We were shoved forward down the hallway, forced to walk at gunpoint towards a fate that seemed much more uncertain. I wasn’t sure what to make of the seemingly younger ghoul alicorn, other than that she was incredibly terrifying and commanded a presence that kept every living thing in her presence in perfect order.

We stopped just short of a massive entryway into what appeared to be a throne room. I recognized this place already, as the throne room from Starlight Glimmer’s memories. It was a lot to take in.

“Guards, escort the prisoners inside. Except for the alicorn of course. Take her to my chambers. She’s my plaything,” the alicorn said with a grin.

Chalice’s face dropped, all of her energy focused hard on avenging the death of her sister having been completely sapped away. Her wings and magic had both been restrained. She had little choice but to move as the guards urged her away from the group. The ghoul alicorn watched this all in utter glee, her eyes alight with fanatic wonder. She then turned to the rest of us before walking into the throne room.

“Oh, Mother! Look what I found!” she said in a sing-song voice that was sick and disturbing. “I told you they would come to us!”

My eyes drifted past to the mare sitting on the throne at the top of the room. Her red eyes smoldered, her massive dessicated wings spread on each side of her. Her grin was like sheer venom, her flesh rotted and twisted in what could only be called pure agony. She was darkness incarnate.

Above her, my eyes found a cage, suspended in midair. Sitting inside was a unicorn, a unicorn I knew and recognized. My eyes widened as he turned his head to gaze down upon us.

“Dusk!” I started to call out before the guard stepped forward to silence me. I growled as I stepped backwards away from him.

“Order!” the alicorn on the throne said fiercely. Everything stopped in its tracks, including me. “Guards! Bring the prisoners and put them before me. I wish to speak to them.”

The guards nodded, pushing us forward until we were at the steps, looking up at the monstrosity on the throne. With a flourish of her horn, she closed the throne room door.

“So… you are the infamous Starry Night. I’ve heard so much about you from your friend,” she said, her voice dripping with venom as she nodded to Dusk’s presence above. “He seems to place a great deal of importance on you and your friends. Pity that I do not see why. I should have you executed right now, but I think it would be far more interesting if you got to see why you are here before living your days out in prison. Slow, but painful, for what you’ve done to my family.”

“And what did I do to your family?” I spat.

“My archmage, and my daughter’s love. You killed him,” the alicorn said, her red eyes flaring. “Perhaps I’ll let my daughter play with you. She’s very skilled in her talents after all.”

“Thank you, Mother,” the younger alicorn said with pride. “I’ll make sure not to disappoint you. After all, they deserve it after what they did to Deathless.”

The older alicorn tittered. “Well, then be off to prepare then. I understand you have another plaything waiting for you already. An alicorn, no less?”

“Yes, Mother,” the younger alicorn replied.

“Then go. See to her… ‘care,’” the older alicorn said with glee. “I will deal with these ones.”

“Yes, Mother. Thank you, Mother,” the younger alicorn said as she turned tail and left the throne room.

“Why are you keeping Dusk hostage? What does this have to do with us at all?” Lightning said.

The alicorn stood, her horn flickering to life as it showed a globe with a large landmass upon it. Her eyes smoldered as she stared down at us.

“Equestria. Once my home, a home that shunned and hated their neighbors, a home that became a lawless wasteland of ponies who didn’t deserve to survive, let alone live in it. We sought to change all of that, by wiping the slate clean,” the alicorn queen said. Her horn flourished as a wave of green fire washed over the landmass before the entire globe disappeared.

“But we were stopped from reaping the rewards of our labor. Although we succeeded in our goals, the time megaspell that Dusk stole from our vault trapped us in time. We could not escape until the timelines lined up once more,” the alicorn continued gleefully. “But it is of no consequence. The Crystal Empire has returned, and we will once more destroy this world and begin anew. This is my order, as Queen of the Crystal Empire, Crystalis the Red!”

“Something’s wrong with her,” Heartshine whispered during the alicorn’s tirade. “Something mentally and physically. Her heart exudes nothing but hatred.”

“Think she’s close to feralism?” I asked back under my breath. “That would explain a lot.”

“That doesn’t help us get out of here,” Lightning whispered. “We need to get Dusk and get a move on.”

Crystalis cackled haughtily. “I’m afraid you will not be collecting Dusk. I have a special punishment reserved for him for his crimes against the Empire. He will get to watch, front row, as I burn the world he cares about so much.”

“Do you really think that you’ll be able to destroy everything? There’s going to be a war if you put yourself out there like that, and the ponies of Equestria will fight you,” I said stiffly. “The Lightbringer herself controls the weather towers. You won’t last five minutes.”

“Oh, you think that to be true, do you?” Crystalis replied casually. Her horn flourished once more, opening a massive window behind her throne. It shimmered to life, showing images of large metal casings and assembly lines.

“Prior to the end of the Great War, the Crystal Empire’s technology was developed beyond leaps and bounds, but our primary research was into megaspell development,” she stated. “Suffice to say, we have enough munitions to burn Equestria into the ground ten times over in half the time it took the zebras to do so.”

I grimaced, needing to keep her talking. The longer she kept talking, the more we learned, and the longer she wouldn’t realize I was working on trying to send a distress call with my PipBuck.

“So why haven’t you? You have the power, why haven’t you used it?” I challenged. My eyes widened as I realized something. “You can’t, can you? You’re missing a component. You’re missing her.”

Crystalis’ eyes narrowed at me. “Guards! Throw these prisoners in the royal prison. I shall send my daughter to… play with them later. Now begone. I do not wish to be disturbed,” she said angrily.

