Shining galloped between a set of bookshelves, with Zecora, Spike, and the Fantasians on his heels. In their sights, a pink-purple-yellow blur rounded a bend, and they did likewise. "Cadence, I need to talk to you!" Shining cried out, hoping that his utterance could stop the blur. The rapidly moving form halted with a startled shriek and slowed down with legs flailing as it tried to stop itself from crashing into a bookshelf, revealing a pink alicorn mare with wide eyes that turned to the Captain.

"Shiny!" Cadence exclaimed as her hooves managed to touch two shelves and halt her in her tracks, though her wings still flapped madly to keep her aloft. She detached herself from the bookshelf and flew down to meet up with the group, and as soon as she did she noticed the presence of the visitors Shining brought with him. "Um…"

"I promised to take them here. Twily found something in her library—Starswirl supposedly made a spell that she learned and went to Fantasia and wrote a book about it," Shining said in a single breath. "And then I came here and saw the Crystal Heart acting strange—"

"The mana changes color when it shouldn't? Yeah, it's happened ever since I came back to the Empire after that disastrous parliamentary meeting," Cadence cut him off, frowning. "I've been flying up and down this floor over and over again, and the librarian here said there was something about the Crystal Heart in these shelves." A few seconds passed and she murmured, "Did… you say something about Starswirl?"

Shining nodded, and opened his mouth to speak again, only to close it when Matt beat him to it, "And we'd like to find out more about this Starswirl pony."

Cadence nodded and sighed, her wings ruffling as she noticed the purplish-blue blemish that encompassed Shining's eye. "Um, darling, what happened?" she asked, her tone taking on a worried note.

"A mare punched me on the train last night, so I did the only thing I could: take her with me to the Empire, find the nearest guard, and have him take her to the dungeons on assault charges," Shining replied, taking a moment to shoot a brief glance at Sarah. The hippogryph donned an uneasy smile and trembled for a moment before he turned back to the alicorn and added, "And if I hadn't done anything, at least one of the Fantasians gladly would've."

"So, you took the brunt of an attack… to keep our guests from going out of line?" Cadence asked, a brow quirking up. When Shining nodded, she sighed and sent him a soft smile.

"And one of the other Fantasians kept the one who got angry from going off her handle," Shining stated, turning to shoot a brief glance at Fenrir.

"I merely ensured that things would not needlessly escalate," Fenrir chirped with a grin on his face. Shining chuckled and turned back to Cadence.

"Well, they do seem to be reasonably in check. Though at the very least, next time you do something like taking another black eye, please send me a letter detailing the how and why," Cadence sighed, her wings twitching for a moment before stilling when Shining nodded again.

"I might not necessarily make the letter on the same day, though," Shining chirped. "Things might escalate beyond my control, leaving little time to even write out the first two words."

"Still, at least try. You know how much I worry when you're on the line of duty," Cadence sighed, taking a moment to wrap her forelegs around Shining's neck and kiss him on the lips.

They broke their loving embrace with startled cries and beet-red faces seconds later, when Maria decided to pipe up, "Do you two play under each other's tails?"

Shining turned to the filly, and made to say something in an attempt to defend himself when Anna rose a hoof with a sigh. "I'll talk to her about that later tonight," she said in a miffed tone, shooting Maria a narrow-eyed look of disapproval. The filly met her gaze and shuddered with a small whimper, before Anna broke eye contact to look at Cadence. "She doesn't know any better. Did the exact same thing to my sister yesterday," she added.

Sarah crossed her forelimbs together and grumbled under her breath, "You started it…"

Cadence nervously chuckled, eyelids slanting as she laughed. "I-I see," she murmured with a shaky nod of her head. She took a deep breath and her face hardened. "Shining, I think we should get Amethyst Maresbury over here."

Shining nodded, his face also hardening. "Sounds like a plan," he agreed.

"Who's Amethyst Maresbury?" Anna asked, garnering looks from the Captain and the alicorn.

