https://youtu.be/wLoWd2KyUro

" I can't believe we're going to the Crystal Empire!" Scootaloo and the boys could hardly stay in their seats as I drove them and Lulu up to the Crystal Empire for a weekend vacation. Ever since Jackie and I returned from our trip getting the vote for the games, the kids have been counting the days till we left. Luna wasn't as hyper as the kids, but she was just as excited to see the Empire again.

" Believe it, honey. Oh, I can not tell you how long I have waited to see that beautiful place."

" I'd say a thousand years, give or take." This earned me a slap from Luna's wing. " Hey, hey. no messing with the driver."

" To be fair, brother, a man should never talk about a ladies age. Even if you are married to her."

" I'm starting to question why I keep bringing you everywhere I go?"

" Because I'm the voice that steers you in the right direction. As for why you're bringing me with you now, I want to sift through that treasure room and see if we can find the key to the realm between realms." Huh? Knew I brought him along for a reason.

After a couple of hours driving through snow riddled roads, the Empire was insight. " Look, everyone, we're here." The children looked out the window to see that the tops of the crystal buildings getting closer. As soon as the fields of snow turned to grass and wildflowers, I parked the truck over by the train station. " Alright, I want you three to stick with us, while we're visiting. No wandering off on your own." With them nodding their heads, we got out of the truck.

Once we stepped out of the truck, a group of five crystal guards came up to form ranks around us. When they saw it was me that they almost pulled a spear on, they quickly put their weapons away. One of them, a pegasus with an orange coat and blue mane, came up and gave me a half-ass salute. "Apologies, sir, I mean, your highness. We thought the chariot you rode in was some kind of wild creature."

" Really? I didn't know creatures had headlights for eyes or rubber tires for feet." He seemed to blush at his own stupidity. " Now, what's your name soldier?"

" Flash Sentry, your highness."

" Well, I will say that you guys got here fast and were well prepared to handle a threat." The gathered guards gained a look of pride from my comment. " However, since you were about to point your spears at me and my family, I'm going to have to punish you all." All five of them started to look worried about what I might have planned. I went to the back of my truck and opened up the tailgate, revealing our luggage. " As punishment, you will carry these bags to the castle, and set it in the throne room." As they let out a breath of relief, they gathered our things and made for the castle.

Luna came up beside me and started to giggle ar what just transpired. " It never ceases to amaze me how you can make a guard or soldier feel proud one moment, and then have them feel fear the next." She gave me a peck on the cheek and started leading toward the Empire with the kids in tow. " Come along my king."

" Of course, there's so little to do, so much time to do it... Strike that, reverse it." I caught up with them and we headed for the castle. On the way over, we stopped to admire the statue they built of Spike and me. " So kids, what do you think of the image the good ponies of the empire made of your old man?"

Scootaloo started off with the comments. " You look, awesome dad."

Jack went next. " I like the detail in the crystal."

Finally, Orion. " You look kind of fat, especially in the ass."

" Orion! What have I told you about mentioning my weight on art?" Luna then gave me the stink eye for forgetting to mention something. " Oh, and don't curse."

" Sorry, dad."

" It's alright son just don't do it again. And if you do, don't do it in front of me or your mothers." This earned me another slap from Luna. " I mean, don't do it at all."

" Better. Now, let us go and see Cadance and Shining, I haven't seen them since the wedding." We went inside the castle and headed straight for the throne room. When we entered, the only two beings to be found were Cadence and shining, and it looked like they were on the verge of doing something not meant for the eyes of children.

Since they hadn't noticed our presence yet, I thought it would be funny to mess with them. " Of all the rooms in the castle, you could be doing that in, you two decide to do that here!?" This caused them to jump and crash off of the throne.

Cadence was the first to recover. " Aunt Luna, Uncle Joe. I thought the train from Ponyville wasn't arriving until three." She came over and wrapped us in a hug.

" My husband thought it would be a nice surprise to take his truck and get here early. Though I think we were given a pretty big surprise ourselves." This got Cadence to blush while Shining did his best to look professional. Luna returned Cadence's hug. " It is good to see you two again."

" It's good to see you as well, Auntie." She then noticed her cousins. " Oh my gosh! You two grew up so fast. And Scootaloo, I was so happy to hear that you joined the family." She brought all three of them into a hug and started to smother them.