The guards pushed into it, interrupting my chance of putting together some sort of distress call. I scowled as they ushered us from the throne room, taking us towards a large elevator of some kind. It went downwards until we appeared in a massive underground crystal cavern. The guards calmly shoved us into it and then went back up, the elevator disappearing completely.

I blinked as I studied our surroundings. The caverns were cut from some strange black crystal that shimmered in the dark. I quickly decided to try my PipBuck. No signal. No wonder the guards hadn’t cared about taking any of our gear away.

“What in the heck happened up there?” Coconut said. “What made her go crazy like that? Who’s this ‘her’ you mentioned?”

“Starlight Glimmer,” I said hurriedly, lifting a hoof to my horn. I tried to slide the horn ring off of it, but found that my horn ached with intense pain as I did. I breathed out and stopped, the pain subsiding.

“And just who is this Starlight Glimmer?” Lightning asked.

“She’s a pony… she was in the memory orb that Deathless Crystal had on him. The same one I’ve been watching over and over,” I said, trying to explain breathlessly. “I think she had something to do with the Empire’s technology and control over the megaspells.”

“Well, whoever she was, it doesn’t really matter much. This place is pretty much impenetrable. There’s something off about it, too,” Coconut said cautiously as she walked along the walls of the prison cave, running a hoof along the crystal. “This black crystal. Nearly every other structure we saw was made of a bluish/greenish crystal. But this? It’s different. I can feel it.”

“Something very wrong with it,” Heartshine said, placing a hoof to her temple. “It’s giving me chills in my wings.”

I scowled, stalking along the wall as Coconut did. She was right about one thing. Whatever this place was made of, it wasn’t natural. Something in the crystal was off. Was that what had caused the pain in my horn a moment ago? I thought up to the horn ring around my horn, shutting off my magic. My eyes widened.

“The black stuff eats magic,” I said. “Or rather, sucks it away from a pony. This isn’t just a prison, it’s a death trap.”

“Great, so we’re going to die down here, with no way of getting out or even a plan to break free,” Lightning said sarcastically.

“No… I don’t think so. If the queen wanted us dead she would have just executed us. She needs us for something,” I said, placing a hoof to my chin.

“Which means what exactly? It’s not like we’re going to break free of her guards,” Lightning replied. “Not to mention that she has Chalice separated with that psycho daughter of hers.”

“I… I don’t know, but she can’t leave us down here forever,” I said. “We just have to think of a way to escape when her guards come to collect us.”

“And Dusk? You saw him. He’s in the throne room. There’s no way we’re getting to him without squaring off with the queen,” Coconut said.

*slump*

My eyes widened as I watched Heartshine fall over, nearly hitting her head on the cold crystalline ground. I was at her side instantly, grimacing as I started checking her over. She was conscious still, but only somewhat, with a nosebleed pouring from her face. Something was wrong. My eyes fell to her wings, looking less vibrant in coloration than they had before.

“Shit, this is bad. This stuff is draining her. Come on, Heartshine… you can beat this thing, come on… it’s me, Starry,” I said as I cradled her in my hooves. I glanced back at the others, my eyes tearing up.

“What are we going to do?”

I fell. Hurtling through the air, kicking and screaming as I tried to move, but the armor I was wearing was so heavy that it felt impossible to move around in, let alone move through the air with.

All around me, the creatures of the lake were in a frenzy, jumping up and out to try and attack Shimmer. My eyes widened as one of them bit in, a gush of blood washing across the lake in a sick, gory rain. And then suddenly, she was dead and her body rushed passed mine, striking the water with a sickening sound that I never ever wanted to hear. I saw Chalice from above, her eyes fierce with determination to save both me and her sister, but it was too late. The water was rushing closer and closer and…

Impact. I struck the water and began to immediately sink. My eyes widened as I struggled to move. The armor made it increasingly difficult. I thought maybe the creatures would just attack me now, and end this, but they didn’t. Instead, I was sinking towards the bottom of the frozen waters. I was so very, very cold.

I growled under my breath. I had to break free somehow! I started racking my brain for something, anything that would do. Changelings of old had the ability to transform into much larger creatures… but it was a skill I’d never been able to do. Still… I had to try. If I didn’t, I was most assuredly going to freeze, or drown… or both.

I focused hard on my mutable form, feeling the changeling magic roll through me in waves. I could feel the magic taking hold, but it wouldn’t change my form. I screamed internally and tried again. Nothing. Was I simply too weak to do it?

I closed my eyes and breathed in and out, thinking of the others, about why I was here. At first, I’d been conscripted, ripped away from a life of anger and hate because I was forced to, but now… I wanted to be with the others. And they wanted me… not because of my skills or what I was, but because I had found common ground with them. They wanted me because of me, not because of anything else.

I opened my eyes, drawing on that strength as I accessed my changeling magic once more. I focused on the shape and the design of the crystal water horses that were floating all around me. A sickly green glow erupted from all around as my body contorted to push the armor off of my body. The water rushed in as soon as my head finally changed, and then suddenly I was free floating. The armor I’d been wearing sunk below me.

I blinked, my amphibious eyes taking in my surroundings. The other creatures swimming in the glacial lake hadn’t quite noticed my change. I quickly decided that I needed to move, but to where? There was no way I was getting into the Crystal Empire the same way the others had, and even then I was reasonably sure they’d been captured. I glanced around to look for another way, noticing that the sides of the lake were lined with cavernous holes. Some sort of underground structure? I couldn’t tell, and to be honest, I really needed to get out of the freezing water.