"The librarian who manages this crystalline behemoth of a book collection," Shining answered, his visage easing up and a smile cropping on his muzzle.

Lance took a cursory look around him before turning to the Captain and stating in a very blunt tone, "I don't know how the hell this Amethyst pony can even manage this. If they're a unicorn or pegasus, fine, I can understand that."

"Amethyst is an earth pony," Cadence stated, donning a nervous grin once more. Her remark only caused Lance to sit on his haunches, bring his front hooves to his head, and groan in annoyance. He stopped making noise when she added, "And there are a lot of volunteer crystal ponies who help her out."

"So, um… should we let her get the books, or what?" Natalie piped up, her inquiry causing Cadence and Shining to exchange glances again.

Cadence sighed and turned to look at Natalie before answering, "I've spent the last few hours trying to find books on the Crystal Heart. Maybe we should see Amethyst and have her and her volunteers look, since I have yet to find anything."

"Oh, Cady, I've been meaning to ask you something," Shining interjected, once more garnering a look from Cadence.

"Hrrrmyes?" Cadence half-hummed, a brow quirked.

Shining's shoulders slumped a bit as he murmured, "Have you seen any wraiths around here? I've ran into two that… er, needed to be sent on their way before I came here."

Cadence shook her head. "No, but I did ask the citizens to let me know if anything was off," she replied.

Shining's shoulders slumped further, and his head dropped. "I see," he mumbled under his breath before straightening his posture and looking Cadence square in the eye. A smile splayed his lips as he added, "I see you were three trots ahead of me."

Cadence smiled back, and giggled. "That I am," she chirped. The two shared another kiss, this one swift and chaste, and turned to Maria once they broke it. The filly opened her mouth to comment, but Anna came over and tapped at her withers with a hoof, causing Maria to shut her mouth and stiffen. The alicorn turned back to the Captain and leaned towards him to whisper in his ear, "Um, how do they discipline the foal, exactly?"

"They just talk to her firmly," Shining whispered back with a shrug. "At least, that's what Sergeant Riverwater told me back in Canterlot." He turned to his guests, all of whom looked at him and Cadence expectedly, and he blinked before uttering, "Well…"

"Emperor Armor!" a masculine voice called from above, accompanied by the faint sound of galloping hooves. Shining quirked a brow as the sound came closer for one moment before softening the next.

"Down here," Shining called back, looking up at the crystal overhang and spotting a very soft shadow overhead. "I'm under you." His ears twitched as the galloping hooves faded for a second, before a unicorn guardspony with a yellow coat tumbled down the stairs he barely saw at the end of a long row. The guard got up to his hooves, shook his head, and looked around dazedly before Shining called out once more, "Take a right, and keep going."

The guard obeyed, breaking out into a full gallop. He crossed the distance in minutes, but skid and lowered his head when he saw too late that the Fantasians obstructed him. He felt his horn touch hair, then spread something fleshy ever so slightly—before an alarmed screech hit his ears full force and everyone backpedaled from the source in response.

He felt the object release his horn as whatever it had been attached to jumped into the air, and he looked up to find Natalie held aloft by her own magic, her face beet-red and her front hooves clutching a spot between her rear legs. He also noticed that her eyes were wide and her mane and tail stood straight on end, making her look a little like a frightened cat.

"I felt something poke me in the hooch!" Natalie wailed, her voice several octaves higher than it normally was, while her magic still had her suspended in the air.

Shining rose a hoof and let it connect with his face. "What's your name and rank, soldier?" he groaned.

The guard shivered for a moment, noticing Matt trotting towards him for a few seconds—before another screech hit everyone's ears and caused him to abruptly halt. Seconds after that, Natalie came crashing on top of the half-Clydesdale, sending both of them sprawling to the floor.

"Give me your name and rank, soldier," Shining hissed, his hoof inching its way down the bridge of his muzzle.