I went over to Shining, who was watching all this unfold. " So, Cadence seems to be a little crazy around the kids. Any reason for that?" I had a hunch. But, I also like to see him sweat.

" Uh, well, ever since we paid a visit to the local school to give them a history update, Cadence has been wanting a foal. So every night and whenever we could find the time, we've been trying to get her pregnant."

" Well, that explains the cuddling, and I think I see what you need to do. Instead of trying to get her pregnant, just have a night of passion. Though you might want to take a week off."

" Good idea. Think she'll go for it?"

" If I've learned anything in my twenty-three years of living, is that females will always take our ideas, put them to a grinding stone, and come up with what they think is better. So she might go for the passion, but she might see the week without fucking as a sign that you are no longer interested. If that's the case, then tease her during the whole week and make sure she knows you still love her." He accepted the plan and gave me a fist bump, though I think he might screw it up at some point.

Suddenly, a body was draped over me. When I turned my head, I saw that it was Jack. " Dad, can we go explore? I want to see what you and Spike saved from that unicorn."

I chuckled while putting him down. " Okay, we can go explore for a bit." I went over to the rest of my family. " Jack and I want to explore for a bit. Anyone want to join?"

Orion struggled from Cadence's grip and joined my side. I looked at Scoots to see if she'd join us. " I think I'll stay with mom and Cadence. If that's alright?"

" Just as long as you stay out of trouble, it's fine with me." I gave her a kiss on the forehead and a kiss on the lips for Luna as we started for the door. Before we left the room, I had an idea. " Hey, Shining, why don't you join us, we can make it a guys day."

" Sure. As long as you three don't mind my charm and quick wit." He gave his wife a kiss before heading out with me and the boys. When we got out of the castle, Shining directed us over to a park. While Jack and Orion started playing with the kids on the playground, Shining and I sat at a bench. " So. What are the plans while you're here?"

" I promised Luna that we would come here and just enjoy our time here." He looked at me with a knowing smile, saying that he knows I have a second agenda. " And, I want to comb through the treasure room with Mimir to see if we can find the key to the realm between realms."

" Heh. That does sound like something that needs to be found. But what does the key even look like?" For that question, I brought out Mimir.

" The, realm key is a unique artifact and can easily be mistaken for a piece of armor or jewelry. Lucky for you two, I happen to know what it looks like." With his magic eye, he projected an image of the key.

The key did look unique and possibly easy to find, even in that large treasure room. Unfortunately, Mimir kept the image up too long. " Hey, Dad, what's that?"

Jack caught me off guard and I nearly jumped from the bench. " What this? Oh, it's just...it's..." I learned long ago, and from sit-coms, that lying or adverting the question leads the child to follow you or get them into trouble. " Ugh, it's the key that your grandma Faust used to help make this world. Mimir and I are going to root through the treasure room and try to find it." At this point, Orion came over to catch the end of my explanation. " And since you two just had to find out. You can help me and your cousin find it."

" Cool, when can we go?"

" Hold your...just hold on, boy. We can rummage through the treasure room after we grab a bite to eat." I got up from the bench and Shining led us to restaurant row. " So, where can we get some good grub around here?"

" Depends, what are you hungry for?"

" I wouldn't mind some pizza. But I'm sure they don't have any meat toppings."

" Actually, to accommodate some of the griffin and diamond dogs for the games, most of the restaurants have added meat to their menu."

" Why didn't you lead with that? Come, children, we're going to Conans."

" Where?"

" Sorry, you lead the way to the best pizza place this place has." We walked onward to food.

It was one O-clock and we started heading for the treasure room. We made it to the throne room and stopped there. " Alright, I'm going to give this a shot." I focused all the hate and anger from my past and let it enter my magic. My aura turned from its natural blue coloring to a dark sludge-like substance. With the magic attuned to Sombra's, I aimed for the crystal at the top of the throne and shot a beam right at it. Once it hit, the floor opened up to reveal the familiar staircase leading down.

When it was over, Shining came up to me. " Why didn't we just teleport into the treasure room? I mean, it's not warded and you know where it is."

" ..........D'oh!" I opened a portal and we stepped into a sea of gold and jewels. " Okay, we all know what the key looks like, so start rummaging." Jack and Orion went off to the right, Shining went left, and I dove in the center ala Scrooge McDuck.

