With a content smile he gave a nod of thanks to the furry princess for once again gifting him with the chocolaty goodness that he craved. Happily he turned and hopped down the hall to once more work on his giant, rideable puppet project. Determined to get some work done before going forward with his plan to use the magical narrator to pick up some mares.

I wave him off as I turn back to Luna. "So that's the only reason you came to get me? He wanted to see me?" I ask her.

"Well, that and allowing thee the pleasures of sampling our latest culinary masterpiece!" Luna declared. I gave a nod and was about to head back to my dungeon when I felt a disturbance in the force. Mostly because it was yelling at me.

"RIN!" Celestia yelled as she came up to me with anger clear on her face. "Why did a pony just walk by me with Morgan Freeman describing in disturbing detail what he planned to do tonight? We already discussed this! No more curses! I mean what the buck where you thinking?"

"Ok, first off, language. Don't make me get out the royal paddle." I chastised. "And secondly he asked for it! And by that I mean he literally came to me for the sole purpose of getting that curse because he likes it. Silent Mech has been coming back for it every time it wears off." I tell her while giving her a deadpan expression.

"Oh, well... Alright I apologize for exploding like that. And please don't make such ridiculous threats. I am a grown mare and am fully within my rights to use profanities should I feel the need to say buck, horse apples or even the worst profanity of them all." Celestia said causing Luna and I to flail our forelegs in an attempt to signal her not to say it but it was in vain. "Glue." She said with a tone of finality before raising an eyebrow at Luna and I when she saw we weren't looking at her. "What are you-" She began to say before getting a look of panic when she saw what was behind her.

"Glue!" A filly shouted out excitedly.

"Buck!" A colt shouted out shortly after. Soon the entire tour group of foals on their field trip were shouting out pony profanities while the panicked teacher chaperoning was desperately trying to get them to stop.

"No! Little ones you shouldn't use those words. They're bad and will get you in trouble!" Celestia said in desperation.

"But you said them and you're not in trouble." A colt replied.

"Oh yes she is." I say as I grow to a large size so that Celestia was like a child compared to me and I used a portal to retrieve the paddle that was structurally and aerodynamically engineered for disciplining alicorns before sitting in a more human like position . Celestia's eyes widened when she saw the steel paddle. "So what will it be Celestia? Will you get up on my knee or are we washing your mouth out with Luna's cooking?" I asked her before gesturing to the children with my eyes. Celestia opened and closed her mouth a few times before looking back at the children who were watching. She knew that if she didn't go through with it the kids will take it as meaning they could get away with it as well. With a sigh she walked over and laid herself down on my lap. "You kids might want to cover your ears." I say before I use my magic to hold the paddle because I didn't have the physical strength to swing the thing hard enough for it to work.

In another part of Canterlot.

Window Shine was hard at work washing the top floor windows when he was startled into dropping his squeegee and almost falling over the railing of the lift by a loud and thunderous crack. He looked around with wide eyes and swaying ears as he attempted to find the source of the sound that was now echoing off the walls of the surrounding buildings. Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack! The sound exploded again and again leaving all of Canterlot in a state of confusion.

Back at the palace.

Celestia rose back onto her hooves, careful not to bump into the hall's wall with her now red posterior before turning back to the children. "You see my little ponies. Even I got into trouble for saying those bad words. So please stop." She said through a pained smile. All of the kids nodded in agreement while the teacher just stood there in wide eyed shock at what she had just witnessed. Celestia turned her head back around but stopped to glare at the space to my left. "Luna what was that?" Celestia asked causing me to turn and look at the moon princess as well.

"Nothing!" She lied as she tried to hide something behind her back.

"Give me the camera Luna." Celestia demanded as she marched towards her sister or as close to marching as she could at the moment.

"Never!" Luna declared as she turned to fly out the window. Celestia quickly jumped out after her to retrieve the evidence. As Celestia jumps through the window I shrank back down and watch through the very window they jumped through but all of us stopped when a new sound of a distant explosion filled the air off in the distance of the frozen north where the Crystal Empire was located and where a distant fireball could be seen.

One hour earlier.

"What is she doing?" Trixie asked as she looked up at Rainbow Dash who was flying around the giant Sombra statue. Taking full advantage of her speed and the slow movements of the crystal colossus to employ hit and run tactics. Though the difference in speed allowed Rainbow to avoid getting hit the hard body of the colossus was too strong to take any damage from Rainbow's hooves.