"U-uh… Private Z-Zircon, sir," the guard replied in a shaky voice, his eyes widening when Shining opened his mouth again.

"Private Zircon, please for the love of all things holy, watch where that horn of yours goes!" Shining growled, lifting his hoof for a moment before sending it to the floor hard enough the resulting stomp briefly echoed. "I'm afraid I'll have to put you on another course of disciplinary action because you just sexually assaulted one of our Fantasian guests!"

Zircon's legs shook as Matt slowly hauled himself to his hooves, using magic to carefully lift Natalie up to rest her on his backside. He turned to look at the mare, who mumbled about horns and places horns shouldn't really go, her face still beet-red and her eyes still wide as saucers.

Then Maria spoke up again, her remark making the color drain from Zircon's face, "Are unicorn horns up the special place bad?"

~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~

The group stood with the Crystal Heart in eyesight, though Shining Armor wasn't present with them. The only one who didn't stand was Natalie, who opted to sit on a cushion with an ice pack on top of said cushion. Matt gave her worried looks every couple of minutes, but she returned the expressions with faltering smiles that didn't convince him that she was alright.

The Heart continued to twirl slowly, changing colors as it did since the bunch first arrived. Red, yellow, teal. Red, yellow, teal. After a few cycles, however, Alexander cawed when the Heart changed to a very bright green instead of teal. He rose a talon and scratched his temples with it as, once more, the cycle began anew—with green encompassing the Heart before the teal did.

"That's very odd," Spike noted, rubbing his chin with a claw as he gave the Heart a vexed look.

"It's strange," Cadence agreed with a nod. She turned to Lance and sighed when she noticed his gaze was fixed in the Heart's direction.

"Do you know anything about what could've made it start changing colors?" Anna asked, shooting a worried frown at the alicorn.

Again, Cadence shook her head. "I haven't the slightest clue. I only became Empress of the Crystal Empire a year and a half ago," she replied.

"That's plenty of time to have learned about the damned thing," Lance scoffed, eyes averting to Cadence as he spoke.

"The Heart's ancient—thousands of years old. You're implying that I needed to cram any extensive studies on it into a single night, which even I couldn't physically do when I have had an Empire to lead on top of that," Cadence retorted, frowning. "And that library is ginormous! You may as well have asked me to find books on Fantasia while I was at it!"

Lance flinched before his shoulders slumped, and he returned to staring at the Crystal Heart. "Touché," he replied tersely.

"Are you okay?" Maria asked, rearing up on her hooves while raising her talons. She gripped Natalie's front leg with her claws and garnered nothing more than a nod and a faltering grin.

"Just let her be for now," Sarah sighed, trotting over to the filly before using her claws to pull her away from Natalie. "She's probably getting over the whole horn-up-hooch thing still."

Natalie let off an uneven, mirthless laugh that had Matt looking at her as if she was starting to lose her mind. He put a hoof on her withers and patted her gently as she continued to chuckle strangely, but before long she fell silent again. "Natz…?" he ventured, and once more received the unnerving grin she gave Maria.

"I-I'm f-fine," she stuttered, pupils dilating and legs trembling as she spoke.

"You don't look fine to me, and I'm the pinnacle of everything that's not okay," Katie scoffed, flinching as the gaze accompanied by the crazed smirk turned in her direction.

"I-I'm fine," Natalie repeated, her voice a little more steady but still unnerving.

"Natz, you're far from okay," Matt chided from behind her. He turned to Cadence and asked, "Since it's gonna be a while, can we go ahead and spend the rest of the day in a few guest rooms?"

Cadence turned to him and nodded. "Sure thing. She looks a little… ah, out of it at the moment," she replied. She turned to one of the legs of the palace structure and trotted over to it at a brisk pace, with her guests following her every move.

"Should I make an herbal remedy for her pain? She's trying to convince us she's alright, but it's in vain," Zecora stated, eyes averting between Natalie and Cadence when the latter turned to look at her.