I swam up, cautiously treading towards the surface of the water. If there were still patrols from the Crystal Empire around, it would look suspicious for one of the creatures to be heading away from the glacier lake. I pushed through the water, glancing about. Nothing had noticed me as of yet. I glanced towards the wall of the Empire. It was quiet, the sky darkening overhead of it. I needed to move quickly.

I pushed myself out of the water and began inching away from the lake, freezing every little part of my new body as I did so. As I began moving away, I felt the changeling magic fading away, my body reverting to its natural form. I quickly started to move, the chill of the air biting into my wet skin. If I didn’t find someplace to get warm soon, I was going to freeze to death out in the middle of nowhere.

I heard sounds coming from the lake behind me, shouting. I hid behind a tree and watched as several Crystal Empire soldiers stood at the other side of the lake. They were scouring Shimmer’s body from it. I scowled. They were likely to be looking for me next. When they didn’t find me… I shuddered from the thought and the cold. I needed to keep moving.

I struggled to activate my magic, but it wouldn’t come to me. Either it was too cold, or the magic I’d used to break free from the armor and escape had been too much for me. I wasn’t sure. I quietly slipped through the dead trees towards the upper ridge, trying to remember where we’d stayed the night before, and which direction it was. My wings felt frozen solid. I started to climb, hoping and praying that the soldiers hadn’t seen me or found that I wasn’t in the lake yet.

I crested the ridge and took a deep breath. My body was stiff from the cold. I heard shouting from below. Shit, I thought as I started running. A laser blast struck the ridge, sending ice and rock crumbling below. I yelped and kept moving, finding it harder and harder to get any traction in the wind and snow. Another blast struck the side of the ridge. I jumped and landed on the cold ground, finding myself unable to move. I groaned as I heard hoofsteps.

Shit… I’m sorry, Starry. I tried to survive, I really did, I thought to myself.

“It’s a changeling?” I heard voices. The voice was silky and smooth.

“Fuck, that’s not just any changeling, it’s Velvet,” I heard a second voice say. It was rough and feminine. “We need to get her someplace warm.”

I groaned loudly as I passed out from the cold, feeling a set of hooves grab me and start to drag.

An hour passed, and I stayed by Heartshine the entire time. Her breathing had calmed down and she appeared to be sleeping, but at some point it wasn’t going to be enough to keep her calm. I wiped my eyes, unsure of what to do. We were stuck, and getting Dusk was seeming less like a mission and more like an impossible task.

Coconut and Lightning were attempting to stay positive, standing watch as I tended to Heartshine. Even they didn’t have a plan to get away. I didn’t know what they were thinking at this point. Everything was seemingly lost.

Suddenly, the humming sound from the elevator came, and a massive door opened. Several guards appeared, along with the younger alicorn from before. Her eyes gleamed as her lips curled into a sneer.

“I’ve been sent by Mother to collect you,” she said. “She wishes to speak to the unicorn, and only the unicorn.”

I stood, glaring at her. “My friend is having a reaction to this black shit. She needs to be taken out of here.”

“That wasn’t part of my instructions,” the alicorn replied. “I was instructed to collect only you.”

“Well, you can instruct your Mother that she can fuck off,” I said angrily. “Heartshine can’t stay here for much longer, or she’ll die. I’m banking that your Mother wants me alive for some reason, and if I’m pissed off, I won’t help her do what she wants me to do, is that right? Am I on the nose?”

The ghoulish alicorn scowled before rolling her eyes. “Fine. You can bring her, but the others have to stay here. The guards will bring them some food and water while you are gone,” she said with a lazy tone. “Guards, collect the pegasus and take her to the infirmary for void crystal poisoning. And don’t you dare say anything about this to my mother. She’ll have my head for sure.”

I blinked as several of the guards came and picked up Heartshine, taking her into the elevator. “I’m confused,” I said. “You’re actually helping me. That was… unexpected.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, you’re right about one thing. Mother does want you alive, and I don’t have the time to deal with your shit,” the alicorn replied angrily. “You killed Sunburst, that much is true, and that pisses me off more than anything. I want so badly to kill you, to make you feel pain, but I have to do what Mother says, or else. Now… get in the elevator before I change my mind, and I make you get in.”

I glanced at the others. Lightning nodded calmly.

“Go. We’ll be alright down here,” he said.

I sighed, nodding as I headed into the elevator after the alicorn. I scowled as the doors closed and it began to hum once more as it rose.

“What’s your name?” I asked softly.

The alicorn turned and glared at me. “What do you care what my name is? I am nothing but a servant to the Empire.”

“But you have a name. I care, because well… I’m sorry about Sunburst. I didn’t know that Wrath was going to just… kill him,” I said, looking down at my hooves. “I lost someone I loved that day as well.”

The alicorn’s smoldering gaze softened for a moment. She appeared conflicted. “It’s…” she said after a few moments of silence. “Flurry. My name is Flurry.”

“You loved him, didn’t you? I saw it in a memory orb. The way you looked at him when he arrived home,” I said.

“Sunburst… was my first crush. I was eighteen, he was older. I didn’t know any better. But after… after the War… when it became obvious that we were ghouls… we didn’t care,” Flurry replied. “Ugh… why am I even talking to you about this? You’re the enemy. Mother says you’re going to stop us.”

“I came here to save a friend,” I said softly. “I owe Dusk that much. But seeing what you’re doing here, preparing to destroy Equestria? It feels wrong, and I think… I think you feel the same way.”

