Darkness…

Darkness everywhere.

Where was I?

Had Sombra won?

Although the spire was gone and I was still marred there was no pain. I shakily stood up.

“Hellooooooo….”

Nopony answered my call.

A light.

A light appeared about thirty feet in front of me. I went closer. The light seemed to respond and folded and writhed around before expanding to reveal a magnificent door with a Crystal Heart keystone.

I drew in a sharp breath. I was on the adventure of a lifetime.

Who says I can’t have the death of a lifetime?

I think I was bloody ready for what was on the other side.

So I opened it.

I will never forget this moment and what came next.

   An entire rounded crystal chamber, decorated in the Empire's fashion was inside. In the center was a round table, while three doors on the far end read: Paradise, Tartarus, and Empire.

“May we help you?” A regal voice demanded.

Despite my physical state, I whirled around. Nopony was here when I came in.

The table was surrounded by six swirling lights, which settled down and changed into the most magnificent ponies. Five of them were Alicorns: sapphire blue, silver metal, ruby red, emerald green, and peridot yellow. Also amongst them was a young opalescent crystal pony mare.

But these Alicorns, were they made of gems, simply wearing them...or were they...Crystal Alicorns?

How was this possible?

If I was still alive, somepony would have told me that my mouth looked as big as a flugel horn.  One of the alicorns, a tall green female, with a mane and tail that looked like mist tendrils, stood up. Her cutie mark was a wide open stylized gold eye of sorts. Although she was shorter than Celestia, she was taller than Luna. The other Alicorns' manes and tails appeared to be a middle ground of crystal pony and traditional Alicorn manes. This mare leaned more toward the Alicorn half.

She looked down, and reeled away in disgust.

“Your left wing just fell off.”

I pretended not to notice.

The blue mare, whose height surpassed Celestia's, rose. This caused her mane which was mostly piled on her head to sway. Sapphire ornaments jingled.

“Queen Ezmeralda, please seat yourself once more,” she intoned voice noble and superior to the other mare's. She must have been the one who spoke first.

Was this ‘Ezmeralda’ the blue mare's daughter? It certainly felt like that.

She obeyed and sat among the other ponies who stayed silent. Allowing the sapphire pony to continue.

“Greetings Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

She paused daintily and I glimpsed her cutie mark, a sapphire with familiar tricolor auras pouring out of it as they took on the shape of the object the lights embraced. That object was a Crystal Heart.

The Crystal Heart.

This must be the first Crystal Queen, the one who created the Heart and started the Crystal Fair.

She noted my expression. “I am the former Queen Sapp'ra, Creator of the Heart among other mysteries.”

Former?

But she was an Alicorn…

“What do you mean ‘former’? I thought Alicorns never die or fade. So aren't you supposed to be eternal?”

Sapp’ra pursed her lips.

“Alicorn life as a whole…will reveal itself to you in due time. But in our case? We could not stand eternal life so we cursed ourselves to attach to the Heart. Where did you think its power came from, a ewe running on a wheel?” She chuckled warmly, indicating it was a joke, not an insult.

“Although, in Opal Charm's case-” she nodded towards the crystal pony whose eyes clouded.

“-blood was spilled.”

I quieted down. None of the books in the Crystal Library mentioned an Alicorn ruling before Sombra.

“You must think you are here because you are a dead monarch correct?”

I nodded.

Her gaze nitpicked me for a moment. “Newly dead, to be exact.”

I gazed at my left wing, the once colorful feathers now marred and crimson stained.

“As you can see none of us bear the marks of death, not even Opal.”

That was true.

“Are you saying I will be restored, in appearance? Or that she died painlessly?”

“No. Opal did not die painlessly. Far from it.”

“I still don't understand why I am here. Am I really dead or is this a dream?”

“Yes, you are dead.” She shifted her elegantly lashed eyes over to the other ponies, who inclined their heads as one.

“But you will not stay dead, Crystal Empress.”

I made a choking sound. An Empress? Empresses outrank Queens.

She chuckled in a reassuring way.

“This surprises you, hmm?”

I nodded once more.

“You see,” she gestured to my flank “that your mark, a representation of you and so much more, marks you for this everlasting role.”

I thought it meant that I had a pure heart.

She went on. “You allied with the Empire's sole greatest enemy-”

“Wait, you said I wouldn’t stay dead. Does this mean I will never die? Or see Shiny? Or-“

Ezmeralda cleared her throat implying she would now speak.

“Empress, you have an entire council to guide you and there is still much to learn. You will die one day, alicorns cannot become Alicorns. Even when you die you will gain powers that we do not have in our ‘death’. Although they have their limitations they will include: access to the other Dead Worlds; Paradise and Tartarus, and of course rare visits to the Midgard where you reside. Particular the Empire.”

Opal Charm softly added: “In a sense you are now and forever immortal, beyond the immortality of the soul.”

Slowly I accepted this with a bow of my head.

  When I looked up again the room started to fade, whereas I began to glow like a beacon. I watched in wonder…as my body began to heal and the Crystal Heart's magic did its work, making my coat crystalline and styling my mane into the Ceremonial Headdress, only crystalized.

“Good luck, Empress,” said Sapp’ra smiling.

I blinked once.

When I opened my eyes the Crystal Queen was gone.

Next Chapter: Chapter 15: A Friend In The Dark Estimated time remaining: 5 Minutes