"No, since… you'd probably have to stick your hoof up there, and…" Cadence paused to sigh and gather her thoughts before finishing her comment, "It wouldn't be a great idea."

The alicorn and zebra both turned to Matt as he piped up, "Don't worry, I know how to get her to relax."

Cadence quirked a brow. "How are you going to do that?" she asked, her tone laced with disbelief.

Matt sighed and frowned. "It's… uh…" he started, but a look from the seemingly-crazed Natalie silenced him faster than anybody present could speak up.

"A private matter?" Cadence asked, her brow raising higher. Matt mutely nodded with a nervous grin plastered on his white muzzle, and she sighed. "Alright… I guess I could lead you to the guest rooms now," she murmured, wings ruffling for a moment as she turned back to the stairs and trotted up them instead of down.

The group followed, falling into a single-file line and trotting slowly as they cantered up the flight. Upon reaching the end of said flight, which gave way to a hallway with a round bend that was marked with crystal pillars galore, a few guards who were already present saluted Cadence with either hooves or wings and stood aside to let her and her guests pass.

One guard, however, used a wing to stop Natalie in her tracks. "Miss, are you well?" he asked in a flat tone, frowning when she merely shook her head and giggled unnervingly. He retracted his wing and let her go on her merry way, seeing her tail shift and swish lowly between her rear legs as she trotted on. As soon as Cadence, Spike, Zecora, and the Fantasians were out of sight, he turned to one of his fellow guardsponies. "What was it that made her… don that look?" he asked, garnering a series of shrugs and flat looks as responses.

"Haven't the foggiest," an earth pony guard replied. "I did hear that Private Zircon got in trouble again, though." At this, some of the other guards snickered like fillies, before ceasing their laughter and assuming stoic looks as they set to moving from their posts to follow the group. They trotted around the bend, noticing a doorway at the end that stood ajar, and they hastened their pace to get to it. Cantering into the next hall, they caught a brief glimpse of their quarry as they turned down another corner, and doubled their efforts to catch up.

Fenrir looked over his shoulder, and noticed the guards dogging his and the others' steps. "What has brought you to follow our movements like a line of lost ducklings?" he asked, a brow quirking. His inquiry caused the groups to abruptly halt, with his fellow Fantasians turning around to see what the hell the inquiry was about.

The guards shifted in place, though their stoic expressions still held firm. One spoke up, his wings briefly shuddering as he spoke, "We wanted to ensure that you and the Empress were alright." The other guards nodded once at his remark, with none of them so much as blinking or letting their ears twitch during the unified movement.

Fenrir raised a brow. "Is that all?" he asked tersely. He approached the guards and knelt before them so he could be at eye-level with them, leaning in a little close to the nearest one before adding, "Or is there… something more to your little bout of tottering after us?" His inquiry caused the guards to shift and move a little closer together, and at this his lips curled up into a grin.

"Alright everypony, play nice," Cadence piped up, her voice accompanied by the sound of beating wings. Fenrir's smirk fell and he looked up, finding the Empress hovering over both him and the guards, looking down at them with a straight face. She descended and touched down at Fenrir's side, noticing that the diamond dog kept himself in a kneeling stance. The alicorn sighed and turned to the guards before asking, "Why are you not at your posts?"

"We… erm, wanted to check on… u-uh, the unicorn with the crazed look on her face," a guard stammered out. "W-we think sh-she might try something…"

Cadence held up a hoof, signaling for the guard to hush. "It's alright," she said in a firm voice. "One of her companions said he could and will calm her down—how, I don't exactly know. But she should be well, after I escort them to their guest rooms."

Another guard fidgeted in place. "Um, Your Highness, are you certain of this?" he asked, eyelids slanting as worry flickered in his eyes.

Cadence nodded. "Yes, I am very certain," she replied in a softer tone. "Though, if you're that concerned about the matter, maybe I could have your posts moved to outside the rooms. But only if it's alright with them."