Flurry’s expression twisted into anger. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now, be quiet. We’re almost there.”

I grimaced, doing as she had asked. The elevator stopped humming and the doors opened. The guards carrying Heartshine moved out and turned immediately to the left, disappearing down the hall. Already she was appearing to have regained more color in her coat. I wanted to be with her, but this was the best way to get her help with her condition.

Flurry motioned for me and the other guards to follow her. We went to the right instead, and I recognized the hallway again from earlier as the one leading to the throne room. We stopped outside of it, and Flurry lifted a hoof and knocked.

“Mother, I brought the unicorn as you requested,” she said.

The door creaked open and the younger alicorn ushered me inside. She quickly disappeared, making me wonder whether or not she was really as bad as she put on display. In the elevator… she seemed to be genuine about her affection for Sunburst. Perhaps… perhaps that was the key to stopping all of this. I didn’t know.

I walked through the silent throne room, glancing upwards at Dusk’s cage. The unicorn was looking down at me solemnly. He nodded slightly as I approached the throne. Crystalis sat, looking out upon the Empire from her vantage point.

“I apologize for my… anger earlier. You caught me rather unawares with your knowledge of us,” she said.

I scowled. “So I was right. You do need me alive for something,” I said.

“Right down to business I see,” the alicorn replied nonchalantly. “Allow me to cut the chatter then. Yes, I was planning on killing you, but your outburst earlier changed my mind. You know things from the past, because you have seen them. You have not seen everything, however.”

Her horn glowed, lifting something small and round into the air. It was a memory orb. Crystalis set it in front of me. It shimmered a deep purple.

“I have not ever viewed this, because it belonged to a dear friend of mine. You know her as Starlight Glimmer. She became one of us, helping us further our technology to heights beyond nopony’s reach. She was the creator of the time megaspell that removed us from the timeline originally, based on a spell from Starswirl the Bearded,” Crystalis explained.

“She’s gone, isn’t she?” I asked, staring hard at the alicorn. “And now you want me to help you destroy Equestria in her stead.”

“It sounds so… bad when you put it like that. Whatever has Equestria done for you, my dear Starry Night? It has done nothing for any of us. The ponies that live there are petty, unappreciative of what they have. They hate us for what we are. Different. Even during the war, the ponies of Equestria did not want anything to do with the Empire. We were shunned for being different because Equestrians were paranoid about everyone, including their neighbors. My husband died for Equestria, and what did they give him? A funeral. My husband who died, so that my sister-in-law could seek out immortality,” Crystalis snarled angrily. “I will decimate Equestria for their sins against my people!”

I remained silent, glancing at the floor. Crystalis must have noticed this because she stopped shouting.

“I know that I sound… well… crazy, but Equestria isn’t worth trying to save,” she said. “It’s time for something new to take its place.”

“You sound crazy because you are crazy,” Dusk said from above. “Do not listen to her, Starry. This world is still worth saving.”

“Silence!” Crystalis shouted, her horn glowing as she put up a barrier around Dusk’s cage, silencing his protests.

“I’m not going to help you,” I said. “I would never… never destroy my home. I have family, friends. Ponies I want to go back to. Sorry about your luck, but you’re going to have to kill me. But know that you won’t succeed. The ponies of Equestria, they’ll stop you. The Lightbringer will stop you.”

“The weather towers? The ones that don’t exist in this area of the Wasteland? The Ministry of Awesome didn’t have the jurisdiction to build them here, because I didn’t allow it. I wanted nothing to do with the Ministries and their war machine, we simply wanted to be left alone,” Crystalis said. “But the war came to our doorstep anyways.”

She lifted the memory orb into the air.

“I guess I’m going to have to show you why we need you, after all,” she said as she thrust the orb at my horn.

I tried to move but I was frozen solid, powerful magic rooting my hooves to the ground. My horn sparked as it touched the memory orb and everything turned to white.

The sky was filled with green fire. My host’s eyes widened as it arced across the sky.

“They actually did it,” she whispered. “By the Goddesses.”

She turned and started running from the balcony towards the throne room, all other troubles second to the green fire in the sky. She skidded to a stop and pushed through the door and shouted.

“Cadance! It’s happening! Equestria… the zebra… they’re using megaspells on each other!” she shouted.

Cadance jumped up from her throne, a scowl on her face. “Tensions have been building for months. It was only a matter of time before the inevitable occurred. Is the backup plan ready, Starlight?”

“I… I think so. We don’t have much time to test it. I’m not even sure what will happen when the Empire disappears, the math behind it is too much for anypony to comprehend,” my host stammered.

“Starlight, I believe in you. You were the one who came up with this as a way to escape if things got bad,” Cadance said with a smile. “We need to do what we must to survive.”

My host nodded. “There’s only one minor problem that I need to mention,” she said. “The spell and its transponder have to be attached to the outside of the Empire. I can’t cast it from inside.”

Cadance’s eyes widened. “Wait… but that means…”

“It means I’ll be sacrificing my life so you can live,” Starlight replied. “Before you try to stop me, please don’t. You gave me a place to be what I wanted to be, to flourish in magic and understanding. You gave me a home, and my friends back. Away from the evil that was Equestria. I won’t ever forget that. But there’s no other way to do this.”

“I… I know,” Cadance said with a sigh. “I suppose then… that this is good-bye. I wish that we had more time.”

“After I cast this spell, you’ll have all the time in the world,” Starlight said. “And once the timeline acclimates, you’ll be able to return and show Equestria how not to do things. You’ll save them. I know you will.”

