Princess Cadence was sitting in her cage of meteoric iron, in the middle of her own castle. There wasn't really anything to do while being imprisoned like this, and so she attempted to find a mean to pass the time. The closest thing she got to that was observing her captor, the Black Knight, who stood a fair distance in front of her, balanced on top of a spear of solid water that poked up from the ground in an expression of great concentration.

The knight didn't do much, and what Cadence knew for sure was that it was no pony. Its shape was upright, it walked on two legs, it was covered from head-to-toe in black armor, its helmet of which had the visage of a shark-esque creature with a long, red plume of hair extended from the back of it, and it bore a distinct smell of sushi. All the Black Knight ever did when not practicing forming spears out of water and chucking them at straw-filled dummies, it was just standing around, balancing on a spear as it was currently doing, or nothing at all. If this was the "Caerbannog" knight she heard so much about, then the Nightmare Moon of way back when certainly had odd creatures at her command.

"Hey, Caerbannog. It's almost noon, and I'm hungry," she said to it, her echo carrying through the atrium. "You have an obligation to care for my needs, correct? Bring me something to eat."

The Black Knight's shifting posture betrayed its annoyance toward the alicorn. With a very audible grumble, it jumped down from its spear, which then collapsed into a puddle of water that then vanished, and began to stomp off. About five minutes later it returned, carrying a silver tray that held a cup of warm tea and a plate full of steaming spaghetti, covered in blood-red tomato sauce.

"For you, "princess,"" the Black Knight spoke in a low, rumbling, distorted voice that seemed to send a vibration through the air. Carefully, it slid the meal under the bars. "I hope you like. I learned the recipe from a friend. Believe it or not, he's the one guarding your husband."

"I never thought a monster so evil as you could have a friend," Cadence responded, wryly.

"Just for the record, I'm not evil. I'm doing this because I got dragged here by somebody else. And by the way, the name isn't "Caerbannog" or "Black Knight," or any of those other stupid names, princess," the knight spoke again in a mocking tone, before wrapping its fingers around the bottom of its helmet, and pulled it off with a quick tug. What the being revealed was a blue-skinned, and clearly feminine head, bearing a visage similar to a fish, yet much slimmer. While one eye was a shining gold color and bore a single, thin, black slit for a pupil, the other, or lack thereof, was covered by an eyepatch. Long, scarlet hair fell behind and trailed along to her shoulders, as her mouth, filled with nothing but long, sharp teeth, grimaced into a wicked smile.

"It's Undyne."

"Brrr." Orange hugged himself as he shivered from the wolf he was riding through the frozen wastes. He gripped the saddle tighter as one of his friends noticed.

"Cold's finally getting to you?" Blue smirked to his comrade, who looked utterly unfazed by his surroundings.

"No..." he responded, slowly. "I just felt something. It was like... a feeling of... suspense. Like... something big's coming our way. How very fishy."

"Well, you know what Red say about big things," Blue remarked again.

"The bigger the mushroom, the bigger the character gets on Super Mario Bros.?" he asked. Blue sighed and shook his head.

"No. "Bigger means better!""

"When did he say that?"

Blue thought for a moment, stroking his chin as he pondered, and attempting to ignore the feeling of bouncing up-and-down from riding on his wolf's back. "Hrm. Wasn't it when-"

"Hey, guys!" the sound of Green's voice interrupted, from in front of them. "I see something!"

Looking ahead, the two saw what their green ally was currently witnessing. It was a ravine that stretched for miles. An orange glow illuminated from what appeared to be the bottom, most likely molten lava, and when they were close enough to look down, each of the five knew their suspicions were correct. The burning stuff bubbled far below in the pit of ice; certain death for any that decided they wanted to fall off of the ledge.

"The Crystal Empire should be just past this," Derpy began, shifting her new helmet to a better position. "I don't even remember this thing being here. How are we going to... oh, look over there!"

The mare pointed a hoof at something, and each saw she had spotted a bridge. Riding closer to it, they saw it had an aged, rotted texture; being made of wood and having only rickety, rope cables to hold it up. The end of the bridge, however far it went, was concealed by a thick cloud of fog.

"Well, we're not gonna be able to ride these puppies any further," Green commented, hopping off of his wolf. The rest followed his example, including Red, who looked exceptionally sad while doing so.

"Goodbye, wolves..." Red mourned in a melancholy tone. The alpha wolf he rode upon walked up to him and gently nuzzled his nose against him after her saddle was taken off, before turning around and slowly walking off into the storm. The rest of the large canines went with their leader, leaving only tracks in their wake, which were soon covered by the falling snow. Turning back and walking to the bridge, the first thing Red noticed was how warm it felt; produced by the lava that sat below.

"Hoo boy. Long, twisty, clichéd bridge of death, we meet again," Orange mouthed. "At least there's no old guy here to ask us about what the capital of Assyria is, am I right? Hehe..."

Red tried his hardest to make a cricket noise, signifying how bad Orange's joke was. Sighing, the knight looked back to the bridge, and then to Derpy.

"Derpy, you can fly across, right?" he asked the pegasus. She nodded.

"Of course I can. What about you all?"

"Ah, don't worry about us," Green said, monotonously. "We'll meet you on the other side."

"Alright..." she said in an unsure manner. Turning, she jumped into the air, and began to flap her wings as she soon disappeared behind the fog-cloud. Once she was gone, Orange spat into his hands and rubbed them together.

"Well, ladies. Let's go." His words were full of worry, yet somehow also full of confidence at the same time. He was the first to step onto the overpass, and the rest followed suit. The bridge creaked and groaned under their weight. As Orange took in deep, nervous breaths, Green sweated profusely, and Blue was twitching with every sharp noise he heard, gripping the rope railing with tight hands. The only one that didn't seem to be in a panicked state was Red, who was instead joyfully, though somehow disturbingly, singing a small song about petting kittens made of baby teeth and rock salt.

"Erm... you know what this reminds me of?" Blue suddenly spoke up. "That scene from Shrek. Remember? With Donkey panicking, and trying not to look down, and Shrek shaking the bridge, and..."

"Not the best time for thoughts like that. Shut your trap before you give Red any ideas," Green snapped. "Now... keep going. We're almost there."

Sure enough, once they went through and passed out of the cloud, there before them was the end of the bridge, and waiting at the end was Derpy. With a few more, heart-wrenching seconds of travel, the four finally made it.

"Are you all okay?" Derpy inquired, as the last of them stepped onto the snow-laden ground.

"Peachy," Green responded.

"Whoa... Look at that, guys..." Red gasped in awe, staring ahead. When the other three knights were looking in the same direction, they to allowed their jaws to drop in sheer surprise at what was now far in front of them.

What begat their sight was the view of the Crystal Empire, and its sheer, enthralling beauty. The spire that went past all of the common houses and made up the main castle seemed to go higher into the sky than any of them ever thought possible. It practically glittered with the sparkling radiance given off from its crystalline form.

"Now, THAT'S a castle..." Blue drooled, fantasizing of all the ways he was going to crash it, much like his friends.

Author's Notes:

You all know what time it is!