"I'm all for it, after what happened in Canterlot," Katie piped up from behind, her utterance causing the guards to turn away from their Empress. Murmurs from the other Fantasians erupted as soon as she said those words, mostly coming from the general and his advisors, and they ran rampant for a good two minutes before stopping as Cadence cleared her throat.

"Oh, and… one more thing," Cadence began, pausing until she was certain the guards looked at her and nopony else. "Make sure that Private Zircon doesn't trot anywhere near them. I don't want another one of his accidents happening again."

"Are you saying his horn going under Natalie's tail wasn't the first time?" Matt noted, garnering Cadence's attention.

The Empress turned around and glumly nodded. "One time, it went under Shining's tail," she replied with a frown. "He wasn't a happy camper after that."

Matt went wide-eyed, the image of Zircon's horn going up his Emperor's rear end forming and staying in his mind. He could only imagine the reaction the sorry bastard must've had in that moment before he shook his head to rid himself of the thought. "Um… ouch," he murmured.

"Well, let's head on to the guest rooms. They shouldn't be much further in the castle," Cadence sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head.

~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~

Matt and Natalie occupied a large room all to themselves, and it had a singular large bed whose frame was forged of crystal and loaded with a cloud-like mattress and fluffy pillows. Over at a wall a dresser and a table and chair stood to one side, and opposite of that was a window with no glass pane set into the frame. Natalie was laying on the bed, eyes closed and a blissful expression on her face as hooves carefully kneaded onto her back. "You okay?" Matt asked her.

"Mhm," Natalie hummed, taking a moment to sigh contently. "Nothing like a good back rub to relieve some stress." She tensed when she felt a hoof push a little too hard on her spine, "Gah! E-easy there…"

Matt lifted a hoof and moved it to her withers. "Sorry. Just wanted to punch that Zircon stallion, and… got a little carried away," he murmured.

"May as well get in line. I'm wanting to kick him in the face," Natalie replied with a giggle. She felt the hooves come off of her back, before a big and fuzzy body laid on the bed next to her. "My turn?" she asked, cracking her eyes open.

"Yep," Matt chirped in response. He watched as Natalie rose to sit up and grinned as she lifted her front hooves onto his back. He patted at the mattress and pillows with a hoof and remarked, "Damn, this bed's comfy enough I could fall asleep right now."

"The bed is great and all, but don't go to sleep on me yet. Where to?" Natalie asked, prodding at his back with a hoof.

Matt chuckled and shrugged. "Don't have a particular preference at the moment," he answered. He relaxed as hooves glided across his back, prodding and rubbing and working away any kinks that may have been present. "Maybe Zircon did an accident, but if he managed to stick his horn up Shining's ass…"

"You think that may have been intentional?" Natalie questioned, her hooves going up to Matt's withers.

"Yeah. Up your hooch, that may have been purely accidental," Matt replied. "But there is no way I can see it as an accident if it went up his Emperor's butt."

"Hrm… it does seem odd," Natalie noted with a sigh, her hooves trailing lower again. "Maybe he did it to see if he could get away with it."

"Maybe, maybe not," Matt mumbled with another shrug. "Eh, no use dwelling on something I know next to nothing about."

"True enough, I suppose," Natalie agreed with a thoughtful nod of her head. "You think the huge library has something about Starswirl?"

"It's so huge I think there's several books about that pony," Matt stated, waving a hoof dismissively. "I'd be surprised if there isn't at least six books with him as the central topic." He relaxed and took a deep breath, closing his eyes and looking as if about ready to doze off, only to twitch when Natalie halted abruptly. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, I was wondering if you were good now," Natalie replied with a giggle. Matt simply nodded, and sighed when she retracted her hooves and flopped next to him. Her ears twitched when she heard a loud pop accompanied by a fizzle. When the fizzle faded and a meow hit her ears, she sat up before glancing around the room and noticing NoLegs on the table, looking at her with another meow coming out of his mouth. The cat leapt off of the table and made his way to the bed, prior to levitating himself and landing next to Matt.