We spent at least two hours in that place and so far, we found nothing. It really didn't help that the boys kept pestering me to keep something they found interesting. " Hey, Dad, can I keep this shield?"

" No, Orion."

" Hey, Dad, can I keep this helmet?"

" No, Jack."

" Hey, Joe, can I keep this sword?"

" No, Shi...Wait you don't need my permission to keep any of this, this is all your crap."

" Oh, yeah." He put the sword in a sheath attached to his back and continued the search. After tossing yet another crown into the discard pile, Shining expressed his thoughts with us. " How did Sombra manage to get all this stuff here anyway?"

Mimir answered for me. " Well, at first, he just totted the stuff with his magic. But after a while, he used Draugr to carry the treasure and guard it once they got back."

" What in Celestia's name is a Draugr?"

" Draugr used to be living beings who were brought back from the dead, either through a necromancer or the spirits unrest." I tossed a bowl of rubies into the discard pile when my explanation hit me. " Wait. Did you say that Sombra brought them back?"

" Aye, he did. Bunch of scoundrels and criminals from forgotten graves since before Equestria was created. But I wouldn't worry about them, I'm sure with Sombra dead, the magic holding those bastards together will have worn off."

Before I could offer my doubts about them, I heard my boys screaming from the other side of the room. " Dad! Zombies!" I dropped the gold bar and rushed over to my boys with Shining right behind me. When we cleared the room and made it to the other side, we caught our first look at Sombras minions.

A group of ten shambled out from the gold and treasure. At first, they acted like your typical zombie, a shambling mindless horde. Once they saw that there were intruders digging through their master's horde, they became vicious. Two of them went for Jack, while Orion had to deal with three. At first, I worried about them, but then I saw them tear apart the dead flesh bags. Those boys make me so proud.

While they tore them apart, a Draugr came behind Shining. " Shining, behind you!" He ducked a swipe from the Draugr's ax and blasted him with his magic. It didn't do anything.

" How is that possible?" He side-stepped another swipe from the deadman's ax while pondering how to hurt this thing. " That blast was strong enough to destroy a manticore."

" It's no use fighting them with magic. Only physical blows can harm undead creatures."

" Thanks for the tip head." I unsheathed Frostbite and decapitated three of them with one swing.

Shining faced the Draugr again and drew his newly acquired sword. The monster made a swipe for his head and would have lopped it off, but that was before Shining thrust his sword through its skull, setting it aflame. As the blue glow left the Draugr's eyes, the last one made for Shining's back. " Behind you!" With a quick twirl, he sliced the sword out of the dead Draugr and into the belly of the one still standing, setting his torso on fire.

With the threat gone, we regrouped in the center of the room. " That was a very impressive security measure. But still no match for us." Shining came over and studied his weapon. " Never really took you for the fire type Shining."

" Let me take a look at that." Shining levitated the sword sideways so Mimir could examine it. After a while, Mimir revealed the sword's secret. " Another weapon crafted by the dwarves, no surprise there. The metal is made from mithril, like most weapons of Asgard. From the way, it burned through those Draugr' I'd say it was infused with a fire giants tear."

Shining grinned and sheathed it on his back. " Oh, I am so keeping this." Before our search could continue, a rumble went through the whole room and made us stumble. " What was that, more Draugr?"

" No. That sounded much bigger." The rumble came from our left and we beheld a new threat. One, very big threat. " Uh, Mimir, what is that?"

" That, Brother, would be a Troll."

The beast lumbered over to us while carrying a giant stone pillar with him. " You are most unwelcome in my masters home." He hefted his pillar and brought it down on us.

" Look out!" We scrambled from the brutes weapon and got into attack position. " Shining, keep to it's back!"

" Got it!" Shining ran around the beast while slashing at his back.

" Boys, grab a weapon and help us bring this thing down!" The boys ran off to look for a weapon to fight this Troll. While they searched, I faced the big galoot. " Come on Oaf. Show me what you got."

" Hmm, it has been a while since I tasted the flesh of a human." He swiped the pillar across the ground, making a wave of gold try to bury us. " Perhaps it is time I reacquaint that taste with you?" He made a grab for me but with Frostbite, I made him reconsider.