"I think she's trying to punch and kick it into submission. Hey Rainbow!" Brimstone called out but was hushed by Trixie.

"Let's see how long it takes her." Trixie said without taking her eyes off the display.

"We have a job to do and innocent ponies are suffering out there. And the longer this goes on the more likely something important or dangerous gets crushed." Cinder tried to reason getting a sigh from Trixie.

"Trixie guesses you're right. You two eat gems so see if you can take it apart. If we're lucky the gems are just outer armor and its insides are frail and important. Just don't eat any of it. We don't know how it was made so it might be poisonous to dragons. It was built as a weapon so it's possible." Trixie replies with a tone of disappointment but turns to surprise when the colossus gave up on Rainbow and tried to crush Twilight under hoof. Twilight gave a shout of surprise before teleporting just before she could become a red stain under the giant hoof and reappeared over where the colossus was standing when it was an immobile statue.

Twilight took a few deep breaths to calm herself before charging up her horn while the colossus turned around to try to stomp on her again. As it raised its hoof up Twilight released a powerful ball of magic that went flying at the construct. But much to everyone's surprise when the ball of magical energy hit the reflective surface of it's crystal body it bounced back forcing Twilight to teleport again. The room shook with the force of her attack which left a small crater where she was just standing.

During this time the two dragons flew up and landed on the giant's back and started clawing at it. While doing this Trixie decided to try and distract it. To do this she cast the biggest illusion she had ever cast and showed the colossus what in her mind would be the most annoying, nerve wracking thing she could think of. With a flash of light Rainbow Dash stopped her flight and looked around the room in wide eyed wonder at all of the copies of herself flying around with her.

"Wow you're fat. You need to lay off the sweets there big guy."

"Magic smagic, boo!"

"You're more sparkly than a filly's hoof painting after they split the glider all over it!"

"They don't call me Rainbow and Dash for nothing."

Rainbow blinked owlishly for a moment before getting a cocky smirk on her face and flying up to the colossus. "Oh ya! Prepare to be overwhelmed by the sheer awesomeness of a room full of me!" Rainbow gloated as she landed on its muzzle and started making faces at it. With Rainbow sitting still on its face the colossus brought its hoof up to smash her but seeing the attack coming thanks to the reflective shine of its crystal body Rainbow was ably to get out of the way in time allowing the crystal Sombra to punch itself creating a spiderweb of cracks across its face.

"Quit hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself!" One of the illusionary Rainbow Dash's mocked as the others laughed and pointed at the colossus.

"Best, spell, ever!" Rainbow shouted out with a laugh. The colossus however was soulless and couldn't understand the taunts nor would it care if it did. Instead it turned its attention towards the dragons on it's back and tried to crush them with its giant hoof but was unable to reach them because they were digging in that one spot in the middle of it's back that nopony could reach without magic or a back scratcher. After a few failed attempts the colossus sat back against the wall and leaned back to crush them against the wall. When it pulled itself forward again both dragons were imbedded in the wall but were quickly working to pull themselves out.

The colossus then started to turn around to finish the two dragons off before Trixie drew its attention by dropping the Rainbow Dash illusion and firing off illusionary fireworks in it's face. "Leave Trixie's friends alone!" Trixie shouted as she undid the lock on the dragon bone box that Rin had given her and threw the box undoubtedly to unleash a squadron of shadows on it...Only for it to sail way off it's mark and to the left but Rainbow Dash moved in quickly and bucked the box into it's left nostril. When she busked the box the lid came open and several shadowy creatures came flying out and from the sounds coming from the colossus some didn't get out until after the box went in and were now attacking it's insides.

The colossus started shaking and allowing itself to crash to the floor before getting up and repeating the action again in an attempt to get to the shadows inside while the ones outside were wailing on it, slashing at it, or bucking it with their shadowy hooves depending on the form it took. Some looked human, some looked like the many inhabitants of this world and some looked like nothing they recognized.

Finally Freeing themselves the dragons flew up and saw an opportunity when the colossus opened it's mouth wide and tried to dig it's hoof in to get to the shadows inside. Flying over they entered the gaping mouth and barely avoided the hoof and slid down it's cramped gullet that looked suspiciously like it was meant to be used as an entrance to something before falling into a chamber in the crystal giant's chest that was holding a round, glowing crystal as big as a pony.

"Looks kind of like a smaller version of one of those mana batteries used to power those flying warships the princess has don’t it?" Brimstone said matter of factly.