Speaking of, the stallion turned to the cat with a brow quirked. "What is it?" he asked, eyes snapping open when the cat prodded at his muzzle with his tail. NoLegs meowed again and jumped off the bed, scampering over to the window and using his only limb to gesture for the unicorns to follow him. The two hopped out of bed and trotted over as the cat jumped upon the open sill, and peered out to find a crowd of far-off specks gathering before the palace. "The hell? Are those crystal ponies?"

"I dunno Matt. Maybe they're moving crystal statues?" Natalie guessed, doing her best to examine the street below while simultaneously trying to keep herself from accidentally knocking NoLegs off of the sill. The cat meowed once more, using his tail to gesture to the bottom of the window. The unicorns peered below, noticing some kind of bizarre stage set up, and they couldn't determine much else as it was purest white and had flecks of color that they assumed were ponies on and around it. From the stage, they heard a distant and somewhat-familiar voice call out.

"I present unto you, the most recent addition to the Crystal Empire!" a stallion bellowed out from below, and instantly a myriad of voices cheered and cooed and clapped before falling silent. Matt and Natalie's eyes widened when the streets began glowing, a bright teal appearing in spots at first before seemingly enveloping the roads with what they could only assume was pure, concentrated mana. Then, once every single street shimmered with teal power, the glow fled the streets faster than it had filled them.

A full minute of silence passed, and the unicorns and cat still looking down from the window exchanged vexed, wide-eyed looks with each other. Natalie and Matt made several attempts to speak, but words died in their throats as they struggled to comprehend what the hell just happened below. Not even NoLegs could break the befuddling tranquility that set in, as his meows likewise stayed lodged in his throat and refused to leave.

A wave of teal mana shot out, and the three turned back to the window as it rose up and up, encompassing what they could see of the Empire. Before they could protest, it went into their room through the window and hit them face-first, and they closed their eyes as if expecting pain—but the mana hit them in a way that was inexplicably painless. It merely touched them and left as fast as it had come, as it were. Cracking an eye open, Matt saw that Natalie and NoLegs were relatively unharmed.

And the two sparkled like they were living crystal, but other than that nothing had changed, really. His eyes snapped fully open and he gaped at the anomaly. "Y-y-you…" he managed to croak out, only to stop speaking as his jaw locked up in an embarrassing manner that made him appear like a fish gasping for water.

Natalie's eyes opened, and she looked around before finding Matt just staring at her with his jaw dropped open. "Uh… you're… your coat and mane… your everything is gleaming like a polished rock!" she exclaimed, her remark causing the stallion to lift one of his hooves for inspection. By Godcat, she was right—the hoof gleamed as much as the mare and cat he stared at.

"I... uh…" was all Matt could manage before the door to their room burst open. Once it hit the wall and stilled, Lance galloped inside, and like Matt and Natalie and NoLegs, he was also shimmering—down to the uniform. Immediately, the general sat on his haunches before doubling over. He burst out laughing at the looks on the faces of the unicorns and cat, as if they fell for an extraordinarily elaborate prank.

When he had managed to calm down, he wiped his eye with a hoof before setting it down with a rather dopey grin spreading on his face. "Don't worry, it'll wear off in a few days," he stated with a snicker escaping his lips once he finished speaking.

"You mean… our...?" Natalie couldn't finish the question, her mind refusing to process what was going on.

"Yeah, our now-sparkling coats. A nearby guard told me that this happens every time the Crystal Heart gets a little more power or something. The wave of mana hits the entire Empire, and since we're in the Empire, we got blasted too," Lance replied with a nod. Still grinning, he added, "You should've seen the look on Anna's face, by the way. Her eyes look like they expanded to the size of saucers."

Natalie sighed in resignation, her ears twitching when a scritch-scratching noise acting in tandem with the clip-clop of hooves echoed into the room. A minute later, Sarah came in, her body also glimmering like a cut and polished gemstone. "This is… a first," she murmured, using a claw to gesture to herself as she spoke.