" That's where your mistaken monster. You see, I'm not human." I tore off my shirt and wolfed out, making the Troll lift an eye at my transformation. " I. Am. Lycan!" I jumped off the ground and slammed into his gut. This made him stumble and fall on his back.

" Grrr, impressive Dogman. But not enough!" He grabbed me in his massive hand and started to crush me. " Whatever power you may possess." He then slammed me on the ground, hard. " It's not enough to defeat me."

As I struggled in his grasp, I smiled at his face. " Then it's a good thing I didn't come alone." As soon as I said that, a wave of magic slammed into him, making him let go of me and slam into the opposite wall.

" Get off my dad you beast!" Orion yelled at the Troll while wielding a sword that glowed like the night sky. Explains where the blast came from.

" Yeah, get your butt ugly face outta here before I smash your head like a pumpkin!" Jack stood by his brother's side while wielding a large Warhammer.

With the troll off of me, I picked myself off the ground and went over to my boys. " Nicely done. We'll talk about you two keeping those when this is over." Behind us, I could hear the Troll pick himself up from Orions blast. " But for now, watch your old man work." I took hold of Frostbite and sped up to the Troll.

When he had gotten to his feet, I jumped to his head and smashed his left tusks off. With him slightly dazed, I punched the back of his head, then hooked his forehead with Frostbite. With his head hooked, I made him stumble backward, making him launch his pillar in the air. With the pillar in the air, I used my ax to grab it, and with the pillar in my hand, I brought it down on the Troll's head, smashing it into a bloody pulp.

With the Troll dead, I went over to Shining and my boys. " So, should we continue our search?"

Shining shook his stupor and fixed me with a look. " You took down a giant monster, and you're not even going to acknowledge that!"

" What did you expect? A witty one-liner? Alright, fine." I went back over to the Troll and stared at where his head used to be. " Did not know who he was fucking with." I looked back over at Shining. " Happy?"

He gave me a satisfied smirk " A little." He then redirected his attention to the weapons my sons were carrying. " So, what made you two go for those weapons when there are others just laying around?" That...is a very good point.

" When I was looking for something to fight with, I heard a ringing sound come from this. When I picked it up, it said its name was Nightfall."

" The same thing happened with this hammer. It rumbled to get my attention and when I picked it up, it told me its name was Earthquake."

" I have heard those names before." I brought out Mimir to tell us more. " When Sombra used the key to the Bifrost, he made a raid for Broke's armory. It was there where all these weapons came from." Damn, I bet Broke was pretty pissed about that. " The sword is capable of slicing through almost anything. It can also send energy waves if it slices thin air." Orion looked very happy with his choice of weapon. " As for the hammer, as its name would suggest, causes minor quakes when it strikes the ground with the flat end. The spike on the other end, causes earthen spikes to shoot up from the ground. Use these weapons wisely lads."

" Oh, they will, otherwise they'll feel the back of my hand." With the situation sorted, we continued our search for the key to the Bifrost. After searching for another hour, I started to get frustrated. " You'd think with all of us searching, we would have found the key by now!"

" Do you mean this key here?" We all looked to the door leading to the throne room to see Luna, Scootaloo, and Cadence, standing in the entryway. And they didn't look too happy.

" How did you three know we were here?"

" We could hear the rumbling through the whole castle." Right, should have known that fight would bring an audience. " What were you thinking, fighting the undead and a monster...without us." Their unhappy smiles vanished and became smirks. " While that giant sent a wave of treasure, this flew out of it." She waved it in front of me like it was the keys to a new house or car. " So...care to take this for a spin?"

The next day.

We made it to the nearest unused door and brought out the key. " Alright, so how does this work Mimir?"

" To travel the realms, all you need to do is have the key to touch the door and say the name of the realm you want to travel to." I put Mimir back around my belt and brought the key to the door in front of us.

" Alright, let's make this simple. Midgard!" The key started glowing a faint blue, the same with the door. A couple of seconds later, the light flickered and died down. " Umm...was that supposed to happen?" To make sure the key worked, I opened the door, finding a mop and a bucket, instead of Midgard. " It didn't work. But why?"

" Sombra must have done something to it while he controlled it. I'm afraid if we don't find out what he did, then that key will become just a fancy paperweight."

" So, want to take a crack at it, babe?" I offered the key to Luna, but she just pushed it back to me.