“I… I will. I promise you that I will save Equestria,” Cadance said. “Now… go. We’re running out of time.”

Starlight scowled, but nodded as she turned and started running to the outer platform. She made it in no time, pulling the skiff aside and taking off towards the outer wall where her device was waiting. The skiff set down outside of the Empire at the base of a station that housed the device.

“Alright… it’s time to make this work. I just hope it does…” she whispered to herself.

She stepped inside the station, taking in the device that she had prepared. It was spherical in nature, an ever changing spell matrix rolling around inside of it. It sat suspended in midair above a transponder.

“Gideon,” she said.

“Yes, Starlight Glimmer?” a feminine voice replied.

“Once this is over, store a copy of yourself in the other module that’s linked inside the Empire vault. If this doesn’t work and the Empire returns prematurely, they’re going to need you,” Starlight said. “In addition, I need you to disable the weapons arrays for the launch spells. Cadance will probably be pretty pissed about that, but she’ll understand that it was for the best.”

“Affirmative,” Gideon said. “Transfer of primary memory storage and megaspell matrix complete. Weapons bay megaspells deactivated.”

“Excellent. Let’s get this show on the road then, Gideon,” Starlight said with a grin, her horn glowing softly.

“Megaspell matrix stable. You may proceed with casting the spell,” Gideon said.

Starlight nodded, her horn sending a magical beam of energy into the spell matrix floating above the transponder. It started pulsing with glowing energy. Starlight grimaced, concentrating hard on the spell in mind. It had been one she’d found amidst the archives of Canterlot’s libraries, based on an old spell from Starswirl the Bearded. She’d been able to modify the spell to send an object outside of the timeline.

In this case, that object was the entire Crystal Empire and all of the ponies within it. It was a momentous task, but it would work. Starlight was sure of it.

The orb poured energy outwards into the ground, causing the earth beneath to shake and rumble. Starlight cut off the magic and stepped outside and watched. The Empire began to shimmer as the magic took hold. Within several long moments of shimmering, it was suddenly… gone. A hole sat where it had been. Starlight breathed a sigh of relief.

“It… it worked,” she said.

“Indeed it did, Starlight,” Gideon replied from her PipBuck.

“Thank you, Gideon… thank you,” Starlight said as her eyes glanced up at the sky.

The green fire was arcing ever closer. Starlight could feel it in her bones. This was the end for her.

“Gideon. One more thing that I need you to do for me. I need you to send a message to the Empire. One that they will find in the future,” she said. “Can you record all of this?”

“I have been recording for posterity, Starlight. As you asked me to do always,” Gideon said. “I will convert your message to a memory orb and enter it into the time matrix.”

“Good. I need Cadance to know that… that Equestria wasn’t always all bad. It’s going to take love and compassion to change things in the future. She needs to be the leader they all want to be if she wants to change the world. Please tell her that for me.”

“It is done,” Gideon replied.

“Good. Thank you for everything, Gideon. It’s almost time,” she said.

The green fire slammed into the valley, and then suddenly there was nothing.

I doubled over as I came out of the memory orb. I couldn’t believe what I’d seen. Cadance… Cadance was wrong about everything. She was never meant to destroy Equestria. She was meant to save it. What had happened?

My eyes widened as I realized it. Somehow along the way, the entire population of the Empire had become ghouls. They were slowly losing their grip on reality, Cadance most of all. They were never meant to destroy Equestria, they were meant to save it.

“You witnessed the end of our time here, did you not?” Crystalis said with a smug grin on her face.

“I… I saw Starlight. At the end. And you’re wrong about Equestria, Cad--” I started to say.

Crystalis’ eyes flared with anger. “DO NOT SPEAK THAT NAME!” she shouted. “That name is no longer my own. It is forbidden to speak it.”

“But… you have to listen. Starlight never wanted you to…” I tried to reply.

“Silence! Starlight gave her life for us, so that we might prosper. Without her, however, we found that we are unable to activate the megaspell matrices for the weaponry. I believe you may be able to help reactivate them,” Crystalis said angrily.

“But… you don’t understand. Starlight disabled the weapons on purpose,” I said, pleading with her. “She never wanted you to destroy Equestria!”

“I can see that you are unwilling to cooperate,” Crystalis said, her eyes smoldering red. “Perhaps I should provide you with incentive. Guards, bring her friends here.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked as the guards exited the room.

“Oh, this is very simple blackmail. You will help me, or I will kill your friends. All of them,” Crystalis merely replied. “Until then, you can catch up on old times with your good friend Dusk.”

Her horn glowed softly and I started to protest, but was cut off by her magic. I disappeared and reappeared in the cage next to Dusk. I slumped on the floor of the cage, sighing before turning to face the one we’d come all this way to save.

“I’m sorry we had to meet this way,” Dusk said solemnly, his eyes closed. “Everything I did, I did to save Equestria, and in the end I fucked it up even worse.”

“Seems like we’re both in that boat,” I said. “None of this makes sense. I thought she brought us here to kill us, and now she wants to use me to kickstart their technology?”

“Cadance thought she could sway me, to see things from her point of view. But when you have nothing to lose… she couldn’t convince me to help her, so she decided to focus on you. I’m sorry, Starry. She won’t stop until your friends are all dead,” Dusk replied. “She’s crazy. Borderline close to feralism, if that’s even possible for an alicorn.”

“I can’t let that happen,” I said, looking down at my hooves. “I’ve lost… too many already.”

