Author's Notes:

Okay so this chapter is almost the exact same as the episode... With a some additions.
Mainly Excalibur stays with Cadence and Shining through the whole thing, he really doesn't do much. Where as Twilight is running round frantically to pass her "test". The next chapter is where this take a serious turn.

P.O.V. Twilight Sparkle.

After I had a panic attack at the library… and the train to Canterlot… and Canterlot. Celestia had decided to send me and my friends to the long lost Crystal Empire. Anyway, the train ride from Canterlot to the frozen north of Equestria was uneventful. We literally hit the end of the line. I don’t know why somepony would build a trail station this far north?

Once we boarded off the train. We waited for Shining and Excalibur to meet us.

Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long.

“Twilight!” hollered a male voice.

“Shining Armor!?” I replied as I tried to find the voice in the storm.

We watched as my brother approached wearing a black scarf and a black pair of snow goggles. Next to him walked Excalibur.

“Twily! Yah made it!” he said happily as he removed his goggles and lowered his scarf.

I ran up and gave him a quick hug. Excalibur walked up but didn’t say anything.

“We better get moving, there are things we don’t want to run into out here in the dark,” he said with a tone of worry.

“What kind of things?” asked Fluttershy nervously.

“Let’s just say,” Shining looked back at us, “the empire isn’t the only thing that has returned.”

“Your highness,” Excalibur looked at us, “girls, we need to move… now.”

I could tell that Excalibur was a little on edge. But it’s nothing he can’t handle… right?

We left the small train station and began to trudged our way through the massive storm as we worked our way to the empire. Shining and Excalibur lead the way while we followed close behind. Both my brother and Excalibur were on edge. They constantly scanned the barren land in front of us. Excalibur walked with his Soma at the ready, it made me a little nervous.

While we walked Shining looked back at us, “Something keeps trying to get in!”

“Like what!?” I asked.

“We think it’s King Sombra!” replied Excalibur.

“But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the empire. If King Sombra can’t get in, then it must already be protected!” I replied.

A strange and ominous howl filled the air.

We all froze in our tracks. Fluttershy gasped in fear as we all began to look around frantically. Excalibur brought his weapon up quickly as he looked around in all directions.

“This is bad!” said Excalibur.

“This is one of those things isn’t it!?” said Fluttershy as she began to panic.

“We have to get to the Crystal Empire… NOW!” ordered my brother as he turned to look at us.

Immediately a large black mist with these evil green eyes appeared behind us, letting out an evil, throaty roar.

“FALLOW ME!” screamed Excalibur.

He turned back and ran in the opposite direction of the mist. Quickly we followed him as fast as we could through the storm. I took a quick second to peer behind me to see the mist gaining. Quickly I picked up Spike and threw him on my back as I widened my gait by half a step. I don’t know how long we ran but I could see the magic barrier gain in size.

I watched as Excalibur looked over his shoulder. He came to a sliding stop as he turned around.

“Keep going!” he ordered.

He past us ran in the opposite direction. I looked to see my brother attacking the mist. He fired off a few attack spells but to no avail. The mist would break apart and dodge his attacks. I came to sliding stop as my friends ran past me. Excalibur came to a sliding stop next to my brother as he opened fire with his weapon. The loud sounds of the weapon ripped through the roaring wind. I watched as the massive cloud attacked them. Excalibur did this roll to his left while my brother jumped to the right. They continued to attack and do everything they could to fight off the mist… but to no avail.

“Twilight!”

I stopped looking at the ensuing battle and turned my head to look at Spike.

“We need to go!” he said frantically.

“… Right!”

I turned around and headed for the barrier… they’re going to be okay… right?

I fazed through it to see my friends breathing hard after the exhausting chase. I took a moment to catch my breath.

“Everypony… okay?” I asked between breathes.

Each of my friends made some sort of noise as a conformation. Once I knew that my friends were okay I looked back at the barrier. I really hoped that Excalibur and my brother would be alright out there. It felt like I watched that blue wall for an eternity. After sometime, Shining came flying through the barrier. He landed about fifteen feet away.

“Shining!” I quickly ran up to him as Spike fell off my back. He began to sit up as he rubbed his head. Physically he looked fine but his horn was covered in black crystals, “Shining your horn!” I said as I grabbed his hoof with mine as he sat up straighter.

He tried to use his magic but it only sparked and failed. He shook his head quickly and gave me a depressed look. I couldn’t help but feel sad for him. I just hoped that that spell on his horn would fade quickly. But now that I knew that he was safe I looked around frantically.