" I'm afraid that I'm not well versed in dealing with repairing artifacts. Though we do know someone who might, or at least can quickly learn it."

" You mean cousin Merle, mom? He's an expert in the field of magical artifacts."

" Yeah, but last I checked, he's on a trip to the Badlands. Let's just go see Twilight."

" That's who I was talking about, Dear."

" I know. I just like messing with you and Jackie whenever I get the chance."

" Yes, yes romance in the air and hearts all a flutter, now could we please go and see about getting the key fixed!"

" Alright, Mimir, let's just get our things and we'll go." We made our way back to our room and got our luggage, with two new additions. " Now remember boys. Just because you have those weapons, doesn't mean you get to carry them around all the time, especially at school."

" Yes, Sir."

" Okay, Dad."

" Good to hear." I saw that Scootaloo looked a little down. No doubt 'cause her brothers got to keep something cool. " Now, Scootaloo, no need to look sad. I was able to scrounge around the treasure room and find something that I think you might like." I reached into my bag and brought out a small piece of headgear that will definitely make her day.

" Wow! It's beautiful." Once she put it on, a golden glow spread throughout her body, before fading into her skin. " Woah. What was that?"

" That Lass was the magic of the Valkyries crown. Those who wear it, have the ability to fly."

Once Scootaloo heard that her new accessory allows her to fly, she couldn't keep herself grounded for long. She leaped from the ground and started zipping around the room. " Best. Gift. Ever!" Once she had her fun, she sped over to me and wrapped me in a hug. " Thank you, Daddy!"

" No problem sweetie, I know you had difficulty with trying to fly on your own, so this will give you the chance until your wings are strong enough. But for now," I placed her on the ground and spread out my wings. " Race you three to the truck." With that, I started off the race with my kids.

The drive back home was quite peaceful and we were able to reach Ponyville by nightfall. Before we could get home, we saw Jackie and all our friends out by the library, only Twilight wasn't there. When we went to investigate, they looked like someone had just passed on from this realm. " Jackie, girls, what happened?"

Pinkie zipped over to us and explained the situation. " YoullneverbelieveitFirstweallwokeupwiththewrongcutiemarkandstarteddoingeachothersjobsandlivesThenTwilighthelpedusrememberwhoweareandevencompletedaspellshewasworkingonbutwhenshefinishedourelementsblastedherandwedon'tknowwhathappend!"

When she finally finished, I tried to interpret what she said. " Alright, so you went and...what now?" Before Pinkie could slow down her explanation, a bright light went off in the air and it had Twilight's Cutiemark. " What the Hell!?" The light slowly descended down from the sky and made its way to our group. Once the light had reached the ground, it flickered out to reveal Twilight. " Oh, Twilight, there you are. It seems you had everyone here worried."

Twilight picked herself up from where she landed and we saw that she had a couple of new additions to her person. A pair of lavender wings. Jackie was the first to recover from our collective shock. " I don't believe it. Twilight, we thought you were done for." She then wrapped her in a hug with tears streaming down her face.

Dash was next to come up to Twilight. " Aww yeah, Twilights got wings! Looks like I got me a new flying buddy!" Guess Dash and I have to teach her to fly.

Rarity put in her two cents. " Why, you've become an alicorn. This is terrific."

" Alicorn party!" And Pinkie is going to throw a party, no surprise there.

Orion and Jack went to look over Twilight's new wings. " Twilight, you look like mom and aunt Tia."

" Yeah, it's like you're a princess or something?"

" You couldn't be more right, Jack." Off to the side, Celestia had landed and came up to our group. " Through great struggle, Twilight has become an alicorn princess."

" Hold on a second." Pinkie pulled out a glass of water from...somewhere, drank it and do a spit-take.

" Indeed. When Twilight completed Starswirl's incomplete spell, she showed us that she is ready to become a princess."

We all stared at Twilight to see what her reaction to all this was. All we got out of her was this. " Since when did Jack and Orion get weapons?"

Author's Notes:

Alright, so they found the key but there's a problem with it. The boys have their own weapons and will make use of them in the future. Scootaloo now has a way to fly. Now, we head to the next big adventure, retrieving a stolen crown.

This may give you a hint.

https://youtu.be/f4m45urn5u8

Now for the fun clip

https://youtu.be/LWj2Pa2HiHQ