“The Empire is relentless, and Cadance is mad. I fear there’s no way to stop her and the Empire without the time megaspell,” Dusk said softly.

“She came from your timeline,” I said calmly. “When the time megaspell returned the Empire, it returned to your timeline.”

“The Empire came back, yes. They were… relentless in their pursuit of a unicorn to help them destroy Equestria with their megaspells. They found me during a battle, a battle in which… well… your mother and father both died protecting you and Lightning,” Dusk explained. “I don’t know what happened to you, because I was captured after hiding you. The Empire tortured me for days… weeks… Cadance herself thought she could break me.”

“What… what happened?” I asked.

“I managed to escape. I was… crafty. I had no friends left, so the guards didn’t watch me too carefully. I escaped into the tunnels below the Empire, and stumbled upon their vault. That’s how I met Gideon,” Dusk said.

“That name…” I said. “It was the same one that Starlight called the entity inside the time spell. I saw it in the memory orb.”

“Yes… Gideon was a copy of the original artificial intelligence that Starlight had cooked up inside of the time megaspell construct she devised. Ingenious design, really. Gideon was completely self-aware of what had been occurring since the Empire’s return to the timeline. Somehow being inside the time-space continuum had irradiated the Empire enough to cause mass ghoulification,” Dusk continued. “Gideon was appalled, having a sense of… loyalty to ponykind instilled in her programming by Starlight. It seems that at the end, even she realized how futile the struggle was.”

“Gideon helped you activate herself,” I said, figuring out the rest on my own. “The Empire was sent back into the space-time continuum.”

“Well, sort of. I used the time spell to go back in time as I explained before… I changed the past, hoping that it would prevent the Empire’s return, or perhaps maybe even prepare Equestria better against them, but that was a failure, and I ended up trapped inside the time construct inside the Empire when I returned,” Dusk replied. “Cadance discovered me and had it transported to her throne room to keep an eye on me. When I found I could contact you, I knew I had to reach out to you and help you, but I messed up… I’m sorry, Starry. I wish I could have done better for you.”

I placed a hoof on his shoulder blade and smiled softly. “It’s alright, Dusk. I… I recently just learned about how to feel again, so I can tell you one thing… I’m not mad at you. I think I have an idea on how to stop all of this, but I’m going to need some help.”

“I’m all ears…” Dusk said, glancing at me with a smile creeping onto his face.

My eyes fluttered open, feeling the warmth of a campfire nearby. I took in my surroundings as I started to sit up. I was in a cavern out of the wind and snow, a roaring flame close enough that I could feel the warmth in my bones. A blanket had been tossed over me. Sitting across the campfire were two ponies. One of them, a jet black pegasus, lifted her head and stared directly at me.

“Patch,” she said, nudging the other. “She’s awake.”

The other pony, an older green mare with an aging blue mane, turned her head. Her eyepatch spoke volumes to who she was. It was Starry’s mother. What was she doing all the way out here? Wasn’t she bedridden the last time I’d seen her?

“Velvet? Do you know where you are? Do you know who we are?” she said as she hopped up and sat next to me.

“P-P-Patch? And… Lilith?” I stuttered, my voice still raspy. I realized I was still in my natural form. “What… what are you…?”

“Don’t try too much. You nearly died from hypothermia,” Lilith said. “You’re lucky we found you when we did.”

“Starry… captured…” I said, rasping.

“We know,” Patch said. “We gathered that much after finding you. She’s inside that place, the Crystal Empire. Our tracker device has her placed there.”

“Can you tell us what happened?” Lilith said.

“It… it was a trap,” I said, racking my brain for what had happened. “Something hit the skiff… and I fell into the water… I barely escaped… but Shimmer…. Shimmer died.”

“Shimmer? Who was Shimmer?” Patch asked.

“She… she was an alicorn who joined our group…” I explained. “Her sister and her wanted to stop the Crystal Empire. They were… helpers at the town that we found the Heartmender in.”

“The Heartmender? You mean, she exists? She is real?” Lilith said, cocking her ears back.

“Real as you and I,” I said. “But the town we found her at was attacked by the Empire. They want Starry and her for some reason… I don’t know why.”

Lilith and Patch shared a look between the two of them, a grimace. I struggled to access my magic, sending a wave of it through my body to try and attain my typical pony form. The green energy washed over me, transforming me instantly.

“That’s… that’s better,” I said with a soft smile. “How did you two… how did you get here?”

“We walked,” Patch said bluntly.

“What Patch means to say is, that one of our patrols was attacked by a group of Crystal Empire soldiers. They sent a device with a message that they had returned,” Lilith said. “We saw Dusk in the image. We headed out to come here to find Starry and Lightning.”

“Yeah… that’s why we were headed there. Starry thought she could save Dusk,” I said with a sigh. “But that plan went to shit real quick.”

“We need a way inside the Empire. I need to find my children,” Patch said. “And we need to know what’s happened to you since you left.”

I started talking, explaining everything that had occurred since our departure from Chicacolt. As I spoke, I realized just how much we had been through and how much of it had been because of our shared friendship. I sighed as I finished, leading up to how I’d fallen from the skiff and escaped the glacier lake.

“Rocky’s dead? And so is Wrath?” Lilith said, raising an eyebrow. “That is most unfortunate. Envy’s going to be pissed.”

“I think Starry’s got her beat. Pretty sure she was in love with him and that they boned,” I said without thinking.

“What,” Patch replied.

“I mean, I don’t really know, but she was pretty fucked up it seemed after he died,” I said. “Granted, she couldn’t feel anything, and that made it worse I think.”