“Wait!” I looked at my brother an placed my hooves on his shoulders and shook him, “Where’s Excalibur!?”

As if it was timed perfectly, Excalibur came flying through the barrier. He crashed onto the ground and barrel rolled a few times until coming to a complete stop. He let out a moan before getting up quickly.

He faced the barrier, “Yeah you better run you fucker!” he screamed.

He rubbed his helmet where his face would be. Then he placed his sword on his back.

He walked up to us, “Everyone all right?”

We all nodded telling him that we were all right.

He looked at my brother, “You okay your majesty?”

“I am,” replied my brother, “and thank you for the save.”

Wait… my brother just said thank you!? If my brother said thank you? Something really bad must have happened back there! I guess I’ll talk to him about it later.

“You’re welcome… besides your wife would have killed me if I didn’t bring you back alive,” said Excalibur.

That got a giggle out of all of us.

He looked at all of us, “Alright let’s get going.”

He turned away and took a step, but I noticed something sticking out of his armor.

“Excalibur! What’s that thing in your foreleg!?”

He turned and looked at me, “Huh?”

I pointed to his right foreleg, “You have something in your armor!”

He lifted his right foreleg a little before adjusting it to get a better look.

“Odd,” he grabbed it and pulled it from his armor. He looked at it for a second before tossing the long black crystal to the ground. “Well that was-GAH!”

His armor flashed a bright blue, letting out a loud sound that sounded like glass shattering as his body jerked violently. He fell to one knee as he grabbed his head with one hoof and he placed the other on the ground for support. He moaned in agony as his breathing got heavier. I watched in fear as the bright red lights on his right foreleg began to take on a blackish hue. Once the initial shock was over my friends and I ran up to him.

“Excalibur are you alight!?” asked Fluttershy.

He took a few heavy breaths before answering as he glowed blue yet again, “Whatever that was, its messing with my armor. My systems are going haywire!”

A few tense seconds passed before he spoke up again.

“Okay… my shields and energy have been halved… and I don’t feel very well,” he said.

“How so?” I asked.

“I have a splitting headache and I feel a little nauseous… but I think I can handle it,” he stood up, “alright let’s get moving.”

He struggled to get up but regained his composure after a second. Now that the shock of everything that had happened ended we were finally able to get a good look at the Empire. Everything, and I mean everything, was made out of crystal. I guess I can see where it got its name. Anyway, Excalibur led the way to the castle. Although I thought that he looked like he was struggling. He would grab his head and shake it every once and a while… which had me concerned.

After a short walk we entered the rather nice looking castle. Then we headed for the throne room. Where we ran into Cadence! We did our little “hello” which caused Excalibur to laugh. I’ll scold him later; I mean she is family now! Both Excalibur and Shining explained how Cadence has been up for days and has rarely slept and eaten…which only prompted me to work harder on saving the empire. While we talked and tried to get a plan in motion Excalibur excused himself to the little colt’s room. After a few minutes he came back.

“I may or may not have a situation,” he said.

“What do you mean?” asked Cadence.

“That crystal has done something... and it’s not good.”

I was beginning to worry. I gulped nervously, “Like what?”

He lowered his head and took his helmet off. When he raised it I almost fainted. My friends gasped at the site.

“This.”

He had a spider web like pattern of black lines crawling up the right side of his face and his right eye had a dark black smoke trail emitting from it. I don’t know how he could stay so calm because what ever happened could kill him!

“Oh my!” Cadence ran over and began to look at it.

Excalibur kneeled down for her to look at it, “Whatever that crystal did not only affected my armor but I think it’s trying to affect my mentality.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I keep hearing voices in my head. Its feels like an attempt of mind control or brainwashing. It’s taking every ounce of will I have to keep them out… and I know for a fact that this is going to get worse.”

“It would appear to be a form of dark magic,” explained Cadence.

He glanced at her, “Can you fix it?” he asked.

She winced at the thought and looked away, “…Maybe…”

Excalibur stood up, “Meaning…?”

She looked back at him, “If I didn’t have this spell going to protect the empire… I could probably find something to fix it,” she said nervously.

I was expecting Excalibur to explode in a full out panic… but he didn’t

“So I’ll keep a bullet on standby… got it.”

What did he mean by that?

“What do you mean by that?” asked Rarity.

That's what I was thinking!