NoLegs meowed and hopped from the window before wading over to Lance, tilting his head as he approached. "I'm impressed even you are gleaming," Matt sighed, gesturing to the cat as Lance rose a hoof to pet him.

"Spike and Zecora are also gleaming," Lance sighed, setting his hoof down once he finished petting the cat. As if on cue, hooves hitting crystal echoed into the room again, followed up by the zebra entering unannounced with the small drake on her back. The former had a vexed look on her face, while the latter just grinned and waved casually.

"I feel a swell of happiness that wasn't in me before. And now I am gleaming like that door," Zecora remarked, turning to the door of the room as she spoke.

"Eh, it happens," Spike stated matter-of-factly, waving a claw dismissively.

"The swell of happiness part, or the I'm-now-glittering part?" Sarah asked, looking at Spike with a brow raising up.

"Both," Spike replied, turning to the hippogryph with the cheeky grin still lingering on his visage, not noticing that NoLegs, Matt, and Natalie turned to him with vexed looks. "But it's just around here, anyway," he added, using the same claw he waved to gesture around the room.

Fenrir bustled in, likewise sparkling from head to paw. "Does anyone else happen to feel over-groomed at the moment?" he asked, his inquiry garnering nothing more than a series of perplexed looks.

"I don't feel over-groomed. I don't know what you're harping on about," Sarah replied after a few seconds had passed, with nothing more than a shrug of her shoulders and a shake of her head accompanying her statement.

Katie rushed into the room, and while she was still illusion-disguised, she too was gleaming. "I'm sparkling! I am freaking sparkling!" she cried, faux eyes wide with confusion.

"And so are the rest of us," Matt pointed out in a huff, watching as Anna, Alexander, Armin, and Maria ran into the room. "Join the club."

"Can I stay sparkly? Pretty please?" Maria asked, eyes wide with hope. Her inquiry immediately garnered the attention of everyone else in the room.

"Eh, I guess you can. Nothing's stopping you from being sparkly," Armin stated with a shrug.

"As long as you stay in the Empire's borders, yeah. Besides, we have to stay put for a few days, anyway," Spike replied, again waving his claw.

"You sound like you've become walking crystal before," Anna noted, turning to the drake with a frown set into her muzzle.

"And you told me you saved this Empire before. Is there a correlation of some sort?" Lance added, raising a hoof to rub his chin with it.

"Yep. In fact, one actually lead to the other," Spike answered, grinning once more. Before anyone else could speak, he added in a casual tone, "I just retrieved the Crystal Heart and helped Cadence put it back where it was supposed to be, and the crystal ponies powered it with love and mana, and bam! Everypony sparkled, including me!" At this point, the others in the room looked at him slack-jawed, though Zecora had to crane her neck to look at him.

Natalie and Matt exchanged looks again. "I'm starting to think there's something under those scales that we underestimated," Natalie remarked, earning a mute nod from Matt. As soon as she finished speaking, Spike's cheeks bulged and he coughed out some green flames, though he made sure to direct them in a way that they couldn't scorch anybody present. The flames turned to smoke, which then turned into a scroll with a red ribbon that fell and bounced on the floor.

Anna scooped up the scroll with her magic and opened it, unravelling it to scan its contents before immediately paling. As she stared at the letter with her pupils shrinking to tiny dots, her crystalline shimmer faded substantially, making her look more like she had taken a dunk in a tub full of soapy water. "N-Natz…" she murmured in a tight, small, and shaky voice. "C-come h-here…"

Natalie trotted over, a brow raised. "Huh? What is it?" she asked, and the only response she received was the opened scroll being magically shoved in her face. She pried it off with a hoof and examined it for a minute, only to drop it in a few seconds. Her sheen faltered as well, and she turned to Fenrir and spoke in a low, serious tone, "Get Shining Armor. Immediately."