“Right, well… moving on,” Lilith said, glaring sidelong at a seething Patch. “We need to figure out a way inside the Crystal Empire. We know that the skiffs are one way, and approaching on foot doesn’t work because of the glacier lake and those… monsters.”

“What about… underground? When I was in the lake I noticed a bunch of caverns lining the side of it… and the lake wasn’t that deep. Maybe there’s a set of caverns below the city we could use to infiltrate?” I asked.

“That is as good an idea as any,” Patch said. “We’ll head out within the hour, provided you can move.”

My eyes fluttered open, my head pounding and screaming from all of the pain in this place. It hadn’t just been the caves that had caused me to pass out, it had been this place. I could feel it everywhere, my magic overloaded by all of the hearts screaming out for help. The Crystal Empire was full of them, and most of all at the top was Queen Crystalis. Her heart roared for love and help. Her pain was the greatest, shouldering the burden of her entire people.

I sighed, looking down at my neck. A crystal necklace had been fastened there, likely to lessen the effects of what I’d heard the younger alicorn refer to as void crystal poisoning. I groaned and sat up in the bed I’d been placed in.

The room I was in was vast and wide, and the bed I was in was no exception. In fact, the room didn’t quite look like any infirmary I’d ever been in. It looked more like the chambers belonging to a teenager. It was messy with posters of stallions I’m sure were long dead plastered across a crystal vanity.

My eyes widened and I realized that I was in her room. The younger alicorn had me brought here?! I scrambled up and landed on my hooves on the cold floor. Wasn’t this where she’d had Chalice brought? If that was so… where…?

I turned, seeing a second four post bed across the room, covered in drapes. Why would a filly need to have two beds in her room? I heard labored breathing coming from it. I stepped cautiously towards it.

“Chalice?” I called softly. “Is that you?”

No response. More labored breathing. Dammit, I thought to myself. What is going on in this place?

I stepped closer, reaching up with a hoof to pull down the drapes. They fell with relative ease and my eyes widened as I took several steps back. Chalice lay on the bed, strapped down and muzzled. She was unconscious but still alive, however… her body had been opened up in places, exposing muscle and tissue and… organs. My nose began to bleed as I took it all in. It was just like everything I’d ever tried to do. Ponies around me… they ended up dead, or worse. Chalice had been a friend, a real friend around the settlement. And now…

I shut my eyes. Chalice was still alive, but only barely. Even if I could get her out of here… which I couldn’t with her size… it wouldn’t matter. The guards would be upon us before I could even get anywhere. I couldn’t do anything for her, but I could ease her pain… I could be merciful.

I stepped closer, reaching out with my wings to touch and caress her. Instantly I felt connected to her pain, and I knew what needed to be done. She wanted release, relief from the constant pain. She pleaded to my heart, asking that I do it. But I couldn’t… could I? Could I actually physically affect the heart? My magic hadn’t been able to do that before… but after what had happened with Starry… I’d helped fix an empathic blockage that nopony had ever seen before.

Tears streamed from my eyes and my nose gushed blood. I had to do something or the pain would be too much for me to bear. I reached out with my magic, and cradled the very essence of Chalice’s heart in my wings.

And then I squeezed. It was quick and decisive, and in a mere second it was over. I felt Chalice’s body go limp underneath my wings, breaking the connection. My eyes opened and I realized she was no longer breathing.

I… I just killed… I started to think before recomposing myself. No… I gave her mercy. Release. She wanted to be with her sister. Now she can be.

I reached up, wiping the blood from my nose. I sniffled, tasting the copper from the few drops that had dripped into my muzzle. I picked up the drape and pulled it over Chalice’s body, covering her before I slumped to my haunches, breathing hard.

“That was beautiful, I’ll have you know,” a voice said from across the room.

I turned, seeing the younger alicorn ghoul sitting on a lounger. How long had she been there? Had she seen the whole thing? Was she… she going to do the same thing she’d done to Chalice to me?

“Stay away from me,” I said instinctively.

“Are you afraid of me?” the alicorn said. Her eyes drifted to the body under the drape. Realization dawned on her face. “Ah, you think I mean to cut you open like I did her? No, that would defeat the purpose of things. I only did what I did to her because… well… I like cutting things open and seeing how they tick… and I’ve never seen another live alicorn other than my mother and great-aunts.”

“You killed her,” I said angrily.

“No, I think that was you,” the alicorn replied casually. “I see the void crystals didn’t fully kill you. Mother would be upset. She needs you alive as well.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? She needs your talents to convince Starry Night to use her magic to kickstart the Empire’s weaponry,” the alicorn said. “You’re going to help her understand why we need her.”

My eyes widened. “I would never do such a thing,” I said, stamping a hoof. “You’ll have to kill me first.”

“The thought had crossed my mind…” the alicorn said wistfully. “However… I have an… alternative proposition for you. That little trick of yours you just did… do you think you could do it again?”

“Why… why do you want that?” I asked.

“Mother is… well… she is unhinged. She thinks your friend is the only way to solve this problem, and I know for a fact that if she had just made Sunburst stay here then he would have figured out a way to enable the weaponry,” the alicorn said. “He was smart like that. But she had to send him out to get killed. So I’ll be quite simple and blunt. I want you to do that to my Mother.”

“So that you can take over? What happens then?”

“Simple enough. I send you and your friends on your way, and you get to wait until I conquer Equestria,” the alicorn said. “The world will cower at the hooves of Queen Flurry Heart! Nothing will stand in my way!”