He looked at her, “It’s means that I won’t allow anybody to use me as their personal puppet,” he looked at all of us, “if push comes to shove I’m either, A, going to put a bullet in my mouth, or B, use the self-destruct on my Warframe destroy myself and the suit.”

He’s… going… to do… what!?

“Excalibur you can’t!!!” I protested.

He looked at me, “I’m sorry Twilight but I cannot allow this suit fall into the wrong hands… unfortunately death is the only way out.”

I felt tears in my eyes. I ran up and hugged him, “Please, Excalibur don’t do this!”

He put his hooves on my back, “I’m sorry Twilight, but I can’t risk the wellbeing of this planet.”

I continued to cry into his chest as he held me. After a minute or two he let go of me. I fell back on all fours and wiped my eyes with my hoof. He kneeled down in front of me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. He gave me a reassuring smile.

“Twilight… I’m placing my life in your… hooves, you know what to do. Cadence has the spell going and with Shining down, I have to keep Sombra out if he gets in,” he moves his hoof to my face. I placed my hoof on the ground; he started to clear the tears away with one of the digits, “don’t worry about me, the empire comes first,” he stood up, “girls finalize a game plan, we have less then twenty-four hours,” he put his helmet on and started to walk over to Cadence, “this is now a Tenno Op,” he stood next to Cadence and looked back at us, “its time to lock and load people! Now gogogo!”

We all gave a salute and headed for the door. As the girls and Spike ran though I stopped at the door and looked back, “We won’t fail you!”

“We know Twilight,” replied Cadence.

I turned back and ran out the hall. We discussed options for I don’t know how long, but we finally came to a conclusion that we had to do some research. We checked the castle for a library, which it didn’t have! We eventually went to the public library. We searched the massive building, that’s when we found a book on the empires history. Thankfully that book contained all the info we needed! After a song and some set up we got the Crystal Fair up and running.

Which actually worked!

I got all my friends to run the fair which worked perfectly. But when we learned about the Crystal Heart… that’s when the panic started.

“I don’t get it! I didn’t know that the Crystal Heart was an actual relic!” I begin to look through the book frantically while I stood in front of Cadence, Shining, Rainbow, and Excalibur, “The book didn’t mention anything about the ponies powering the Crystal Heart,” I ended up reaching the end of the book. And the final page was gone! “There was a page missing! How did I not notice!”

I put my hoof to my forehead and shook my head back and forth in disbelief. Cadence started to sway back and forth.

“It’s okay Twilight,” she said weakly.

She passed out and fell to the floor, thankfully Shining caught her. Excalibur ran up and put a hoof on her head. Once the magic in her horn faded the barrier protecting the empire faded. Excalibur looked to the south. I looked back to see that black mist starting to surround the area.

Excalibur looked at my brother, “Shining get Cadence up and get that barrier working!” ordered Excalibur as he stood up. He ran to the front of the door leading to the throne room. His archwing roared came shooting out and attached to his back. He started to run to the end of the balcony.

“I’ll stall for as long as I –GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

He jumped but hit the railing at the end of the balcony. He screamed in agony as he grabbed his head and started to step backwards. He lost his footing and fell to the floor. Excalibur held his head while he flailed around on the ground. I ran up and tried to calm him down.

I looked back at my brother, “Shining do something!?”

Quickly he shook Cadence in an attempt to wake her up. After a few tense seconds she was able to stand. Once she was on her hooves she reset the spell. Just in time too, Sambra almost got to the empire. As soon as the spell closed over the top of the castle I looked back at Excalibur. His screaming started to subside as he started to relax. His breathing was heavy and frantic but at least he had calmed down.

I placed my hooves on his side, “Excalibur, are you okay?”

He grabbed his head and moaned, “Yeah… that was the worst thing I’d ever been through, ” He placed a hoof underneath himself and sat up, “it was like my consciousness was being ripped from my body.”

He looked at me. I quickly gave him another hug. I don’t know what I would do if I lost him. I felt him wrap his right foreleg around me as he placed his head on top of mine. I let go of him and looked at Cadence.

“Cadence are you okay?”

“Yeah, just a little shaken up.”

My brother looked at me, “I have to find the Crystal Heart!”

I walked up to him, “No, you stay here with Cadence,” I looked at her. She fell forward, my brother put a hoof out to catch her, “she needs you Shining Armor,” with a whip of my tail and some determination I headed for the door, “I’ll retrieve the heart!”