"It's probably very important." Cinder agreed before the two cracked their knuckles.

Meanwhile on the outside the colossus was going nuts. It was attacking anypony it could get close to but would keep twitching like it was glitching out forcing the ponies to take evasive action. When Trixie was cornered she turned around and prepared to use the invisibility spell she had recently learned to slip away but before she could cast it the colossus gave a mighty spasm before falling over in a heap. The room went mostly silent with even the outside shadows stopping their attack and moving off to aimlessly wander around till they find something else to fight. The exception to the silence was the cracking sound being made by the shadows that were slipping through the cracks on the giants crystal face instead of the nostrils or mouth.

The ponies then tensed as the head started to move before relaxing when the two dragons dug out through the neck of the crystal giant.

"Don't worry we took out it's mana battery. I don't think it will be getting up again." Cinder called out causing Trixie to sigh with relief before speaking.

"Ok what triggered that thing?" Trixie demanded.

"Well...that crystal door slammed shut just before it activated." Twilight said while pointing at the door blocking the path to another room they hadn't explored.

From inside the control room three fillies turn their heads as a spider web of cracks appeared on the door that had slammed shut behind them. With a thunk and scraping sound the cracks grew larger and shortly after that a scaly claw broke through before pulling back and it and three more claws started digging at the hole to make it bigger. Soon the hole was big enough for the party to slip through to find the three fillies from before much to the surprise of all but Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Both of which face hoofed at seeing who the culprits were.

"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo yelled as she ran over. "You were so awesome! We saw the whole thing on this wearied crystal thingy! My favorite part was when there was lots of Rainbow Dashes!"

"Oh ya! That was my favorite part to!" Rainbow shouted excitedly as she raised her hoof for Scootaloo to give a hoof bump but Rainbow's attention was quickly drawn by the sound of a clearing throat and turned to see the others glaring at her. "What I mean to say is...Why are you here? You should have stayed in your room and not touched anything. This is an evil villain's lair! You could make the whole place blow up messing with this stuff!"

"All we did was wake up the giant and that was an accident." Sweetie Belle wined before her face scrunched up in thought. "Well that and make this wearied smoky stuff come out from the top of the little palace." she continued while gesturing to the model. "Nothing that could blow the place up." She said with a confident nod.

"Everyone come quick! A short while ago dark magic rose up like smoke from the top of the crystal palace and mixed with the love magic shield! Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence said that it turned the shield into a giant bomb and they need help finding a solution before it blows the entire Crystal Empire away!" Spike shouted in a panicked tone as he came running into the room. The entire room went silent for a moment with everyone looking at spike with wide eyed horror except for Sweetie Belle who's right eye was twitching.

"Oh come on!" Sweetie shouted in frustration before being picked up in a purple magical aura along with her two friends and being shoved into the arms of Cinder.

Please look after them and for the love of all that is good please don't let them go and don't let them touch anything!" Twilight begged before taking off back up to the throne room with the others behind her. When they reached the top of the stairs those who didn't fly huffed and wheezed over to the balcony to see the crystal ponies moving into the palace with fearful expressions.

"We're evacuating the city into the palace. It will be tight but it was the best plan we could think of." Shining Armor said with worry as he walked up next to them. First plan was to use the mines King Sombra forced them to work in but it turns out he didn't care enough for their well being to allow them proper safety measures so the explosion would probably cause a cave in. You're the smartest pony I know Twilight so I know you can think of something." At Shining's words Twilight looked out at the city in deep thought. While she was trying to think of a solution Trixie reached into her cape and pulled out something she found in her room a while ago. A small scythe that had made her jump to amazing new heights when she found it. Though that was because she found it by sitting on it.

"This looks like a time to call in some major help." Trixie announced as she lifted the token up. "Through your token Trixie summons you! Come to our aid and help us save the Crystal Empire!"

......

"Lee? The great and powerful Trixie is calling you!" Trixie shouted as she shook the thing before looking closely at it. Now that she's looking at it closely it looks duller, paler. Now that she thinks about it the message isn't playing in her head like it did the first time. It's almost like the token died. Not liking the implications of that Trixie slipped the token back into her cape before looking back to the others who were looking at her expectantly. Taking on a look of thought for a moment Trixie balanced herself on her hind hooves to raise her forehooves into the air. "The great and powerful Trixie!" Trixie exclaimed in a tone that told everyone that she had something important to tell them. "Is out of ideas!"