I blinked. “Your name is Flurry Heart?”

The alicorn stopped, scowling. “Yes, yes, I know it’s not very intimidating…”

“It’s actually sort of… cute,” I said.

Flurry growled under her breath. I got the impression that she didn’t really do ‘cute.’

“How do you even expect to get me close enough to your mother to even do this?” I said. “It’s not like she’s going to just let me walk up and touch her with my wings.”

“Yes… that is a conundrum. We’ll have to sort that out soon. Mother wants me to bring all of you to the throne room. I expect she intends to have you executed as… leverage,” Flurry said with a grin. “We’ll use that opportunity to get you close to her.”

I grimaced, glancing back at Chalice. Flurry had been responsible for killing her. If I could get close enough… kill them both… release their pain and give them mercy… I would have to keep it close to my chest, but I could do it. For Chalice. For everypony that I’d ever failed in my life. I would do anything to make it up to them.

“Fine. I’ll do it,” I said softly.

“Starry and Heartshine have been gone for some time, don’t you think you should stop trying to get the elevator to come down? It only works for them, sweetie,” Coconut said.

I sighed and glanced over at her. She was pristine, even when dirty. She smiled softly, motioning for me to sit next to her. I nodded and made my way to the rock next to her.

“Sorry, I just… I hate not knowing what’s happening. I feel like we’re going to be stuck down here,” I said. “We need to get out and get the others out of here.”

“We can’t really do anything down here,” Coconut said with a sigh. “I hate it too, but at least we’re together.”

“Yeah… I… I’m glad you’re still here. So much has happened. Rocky, Shimmer… Click. I just… I can’t believe all of it,” I said. “Anyone of us could have died, and we pulled through for each other…”

“Well… love does save us all,” Coconut said with a grin.

“You… you love me?”

“Of course I do,” she said. “Was there ever any doubt to that?”

“No, I suppose not,” I said with a sigh. “Well… if we end up both dying down here, I guess you should know that I… I love you too.”

Coconut smiled softly and reached in, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “I’m glad,” she said. “Now… do you hear a whining sound?”

I blinked. “A what?”

“A whining sound… it’s coming from that wall over there…” Coconut said, pointing across the room.

I stood, walking towards the wall, cocking my ears to listen. I could hear a low whining and grinding sound from beyond it somewhere. It… it sounded familiar. Like I’d heard it before. My eyes widened as I placed it in my memory.

“Get back away from the wall!” I shouted as I dove behind a pile of rocks.

The wall exploded, shooting crystalline debris everywhere as a massive hole appeared in the side of the cavern.

“Whoo! That’s right baby! The BITCH is back!” I heard a familiar shout as the smoke started to clear.

“Auntie Lilith?!” I called out through the haze.

“Lightning?!” I heard an even more familiar voice call out as a green blur rushed out of the haze and grabbed ahold of me.

“M-M-Mom?!” I said as I took in what was happening. “What are… what are you doing…?”

I pulled away and looked into my mother’s face. She looked… pained, but happy to see me. I looked past her to see Lilith standing triumphantly in the hole she’d made, alongside...

“Velvet?” I asked.

The changeling grinned widely as she caught vision of me and Coconut. “Lightning? Coconut? You two are alright!”

“What in the Sorrel Hells happened to you?” Coconut said as she trotted up the group. “Last we saw you were falling into that lake.”

“It’s a long story,” Lilith said. “One that we really don’t have time for. Where are the others?”

“They took Starry and Heartshine, and Chalice was taken when we got here in the first place. Heartshine was sick,” Coconut explained. “There’s no way up into the palace except for the elevator, and it only works for them.”

“Well, luckily for you two, we have a way up through the caverns,” Lilith said. “It should get us into the palace, but we’re going to have to be stealthy until everyone has some weaponry.”

I glanced at Mom and grinned. “Lead the way. Let’s go save our friends.”

The cage began to lower, turning to show Cadance, in all her terrible glory. I glanced at Dusk, hopeful that our plan would work. It had to work.

The cage stopped on the floor and opened up, allowing Dusk and I to exit. We walked silently to the foot of the stairs and looked up the throne.

“Starry!” I heard from behind me.

I glanced back to see Heartshine, being led in by Flurry. She rushed across the hall, stopping on a dime and wrapping me in a hug.

“Heartshine? You’re alright!” I said. “What about the others?”

“That is a problem,” I heard Flurry say from behind her. “Mother. I have news. The prisoners in the caverns have escaped. The wall is blown to bits and they must be in the cavern system below the city.”

Cadance stood, her red eyes smoldering. “Unacceptable. Find them. They must not be allowed to interfere.”

“Understood, Mother,” Flurry said in a monotone voice. She turned to the guards. “Take all available support troops into the caverns. Locate the prisoners and report back to me.”

The guards nodded and vacated the throne room, leaving only us, the Queen and the Princess. I grimaced. Coconut and Lightning had escaped? How was that possible? I realized that meant that all I really needed to do was stall, and perhaps this plan could work after all.

“Now then, let us get back to the business at hand, shall we?” Cadance said. “I am not a patient Queen, Starry Night. You will help us, or there will be consequences.”

I stepped forward, keeping my eyes trained on her. There would have to be no fear, no giving away what we were going to do.

“We’ll help you,” I said. “Dusk and I talked it over and we decided… we will help you.”

“Excellent,” Cadance replied with a wicked grin. “And Equestria as you know it… shall be forever changed.”

Author's Notes:

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