“Let’s do this!” said Dash as she began to follow me.

This is when I realized that the only way to pass Celestias test was to find the Crystal Heart. As Dash and I raced through the halls of the castle. I told her that she, and the rest of the gang needed to stall until I found the heart.

But how do I find a heart in an entire empire?

I exited the castle while Dash went to inform the others. I walked through the streets with a hoof to my chin as I started to think of ideas. Someone must have tipped off Spike because within ten minutes he came running up wanting to help me. I was reluctant, but he was so persistent. So, I ended up giving in. Just before he came running up that’s when it hit me!

Where would be the best place to hide such an important artifact? In the castle! Where it could be guarded at all times and anypony would be too afraid to look. I placed Spike on my back and I headed at full pace back to the castle. I explained my little plan as we entered the castle. We, and when I say we, I mean I, searched the castle for at least an hour. I began to get frustrated. Now where would somepony hide such an important artifact? I walked past the throne room. And that’s when it hit me!

Celestia's explanation passed through my head, ‘If hatred and fear take hold…’

I realized that the current castle wasn’t the one that Sombra ruled in, he ruled in a castle made out of dark crystal! I trotted up to the throne with Spike next to me. All the while I explained the differences in castles. Going on a hunch I used some dark magic on the throne, which worked! A dark shadow appeared and revealed a hidden passage.

I tapped my hooves together out of joy. Now I could finally get to work on finding the heart! I activated a light spell and started down the stairs. And also making sure that Spike stayed at the top of the stairs. I walked for a little while before stopping. Spike asked if I could see anything. Well with it being so dark I couldn’t, and my distance test said it was a really long fall. With Cadence's magic fading, I had to hurry. So I started to descend a little more quickly than I should have.

In my haste I tripped and fell the rest down the stairs. Thankfully I timed my levitation spell right and caught myself before I hit the bottom. I quickly oriented myself correctly and placed myself firmly on the floor. I looked behind myself and found a door. I was overjoyed! I grabbed the handle with my magic and tried to open it…

Dumb thing moved!

After looking like a foal- thankfully I was alone- I finally got the door to stop by using dark magic again. Once the door opened I saw a white light. That’s when I knew I found the heart!

“Spike!” I started for the door, “I think it’s here!”

Quickly I ran inside… only to find myself back in Canterlot Castle, the throne room to be exact.

“Huh?” I said out of confusion.

“What are you doing here?” asked Celestia with disgust.

I looked back and took a few steps toward her. She was facing away from me while she signed letters before sending them away with her magic.

I froze in my tracks while my ears fell back as I started to look around, “I don’t know,” I started to walk toward her, “I opened the door and-”

“And now you must go!”

I froze in my tracks, “Go where!?” I asked out of confusion.

“Doesn’t matter to me,” she looked back at me with hate in her eyes, “you failed the test Twilight!”

I practically died! How did I fail? I mean, I was there! What happened to my brother? Cadence, my friends… Excalibur!?

“I don’t understand! The test!?” I said frantically.

“Not only will you not go on to the next level of your studies," she looked at me with hate filled eyes, "but you won’t continue your studies at all!” she said harshly.

My ears fell back again and I felt tears in my eyes, “But you didn’t say anything about not being your student if I failed!” I said trying to save everything I worked so hard for!

She put a wing around me. I felt like I had saved everything for a second… but it was short lived.

She pushed me away, “Didn’t I?”

She started to walk away. I didn’t know what to think. I started to panic. That’s when the door on the other side of the room opened up. I turned to see Excalibur walk in. He was shuffling through some papers with his head down.

“Excalibur!” I said frantically.

He looked up, “Oh, Twilight. What are you doing here?” he went back to the paperwork in his hooves.

I ran up to him, “Please! Talk some sense into Celestia!”

He kept walking. He glanced at me quickly, “What’s there to talk about? You failed… miserably.”

I was shocked.

“What!? No please! Not you too!”

He stopped at the doorway to the throne room. His head shot up. Then he turned to look at me, “Twilight! I lost and arm and eye because of you!”

What!?

“After the fall of the empire I lost everything! The respect of my men! My position! I was shunned by everyone! ” he paused, his gaze moved to the floor, he took a deep breath, “you know... I actually had feelings for you,” he looked back at me, “but that all changed!” He turned back and started to walk to Celestia, “although I should thank you. At least I was able to find someone that looked past my injuries.” He stopped in front of Celestia, “how are you doing sweetheart?”