"Well can't you just put up another barrier inside this one to protect us from the exploding one?" Rainbow asked but Twilight shook her head.

"The blast would just break through any barrier we put up." Twilight said sadly thought Trixie looked up with a gleam of inspiration in her eyes.

"It would break through one but what if we made more than that? One shield after another with space between them? The explosion will take the easiest escape and with all that open space out there each shield will greatly reduce the damage!" Trixie shouted excitedly giving Twilight a thoughtful look.

"Theoretically that could work but our two strongest shield casters are exhausted from keeping up the now unstable shield." Twilight countered.

"You need to pay more attention to your own brother Twilight. He said Sombra had already bested his shields so why would he be sustaining this one? And if you haven't noticed he looks much more rested than princess Cadence." Trixie countered. "What do you think prince Armor? Think you can pull it off?"

"I think so. I would have to make the outermost shield smaller than I normally would to save energy for the others inside it." He said with a look thoughtfulness.

"Sacrificing a chunk of the city is better than losing all of it. Besides it's the citizens that are important and they are being gathered in the palace. The buildings can be repaired or replaced." Trixie said with a dismissive wave of the hoof.

"She's right. I can help you Shiny. We need to save the crystal ponies." Twilight said and with a nod the two walked up to the railing. "But first we need something to trigger the blast when ready." She said as she cast a come to life spell on a merchant's stall as well as a triggering spell. As it rolled down the street and towards the barrier Shining cast a large barrier that covered a good chunk of the city once the cart passed that point and charged up and castes another smaller one inside that one. With sweat running down his brow and a grunt of effort Shining Armor forced out a third shield. Once it was clear that was all he could sustain Twilight cast a smaller shield inside that one and with some effort another one covering the palace itself. With five barriers covering the palace and the palace walls protecting everyone in the city they moved away from the windows and got down and covered their ears.

"Um...Miss dragon? I don't think you understand the meaning of the term babysitting." Sweetie complained from under Cinder who had set them on the seat cushion she took off the throne and set on the floor before curling up over them.

"I understand it just fine I'm just not taking any chances." Cynder said as she covered her ears with her claws. They then waited for the explosion before Shining Armor's eyes widened with realization.

"Wait shouldn't we have warned Cadence and all the crystal ponies she's looking after down there?" Before he or anyone else could do anything about it the earth shook with an ear shattering explosion and a bright light. With a dazed groan everyone crawled over to the windows to see the damage except for Cinder who was still keeping the CMC restrained by being too dizzy to get up. Not that the three could get away as dazed as they were.

Outside the borders of the Crystal Empire. A few minutes later.

The portal burst forth from the ground which Celestia and Luna immediately jumped through with a small contingent of guards followed closely by me and my bodyguards.

"Aunty what did I just say!?" Celestia demanded.

"I'm not in the Empire I'm outside it." I said as I gesture to my surroundings. A loophole that she clearly didn't find even the slightest bit amusing. Before she could retort Luna tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the city. The outer part was gone. Just gone. The section after that was ruble than after that ruins and after that cracked buildings.

"Guards! Get to the palace and look for survivors!" Celestia ordered causing the royal guards to charge down there save for Unyielding and Swift who stayed by my side to protect me. I was about to call on my imps to search the wrecked city when we heard a dark laugh.

"My palace, my slaves, they live!" King Sombra called out in victory as he flew towards the damaged city. Celestia, Luna and I weren't having any of that. A bright, golden dome quickly surrounded the shadowy king and us.

"I've planned for this day for a while. This ends now and this time you go down alone." Celestia said through clenched teeth. The dark king laughed at that before shooting a beam at us. We dodged in all directions just in time to avoid getting impaled by black crystals that had shot up out of the ground. Unyielding was the only one who didn't get out in time but her armor protected her so that all the crystals did was push her back. "Enough!" Celestia shouted in the royal Canterlot voice as she cast a new spell that gave off a golden radiance that burned Sombra's shadows away turning him back into a physical pony.

Taking advantage of this Unyielding charged at Sombra quickly and swung her sword forcing Sombra to raise up a thick crystal to use as a shield. Which to his surprise cracked and fell over though at least it stopped the blade. Jumping back Sombra cast another crystal spell at the ground only instead of trying to impale her they grew around her to restrain her. While he was distracted with my black knight Luna blasted him from the side. He was unable to avoid it because he was so focused on stopping the knight. He flew through the air but stopped himself with a crystal. Unfortunately for Sombra I saw it growing and using that all important lessen any gamer who played space invaders learned, or died trying, and aimed at where he was going to be with the inferno spell forcing him to fly through and, thanks to his own crystal, stop in the middle of a burning inferno. He screamed in pain before jumping out and stopped, dropped and rolled around in the snow to put out the flames and cool himself off.