She looked at him with a smile, “Just fine… my prince.”

…P-prince…?

He took his helmet off and placed a kiss on Celestias lips.

“No!nonononononono! Excalibur please your cant do this to me! I... I LOVE YOU!”

“Twilight!”

He looked back at me.

“Twilight!”

“Sorry,” he looked at Celestia, “but I’m spoken for.” He placed another, longer kiss on her lips.

“Twilight!”

My whole world shattered. The… the human I loved… left me… for my teacher! I…I lost everything! The human I loved, my teacher, my studies, and most likely my friends! I didn’t want to live anymore! I fell into a miserable heap on the floor and cried my eyes out.

“Twilight!”

I heard Spike calling for me. My eyes widened as I shook my head. I looked back to see Spike running down the stairs babbling about how long I had been down in this hole. I let his ramble go on for a little while before I ran over to the other side of the door. Spike walked up looked at the wall. That’s when I saw his eye change from white to a dark green.

“Wait Ponyville how did I- no!” He started to back away, “Twilight please I don’t want to go!” tears began to form in his eyes.

I slammed the door shut.

His eyes went back to normal. I explained how King Sombra’s dark magic created a door to a pony’s worst fear. I reassured Spike quickly and told him that I would never let him go. Quickly I used some love magic that Cadence taught me when I was a filly, which surprisingly enough opened the door.

Okay, I’ll admit, I’d been guessing most of the time.

The frame of the door glowed white, and once the magic hit the bottom of the frame the door opened. Quickly I trotted through with excitement… only to find…

More BUCKING STAIRS!

Eep! Sorry for swearing!

Well, um... anyway, Spike and I started walking up this time. After what felt like an eternity, my legs were burning and we were nowhere near the top. I was so sick and tired of Sombras games, but I had to find the heart! For my brother, for my friends, for-

“If *huff* Sombra can create a door to your worst fear *huff* why not a staircase that goes on forever?” asked Spike.

I froze. He had a very valid point. After turning my neck to a rather interesting angle, that’s when it hit me yet again. I grabbed Spike and used a gravity spell to levitate us up to the opposite side of the stairs. As we slide, down… or is it up? Never mind, we slide in a direction, all while I celebrated with utter joy! A few minutes later we came sliding out of the stair well and onto the roof. That’s when we found the heart!

After reorienting gravity and landing on the floor, I looked at Spike, who waved his claws telling to go. I walked forward with stars in my eyes. I found it! The empire was saved! But when I stepped on the round spot on the floor it changed to a sinister black. It was a trap and I didn’t even realize it! I quickly jumped after the heart… only to have it knocked out of my grasp. My ears fell back as I sat there for a moment.

After the initial shock wore off I frantically I started to look for the heart, “The heart! Where’s the-”

“Here!” replied Spike.

I looked through an opening in the crystal barrier, “It rolled over to me when you dropped it.”

Spike did his best to avoid the newly sprouting crystal weeds that had begun to appear.

“Don’t move!” I ordered.

He took it a little too literally. He actually stopped moving.

“You can move, just not towards me,” I said with sadness.

He backed away quickly. I needed to escape. I used a teleportation spell, but I was immediately sucked back into the makeshift cell. I don’t know how I fell for this. I just wanted to pass this test!

“How could I have been so foolish?” I said to myself. I started to push on the crystal, “I was just so eager to get it!” I ran to the opposite side and used my back to push on the barrier, “And when I saw what was going on outside I-”

“You have to get out of there Twilight!” I faintly heard Spike.

I tried getting out and failed!

“You have to be the one to get the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadence. If you don’t, you fail Celestia’s test!”

I began to look at the failing barrier around the empire. I walked to the far side of the cell and placed my hoof on the wall, “King Sombra is already attacking the empire. He could reach the crystal ponies at any moment. Reach Princess Cadence, my friends, my brother! Even Excalibur!”

I didn’t have the time to find out a way to escape. I had to think quickly… and I only had one option.

Excalibur's words passed through my head, “Whos life is more important, mine? Or the all the innocent civilians of your town..."

I ran back and looked back at Spike to see him fall on his flank, “Spike you have to be the one to deliver the heart to Princess Cadence!”

“Me? But Twilight?”

“Go!” I said firmly.

“But-”

“GO!”

Quickly he removed his claws from his armpits, grabbed the heart, and jumped out one of the openings to the top of the castle.

…

THAT IDIOT!!!