Seeing my chance I made for my finishing move and attached my magic to his through his horn and started pulling as fast and hard as I could. Stopping and looking up in wide eyed horror he tried to pull back but thanks to my magic building exercises I did in stone along with all the magic I've already taken and the head start I got by taking him by surprise it was useless and with a mighty last tug I pulled out his magic and gulped it down for my magic to absorb and grow.

"Mmmm Taste like rock candy." I say as I lick my chops.

"No! Give it back it's mine!" Sombra shouted as he jumped up and charged at me with his horn set to stab me. However I just stood there and watched as he got close and Swift got in his way and with a swift swing the horn continued on its path a while before sliding to a stop at my paws while Sombra himself stopped in front of Swift. Enraged Sombra got into a fighting stance and was ready to show his skills until he was wrapped in a golden blue aura and was lifted into the air and restrained by Luna. With the villain stopped I took the horn and sent it back to my dungeon as Celestia dropped the barrier around us.

"Your majesties! We have confirmed that everypony was safely inside the palace when the explosion went off." One of the guards said as he came back with the prince and princess, The later had her mane and tail stuck up like she had put her tongue in a toaster. As well as a few crystal ponies that suddenly looked dazed before shaking their heads.

"Wait I...I remember!" One of the crystal ponies shouted followed closely by the others. With Sombra defeated and stripped of his power his spell wore off.

"The Crystal Heart! That badly burnt pony stole it!" On of the crystal ponies shouted in horror. "I didn't recognize it when I saw it but a badly burnt pony had the heart and left with it!" He shouted causing the other crystal ponies that were there to start freaking out. Forcing Cadence to try and calm them down. I on the other hand couldn't help but think of the assassin that Trixie had flushed down the toilet that the guards were never able to find. And I didn't like the answers my mind came up with when wondering what someone like him would want with such an artifact. I shake my head at this knowing that Celestia will definitely not let me look for it myself. Not even with my minions. So I walk up to the restrained Sombra but before I could do anything Luna came up to me and whispered into my ear.

"I don't know. I was planning to dollify and shrink him before trapping him in a pinball machine or a snow globe. I hadn't decided yet." I say but she hits me with the puppy pout. "Fine." I relent with a sigh before she squealed and forced him asleep with a spell for easy transport. I first used my healing spell and a lot of energy to heal the burns before getting to work on Luna's request.

Several hours later.

With a groan Sombra woke up in a strange bed in what appeared to be a prison cell. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a pink dress with darker pink, sparkly hearts all over it with a bow on his head.

"Thou have awaken!" A booming voice shouted excitedly before a lock on the ceiling opened up and he was pulled out in a blue aura before finding himself face to face with a giant princess of the moon. "Welcome to your new home princess Froofroo! You're going to love it here! We'll take good care of you and play with you every day! And the best part is that every meal will be home cooked by us! Aren't we the best pet owner!" Luna squealed in excitement before using her magic to lift a small glob of something that looked and smelled like the mix of what would come out of both ends of a sick pony before it was forcefully crammed into his mouth. And at that moment Sombra knew what it was like to experience death without dying. "Fill up little one! After thou eat we had an appointment with a vet to get thou neutered! Thou would need all of thy strength for that." She said excitedly as she continued to stuff more and more of her home cooked food into the helpless tyrant.

"It took you long enough to find me." The burnt pony said with a raspy voice as he continued to look at the Crystal Heart in his hooves. "In brightest day and darkest night. No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might. Beware my power and righteous light!" He called out causing the griffins that were hiding in the surrounding area to come out.

"Who are you and how do you know that oath created by our founder? Answer me now!" The obvious leader demanded.

"What's wrong Talon? Don't recognize your old buddy Hunter?" The burnt pony asked shocking all there.

"Hunter? But you died! You blew yourself up trying to kill the dark fox!" She exclaimed.

"No not dead. Not my brightest move I'll admit but I live on to fight again. I understand if you don't believe I survived and am willing to undergo any tests to prove I'm who I claim to be and am not undead." Hunter said simply. The griffins looked to each other before nodding and taking formation around him and leading him away.